Vietnam Thread

[MTB]

Anybody have a good process (technique) for making rice paddies with terrain maker?

Thanks,
Mitch
Oklahoma

[Cav Dog]

Air Cav!

[6mmwargaming]

I'm making some but not with the terrain maker system, but with 3mm mdf which are designed to fit on top of the table. Ill take some photos soon to show you what I mean

Cheers
Kieran

Anybody have a good process (technique) for making rice paddies with terrain maker?

[ftm2kleszics]

Hello MTB. While I have not done this type of hex for my Terrain Maker board, here is my idea that might work.Use the one-quarter inch hex type. Paint the hex and plant "rice" using horsehair from Woodland Scenics. Seal the edges of the hex with masking tape that can be removed later. Use a clear epoxy resin to make the flooded paddy. After this dries, remove the tape and there you have your rice paddy. Any thoughts if this is viable

[DAVIDNOLA62]

Here's how I do my rice paddies:
http://verytinywars.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... y.html?m=1

[tstockton]

ftm2kleszics,

Your suggestion sounds pretty good, although planting all that "rice" will take a while...

Taking your idea and running with it -- seems to me I've seen pictures of rice paddies with berms or dams around them to hold in the water. What if you took another 1/4" hex and cut the center out of it, leaving a very small outer edge -- say 1/4" or 6-7mm -- and angle the cut the way you would a river hex. Glue that "hex ring" onto the 1/4" base hex... then follow the rest of your instructions for the paddy. Paint the top of the "hex ring" a green color and/or use flocking (grass/weeds). My mental picture thinks that just might work!

Regards,
Tom Stockton

[tstockton]

DAVIDNOLA62,

Ooooh, those rice paddies look great!!

I guess at 1/285 / 6mm, you wouldn't see a whole lot of rice... But another thought just came to mind that could be used for almost any row crop. In the model railroading department of my local hobby shop, I have seen grass mats -- in several different colors and with varying heights of vegetation -- I think in "plain" and in 2mm, 4mm and 6mm lengths. One could cut very thin strips of the grass mat and glue them down to resemble row crops. I would guess you could very carefully paint the edges of the rows with your base earth color after the glue has dried, to help blend them in. You could also go back in random places and pull some of the vegetation off so they wouldn't look so even.

Of course, GHQ's method of making row crop hexes works as well -- but it takes a while to make them (not to mention the patience it requires!).

Another thought or two (dang, the hamsters running on the wheel in my mind are really going at it this morning! ) -- using gloss paint to paint the bases might help the "wet look", or you could flood them with Future floor wax, which would leave a "wet look" and is a lot cheaper than the Woodland Scenics Water Effects.

Regards,
Tom Stockton

[DAVIDNOLA62]

I could just glue a piece of that floor matting to the floor of my paddy and then partially fill it with "realistic water", but flooded patties with no crop yet showing are the way I remember seeing them.

[ftm2kleszics]

Thank you for the idea tstockton. I will remember to try this.

[Thomaso827]

I used a 2x3in wooden piece from the craft store, painted it Mississippi Mud with a craft paint, then used a piece of clear plastic from something like a GHQ blister package, centering it over the wood, then built up the edges with putty, as a dike around it, which also secures the plastic to the wood. After the putty dried, I painted that with the same Mississippi Mud paint, did a little flocking on the edges, and painted in some small green spots as rice plants poking up. It looks pretty good, and is easy enough for a non-terrain-maker like me to make.

Tom

[tstockton]

I went to Google Images and searched "rice paddy Vietnam". Holy cow, there are a lot of different looks to the pictures I saw!

Depending on the season, weather conditions and terrain features... you could model :

Paddies recently harvested / awaiting planting - mud or wet earth

Paddies recently planted - mud covered with a thin layer of water

Paddies in early growth - rows of short vegetation, ground covered with water

Paddies in middle growth - thicker rows of longer vegetation, ground covered with water

Paddies in full growth - almost solid vegetation, varying from middle green to paler green

Paddies ready for harvest - almost solid vegetation, yellow to tan in color

Add to that the different shapes and levels of paddies, depending upon prevailing terrain... so many choices! I suppose the ones that would most like call out "rice paddy" are the ones with some vegetation, and the ground covered with some water.

You might want to do a Google Images search yourself, just for informational purposes.

Regards,
Tom Stockton

[piersyf]

We recently commemorated the Battle of Long Tan here in Aus. Just saw this documentary (from last year apparently) and thought it was pretty good.

http://www.youtubedocumentaries.com/doc ... iANAz_LJ8E

[RedLeif]

Thanks so much for posting that link. Thats an excellent production.

[av8rmongo]

For those interested... The current issue of Modern Combat, a gaming/historical magazine published by Strategy & Tactics Publishing, has an article on riverine warfare during the Vietnam War.

[6mmwargaming]

Hi folks

Time to bring back this thread and show some Vietnam terrain I made as part of a commission. The work was to base up some 6mm buildings and make a largish river for 6mm Vietnam gaming. The buildings and palms were provided by my mate and I added a few more Woodlands Scenic trees.

The basing is all on 3mm MDF and the river sections are made from plastic stationery document sleeves. I used 4-5 different types of flock for variety and to create lots of different types of undergrowth and I realise the ground (dirt) should be redder.

The palm trees are cheap ones from ebay I improved a bit. I added some fine sand to around the bottom of the palms where they meet the trunk and also on the top of the tree. Next I painted the trunks and sand part brown to get rid of the shiny plastic look. The palms could be painted as well but I didn't bother.

Town sections
These are designed to fit together in any combination but look alright as stand alone pieces as well (I think ). The road is made from fine sand and I added lot of bushes but also made sure to keep some empty areas. They probably need more clutter and don't look very lived in and I should have added washing lines, animal fences, debris etc.







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Some hooches




River sections
These are meant to be pretty flexible to use but are also a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to put together! The idea is that you can vary the width of the river and even have it lining one edge of the table. Wider river sections could be added pretty easily. The river itself is made for plastic sleeves and spray painted and then covered with PVA glue. I couldn't get rid of the brush marks completely but is a pretty durable way to make thin river sections. Also you can see the paddy fields which I hadn't covered with flock yet.





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Paddy fields.
My take on making paddy fields and they came out pretty well. The PVA looks whiteish in the pictures but is only very slightly whitish in reality.I probably should have used a resin water but have had problems with it setting before.



Comments etc welcome and PM if you want to know details on the buildings

Cheers
Kieran