The only question I can answer is about the rucksack. From what I have seen, both the frame and the rucksack have all the same attatchment points and straps. If it can be done in the real world, it should work here.

 

You might find this image useful showing the way the ruck was mounted on the frame. It's from an excellent website put together by a former grunt. Personally I've spent hours browsing and reading that site!

http://www.webewebbiers.com/vietnam/images/ednored photos/Gear/IMG_1.jpg

Site: Vietnam Gear

 

Hey cool, thanks for the link, that will be indeed very useful. I was not aware for example, that they mounted Tropical Rucks on the Lightweight Ruck frame, seems sort of odd thing to do.

I dont know about the ruck & carbine , but some SEAL teams did use HR T223 version of the HK 33 made under license.not that popular as they were hard to disassemble i have read.

Well, from what I read so far, the T223 was used because of the 40 round magazine you could use with it, which made the weapon rather popular.

Dragon is the only M2 Carbine w/ 30rnd mag I've ever seen. It came with the Korean War US night fighter and also came in a carded set with an M1 Carbine.

Ah I know what figure you mean, its actually a M3, a M2 variant with a mount to put the early Night Vision Scope on it, it was used during the Korea War but the Carbine was not an ideal weapon for the scope.

I am not sure, but was there not a Che Guevara figure that came with a M2 carbine?

The only question I can answer is about the rucksack. From what I have seen, both the frame and the rucksack have all the same attatchment points and straps. If it can be done in the real world, it should work here.

Yeah I figure that as well, I am just asking how its properly done, I bet ACE put a instruction sheet in the box with the Cliff Dweller figure, on how to assemble that thing.

The only Lightweight Rucks I have are 2 I put together myself, by combining the empty frames with a 21C 3 pocket Rucksack, by simply warping the shoulder straps around the lower bars of the frame and and then using the other straps to secure it. I simply did not know how else to do it, but it works, only downside is that you cant do it for the top part of the frame, because isnt a bar there in the middle to warp the straps around.

Thanks for the help so far.

 

I dont know about the ruck & carbine , but some SEAL teams did use HR T223 version of the HK 33 made under license.not that popular as they were hard to disassemble i have read.

 

Dragon is the only M2 Carbine w/ 30rnd mag I've ever seen. It came with the Korean War US night fighter and also came in a carded set with an M1 Carbine.

 

1) Lightweight Ruck can be mounted on top - just need to thread it so that it's on the top bar instead of the middle one. I'll take some pics of my setup later.

2) Make sure whatever carbine you get has the bayonet lug (smooth barrels were used on the earlier model of carbine). There's no other difference between an M1 and an M2 in scale aside from that and mag size.

3) If you read my write-up on Brokhausen, he mentions using a nylon sheath to secure his sawed-off double barreled shotgun to his webgear. I'd suggest something improvised or having it attached to a D-ring on the front of his webgear.

4) You're correct - it's the T223.

5) SEALs used it - James Watson describes an operator named Bob Gallagher as carrying one for a few missions in "Point Man":
Other weapons were in the gun shed, including the Remington 7188 full-auto shotgun. When the weapon had first arrived, Bob had grabbed on to it as the best thing since sliced bread. Since the episode with the ants, I had started carrying a shotgun, a five-shot Ithaca Model 37. Bob tried to convince me that the Remington 7188 was the weapon for a point man to carry. But I considered it just too heavy. Besides, my pump-action repeater was much more reliable than that complicated full-auto weapon.

Bob carried the 7188 on about six patrols and finally gave up on it as just being too sensitive to dirt. The fact that I could take my Ithaca and just rinse it off in a muddy stream was one of the reasons I liked it. During one ambush, Bob used the 7188 on full auto, and the results were devastating. But the reliability problem finally caused Bob to switch to either another Ithaca like mine or the CAR-15 and M16 rifle.

Hope this helps.

 

Thats Casual_collector, that helps indeed.

Okay I do have one more question tho: the Radio Spares Bag for the PRC-25/77 Radio, where was it attached to? On the Radio itself or on the straps securing it or did the radios have something on the side where it was hooked into? I mean was it secured with stripper clips or what? I have yet to figure that out, its hard to see on the photos where it was attached to.

 

SOTW also made an M2 carbine with 30 rd magazine, and there was indeed a Guevara figure with one (both had a bit grosser detail than Dragon's ). The DML Korean War version had multiple magazines, but removing the IR scope left the carbine needing a rear iron sight. Magazines are the central item for the "look", with the real component of an M2 being internal action components, so as Ryan says, adapting a "banana" mag to a later mark M1 carbine would be visually fine. Too bad no one has seized the initiative, and cast some copies of the DML mags, or built some on Shapeways .

 

Loop the webbing around the top of the frame (red arrow).

Tie it off by looping through the clip and tighten until firmly attached (red arrow).

Thread the webbing through the side clip (red arrow), loop around the frame (blue arrow) and thread back through the side clip (red arrow), leaving a little room because they're fitted for the wings on the bottom of the frame.

Bonus: Early war SF. Includes an early side slab XM16 (no forward assist).

SOTW also made an M2 carbine with 30 rd magazine, and there was indeed a Guevara figure with one (both had a bit grosser detail than Dragon's ). The DML Korean War version had multiple magazines, but removing the IR scope left the carbine needing a rear iron sight. Magazines are the central item for the "look", with the real component of an M2 being internal action components, so as Ryan says, adapting a "banana" mag to a later mark M1 carbine would be visually fine. Too bad no one has seized the initiative, and cast some copies of the DML mags, or built some on Shapeways .

I have a few banana clips if anyone is interested in casting them.

Thats Casual_collector, that helps indeed.

Okay I do have one more question tho: the Radio Spares Bag for the PRC-25/77 Radio, where was it attached to? On the Radio itself or on the straps securing it or did the radios have something on the side where it was hooked into? I mean was it secured with stripper clips or what? I have yet to figure that out, its hard to see on the photos where it was attached to.

I recommend attaching it to the webbing/strapping on the pack frame holding the radio in place. Use an ALICE clip on the back of the antenna bag to attach it to the strapping.

 

Ah thanks for the images Casual_Collector, they are really helpful and thanks for the tip regarding the Radio Spares Bag. Also very nice figure, is that an ACE M16 you modefied by shaving off the slab side receiver?

 

Yes, you can cut it to look like a side slab with a little care.
From the Six Silent Men books:

Instead of the issue M-16 rifle, Lurps often carried different "main guns." Dirty Ernie Winston carried a twelve-gauge shotgun, the barrel cut nearly to the magazine and the stock cut to the pistol grip. He also had cut the stock on a 7.62mm M-14 and attached an M-16 pistol grip, and cut the barrel back to the gas-tube plug. That produced a handful of booming, flaming volcano when fired on full auto!

From Gone Native regarding the same LRRP:

Dirty Ernie was carrying that shotgun in a homemade scabbard on his web belt. Already firing his M-14 from a kneeling position, Dirty Ernie decided he wanted to bring his shotgun into play. Pulling his shotgun out, Dirty Ernie torched one off. The shotgun's barrel peeled back damn near to the chamber! It numbed his left hand clear up to his elbow, and the pellets from the round sprayed into the arm of a woman prisoner Dirty Ernie had been guarding. We surmised later that while Dirty Ernie was kneeling, the barrel, poking out the bottom of its scabbard, had rammed into the mud, plugging it.

One of the Six Silent Men books also describes a LRRP named Riley Cox carrying a pump-action shotgun as his primary weapon on a mission.

 

The ACE ruck can be mounted on the top of the frame in the same way it can be attached on the lower part of the frame.
The only M1 carbine's I've seen that come with the 30 round magazines have been SOTW (Vietnam Adviser set) and DML's Korean War night vision sniper.
With the shot gun I can't say for sure, I've seen pictures of LRRP's with shot guns, but never with an M16 as well.
The last two I'm unsure of.

 

Well, shotguns are bothering me a bit to be honest, there seems to me at least, that there are not a lot of decent Vietnam Era shotguns in 1/6 scale. I have tried to get the Remington M870 that came with that Crossfire Fox Lurker figure or at least the one that comes with the DAM Officer Lewis figure but no such luck. The 21st century Ithaca M37 is a bit more common tho, but I have yet to see anyone make a Winchester 1200 for example or a Stevens model 520 and 720.

 

Would this be of any interest to you?

The make isn't properly identified in the listing, looks like it may be an Ithaca?

There's also this M870 for 13 bucks at MD, just need to repaint the furniture.

I did find the Officer Lewis shotgun at BlackOpsToys, but for around 25 bucks.

 

Yes, the first one is the Ithaca M37 that comes with the 21st Century Navy SEAL pointman figure, sadly the store does not ship to Germany, but I know another place where I can get it, I also know where to get the more regular M37 Riot Gun.

Well, I have been thinking about getting Masked Mercenary M870, but if I do, I would as you said, need to repaint the furniture into wood because I dont think they used Synthetic furniture back in NAM. That would raise the question of how would that be done, how do I get the wooden pattern down? I dont have any airbrush stuff, only regular brushes and I never re-painted anything before.

 

Yes, the first one is the Ithaca M37 that comes with the 21st Century Navy SEAL pointman figure, sadly the store does not ship to Germany, but I know another place where I can get it, I also know where to get the more regular M37 Riot Gun.

Well, I have been thinking about getting Masked Mercenary M870, but if I do, I would as you said, need to repaint the furniture into wood because I dont think they used Synthetic furniture back in NAM. That would raise the question of how would that be done, how do I get the wooden pattern down? I dont have any airbrush stuff, only regular brushes and I never re-painted anything before.

Easy 4-Step Wood Tutorial

 

Chalk pastels can be bought in a number of places, I usually get mine from the craft section at Walmart. Grind some up into a powder, apply with a damp brush as needed, can have a ton of applications.

Sometimes I'll pit and scrape the surface first for some grain detail, then apply the wood colour, a black wash to help make the detail pop, and seal.

Sometimes even just a coat of brown and an application of actual wood stain can look pretty nice.

 

Thanks for the tips, I will have to try that out.

 

Okay I have another question that is more on the 1:6 technical side of things and that is, if anyone here ever kitbashed a whole NAM Platoon of soldier, because I would be interesting to know how long it took to put together the at least 15 if not 30 figures (from what I read NAM Army Platoons where like 20 to 30 men put in 2-3 squads with 2 Grenadiers and at least 1 M60 MG).. I do recall Pickel Munkey putting together a lot of Marines so I would be interested to know if anyone else tried to do that.

 

As far as I know, JokersWarPig, those VonAbt guys, and the Munkey are the only site members to do anything in that size. Viva The Nam probably counts as well, I suppose.

 

JokersWarPig has a mighty fine looking group of grunts.
Another fella on OSS was working on a great group too, but that stuff all got wiped when the site went offline and I haven't been able to find him again since.

It took me a long time to get my guys together. It's a lot easier now, though, with a more readily available supply of gear.
I'd say I've got, ball park figure, 30 grunts.
I'm never really -finished- a figure though. They still get gear tweaks and refinements.

I want to get them all out for a shoot sometime, not just 10 or so at a time like I've been doing, and with my 1/6 combat photographer documenting the action.

 

Well, I need a lot more gear if I ever want to try something like that, because I have both Army and Marine figures here, right now they are Squad sized and I still have some gear here but I think I will run out of Jungle Utilities if ever going to try that. Well guess it will take another 5 years until its all done then XD

 

It took me about 3 or 4 years to get a large amount of my guys together.

Are you trying to go for all cloth gear, or does that not matter as much?
I try and use as much soft-goods as I can, so have a little pile of Dragon pouches and such, mostly ammo pouches, aid kits and canteen covers.

SOTW figures can be a great source of uniforms, they have a bit of a more accurate cut than the current Ace offerings, too.

 

Well, I do have plenty of Dragon gear, most of the uniforms I have are Dragon and I do use some of Dragon NAM stuff like pouches and LBE for some figures and I should still have some of it, but for more elaborate stuff, ACE gear just seems better suited to me.

As for SOTW: well if I could find the later carded NAM sets somewhere I would buy them, but every time they pop up they are also sold out right away or they have ridicules shipping costs (I am not gonna pay 50 US Dollars for shipping a item that is sold for 15, thats just crazy) not to mention I dont even know where I should look for that stuff in the first place. I would be happy if I could get some more Dragon NAM Uniforms and gear at this point.

 

You can have a lot of fun with outdoor shoots if you find the right location. I used 9 figures and 7 or 8 animals for this one:

 

Ah I remember those photos, I even saved them. I just dont think I have a place looking like that near where I live, but I did think about doing a shoot like that one day myself. I am always impressed by outdoor shoots like that, I mean, what if you drop some of the smaller items in the grass or in the water?

Also, I am wondering, about VC/NVA figures, what gear do you people use for kitbashing those? It seems impossible to find VC Black Pajamas, let alone the NVA Pith helmets.

 

Aw jeeze, I've lost a lot of small stuff, mostly grenades and packs of smokes, and such in the water before.

I've only got two VC right now, in black pajamas with a mishmash of WWII Russian web gear and AKs.

They're very basic looking.
The uniforms are actually black US uniforms from the Dragon 'Nam Ron figure. If I get hard up for more US uniforms, I'll likely paint them OD green.
If/when that happens, I'll likely strip them back a bit further to be more an 'insurgent' style guerrilla fighter with more civilian style clothing.
I'm thinking of modifying some GI Joe bodies, because they're smaller, and using GI Joe, or even Action Man clothing if I can find appropriate looking stuff.

 

I just saw that Cotswould sells VC Black PJs in their Elite Brigade section, I recall they also had OG Jungle Uniforms and other stuff, sadly that was all sold out (I had just placed a order back in the day for a bunch of them, only to get a mail from them saying they where out of stock, still wish I had gotten some of em) and I dont think they are going to make them anymore, but hey at least VC PJs is a thing. That still leaves open where to find fitting footwear.

I am sort of glad that ACE stepped into the Vietnam era and that DAM Toys now does NAM stuff, hope it inspires others to fill in that gap as well, would be nice to see.

 

Oh man would it ever be nice...
I don't think that the DAM M60 Gunner has shipped out yet, has it? Supposed to come out during the 3rd quarter of 2017, which ends at the end of the month..