This is one diorama in a series of dioramas and vignettes called “Shopping in Long Thanh” which is basically a remake of a diorama I built in 1999 while stationed in Alaska, but now that my skills have improved I decided to try again, but this time, instead of one large diorama, it is broken down into several smaller pieces.
This particular diorama depicts an event that is described in COL Brice Barnes’ book, “Vignettes from Vietnam: Brief Moments of Sanity and Belated Notes of Gratitude” and from discussions with him. Back in 1967, 1LT Barnes was the Platoon Leader of 3d Platoon, Bravo Company, 2d Battalion, 47th Infantry (Mechanized), 9th Infantry Division. In October or November of 1967, his platoon was returning to Camp Bearcat after it’s mission for the day. Prior to returning, 1LT Barnes received word that a package from his father containing some venison sausage had arrived and was waiting for him at the battalion’s mail room. In anticipation of sharing this treat with some of his buddies, he wanted to get some baguettes to go along with the sausage. There was a bakery in Long Thanh that they would be passing by on their way back to Camp Bearcat, so he had his platoon conduct a halt there so he could go to the bakery and so some of his Soldiers could shop for some souvenirs to send home because Christmas time was just around the corner and who knows when they would get another chance later on. This diorama depicts 1LT Barnes negotiating the purchase of some baguettes, his platoon sergeant walking by after purchasing a few souvenirs, and several Vietnamese civilians going about daily business of buying and selling bread and Banh Mi sandwiches. Being that it is towards the end of the day, the bakery was not as well stocked with bread items like it would have been in the morning which I tried to convey through the amount of bread on display and the small basket of more bread being brought out.
Some info about the figures: The figures of 1LT Barnes and his platoon sergeant are conversions of Bravo 6 figures with Hornet heads and some modifications. The Vietnamese Civilians consist of some figures by Paracel Miniatures and Masterbox and conversions of Masterbox and Dragon. The cats are from some manufacturer off ebay. I painted them to look like two of my cat. The figures and cats are painted in acrylics.
The building facade was constructed from blocks from Hansa Systems covered with ground texture paste that was sanded after curing to give a stucco appearance. The roof is from Model Victoria. The display case was made from sheet styrene and some L shaped pieces. The bread was made from Magic Sculpt. The bowls of ingredients for the Banh Mi are from Reality in Scale. The groundwork is Magic Sculpt textured with a toothbrush and the bare areas received some ground texture paste. The vegetation consists of preserved plants from Diorama Respespe and grass tufts from Vallejo. The sign was printed on my printer and the Vietnamese was verified by two friends in Vietnam.
After seeing it post, I guess the photo of 1LT Barnes is so small one cannot read it. He served as a platoon leader for both 3d PLT, B Co and the Scout Platoon and later the HHC XO. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross for actions at Widow’s Village and Ho Nai Village during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
I also just realized that these photos are of the diorama before I redid the ground texture so it would be more consistent with the other two pieces in this diorama series. This is what it looks like now.
After just checking out “Haircut” too that, sir, is what’s known as Making An Entrance - or rather Making a Delayed Re-entry from the old site. So good to see modelling & narrative skills blended this well, bravo
What a way to make an entrance! This figure work is outstanding! The whole diorama is a pleasure to look at. The detail in the bread, the woodgrain, and the uniforms is exceptional. Well done!
Thank you. It has been quite a while since I had even visited this site. I figured it was time to come back. It is a lot easier to post stuff now, so that is good.
This is one diorama in a series of dioramas and vignettes called “Shopping in Long Thanh” which is basically a remake of a diorama I built in 1999 while stationed in Alaska, but now that my skills have improved I decided to try again, but this time, instead of one large diorama, it is broken down into several smaller pieces.
This particular diorama depicts an event that is described in COL Brice Barnes’ book, “Vignettes from Vietnam: Brief Moments of Sanity and Belated Notes of Gratitude” and from discussions with him. Back in 1967, 1LT Barnes was the Platoon Leader of 3d Platoon, Bravo Company, 2d Battalion, 47th Infantry (Mechanized), 9th Infantry Division. In October or November of 1967, his platoon was returning to Camp Bearcat after it’s mission for the day. Prior to returning, 1LT Barnes received word that a package from his father containing some venison sausage had arrived and was waiting for him at the battalion’s mail room. In anticipation of sharing this treat with some of his buddies, he wanted to get some baguettes to go along with the sausage. There was a bakery in Long Thanh that they would be passing by on their way back to Camp Bearcat, so he had his platoon conduct a halt there so he could go to the bakery and so some of his Soldiers could shop for some souvenirs to send home because Christmas time was just around the corner and who knows when they would get another chance later on. This diorama depicts 1LT Barnes negotiating the purchase of some baguettes, his platoon sergeant walking by after purchasing a few souvenirs, and several Vietnamese civilians going about daily business of buying and selling bread and Banh Mi sandwiches. Being that it is towards the end of the day, the bakery was not as well stocked with bread items like it would have been in the morning which I tried to convey through the amount of bread on display and the small basket of more bread being brought out…
Thanks. Yeah, it has been a while and it has been a heck of a year and a half. Now that things have settled down a bit, I hope to have more time for modeling and posting progress on upcoming projects.
Here is a better photo of 1LT Brice Barnes that was taken a few weeks before the event depicted in this diorama. I included one of the previous diorama photos that had the best view of the face of the figure depicting him for comparison.
