A Soldiers Request

[Boomstick]

My son is currently in Iraq at F.O.B. Warrior in Kirkuk with 10th Mtn. 222. He has asked me to build a diorama representing his Iraq deployment. These past few weeks, he has been assigned QRF (quick reaction force) in which he is assigned to a truck (Humvee) with a total of 5 personnel. The scenario will be his truck responding to an Iraqi Army Humvee that has been struck by an I.E.D. I will also have another truck (Humvee) as well as a KIOWA circling above. Scale will be 1/35. The environment will be simple, a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk with typical Iraqi country side. I am an experienced model builder but I have never attempted a diorama and I don't know where to start. I am at the mercy of you veteran builders and I ask for your help to complete this project for my son.

Things I need:

1 KIOWA Kit

Modern Infantry with weapons (M4's and M249's) at least 10 troops

1 set of infantry to depict Iraqi Army (5) with AK's

2 Updated Humvee Kits (I know I will have to fabricate to make current, lots of goodie have been added lately)

1 Typical Humvee Kit (Iraqi)

Materials to make up Iraqi surroundings.

I have googled some but it will take me longer to search then it will to build, so, I am asking you all for help.

Edited February 5, 2008 by Boomstick

[MarioK]

...

Things I need:

1 KIOWA Kit

Modern Infantry with weapons (M4's and M249's) at least 10 troops

1 set of infantry to depict Iraqi Army (5) with AK's

2 Updated Humvee Kits (I know I will have to fabricate to make current, lots of goodie have been added lately)

1 Typical Humvee Kit (Iraqi)

Materials to make up Iraqi surroundings.

I have googled some but it will take me longer to search then it will to build, so, I am asking you all for help.

Good enough reason to try your first dio :D

1. Kiowa kit - the Academy one is your only choice

2. Dragon modern marines set (they are wearing the older bdu suits, not used currently, the army is now using ACU as you know probably)

3. No figures depicting iraqi army but you can use ICM mujahedeen figures for the heads (not really accurate but will do) and combine torsos and body parts to get the us equipment used by the Iraqi's

4. MiG productions M1114 humvee is your best choice. It's a resin update for the Tamiya kit. Can be upgraded with some scratchbuilding but again is your only way

5. Older style Humvees are available from Tamiya (m1025) as well as Academy. Tamiya is great, Academy not so much but can be built into a good looking model. M1114- again MiG

6. Any buildings can be scratchbuilt or bought from Verlinden, CustomDioramics etc. Search for images needed for your idea and see if you can make tehm from scratch using cardboard, celluclay, styrene sheets, etc.

If you need help locating these, just yell ok? :D

[Boomstick]

Cool, I'm looking into those items. You are right about the Academy KIOWA kit, in fact, I had already picked that one out. I was looking around the house for materials I might have for the landscaping and I have some styrofoam sheets. Are these ok to work with? Also, obviously there needs to be a sandy terrain and so far I haven't come up with a way to simulate that. **The figures have been located. Czech Master's make a modern US Infantry Iraq. But expensive.

Edited February 5, 2008 by Boomstick

[Benner]

Modern Infantry with weapons (M4's and M249's) at least 10 troops

-if you're going to use injection kits, the M4s are nice in the Trumpeter kit(s) that have them. the Dragon M4s are plain as they don't have a modern scope or foregrip, etc. M249s are not up to date with any kit, lacking a heat shield (I think), etc. I would recommend you get Echelon 1/35 US insignia decals; your son's unit might be on one of those sheets.

1 set of infantry to depict Iraqi Army (5) with AK's

I "think" Iraqi infantry gear is pretty much like US, just different camouflage pattern and with soviet designed weapons. I don't know what kind of body armor they wear.

for an Iraqi Humvee, you might want to check out the Echelon 1/35 Humvee sheet. I'm pretty sure there is Iraqi markings included.

Edited February 5, 2008 by Benner

[Richard E]

This might help you with some reference pictures: Primeportal

[arkhunter2002]

What's the time frame? If you need to do some ACU stuff, look at this thread, it may help you:

http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=mod...3034&page=1

HTH,

Austin

[Boomstick]

What's the time frame? If you need to do some ACU stuff, look at this thread, it may help you:

http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=mod...3034&page=1

HTH,

Austin

Well, he comes home in April on a two week leave, and his tour ends Dec '08, so, I would like to have a good start for him to see while on leave. This will be expensive, the figures alone will prob be over $100.

[arkhunter2002]

Unless you feel like sculpting and casting your own body armor updates and all.

BTW, PM me if you are interested, I have a set of P353001 Echelon's army/marines patch (first of three sets, but this one has the 10th mountain patch). I'll probably never use them anyways, they've been sitting around for awhile.

Take care,

Austin

[rjwood_uk]

CMK do loads of nice stuff you could use.

one idea could be using this:

http://www.cmkkits.com/en/figures/us-marin...2-medics-3-fig/

to depict a wounded iraqi soldier that has just got out of the hit humvee.

just an idea.

for the sand you could use the games workshop sand, it should be just to scale!, i do have a bookmark somewhere showing how to make a really good sand dio, il try and find it and post it later.

Richard

[Boomstick]

Guys thanks so much. Awesome info, I just need to take it all in. Many more ideas are flowing. I have alot of "updated" pics of his Humvee so that's not a problem. What ever I can't buy I'll build.

[arkhunter2002]

Another helpful link from Armorama incase you need to scratchbuild a couple things:

http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload...0975&page=1

Take care,

Austin

[Boomstick]

Another helpful link from Armorama incase you need to scratchbuild a couple things:

http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload...0975&page=1

Take care,

Austin

BINGO!!!!!

[MarioK]

Cool, I'm looking into those items. You are right about the Academy KIOWA kit, in fact, I had already picked that one out. I was looking around the house for materials I might have for the landscaping and I have some styrofoam sheets. Are these ok to work with? Also, obviously there needs to be a sandy terrain and so far I haven't come up with a way to simulate that. **The figures have been located. Czech Master's make a modern US Infantry Iraq. But expensive.

For landscaping you picked just the right stuff.

1. Find an picture frame or some kind of a board to place the styrofoam inside. It will look great as a base

If you dont find any appropriate size, go to a craft store and see if they have such material or build it your self it is easy enough even for me and can be fun to start from scratch

2. You can glue styrofoam with a special glue for styrofoam or use plain old white glue to do it. Just stack one layer upon others to raise the terrain or cut it out with a chisel or something like it to depress the terrain. It doesen't have to be nice, since the next step will take care of that

3. Use white glue mixed with real sand (the finer kind) or with flour to represent the fine sand found in desert regions. Coarser sand looks better in my opinion tough. Spreading the mix all over can get messy so prepare everything with old newspaper etc. While the mix is drying pop small stones and rubble to get more real surrounding and any vegetation would be nice. Depends on the place you want to model right?

4. Buildings can be made from plaster, or modeling clay, as an easier alternative. For instance, to make small wall fences commonly seen in Iraqi towns, use the clay to form a rectangular shape, wait until it dries and then scribe the bricks with the back of a modeling knife or just chip away some damage to the ends with pliers or such. The easiest way to do this however is buying AM sets of building, but these are done in the same way (plaster kind anyway) and you still need to assemble them in a similar way

5. CMK figures are ok, but look WAY TOO THIN imho. But they are posed in various positions so you can get those and combine with what you like. There are modern figures coming if you have the time. Feel free to check out missing-lynx forums and armorama. They are bound to know more about it. The same question pops out from time to time.

Hope this helps a bit

[Boomstick]

For landscaping you picked just the right stuff.

1. Find an picture frame or some kind of a board to place the styrofoam inside. It will look great as a base

If you dont find any appropriate size, go to a craft store and see if they have such material or build it your self it is easy enough even for me and can be fun to start from scratch

2. You can glue styrofoam with a special glue for styrofoam or use plain old white glue to do it. Just stack one layer upon others to raise the terrain or cut it out with a chisel or something like it to depress the terrain. It doesen't have to be nice, since the next step will take care of that

3. Use white glue mixed with real sand (the finer kind) or with flour to represent the fine sand found in desert regions. Coarser sand looks better in my opinion tough. Spreading the mix all over can get messy so prepare everything with old newspaper etc. While the mix is drying pop small stones and rubble to get more real surrounding and any vegetation would be nice. Depends on the place you want to model right?

4. Buildings can be made from plaster, or modeling clay, as an easier alternative. For instance, to make small wall fences commonly seen in Iraqi towns, use the clay to form a rectangular shape, wait until it dries and then scribe the bricks with the back of a modeling knife or just chip away some damage to the ends with pliers or such. The easiest way to do this however is buying AM sets of building, but these are done in the same way (plaster kind anyway) and you still need to assemble them in a similar way

5. CMK figures are ok, but look WAY TOO THIN imho. But they are posed in various positions so you can get those and combine with what you like. There are modern figures coming if you have the time. Feel free to check out missing-lynx forums and armorama. They are bound to know more about it. The same question pops out from time to time.

Hope this helps a bit

Thanks for the tips. I plan on working on the vehicles and KIOWA first, so, hopefully, in the near future there will be more figures released. Also, what is the best online hobby shop? I usually visit my local shop but I'm gonna have to go else where to get alot of this stuff.

[notalotaanything]

Greetings,

Using a very fine sand is a good idea...been using that for a long time on my mini bases. Another way to apply is to paint the base and pour the sand onto the paint. The color of the paint affects the way the sand will look. Experimentation is the best way to find the perfect color. I use a light color for most of my stuff.

Mike

Rama Lama Nota Lota Anyting

Temple of the Rain

Oregon

[MarioK]

Thanks for the tips. I plan on working on the vehicles and KIOWA first, so, hopefully, in the near future there will be more figures released. Also, what is the best online hobby shop? I usually visit my local shop but I'm gonna have to go else where to get alot of this stuff.

I use greatmodels and of course luckymodels is ok. You can find a lot of links on the ARC homepage on the left, and some sponsor links on the armorama homepage. Compare prices, shipping and see which ne works the best for you.

HTH, Mario

[Boomstick]

Here's my son in his "office".

[MarioK]

Here's my son in his "office".

Great photo... just shows how much the humvee has mutated over years. Hope he's safe. if you have some more photos please post away

Another thing. You might want to check out this link for some modern figures

http://www.network54.com/Forum/526495/mess.../O.I.F.+Figures

Cheers, Mario

[Boomstick]

Here is some more pics. The one shows some of the housing on the outskirts of Kirkuk which is typical. More detail of the trucks. How do I simulate the barbed wire on the hood, or is this available aftermarker, couldn't find any. Thanks again for all info and links. Looks like NWM is releasing some nice OIF figures soon, so, I'll be waiting for them as well as mix and match of some CMK's as well. Wow, I think I'm biting of more than I can chew. ;)

Edited February 7, 2008 by Boomstick

[rjwood_uk]

great pics!!!

as for the barbed wire, well thats razor wire on the hood which i have no idea how to replicate!!

but for barbed wire:

get a thin bit of wire (best would be quite thin (to scale) aluminum) then get some even thinner brass wire and put it againt the thicker wire, wrap round once or twice, spot it with a bit of cyno, then snip off at desired lengh. keep doing this untill you have enough, which by the looks of the photo will be alot and take a long time!!

hope that makes sense. if not let me know and il do a diagram for you.

[arkhunter2002]

I think Aber makes some razor wire.

As for the NWM Figures, the first one is 1/16th. The second one, in 1/35th is wearing the first gen interceptor body armor (Either woodland or desert). Are those Humvees the new M-1151's?

Take care,

Austin

Edited February 8, 2008 by arkhunter2002

[Boomstick]

I found this for the wire. Not sure about 1:18 scale though.

barbed wire

[Boomstick]

I think Aber makes some razor wire.

As for the NWM Figures, the first one is 1/16th. The second one, in 1/35th is wearing the first gen interceptor body armor (Either woodland or desert). Are those Humvees the new M-1151's?

Take care,

Austin

I believe they are. He just informed me that they are going to pick up their new MRAP Caimens in a couple days. The latest and greatest. But we are probably a long ways away before we see that kit so on with the Humvee build. I have decided to use the Tamiya Armament carrier version as my base vehicle. I have found a ton of accessories. The HUMVEE alone is gonna cost to build to current specs. I predict this whole thing costing around $300. Money well spent. I have a ton of research to before construction begins plus I need to do some sketching of the diorama itself. Slow going so don't expect much progress.

[rjwood_uk]

here ya go:

http://www.accurate-armour.com/ShowProduct...;manufacturer=0

razor wire in 1/35th!!

[MarioK]

You can find the review for some accesories including the concertina wire here

http://www.vodnik.net/pages/Blast/35051.htm (altough it is wrapped)

Maybe Verlinden makes some that's not packaged...

Also check out Plus and real models accesories for the humvee