Down memory lane, Vietnam era armor

It’s been raining gangbusters here in sunny Calif the past week or so, and it kind of takes me back to a place I spent 13months in as a young Marine. Thought I’d share some of my old buddies with you today.







These are all out of the box builds that I have done over the years.
The first one is theAFV M88 recovery vehicle. The second is the Tamiya M-48. The third is the AFV LVTP5A1. They represent a sampling of some of the vehicles that were a part of my life long ago. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did building them. Semper Fi, mike

OOps. got to fix this one. Semper Fi, mike

mike-nte first pic worked and looks real nice. I’ll check back

My old buddy Jason! I fixed the problem as you can see. I’m not the sharpest guy when it comes to hitting computer keys. HAH. Semper Fi, mike

Those are great. Love the OD paint job- real convincing! Any tricks to it? What paint did you use? How is the Tamiya M48.? That’s my 48 hour build

Your models and pictures are great! How was the build on the LVTP?

You should be able to knock out the M-48 in 48hrs. Jason, you’re the mad builder, it’ll kids stuff for you. As far as paint goes, I’m pretty much a Model Master enamel user with maybe a dullecoat just to get the shine down a bit. Mind you now I didn’t do any extensive weathering, just some mild rubbing out of the paint with a toothbrush. Semper Fi, mike

I’ll have to remember the toothbrush trick. Looks real nice, Mike

Eric. the LVTP5A1, was one of my most challenging builds, even to this date. Patience, patience,patience. The track system is a nightmare. Many will tell you that don’t even plan on installing the top track, You never see it on the finished model, and it will save a few years of aging. Semper Fi, mike

Some nice builds there , great little collection. And thanks for your service.

[:D] great looking kits,great work.[:D]

wow the paint is really realistic. i ahve seen a canadian m88(i think it was), the only diference was that is had a bucket instead of a crane, but the paint on your model looks just like it!

and your LCTP5A1 is the first one of those i have seen, i never knew anything like it existed.

A fine collection indeed. Very nice O.D! Have you built any of the M113 series yet? I’ve been tempted myself after seeing the OIF version in the store.

Great lookin builds Mike,straight ooB,excellent looking stuff.

Thanks for the kind words friends. Just thought it would be nice to show some of my artifacts to people who love and appreciate the hobby. Eric. I do have some M113’s that I’ve built over the years, but I’m kind of partial to anything that the Marines had for obvious reasons.LOL. I’d like to see more of you guys show some of your previous builds. There’s never a boring build on this forum. We’ve got some top notch builders.
I know there’s some nice stuff out there, and I think we’d all like to see more of it. Semper Fi, mike

New stuff might be passable, older stuff, just plain laughable.

It all shows that we enjoy modelling Eric, and I’ll bet some of your laughable stuff is no more laughable then mine. I just like to see peoples work, and there’s always something to be gathered from it. Come on pull some of that funny stuff out and lets have a good laugh. Semper Fi, mike

Outstanding builds, Mike, especially for right-out-of-the-box. Even without any extensive weathering the paint looks really nice.
I, too, want tothank you for your service to our country.

Great work Mike! I wish I could get some of those in 1/72 scale. They really look excellent.

I know what you mean about all this rain. I’m in Southern Cal near Pomona and just above the border with Orange County. I’ve actually been enjoying this rain; it’s perfect weather for building models!

Thank you for serving, especially in that War. My father was also in that war as a navigator on AC130 gunships.

keep up the great work!

Mike those are cool.
I love Olive Drab.
My old man always told me horror stories about those LVTP’s. How scary was it to ride those through the surf?