Building Hue/Saigon for skirmish gaming

[opsctr]

I have just completed a commission for a fellow gamer who wants to skirmish game in our scale parts of Tet 1968 in Hue and Saigon.

Over the next few days I will post illustrations and construction details regarding the project. Here are a couple of pictures from the Hue part of the project...



The above picture provides an overview of a typical street (less most of the trees which have not been added yet) in Hue at the beginning of the offensive by the North and their Viet Cong supporters.



The picture above is of a church compound similar to many in Hue at the time. There are some similarities between this compound and the US Headquarters in the city.



This photo shows heavy damage to the buildings of the compound and the church with some of the tower remaining.



Here you see nearly complete destruction of the buildings of the compound with enough of the church remaining to defend but heavy damage to structure. The elimination of the tower as a sniper position or observation station is almost complete. Many of the buildings have three stages available from pristine, slightly damaged, to destroyed.

I will post more photos of Hue as well as of the US Embassy in Saigon which played a prominent role in Tet '68.

Will

[thetourist]

Those look great! I am looking forward to seeing more pictures.

[zaevor2000]

Beautiful terrain. Well done!

Frank

[chrisswim]

Will,
Glad you are still around. Nice terrain/buildings. Nice features.

[opsctr]

Chris, ...thanks.

Here are some photos of the Saigon Embassy project in progress...







More to follow... Will

[pibber]

Very, very, beautiful work ! !
The saigon US embassy is very, very beautiful
I'll enjoy see it completly finish.

Can you put one vehicule next to it to show us the real size of the building ?

Waiting more pictures of this great project...

[voltigeur]

Darn you Will!

Now I have to figure out how to put the read and white stripes on dome of my infantry to model MP's! Not to mention trying to do the numbers

Great job on the embassy very accurate as well. Great to see you stil posting.

[opsctr]

Thank you very much for your kind compliments...

I am sorry I can't take any more pictures of the buildings with models next to them to give you an idea of scale. I've just delivered everything to the gentleman who commissioned the work. It is 20mm between each support post and the entrance drive that goes to the garage is also 20mm wide. Those two dimensions should give you an idea of the size. The building is as accurate as my pictures and research could make it though I made some changes to make gaming and modeling a little bit easier.

This picture is from the Hue City concept stage with GHQ infantry on half inch square bases with an M-48 leading the way down the street to test size and space ideas.



The finished Saigon Embassy includes the two vehicles the VC arrived to the attack in...

Will

[opsctr]

Here are some photos of the finished projects:

This first photo is an overview of a small section of Hue near one of the church compounds that often was used as a HQ for a governmental organization such as MACV or the local ARVN headquarters. It also makes a perfect place for snipers or a platoon sized defensive position with its heavy wall construction.


Many of the buildings have three stages. Undamaged, which you can see in the background; damaged, and destroyed.


A view up the street toward the church. There would have been many more trees but for gaming movement purposes they get in the way. It should be noted these trees are removable.


The next two photos provide an overview of the Saigon Embassy compound. Some of the detail was left out (lights adjacent the planters, and some additional trees) to make gaming easier. The two smaller local staff buildings can have their outer shell removed to indicate damage and the garage has a magnetic floor to retain the vehicles used by the VC to get to the property for the attack.




Enjoy... Will

[pmskaar]

Will

A very ambitious project you have going on there - Nice work!

Pete - Binpicker, Out!

[av8rmongo]

Will,

I know you provide training support for various Army/Marine units but hwere do you store all that awesome terrain? If I get much beyond my current alotment of a 12" x 12" x 22" plastic box I think my wife will make me either find a new home for the terrain or a new home for myself. Seriously though, do you have a warehouse or storage unit or do you just have a large storage area at your office site? I keep telling my wife after we both retire I want to find a farm somewhere with out-buildings so I can persue my many hobbies - and keep them out of the living room.

Paul

[opsctr]

Paul, I have a very understanding wife. My basement has shelves stocked with soldiers and terrain of all shapes, sizes, scales, and periods. There are only two rooms in the house that don't have soldiers of some period or scale in them.

I forgot, ...there is also an 18' X 6' foot sand table at one end of the basement that also has a hard cover for naval or air games.

Good luck... Will

[Sudwind]

Are most of your buildings done with paper prints over a wood shell or other kind of frame? That seems to be a great way to go when trying to produce large city/village mock-ups and I have downloaded some excellent 6mm European building pics that a person had used to paste on to wood blocks to make his buildings.....

Of course, to make the ruined version inside of the original, you don't use a frame....similar to the 6mm buildings available in paper kits from a well-known hobby manufacturer!!!

[opsctr]

All of the buildings are simply printed on heavy card stock. The inner slightly damaged building shell fits over the heavily damaged core, with a final undamaged outter shell slightly larger so it will fit over the middle (slightly damaged) shell.

In this picture you can see the outter undamaged shell in the background and the middle more damaged shell coverning the very damaged interior. The outtermost shell is just about 2mm wider, deeper, and taller, than the middle shell, which in turn is about 2mm larger than the interior most damaged base to allow each layer to slip off the inner layer.



I will post additional pictures tomorrow that will give you a better view of the construction.

Will

[opsctr]

Here are a few pictures of one of the buildings under construction...







I used a "tab" made from thin paper to join the walls together instead of the "fold tab" you can see at the left end of the buildings in the first picture. This allows the two walls to join evenly and if you keep the thickness small won't interfere with the inner nested building.

One trick I learned to help make the building look more finished is to color the edge of the paper the same color as whatever surface can be seen when it is assembled. In this case you would color the edge of the roof a red close to the color of the tile. The joined edge of the building and the edges formed when you scribe the paper to let if fold evenly is also colored the same or similar as the outer walls. If a roof overlaps the walls you need to color the underside of the roof or it will also look unfinished.

I hope this helps... Will