Australians in Vietnam

17Jan
by patmcf

In 2025, life was quite hectic and seemed to pass quickly. Running a large block takes up plenty of time so I don’t get as much time for the hobby as I would like. However, I did manage to complete a diorama of Australians in the Vietnam War.

I had been wanting to create this diorama for some time, but the limited availability of Australian soldiers from that era made it challenging. I eventually found a set of 3D-printed figures that perfectly suited my needs. Although there are only seven figures in the set, I decided to add a tank to make the mini a bit more exciting.

The figures came from Military Field (1499), and the centurion was from Vespid Models.   the tank proved to be more difficult to assemble, particularly due to the kit including one of those irritable sheet metal parts that I always bugger up. 😉

Well, that’s all but to wish you all a belated Happy New Year!!

22 thoughts on “Australians in Vietnam”

    1. patmcf's avatar

      patmcf

      Thanks Steve, I bet the temperature up in your neck of the woods is opposite to ours 😉we had a 40 c day last week and bush fire 10 k away while you folks were suffering freezing temps, I know where I would rather be, that’s just because I’m an old weakling when it comes to the cold😉, take care matey, maybe I’ll be able to check in more on what you have been up to, fingers crossed 😉.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
      2. patmcf's avatar

        patmcf

        Wow matey😳I can’t even start to imagine being in -11 !! I struggle with -1 , I was definitely born to be warm. My wife gets cross when I’m out working on a 38c day 😅😅👍🏻.

        Liked by 2 people

    1. patmcf's avatar

      patmcf

      Hey matey ! Some times I forget we Aussies are so removed and use slang terms without thinking, I lived on a farm in the UK back in the seventies and found out what we call a paddock can be thousands of acres where as I the Uk it’s a small field. 😉. When us Aussies say a block it generally refers to a 1/4 acre that most houses are built on, but when folks like myself out in the country say block, it can be anywhere between an acre and a fully blown farm of thousands of acres, we are are a weird mob matey.
      It was a plus finding those Aussie soldiers , I could have used US guys, the Aussies troops were issued with us helmets but prefer the giggle hat or Boony as the Americans call the floppy hat that our troop wore. I would love to know why the us guys chose the helmet over a flimsy cloth hat .

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply
      2. patmcf's avatar

        patmcf

        Ahh matey😂😂we old ones are a bunch off mischievous troublesome buggers but now things are different and the younger crew have been o work out where they stand in the changing direction of this country of ours, time for us oldies to step aside as we have have a dream run that will never be repeated.

        Liked by 2 people

      4. patmcf's avatar

        patmcf

        Thanks Mark, when I was just starting work I worked with a Nam vet who was in tanks there and liked to regale me with stories of his time there so I have always had it in the back of my mind to do a related dio, I didn’t think it would take 53 years though😉.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. patmcf's avatar

      patmcf

      Thanks Dave, I hope to dig out some more of the old stuff and get back to my original themes though it’s been great that I could cover some different things that I haven’t done before,
      My wife said what about these old Roman’s she found on her knitting table 😂😂, forgot where they ended up last year! Will post them soon😉

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply
    1. patmcf's avatar

      patmcf

      So true as it was one of the terrible battles that Australia troops endured, no room for tanks in that show, well done for remembering Long Tan.
      I’m 71 and fortunately missed it , but when I at 17 and joined the work force I met a lot of our lads that had been there and one of the them was a tanker and regaled me with his tales in that terrible war. Great guys that should never have been there.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply
  6. John@justneedsvarnish's avatar

    John@justneedsvarnish

    Funnily enough, I thought of the film “Danger Close” about Long Tan, one of my favourite films! Really nice work, Pat! 🙂 I’ve seen photos of Australian Centurions in Vietnam so would have recognised this straight away without the soldiers!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  7. TinyPaintedHeroes's avatar

    TinyPaintedHeroes

    Very cool stuff Pat! This immediately took me back to the first diorama that I ever built as a young boy (it was a big Sherman Tank kit, maybe by Revell?) and I built the terrain with paper-mache and had Britains toy soldiers in the scene too. Very fond memories!

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
    1. patmcf's avatar

      patmcf

      Thanks matey, isn’t it interesting that back when we were kids paper -mache was the way to go😀, I built quite a few myself but forgetting to bring them indoors could end in a disaster 😂.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

Leave a reply to John@justneedsvarnish Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.