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Ahn Khe, Republic of South Vietnam, 1969.


In this plog I will be painting up a small collection of miniatures (which will probably grow!) to portray an understrength platoon of the Blues troop, H company 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cav Division (or H/2/7 - 1)

The Blues were platoons organised as a rapid response Aero-Rifle platoon, who flew into LZs to secure downed aircraft. The names of each member of the platoon are based upon the guys from my Re-enactment group; so all the Nicknames are (sort of) Genuine!

Without further ado, the minis themselves! (All are from Britannia Miniatures)

The 'Kit Carson' Scout Nguyen. The Kit Carsons were ex VC or NVA soldiers who turned over to the Allied side and were retrained as Scouts for the US Army. They were generally untrusted but knew their stuff.

1st Lieutenant "Daffy Duck" Hobdel


Private First Class "Doc" Mayhew


Private "Wingman" Saville



Staff Sergeant "The Wife" Hall


Specialist Class 4 "Rubber Legs" Elliot



Private "Meatball" Sapsford



Private First Class "Maverick" Welch



Corporal "Cowboy" Reeves (Normally the rank of Corporal was restricted to the Artillery units, but our group uses it to keep order)



Private First Class "Big Guns" Smith


Specialist Class 5 "Blooper" Baker


Aaand everyone all together. Got to assign names to the rest yet.
http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2011/9/30/276662_md-Group%20shot%21%20%231.JPG[img]

Hopefully work shall begin tomorrow!

Disjointed
(PFC "Bunny" Thomas)

PS: A quick pic off some of the "Real" boys!

Awesome, a historical blog! Cant wait to see progress. Are those 15s?

Thanks!
No, they're 20mms; got them from here http://www.britannia-miniatures.com/catalog/

Are they just for display or for a game? 20mm seems like it would be too small for 40k, right? Any comparison pics?

I assume you'll be doing a historically accurate paint scheme, then? I'm excited to see it! It's a little hard to tell what's going on with unpainted metal minis sometimes...

Cheers,
Rawson

They're for games, but it's a set of rules called Ambush Alley; they're not too bad really.

Yep, It'll probably be done by drybrushing and many different mixes of greens!

Disjointed Entity wrote:They're for games, but it's a set of rules called Ambush Alley; they're not too bad really.

Yep, It'll probably be done by drybrushing and many different mixes of greens!

Hmmm, never heard of it before. What's the system like?

It's pretty good, it all operates along the lines that Squads occupy a set space, so line of sight is not always reduced to each individual model. The rest of the rules escape me now, and I don't have the rules to hand so I'll have to find out.

I'll probably also use an adapted version of Rapid Fire! rules.

When I was in the 101st airborne my motor pool was located on A Shau Valley Rd. lol. Are you doing something involving the battle of A Shau? Green Berets and locals vs overwhelming odds? I understand there where some aircraft downed in that battle. Looking forward to seeing your progress

It probably won't be set on the actual A Shau battle, but more along the lines of general small-scale engagements within the Valley itself.

I distinctly remember reading about a First Cav assault into the valley in which they lost 12 aircraft within the first 30 minuets of the Deployment

Turns out that I'll have to postpone the work until tomorrow, I'm missing many of the greens I'll need so a trip to the FLGS is needed!

Well, it may not be much of an update tonight but I've done some work on the Doc.

(Apologies for the flash)



That'll probably be all on him till tomorrow, I'm missing skin tones so I'll have to find some.

Disjointed

Has anyone out there got any guides to painting different skin tones? Feel like trying them out.

My flesh "process" is as follows:

Paint everything with Bestial Brown, 2 coats, very slightly watered down.

First highlight: snakebite leather - paint virtually the whole area, only leaving the very deep recesses. Again, 2 coats, slightly watered down.

Second highlight: dwarf flesh. You guessed it, 2 coats, watered down.

Third highlight: elf flesh, 2 coats, watered down.

Final highlight: 2 parts elf flesh, 1 part space wolves grey, watered down, only 1 coat this time.

Check my gallery images for examples.

Hope that helps!

Thanks Jamumools!

Would you happen to have any info on different Skin Colours?
Hispanic/South-East Asian/Afro-American is what I'm looking for

I like all the background you're putting into this log so far, Disjointed, that makes this really interesting! The work in progress looks promising - I think the quality of these sculpts will come out better once they have some paint on them.

WARNING - there is a major mould line on Corporal Reeves' helmet I think.

Here's a recipe for African skin if you want some black troops:

Black undercoat.

Scorched Brown watered down and painted along the lines of the muscles, leaving blacks in the recesses. One or two coats.

Scorched Brown/ Snakebite Leather 50:50 mix. Water it down a little, wipe of excess and run it along the muscle groups again.

Here's an example - hope it comes across okay and hope you find it helpful

http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo336/Poymo/Zombieland/RhamesL.jpg

Brilliant, thanks Ragsta! Yeah I noticed the mold lineafter I posted the picture, I shall take care of it tomorrow, as well as getting the greens up on some more troopers.

FRAG ORDER:

Update time!

With the arrival of some lovely flesh paint and Devlan Mud from GW, I have finished the Doc and am near completion of Wingman and the LT (barring any sudden decisions to alter stuff.)

So, here is Private First Class Mayhew - "The Doc".



Private Saville "Wingman"


First Lieutenant Hobdell "Daffy Duck"


And somebody requested a comparison pic.


Apologies for the bad pics, my camera's Macro had a hissy fit and woulfn't let me take from as far away as I wanted.

C&C please!

More work.

"Wingman" Saville Front/Back



"Maverick" Welch, M60 'A' Gunner - Front/Back



Nguyen


"Doc" Mayhew


LT "Daffy Duck" Hobdel.


Apologies for the bad images, I'm still not that good at taking.