Method
For my river sections I wanted a channel that was a minimum of 14cms wide. Using a pencil I marked in 5cms from the outside edges and then drew an irregular line representing the river-bank to join up the marks. In this way, the river-bank itself will be irregular but each of the sections will abut each other perfectly as long as each end of the river-bank ends 5cms in from the edge of the base.
Once you have marked out the river-banks in pencil, roll out two long 'worms' of putty. The thickness of the worms will determine the width of the river-bank and this is simply a matter of choice. Personally, I did not want the river-bank to be too wide or steep but to simply represent the edge of the waterway.
Shape the 'worms' on the base to represent the irregularity of the banks but make sure that each end of the putty bank finishes on the 5cm markings. Also make sure that the putty bank extends beyond the edges of the base to allow for shrinkage as the putty dries.
Once the putty worm has been shaped to form the river-bank, simply flatten it out with the end of your finger. I then left the putty to dry for a day. Originally I glued it in place immediately using PVA glue, however, PVA does not adhere to Perspex very well and when the banks were dry they came away from the base very easily. Therefore, once the putty banks have dried out, glue them to the base using a contact adhesive.
The banks of rivers are generally thick with lush undergrowth right up to the edge of the water. I wanted my sections to look like this when finished but I also wanted them to be reasonably easy to store. As a compromise, I decided to have some low ground terrain permanently modelled in place on each bank. Then, when I set up the river sections on the gaming-board, I intended to place free-standing undergrowth along the banks in order to achieve the crowding and density of vegetation seen in so many pictures.
Using lumps of putty, I fashioned clumps of bushes at irregular intervals along the bank-side. Each bush was made from a blob of putty that was glued in place using PVA glue and worked on while still soft. Using some tools and picks from a wax-carving set, I textured the putty blobs to represent leaves and foliage. Note that I made no attempt to model individual leaves but my intention was to create a texture that, when subsequently painted, would represent foliage.
At this stage I also decided to add some reed beds and modelled these into suitable places. This was done by simply spreading some putty out from the bank-side and into the main waterway. While the putty was still workable, I cut some brush fibres and, after dipping them in PVA, stuck them in place close to the river-bank.
I modelled two or three lumps of vegetation on each river-bank and deliberately avoided modelling an unbroken line of vegetation. My reasoning for this was that I would be using the breaks in the vegetation to place huts or crossings etc. My intention was to model the river sections in such a way as to make their use as flexible as possible on the table-top.
Once I had glued the reeds in place, the river section was, to all intents and purposes, complete. Now I just left it for another day for the putty to completely dry out prior to painting. Once completely dry, I used a small hand-saw to cut off the ends of the river-banks so that they were flush with the end of the base.
As part of the Royal Australian Navy's contributions to the Vietnam War, a Squadron of UH-1s were attached directly to a US 135th Assault Helicopter Squadron at Vung Tau
As promised, here are some additional closeups of my Marine Platoon. This time, 2nd Squad takes post ready for the next patrol...
After 2 months of preparatory training, my first USMC Rifle Patoon is ready for deployment to South Vietnam, Republic of.
The bases were spray undercoated black, drybrushed with Tamiya Dark and Flat Earth and detailed - rocks with Ral Partha Slate and the Palm leaves with GW Jungle green and a touch of Sunburst Yellow. Foliage is All Woodlands Scenics - Dark and Light course turf with some grass tufts added in using PVA glue. Actually, the grass tufts need some work still, I'm not really happy with most of them.
15V2 CORRUGATED IRON SHELTER £2.15
Andy has posted some pics of his 15mm Vietnam forces - he has built a 7th Cav force using both Flashpoint and Peter Pig miniatures (and 14 diecast Hueys!). His group (the Cheltenham Warchiefs) have been gaming with a set of Vietnam mods to the popular Flames of War rules.
AUSTRALIAN MILITARY OPERATIONS IN VIETNAM: by Albert PALAZZO
My first USMC rifle platoon is almost complete - Ooh-Rah!
I found some more neat terrain modelling tips and ideas at the War Factory website today.
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I ordered a model of a US Navy PACV in 15mm from Tim at Gomi designs last week and it arrived today. And a nice beast she is too!
