15mm Viet Cong & American US Army, Old Glory Miniatures

[Whiterook]

My first miniatures build in many, many years! …and the subject is Vietnam era Viet Cong, with 15mm white metal miniatures from Old Glory. I’ll be starting with about a dozen, to get myself back into the gig; the package comes with 50 miniature figures for about $20 USD. I’m planning to start this week.

[mikeh]

Looking forward to watching you paint these up. I want to see how you paint the black VC pajama uniforms. Blacks a tricky color, at least for me anyway.

[mikeh]

Em, you have FOW figures right. Want to see how they match up.

[Whiterook]

May 7, 2022 21:49:26 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Looking forward to watching you paint these up. I want to see how you paint the black VC pajama uniforms. Blacks a tricky color, at least for me anyway.

Thanks! …yes, I’ve seen where many people paint the black, and then highlight with something like sandy dust and it just doesn’t look right. My plan is to layer something on top of the black that equates to what the cloth would look like with the nooks, valley’s, and peaks of the material. The nooks (to my way of thinking) should look like black; as you move up from that nook towards the peak (the valley), a lighter shade color of black; and at the peak, the “dirt” on the uniform. For that middle color, rather than mixing white with black (which may seem the obvious thing to do?), I’m going to find a blue that will simulate “light” from the sun against the black material. Not sure how I’ll do that yet but, it will either be a wash or drybrush… I’ll enjoy finding out!

May 7, 2022 21:55:51 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Em, you have FOW figures right. Want to see how they match up.

I can definitely do that! …I have a ton that need some lovin’ anyway!!! Same white metal, most likely.

[mikeh]

I like your idea on trying blue for highlighting the black, as you are right about trying to use various shades of gray. What are you using for a primer?

[Whiterook]

May 8, 2022 12:00:09 GMT -5 mikeh said:

I like your idea on trying blue for highlighting the black, as you are right about trying to use various shades of gray. What are you using for a primer?

Vallejo Black or Grey Surface Primer… I haven’t decided which yet, but most likely black for the VC, since their “pajamas” are black. The US Army soldiers will likely get grey, since I don’t want a lot of dark “show through” in the greens. The primer will be airbrushed on, using my Iwata Eclipse… I may airbrush the black on the VC and then hand paints I’ll see how that works before attempting the US soldiers. I’ve never airbrushed any of my miniatures in the past so, this will be new territory I’m exploring.

[mikeh]

Both forces are good starters for uniform painting, unless you try doing tiger stripe. Pretty much OD Green and black, neither carried much in the way of backpacks or a load of equipment, at least while on patrol. At some point I want to try Vietnam. You would not need much to start in the way of figures, a lot of one patrol out looking for another. 10-12 on each side to bump into each other in the jungle and the fire fight is on.

[Whiterook]

May 10, 2022 12:17:47 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Both forces are good starters for uniform painting, unless you try doing tiger stripe. Pretty much OD Green and black, neither carried much in the way of backpacks or a load of equipment, at least while on patrol. At some point I want to try Vietnam. You would not need much to start in the way of figures, a lot of one patrol out looking for another. 10-12 on each side to bump into each other in the jungle and the fire fight is on.

That's pretty much the way I was looking at it, too... the minis do have packs and stuff, which I was a bit surprised with but it's fine with me. More challenge!!! I was planning straight OD green, as I'm fudging this with the Ghosts of the Jungle game, going with American Army rather than SAS Aussies. I think it retains the same flavor, as it's all relative equipment-wise.

I totally agree on the 'patrol' gaming, too! I plan on mostly Infantry play for quite awhile, but I am thinking platoon and tanks later down the line!!! But staying in line with the Ghosts game, there are only four of the SAS troops... Americans here, for what I'm doing. The VC will be a lot more for Ghosts, and I'm planning around 12-16. I'll be doing more later... I mean, I have 50 of each side, LOL!

[Whiterook]

The other side of my first miniatures build in many, many years! …and this subject is Vietnam era Americans, in 15mm white metal miniatures from Old Glory. I ended up getting the US Infantry in helmets, as I wanted to go with straight regular infantry... I'll probably get the soft hats later down the line, and maybe do a more ambitious camo; the package comes with 50 miniature figures for about $20 USD. I started with the Americans today, since I'm only doing four soldiers (which falls in line with the book writable game, Ghosts of the Jungle.

These are the two packages of minis, and the tools I dug out to get started and feel my way through the process.





These are the four soldiers I picked out. There are only four poses so, that was easy... I chose one of each! I considered using US pennies for bases, but I picked up some 3/4” fender washers, which have the smallest hole I could find and like how these look better. They are the same size of a penny, and yes, more expensive, but I think it's worth it.



The first thing I learned was, white metal is soft! I started by using a craft knife to get some mold lines and chaff trimmed off, and it was quite easy, though the botton of the bases had some thick extraneous metal, but it trimmed off nicely. I then used a file to get the bottom of the miniature base flat. The helmets were the worst, for mold lines, and I learned that even a common cosmetics department nail file (the type on foamcore board) takes a lot of metal off if you're not careful.

These are my American's






I used Gorilla Glue... just awesome stuff! Precision squeeze bottle makes glue application easy... a small dot of glue on either side perimeter of the washer hole, and placing the figure base upon. Should be enough to hold it, but the obvious drawback of using a washer is the hole in the middle.

[mikeh]

Having never used Gorilla Glue what makes it different from any other CA?

[Whiterook]

May 11, 2022 12:05:40 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Having never used Gorilla Glue what makes it different from any other CA?

Great question… the answer comes down to the Gorilla mascot  …besides that, it’s a straight cyanoacrylate (a.k.a., CA glue to hobbiests) like any other CA glue that I’ve used. The company claims that it has a high strength and quick set time for a variety of household projects, for long-lasting repair results. It’s said to dry in an instant, the clear glue dries in 10-45 seconds.

I picked this one up for a few other reasons:

1. As you can see from the earlier picture of a different Gorrila Super Glue bottle, I didn’t put the cap on secure enough ans over a long period of time, it dried hard as a rock inside! I noticed after I snapped that pic.

2. Gorilla Super Glue is reinforced for increased impact resistance to handle bumps and drops. They call it Impact-Tough® because the reliable bond stands up to wear and tear. That’s an important feature to me, if true, cause minis get a lot of handling and transporting, so they need all the anti-shear strength they can get!

3. Being a cyanoacrylate glue, or CA glue, it works on a variety of materials, including plastic (somewhat), metal, stone, ceramic, paper, rubber and more.

4. But as mentioned about the glue in the bottle drying up on me, that’s not the first time I’ve been to that rodeo with all kinds of glue (apparently, I’m a knucklehead at screwing glue caps on!), in addition to Gorilla Super Glue's high-performance cyanoacrylate formula, they've added that nifty anti-clog cap you see in the later picture, with a metal pin inside ensuring an airtight seal for maximum reusability. The bottle comes with the cap disassembled… yiu screw it in the bottle, breaking the seal at the bottom opening… it’s really a clever design where the cap base is recessed into the collar of the bottle top. Once secured, the blue cap portion unscrews to reveal the long dispenser nozzle. The way to dispense it is with those two triggers on the side, which makes the clear glue easy to squeeze just the right amount… very precision like. I’ve used similar bottles designed with triggers like that for gel glues and liked them very much.

So that’s a lot of yapping to say, I 5ink this is a superior super glue… time will tell me if it really is.

It's Gorilla tough, every time.

[Whiterook]

Well, I left off on this project having a nasty fall three weeks after my last post, and it really threw my Summer off, taking months to heal up; the last of which was what I still think were cracked ribs, just now a distant memory, unless I bend wrong and it twinges. I’d just went to a wargaming tournament, and bang… visit an ex-work friend that didn’t know she had COVID, and yup, I got it! That was just shy of two weeks ago and I’m not contagious anymore and feeling stronger. Today, I jumped back into this project!

I’d had the four American troopers glued to Fender washers, which worked great, so I’d ordered more… I just glued 20 Vietcong to same style washers this afternoon. I’ll be cleaning them up of flash tomorrow and cleaning them and the American units of any molding oils. Next will be some airbrushed primer, after I put them on tongue depressors with some poster putty, to hold easier while airbrushing the primer.

I’ll snap some pics… and Mike, I haven’t forgotten your request to show them next to some Flames of War minis 

[Whiterook]

So a recap first, with what I started with back in May: My Old Glory minis are beautifully sculpted, which come in a bag. I started with the Americans, putting four together first; and the Viet Cong will start with 20, which gives me about double what I used in my first play of the game, so it’s a fair way to get back in the swing of things. It’s also the first time I worked with metal bases, in this case Fender Washers, to hold the miniatures.



Starting back into the build the other night, I glued 20 Viet Cong miniatures to Fender Washers, and left to cure (…if you recall, the Americans were previously done).

Today, I checked out the bond and they seem quite strong… I didn’t apply a lot of pressure, but I sense they will hold up well under use; the reason for my questioning was the small hole in the washer…the mini figure base only has the front and back on metal, leaving about half or more of the base not glued to anything. While inspecting the assembled figures, I turned one over to peer into the hole and though, hmmmmm? …maybe if I apply a generous drop of CA glue in the holes, it would create just that little added grab as a backup? I plan to come back to that thought later.

First came cleaning up the figures of flash and mold lines. I used a pair of sprue cutters to cut off flash… this generally looks like a little tail of pewter that pulled away from the molded figure. It cuts easily. Next is using either a mini-file (for the thicker nubs left from the separation of flash from figure), or a small chopped off bit of Emeryboard sanding stick. This is also the time I’ll clean up any mold lines, which are typically found on hats, helmets, and body; these are quality miniatures so, there isn’t much of this stuff.





Next up came the basing terrain for the washer: The mini figure’s base sits with the molded terrain strip sitting up high-ish, which isn’t in itself terrible, but I thought I’d go for something that builds atop the washer to the figures’ molded terrain. I went with my trusty Spackling Paste (drywall paste that comes in little tubs) method, though I’ve never used it on metal so, I really don’t know if it will hold over time.





…yeah, you only see 17 done…I ran out of steam and my wife had lunch ready so, food won out! So my method of madness: My spackling paste always seems to be a little on the dry side, as it’s old, but that’s easily solved by placing a tiny amount of water in a cup (today, I actually used an old glass measuring cup) and dipping my right index finger in to get the tip wet, and then scooping a tiny dab of spackle. Generally,you can rub your wet finger on the wall of the container that has spackle and make a little slop.

I then glide a dab of spackle on my fingertip, over an edge of the washer, depositing just a a little, while gently pushing it towards the miniatures’ base; and continuing with a smooth, slow swipe of the spackle counterclockwise (that direction gives you a better viewing angle, if you’re right handed like me). It’s a tricky process, because of the tiny size of the miniature and base, and my fingers don’t quite work as efficiently as they once did. Some spots go on perfectly, whereas others need a bit of futzing to get the spackle to seat against the figure base level; and of course, you want to be careful not to loose the feet under mud!

I do about eight figures, which allows the spackle to dry a little, and then clean up the miniatures’ base sides before moving on to applying spackle to the next eight or so. Cleaning up the washer base is easier, where you first, use a fingertip (I use my middle finger) to swipe downwards along the washer edge, holding the figure sideways. I do that until I complete a circuit all around the washer edge, seeing the metal edge with no spackle on it; most of it did have clear metal, as I did this wiping when applying the spackle, but during that earlier process, there’s a lot of spackle on my fingertips, even though I am constantly dipping my fingers in water and wiping them on a paper towel…there’s still spackle on them, though. This final wipe is with clean fingers, and the spackle is still wet roughy to pop off cleaning. It’s at this point I also re-dip my fingertip I. Water and wipe the underside of the washer, wetting any dried spackle there and drying with a paper towel remnant. I do this with the first small batch, and then start on the next with spackle application and repeat the cleaning process.

All of these are then left to dry and cure overnight. The next days’ session will see an airbrushed application of primer over the whole miniature and base.

[Whiterook]

I went down to finish the three remaining Viet Cong, but before I got to them, I checked out the ones done. OMG! …what a mess on the feet and boots! Yikes. I ended uo having to use a craft knife with a #11 blade to pick away at the feet in sandals and boots, popping out spackle. I also used the blade to shave and sculpt the spackle surface, bringing it down level with the figure bases. A stiff Artist brush helped with snagging the little bits, and I used my thumb to smooth out the spackle surface.

All the Viet Cong are done (as are the four Americans). This method had worked so well with my Stargate miniatures, but those were 28mm on plastic bases, so maybe that’s something. I also had fresher spackle back then, compared to this one… those came out pink and dried white, whereas this spackle had no pink. I think I’ll look for an alternate method!

Im also wondering if in the future, simple white glue with sand mixed atop, and then painted might be the way to go. I need to check with my buddy, Mike! “Help me, Obi-wan Mikonomi!”

[Whiterook]

Spent a little time at the workbench this afternoon to prime all the minis. I was lazy and brushed on Vallejo Black Primer, rather than airbrush them; super lazy of me but I hated to do all the work involved with setup and cleanup, to be honest, especially for so few minis. Bad attithat might bite me in the ass later, but we’ll see when everything is dry.

I must say I was surprised with how well the primer covered the minis with a brush; certainly not a smooth coverage like an airbrush gives, but the primer is so light in viscosity that yiu don’t see a lot of brush stroke marks, except in the spackle surface which also sucked up the primer!

…it’ll either work out OK, or it will be a learning experience!