My Troops From the North

Here is my NVA RPD Gunner . He is equipped for travelling the Ho Chi Minh Trail , as they normally went into battle carrying much less . Cammo U.S Parachute`s were used to make capes amongst other things , including scarves ect . If U.S Aircraft , Helicopters went over they would curl up under the capes to hide , if they had to run , the capes would flap behind them in a Super Hero fashion . I only have a limited knowledge of " The little red book " . But it was I believe , full of phrases regarding communism and struggle . A lot of the NVA kept personal diaries , these were scratch made along with the pencil and smoke . He carries on his ruck a shovel , hammock , and rice tube with his Ho Chi Minh Sandals tucked in his ruck . The shoulder bag carries ammo for the RPD . Hope you like him .

This is one of my updated North Vietnamese Army troops , or more commonly known as the NVA . Normally better equipped than the Vietcong .  They were led by very clever generals , often only taking on the Americans when it was in their favour , often hitting the American units hard and fast and then disappearing into the bush which they were very good at , note the U.S parachute cloth in the pith helmet net . He is kitted out for humping the Ho Chi Minh trail , as they often went into battle carrying much less . He has his ration rice tube tucked in behind his ruck . Mostly up graded 21st stuff .

I been upgrading my troops with some of the nice new sculpts that have come out , so time to upgrade another NVA troop .

This was titled as a Kumik sculpt on eBay , the detail is amazing . But ...the neck is a solid piece and so wont to my knowledge fit any standard body , and the neck was on the long side , so involved a good deal of surgery to look right on this body . I vowed I wouldn`t be buying anymore Kumik heads , but if anymore as good as this show up .....It is an outstanding sculpt .
 So my new NVA is armed with an R.P.G ( Rocket Propelled Grenade ) , also known as the B.40 Rocket launcher . The gunner often had a spotter / ammo carrier , armed with an Ak47 or similar , to offer close protection and carry more rockets for the RPG . The wooden part of the RPG , prevented the firer from getting burnt from the blast of the rocket when fired . They were used primarily against bunkers and any other armour that they came against , and were accurate ( with a good gunner ) up to a range of 150 meters .
   The Rocket harness on my figure was scratch made from an O.D canvas style glove , stitched by hand , along with the scratch made rice tube he carries across his chest . The rest is reworked 21st century stuff , along with a small satchel bag from DML .  Now for the pics...I so like that sculpt .

 On the Ho Chi Minh trail . These troops , often marching south from the north , could be on the trail for months , many died before they see any combat from illnesses like Malaria , and I dare say from U.S bombings . Villages re supplied them with rice ( either willingly or bullied into it ). Rice was the bulk of their diet , carried in his rice tube attached to his ruck , along with any vegetables found in the bush , and tinned fish paste . Apart from the cloth boonie , it`s all re worked 21st century Toys gear . And a Flocked hair Head .

This is my NVA Sniper . He maybe due some changes in the future , but is ready for action as he stands . I managed to find another nice sculpt I am very pleased with , and he has a new to me Russian made Mosin Nagant rifle with scope . You may well have seen in the movies , the NVA and Vietcong using AK47`s in Sniper scenes , though perhaps not impossible , serious well trained snipers would of used rifles mainly the Soviet Mosin Nagant , accurate up to 600yrds plus . Snipers could hold up lots of movement from U.S troops single handed , often wounding a man in the open , and picking off would be rescuers and or medics . Even vehicles such as tanks , by aiming at crewman , tanks tended to stop and try blasting the area in front , even once the crew buttoned down the hatches , the communist Snipers would aim at the drivers scopes , in effect blinding the tank . A good sniper in your area was bad for moral ....that went for both sides .

Man oh man those guys look great, Chip! Love the sniper especially.

Hope my grunts don't bump into those fellas

I really like the sniper too.

Is anyone else not seeing the first two pics? All I see is code and I really wanna see the RPD gunner! I wanna see! I wanna see!

Very cool looking figures, and nice bit of history. Many of us have a (mostly) disdain for Kumik sculpts — much of which stems from the color mismatching of bodies; they do, however, make some unique sculpts, so I understand your frustration. It’s always seemed odd to me that their female sculpts never seem to come with a neck, but all the male sculpts do.

I fixed the formatting for the first three posts - Mark, please check your work, that was a lot of links.

Anyway, they all came out pretty great, although I think the sniper at the end came out best.

GubernatorFan wrote:I fixed the formatting for the first three posts - Mark, please check your work, that was a lot of links.

Anyway, they all came out pretty great, although I think the sniper at the end came out best.

My apologies Ian , No idea what the problem was , as I don`t believe I posted these any different to how I normally do , and seemed to work for some , including me , and not others . If it all looks good to me , how am I to foresee a problem ?

Great gigs Chip!

And thanks again for the effort Gube!

No problem, happy to help, just tired and grumpy. I'm not sure why it seems to have only affected the first three posts -- and the one in the other thread. If you use the insert image button above, or if you type (no spaces) [ img ] and [ / img ] before and after the actual link, it should post fine. The code included all sorts of other stuff, both before and after, although the actual link could be found between a set of double quotation marks. Why they posted fine for some but not others, I don't know, and I didn't realize till later. I thought maybe Mac vs PC (I know Stryker uses Mac -- if I recall), or maybe a difference in browsers, now that I think of it.

Stunning selection of troopers Chip! so much detail to look at and admire!

I like the diversification and the many individual details on them. Gives them their unique personality.

Illusion wrote:I like the diversification and the many individual details on them. Gives them their unique personality.

So glad you noticed , quite hard to do when most of the kit is generally the same , thank you .

And thanks for the other kind comments peeps .

Fun fact, when I first read 'My troops from the north' I expected some kind of Fantasy Vikings, but once I read your name, their beards fell off and they all scattered into the woods, which turned into a jungle and their axes and shields turned into soviet guns. I wasn't disappointed.

Great info on the history, like their warrior diet and those rice tubes.

My favourite has to be the Kumik guy, real character face. I also think the wet looking hair works in this setting. What do you mean with the solid neck, was there no hole in it?

I like Kumik sculpts for making generic characters, as most celebrities/actors etc they make are not really recognisable as themselves.
But there are male Kumik heads without necks too. And I think female headsculpts don't have necks in general as a neckless female body is very uncommon (I actually don't know any).

The sniper is another beautiful figure and I also like the flocked hair guy, very unique looking. How did you do it?

Thanks Ovy , glad you were not disappointed .

No the neck was solid , I had to convert an old BBi neck post which was solid too and just superglued them together , after a bit of shortening of the Sculpts neck .

I used to collect Vintage Action Man / G.I joes , there were a few people offering a re-flock service , some got very adventurous , and offered longer flocks , which is what the chap above has had done .

Thanks for your kind comments .

What an amazing group of figures! Thanks for posting these pictures.