Master Box: SHOOTOUT! Vietnam War series | Armorama™

Master Box Kit 35241 continues the line of figure kits dedicated to the events of the Vietnam War.


This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/master-box-shootout-vietnam-war-series
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Hmmm, these guys look remarkably similar to the toy soldiers I used to play with when a younger kid, nice addition though, I’ll take anything from the SEA campaign.

Cajun :crocodile:

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PPSh would be rare but not impossible.

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It was still prevalent enough that it was taught in the weapons portion of the Q Course in '82.

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If the odds were 4:1 how did we lose? :thinking:

Let’s hope they will do a whole squad of North Vietnamese to fill out some dioramas.

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We were outnumbered in Washington, DC. and Saigon.

Cajun :crocodile:

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“You will kill ten of us, we will kill one of you, but in the end, you will tire of it first.”

― Ho Chi Minh

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Ain’t it the truth!

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Agree PPSh would be unusual, AK or SKS more common, but recalling the weapons we found, almost nothing would be impossible. Kneeling shooters’ butt pack doesn’t look right…not big deal to fix. Looks like the sprues have ruks and bush hats…

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How hard would these be to convert to 1980s National guard infantry?

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They’re wearing USMC flak jackets. So I’d say they wouldn’t make a good conversion.

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Speaking of the PpSh-41…

IMG_0347

That was one of my favorites to shoot.

Be that as it may, I find this to be a lackluster effort from Masterbox. The bandoleers are all wrong and they half-assed the Marines. I like the dynamic poses, but they look way too much like extras in a Vietnam B-Movie.

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I don’t think the jungle fatigues were worn past Vietnam. If you want pre-BDU '80s troopers, i.e. OG107 Fatigues, I think a better starting place is the newish Tamiya US Infantry Scout Set (35379).


By changing out the boots w/straight leg boots and reworking the suspenders into H-style, adding new ammo pouches and M16A1s w/30 magazines, adding helmets w/covers and you will have figures in what will pass for OG107 Fatigues in field jackets and field gear. For '70s figures, just use M14s. That is what I plan for figures in '70s - '80s OG-107 Fatigues anyways.

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I think a French MAT-49 would look a bit better IMO.

image

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Maybe not National Guard Infantry, but they were worn by SF well into the '80’s.

Still the best uniform I’ve ever worn. And more likely to be seen pre BDU than WWII uniforms.

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Damn, you’re an OG. :+1:

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I went through Basic Training in July of ‘85, and we had guys from the 3rd Ranger Batt come down to see if anyone wanted to volunteer for the Ranger Regiment and they were wearing the green jungle fatigues with black berets. I recall the top pockets of the blouse were slanted. Sharp looking uniform.

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As you can see from the posts, that’s an open ended question. I served in an ARNG unit as 11B from 80 to 85, in that time span we transitioned from the OG107’s to BDU’s, RVN era web gear to ALICE gear, 20 to 30 rd magazines. Still had black leather boots w/“herringbone” soles, steel helmets with cammo covers, VN era M-16’s…our flak jackets were the high collar non Kevlar type. Cammo field jackets arrived after the BDU’s so there was an old/new mix for a while ( I still had an OG field jacket w/yellow US ARMY that I was issued in 1967.) So it could be a real mix of uniforms because some Guard units got newer stuff faster than others. Jungle fatigues and boots were not authorized in my unit, but I did see them from time to time when we trained with guys from other states.

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Another option is the MiniArt US Soldiers Rainwear set (35245). The three soldiers in ponchos can become any era by changing out their boots, weapons, and helmets. The poncho hasn’t really changed since its inception. Changing to straight leg boots and M14s and they are '50s/'60s troops stateside or in Europe. New boots with camo covered helmets and M16A1s w/20 rd mags and they are '60s - early '70s troopers. New boots with camo covered steel pot helmets with M16A1 w/30 rd mags and they are early '80s troopers. New boots with camo covered Kevlar helmets with M16A1 w/30 rd mags and they are late '80s troopers. New boots, Kevlar helmets and M16A2 and they are '90s troopers. Etc., etc., etc… The possibilities are endless.


The two guys in raincoats could be updated to about the '50s with straight leg boots, M14s, and new helmets as well. The raincoat was used up until that timeframe.

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Is the figure NVA or VC? Not all VC wore black pajamas. VC used anything they could find. I read somewhere that US troops encountered an MP-38 (Germans sold them to the Chinese, Mao took them over, gave them to Ho. ) French stuff , WW2Japanese, WW2 US (from ARVNs), old Soviet/ Chicom. Figures are not my forte, but … porter has an M-1 carbine (French US, ARVN). Bike has a M-1 Garand (ARVN), M-16 (US/ ARVN), Nagant (Soviet or Chicom) . On back are a 1911A1 and a Tokarev.

WWII German weapons during the Vietnam War – wwiiafterwwii (wordpress.com) the M1 Garand in Vietnam – wwiiafterwwii (wordpress.com)

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