Review, Blacksnake-model.com Big Red 1 Vietnam figures, 1/9 scale. | Armorama™

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Large scale figures of US Big Red 1 soldiers in Vietnam custom printed in 1/9 scale.

This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/review-blacksnake-model-com-big-red-1-vietnam-figures-1-9-scale
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Good concept. Terrible execution. I want to like them, but they’re a hard pass. I looked through the catalogue of figures. There are way too many inexcusable inaccuracies that aren’t worth fixing.

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Ok, I am interested, could you give a couple of examples, please?

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Sure. And I recognize that they did some good research which is why the inaccuracies puzzle me. The figures aren’t awful and they don’t fall for the typical “two ammo pouches, two canteens and a butt pack”. I hate to drag him into this, but @ReconTL6 and I grouse all the time about the lack of in-depth research that goes into Vietnam figures when model companies dive into them. There is always clearly less attention to detail with Vietnam than with comparable WWII figures from the same companies.

For the sake of readability I’ll just list them in bullets.

  • The boots are the first thing that stand out. They aren’t jungle boots and the sitting soldiers have chevron soles. Chevron soles appeared on black boots worn Stateside around 1968 and weren’t used in the field in Vietnam.
  • They put the leather liner chinstrap on the helmet. These were no longer in use on M-1 helmets by the late 1950’s and were not present on Vietnam era helmets.
  • Many of their figures have dog tags hanging out. This was a definite no-no, especially on the LRRP figures. Plus, the dog tags are way too short.
  • Jungle jackets are shown with exposed, snap type buttons. For the period they are portraying, the buttons are hidden and they weren’t snaps. The buttons are incorrectly placed.
  • I appreciate that they made lightweight rucksacks, but the details are poor.
    • The exterior pocket straps are way too big. This would be more work to fix than it’s worth.
    • The shoulder straps are all wrong and lacking in detail, which should be easy at this scale. I scratch built better straps for a 1/16 figure.
    • The ruck bags are all placed on the lower end of the frame. Yes, this was how the ruck was intended to be used, but in Vietnam the bag was almost always placed high on the frame because this is a better way to carry the load. RTO’s were a limited exception to this, so I can accept the way their RTO ruck is setup.
  • The grenadier is carrying an XM-148 and wearing the M-1967 nylon grenade vest. By the time this vest was in issue the XM-148 had largely been withdrawn. They would have done better with an M-203, but I’m not sure the 1st Infantry Div was still in Vietnam when M-203’s were fielded in late 1970 into 1971.
  • The MAC-V SOG boots have a completely made-up sole.
  • The MAC-V SOG figures are “John Wayne”-ing their grenades - that is, they are dangling from their web gear. A BIG no-no in the jungle and this wasn’t even done by regular infantry.
  • Pocket details on the jungle fatigues are inconsistent, varying from OK to way off.
  • Pocket details on the LRRP tiger stripe uniforms are bad. They gave the LRRPs four pocket jackets with “BDU” style pockets. The cargo pockets are consistent with common tiger stripe pants, but they lack exposed buttons.
  • The walking RTO has a three pocket frag grenade pouch. These were occasionally still in use by the USMC early in Vietnam, but the Army did away with them after Korea. Besides, there’s no reason for an RTO to hump nine frag grenades. They DID give him several smoke grenades, which is good.
  • The back collar on the M-69 flak vests should be split.
  • Some of the flak vests are missing the laces on the sides.
  • On the “Charlie Sheen” type figure with the helmet strapped to the ruck, the web retention straps for the ammo pouches and the LBE H-Harness are wrong.

I’m sure I could find more, but most of the figures have only one or two photos. By contrast, their WWII figures look much more accurate.

Some of these might seem like nitpicks, but I’d say the armor guys are harder on good tank models than I am being with these figures. Believe me, when I saw a review for 1/9 Vietnam figures I hadn’t heard of before, I was super excited. But these guys would be just too much work to fix the inaccuracies. Of course, I say that and I acknowledge there are some nice looking figures there. Some of the M-60 gunners are particularly tempting.

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Thank you, a great list to work from

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