Back to ‘nam

Continuing with the Tour of Duty theme, the theme song from the film is Paint it black by the Rolling Stones, it also plays during the end credits of Full Metal Jacket.

Having finished the helicopters I went on to finish off the turrets of my three M551 Sheridans.  This was a light tank, capable of being dropped by parachute as it was made from aluminium – this meant it was exposed to RPGs.

Anyway I had painted the hulls sometime ago, but for some reason didn’t complete the turrets.  I nearly forgot to wash the turrets with AP Dark Tone.

Not quite as famous for this week’s post, but the TV series Tour of Duty was something I picked up on DVD a good few years ago, much like some of these helicopters.  There is a scene from the first episode of season 2 of the helicopters swooping in.

I cracked on on Friday evening, with adding the decals.  Things would have gone much smoother if I’d used them the 15+ years ago they were printed.  As it was several just didn’t want to separate from the backing paper and a couple split.  Anyway I put them on and gave them a coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish with a brush.  There was some weathering completed with Vietnam Earth pigment.

This photo is pre-Anti-shine varnish.

I can’t paint helicopters for ‘nam without the images from the Ride of the Valkyries screen from Apocalypse Now coming into mind.

I have cracked on with painting the Cobra, two Hogs and 1 Slick helicopter.  I started by using AP Military Shader all over the helicopters to darken the AP Army Green and also to pick out the panel lines.  I started with the windows, but didn’t have the Sky Blue I wanted so had to mix it from P3 Exile Blue and Vallejo Sky Grey.  The windows are finished with some P3 Traitor Green to provide the idea of some reflection of the jungle.  A bit of Vallejo Sick Green did for the top windows on the Hueys.  The weapons and noses were painted with Vallejo German Grey – I am concerned with how shiny it has turned out, but hope the decals help knock it back to a matt finish.  Next up is weathering and decals.

When Battlefront decided that they would release an expansion for Flames of War, based in the Vietnam War (back in 2013 according to this article) I got into it. I decided that it would be easier to not end up with lots of 15mm Infantry to paint up, as such I went with a Black Horse (11th Armoured) company which consists of lots of M113 and variants.

Overtime I added tanks and decided that I needed a heavier tank than in the Black Horse options so some Centurion V’s appeared from the ANZACs and then I expanded to add an ANZAC company.

Of course you can’t go to Vietnam without bringing in some helicopters so I purchase a Huey Hog and a Huey Cobra. When I was at Broadsides last I picked up another Hog and a Huey Slick to add in. That brings me to the point of this project – time to get the whole army finished.

Army List:

7x M113 ACAV (painted)
1x M125/M106 Mortar Carrier (painted0
4x M132 Zippo (Flamer) (painted)
2x M577 (1 painted)
3x M551 Sheridans
3x M109 (155m SPG) (painted)
2x UH-1B Hogs
1x AH-1G Cobra
1x UH-1D Slick
12x ANZAC SLR Teams
2x ANZAC Medic Teams
12x ANZAC M29 Mortar Teams
7x ANZAC Command Teams
12x ANZAC M67 AT Teams
3x Centurion MK V (painted)

I’ve spent the last couple of weekends assembling the helicopters.

I keep getting an error when posting.