Dioramas
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Fallujah, The Good, The Bad and The Rest
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Monday, January 26, 2015 - 05:43 PM UTC
Uh, it was a bit bigger than an xacto actually...being a good doc (also helps having a stock of gauze for rolled up cammie nets in the shop) kept the mess down to a minimum. Hurts like stink, but since I'm on pain meds courtesy of my 1:1 visit to Fallujah even that's relatively bearable. Pain is our friend, it reminds us we're not dead yet. The only part of the project that caught any fallout from the mishap will be covered by a building and some ground work. Romain, I hope you're back to working your magic with your Hue project soon; having been a corpsman with the Marines I'm really liking your depiction of the docs, and we did do whatever we could to blend in with the grunts; the guys who needed to know us knew who we were, why stand out?

So, depending on the snow blowing I'm shooting for pics this afternoon. Sorry for the delay, I promise not to have any mishaps with the snow blower; just keeping my fingers crossed we don't lose power, so far so good though!
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 - 07:17 PM UTC
Turns out the weather wasn't the problem yesterday, it was my fellow Town of Millis employees who tossed a monkey wrench into the works by plowing us in most of the day. Thankfully I have a really great neighbor who removed a huge amount of the windrow with his plow, didn't even ask him to, he just dropped the blade and took it away. So, I did promise pics and here is what I managed to accomplish before my mishap. This is a mock up of building 4, no windows or doors cut or laid out yet and there will be a third floor added with a balcony. Before anyone asks, blotches on the MDF is coffee.

http:///image.file

After the incident with the knife developing a taste for my hand, I treated myself to a heavy duty hot wire cutter. SWMBO didn't squawk since her b-day present came in more than double what it cost. It will be here tomorrow, so no more mishaps with rough cutting
vettejack
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Posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 - 08:51 PM UTC

Quoted Text

For some time now I've been gathering resources, searching through lots (and I mean lots) of pics and experimenting with techniques while I thought this project through. I was approached to do this by someone it's really hard to say no to, given my personal history with the subject I was very reluctant to take it on. In the end I decided to do it, and in doing so paying honor to the memory of my 11 Brothers 1/25 Marines lost during our tour there in 2006.

My tour in Fallujah lasted all of two months before I found myself being medevaced after we got hit near a line on the map we called Fran, a little over a year later I was retired.

Thus far I've gathered a bunch of figures, searching high and low for appropriate civilian figures (having watched Adamskii's build I know how difficult they are to find) and Marines wearing the MARPAT uniforms. Buildings are going to be made from scratch, lord knows I have enough pictures. For vehicles I'm looking at M1114's to represent part of a Mobile Assault Platoon and an M1123 with MAK. The story line centers on one we encountered on occasion -- a kid comes up and tells a dismounted patrol about a bunch of Ali Babas which mushrooms into something a whole lot bigger.




From a 22 year retired Vet...thank you for your service and sacrifice. I'm honored by your presence here and proud of our military...
panzerconor
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Posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 - 09:56 PM UTC
Been watching this build for a while now, I don't think there's very many others here who would be any more wualified for this diorama than yourself. Looks very promising and already impressive. I've been on the receiving end of my xacto blades before as well, never fun. The blizzard wasn't the murder death storm it was hyped up to be, but still gave me and excuse to get some work done too

Looking forward to more!

Thank you for your service

-Conor
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 - 10:56 PM UTC
John, you served your time as well, that makes you a Brother, and I thank you for your service and kind words. As I said, the only reason I agreed to do this is to remember those who didn't make it home.

Connor, thanks for your kind words as well, our combat camera guy hooked me up with a lot of good pics, better than the ones I took. You'd be surprised how much you depend on your non-dominant hand until you don't have full use of all the fingers on it. Just have to adapt and overcome, I managed to be back building a week after surgery with my left arm in a shoulder immobilizer, just defer the fine work for a few more days. We got about 30" give or take and didn't lose power so it could have been a lot worse.
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 02:25 AM UTC
We have a somewhat larger update today. I put the exterior of Building 3 together and rough cut a mock-up of the roof.



Building 4 right now is just the exterior walls, it will have a corrugated metal roof to give the scene a bit of variety.


This is one of those stands that would pop up from day to day, it will have produce for sale outside the abandoned shop which some of the guys from Brand X are living above. These things were knocked together with whatever scrap lumber could be scrounged, they looked like they just thrown together - I have to say however that the guys did do pretty decent carpentry my shop teacher would have been impressed.


And finally, this arrived in today's mail, it's going to be used in the produce stand.

And finally, my thumb is doing better. Looks like something out of a slasher movie, worse than it really is. I have to recommend those hemostatic gauze dressings for your shop, just in case. They work fast, and are painless (unlike Quik-Clot which hurts like an SOB). I used them in Iraq and on myself when this happened, color me a very strong endorser.
Stickframe
#362
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Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 09:51 AM UTC
Hi John,

Good to see you're back at it. Your building reuse/hastily assembled produce stand should look very good - looking forward to the next post!
Cheers
Nick
jrutman
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Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 07:00 PM UTC
Getting better all the time! Nice choice with that Black Dog food set. I have my eye on that one for one of my dios.
J
barron
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Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 07:43 PM UTC
From a 14 year medically discharged vet , thank you for your service to our country
vettejack
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Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 07:47 PM UTC

Quoted Text

John, you served your time as well, that makes you a Brother, and I thank you for your service and kind words. As I said, the only reason I agreed to do this is to remember those who didn't make it home.



My wife, every now and then, will ask why I build tanks instead of aircraft. I tell her because I had enough of airplanes while active duty. And along with her questioning it is also asked why I have such a hobby of bulding war machines while I have PTSD from those years of flying and a witness to death/destruction. I tell her its' therapy and like you, its kinda a mini memorial to those who fought. I stay with WW2 and Cold War subjects to keep away from the modern horrors of war that was my life for almost 22 years. I do break that rule sometimes when a vehicle just 'reaches' out to me to be built...case in point: my 1/35 M-47 from the Somolia/American conflict of '93 and the AML 90. Horrible violence that was Zaire in 1978, but I so wanted to build that kit too.
andromeda673
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Posted: Saturday, January 31, 2015 - 04:14 AM UTC
this is going to be sick, can't wait to see more progress.
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Saturday, January 31, 2015 - 05:10 AM UTC
Not a lot new to add today, worked on the produce stand, it's pretty much built, I need to put a tarp on the top. Finished up a couple of J's Work pallets; if you're not familiar with them they're really good, you can get a box of four or just a pair with a pallet jack. Both items will come in handy, I kind of got side tracked trying to scratch build a handcart like one I saw in use on my first tour it was pretty unique, the rear wheels were road wheels from an MT-LB. Pics will go up tomorrow, I'm going to start tinkering with the layout of the base since I may or may not need to come up with another building. I'm hoping I can get away with just hinting at the presence of a building by using those perimeter walls that surround houses.
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Sunday, February 01, 2015 - 07:39 PM UTC
After a truly frustrating weekend of trying to determine the most effective layout I discovered the best solution would be to modify the design of the apartment building somewhat and eliminate one of the stores. By doing that I can use the walls that surrounded the houses to give the impression of buildings located off the base and not block the view of the IED factory or the EOD tech making the lonely walk to deal with the VBIED in one of the bays that was nearly complete. The Meng EOD figure set is among those items still en-route to me, no worries though I won't be ready for them for a while. I was going to use the DioPark Mercedes for the VBIED, but decided on the Takom BMW instead. It was a black BMW SVBIED that hit us up on Fran, don't remember most of that day from about 1400 on but I won't forget that car. It's one of those personal boogeymen I mentioned at the beginning of the log.
Rogi01
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Posted: Monday, February 02, 2015 - 07:20 AM UTC
Excellent work! The produce is awesome
ReconTL3-1
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Posted: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 - 08:06 PM UTC
John,

First I'd like to thank you for your service. I have been in the military for 27 years with service as a Recon Marine in the late 1980's to mid 1990's and the rest in the Army. There is a special place in my heart for Corpsmen and Medics as they have helped several of my fellow Marines and Soldiers (and me too) while taking great risks in doing so. My first tour in Iraq was December 2004 through November 2005 and I was stationed at Camp Taqaddum (TQ). Our eastern patrol boundary was the western edge of Fallujah, so I am familiar with what the town looks like.

Second, I hope you find this project healing for those unseen wounds. I use modeling as a sort of therapy and it has helped a bunch in the healing process. However, I use Vietnam as a backdrop instead because some of those memories are from some jungle countries I operated in as a young Marine and others are from Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is easier for me to relate the feelings and incidents in a "safer" setting like Vietnam (by safer I am referring to it being safer for me emotionally, not that Vietnam was a safer place - it was probably a whole lot worse than anything I experienced in the various countries I served in) rather than placing them in the places they actually occurred and in the process I am also honoring those who served in Vietnam by trying to be as accurate in the details of units, uniforms, and equipment.

I have alot of respect for you for undergoing this endeavor showing the actual places that the event occurred. I know it will be painful at times, but the tribute you are making for your 11 fallen Brothers will mean so much to their families and your fellow Marines from your unit. Hopefully the experience will become theraputic for you.'

As far as the modeling part of this project goes, I think you are doing a great job recreating the buildings and atmosphere for the scene. I will be following this build log with much interest.

Semper Fi,
James
vettejack
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Posted: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 - 08:16 PM UTC

Quoted Text

John,

First I'd like to thank you for your service. I have been in the military for 27 years with service as a Recon Marine in the late 1980's to mid 1990's and the rest in the Army. There is a special place in my heart for Corpsmen and Medics as they have helped several of my fellow Marines and Soldiers (and me too) while taking great risks in doing so. My first tour in Iraq was December 2004 through November 2005 and I was stationed at Camp Taqaddum (TQ). Our eastern patrol boundary was the western edge of Fallujah, so I am familiar with what the town looks like.

Second, I hope you find this project healing for those unseen wounds. I use modeling as a sort of therapy and it has helped a bunch in the healing process. However, I use Vietnam as a backdrop instead because some of those memories are from some jungle countries I operated in as a young Marine and others are from Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is easier for me to relate the feelings and incidents in a "safer" setting like Vietnam (by safer I am referring to it being safer for me emotionally, not that Vietnam was a safer place - it was probably a whole lot worse than anything I experienced in the various countries I served in) rather than placing them in the places they actually occurred and in the process I am also honoring those who served in Vietnam by trying to be as accurate in the details of units, uniforms, and equipment.

I have alot of respect for you for undergoing this endeavor showing the actual places that the event occurred. I know it will be painful at times, but the tribute you are making for your 11 fallen Brothers will mean so much to their families and your fellow Marines from your unit. Hopefully the experience will become theraputic for you.'

As far as the modeling part of this project goes, I think you are doing a great job recreating the buildings and atmosphere for the scene. I will be following this build log with much interest.

Semper Fi,
James



A Salute to you as well, sir!!

Thank you for your service....
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 - 10:32 PM UTC
James, you truly are a Brother, as is anyone who served in that AO. We definitely chewed some of the same dirt. I mostly do World War II, because it's a "safe" subject area for me. Gene Hackman's character in the movie Uncommon Valor said something that really helped me to say yes to this project, he talks the breakout from the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War and follows it up by saying something about having to make friends with the monsters in your dreams. I haven't posted much the past few days because of the storm clean up from Monday's snow, for some reason it was worse than digging out from the blizzard.
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 - 11:30 PM UTC
Found some down time to shoot pics and do some time down in the shop. Even with the storms rolling through every couple days stuff for the project has continued to arrive, I'm sure my letter carrier is probably tired of me getting boxes every day, and I know the LHS is probably getting ready to put my picture on a milk carton. Road trip to Spare Time Shop tomorrow (it's also delivery day for them, always nice to see the new arrivals).

This is a sampling of the things that showed up the past few days.


These are a few of the things to be added to the stores, the freezer from the MIG set is a definite, the soda machine is a maybe, I don't recall seeing any and I can't find a picture of one in any of my pics. I have one or two showing the refrigerated coolers, so we're coloring it as a big maybe for the moment.


Building 1 and 2 with the produce stand both with and w/o second floor added.




That's about as far as I've gotten. This afternoon I'm going to finalize the layout of the apartment building and IED factory and that end of the street. I can rough in the location of the walls and gates on the near side of the street, I can leave that for last as long as I've allotted space for it on the base.
jrutman
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Posted: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 - 11:50 PM UTC
Nice to see you back up and running! Looks like the makings of a nice market.
J
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Thursday, February 05, 2015 - 12:49 AM UTC
Thanks, Jerry. It will look a whole lot better once I get more stock and some people to start populating it. I was surprised by the Verlinden set I got today, they look like they got put on a diet. I don't think I'm going to have to rely on the people aren't built alike principal as much as I thought I might. After sifting through some of my souk pictures I'm thinking about using a piece of plastic drop cloth instead of a tarp over the roof of the produce stand. Like the stands themselves they were often covered by whatever was handy.
ReconTL3-1
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Posted: Thursday, February 05, 2015 - 01:52 AM UTC
The layout is looking good, John.

Yeah, we sure did chew up some of the same dirt. We had an interpreter who I have suspicions that he was former Iraqi SF or something. We got along with him fine, but he sure hated insurgents. We had to keep an eye on him because he liked to beat the crap out of bad guys. He used to tell us about the history of the area and when you mentioned the dirt, it reminded me of a time when he was explaining the reason for the difference in the colors of the sand near TQ. One of the type of sand's names was Ramadi. I also remember going through a village we referred to as Q.A.J. because we couldn't pronounce it and one of my Soldiers buying a Pepsi that was bottled in Iran. Just some random thoughts that came to mind.

Keep up the good work on the project.
Semper Fi,
James
white4doc
#429
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Posted: Thursday, February 05, 2015 - 07:03 PM UTC
James, funny you should mention terps hating the bad guys. Ours were the same way, I remember SGTMAJ having to pull one of our terps off a bad guy who decided to bring one of his buddies to shoot at the CMOC -- that didn't end well for either of them, bad idea all around. Ah the sodas from Iran (and other places), almost always in glass bottles, and if you bought them from a kid they would wait for the bottle; I was with an LAR platoon near Yusufiyah in '03, they had this funky green apple flavored soda that was actually good, once you got past the color.

I thought about modifying the kid in the Verlinden set to be one of those who walked around with a cooler selling ice cream or sodas, but it would take a lot of grinding to remove the bag. Haven't abandoned the idea, just need to find the right figure to modify.
Stickframe
#362
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Posted: Thursday, February 05, 2015 - 11:32 PM UTC
Hi John,

Thanks for posting the update - the buildings and vendor stall seems to be coming right along - did you say some sort of corrugated metal over the stall? Maybe you could do a light weight frame (rebar, light metal whatever might have been available) then use a few sheets of corrugated, regular sheet metal and some sheets of canvas or vinyl? To get some variety - that is, suggesting this is a cobbled together temporary structure? In any case, looking good👍

I like your idea of adding the local kid selling the sodas. A subtle but ubiquitous element like him could be pretty cool.

Take care
Nick
jrutman
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Posted: Friday, February 06, 2015 - 12:12 AM UTC
Too bad you can't model the flies!! THAT...would make it really authentic.
J
grimmo
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Queensland, Australia
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Posted: Friday, February 06, 2015 - 06:23 PM UTC
looking good john!

With the Mig Coke dispenser, could you please scan the coke stickers and send me a copy please? I stuck mine on and they wouldn't stick on, and fell off. they would have been better made into a decal rather than a sticker.