Brian McIver’s Review Conversions Mars Vietnam GI Brian takes a look at theses new figures from Mars. Brian also has taken two of the figures and converted them to bareheaded figures. These figures are to be here in the United States this month.
Brian McIver’s Review Conversions Mars Vietnam GI Brian’s Review
Here is Brian’s thoughts on these figures. I have just painted the Mars Vietnam marines. I don’t usually do 20th Century. They were not bad but lack some detail. The molding is not the best (My Vietcong are mismolded poor figures). I am also not a fan of free standing figures with no base. I used to hate the Marx Confederate kneeling firing rifle. Other figures I do not like are the Airfix US infantry Bazooka figure and Airfix British commando kneeling firing Bren gun. I made resin bases for the last two kneeling figures. (I will send details.)
I’m looking forward to the TSSD Vietnam figures which will be much better quality although I think all new figures deserve support. I am led to believe Mars plan to do some NVA, SVA and more American troops in 2017. (Hope they are molded better.) I would be interested in any comments the readers of your site think as I would like to get the look right for when I do the TSSD figures.
Brian added this on his painting. I painted the 1st one in Boonie/ Bush hat to see how it would turn out.
I was not sure on how I wanted him to look. He could be a special forces Therefore I did him with camouflage face. He could be even Australian SAS. Would love feedback from the members to see if I am on the right track? The figures are not bad. my figures had a lot of flash. I would like to get look right before I do the TSSD Vietnam figures. they looked more crisper in detail. The figure needs a final tidying up on the webbing, etc.
Brian McIver’s Review Conversions Mars Vietnam GI Conversions
We have from Brian his two conversions where the heads have been changed.
Nice job Brian; one note – the M16 was (and the M4s remain) black and dark gunmetal gray. You got the upper and lower receivers (with barrel) right. The handguards, pistol grip, and buttstock were made out of a fiberglass/resin combination and were black.
Great job overall; I have TSSD’s Vietnam guys and love them; I have Mars’ Viet Cong and am waiting for their US guys. I appreciate your review; gives me an idea of what to expect.
Hi Wayne it did cross my mind to just do the M16 black. Just took a bit artistic licence there. As I said I don’t usually do anything from the modern era so was just kind of experimenting. I tried to make the uniforms look sweat soaked & dirty. Size wise I think they look about the same as tssd civil war figures I have
Good job..nice done!!!I like the bases x the kneeling guys too!!
About quality of Mars figures I think are fine x price, is same as looking AIP sets/poses ;the poses and anatomy looks actually better than most AIP ,the deep detail is simple but do the job.
Many Airfix and MATCHBOX lack a lot of small uniforms and weapons/gear detail still are great x action and fun.
So I think figures are well worth x what they were made for .
TSSD are in the collector hobby new price range and will be more detailed.
My question is the scale. I understand MARS are 54 mm wile most TSSD are in the 60 mm or taller. If only figures/body part are slight bigger versus MARS and not weapons/gear I can blend together if not again we are talking about two complete scales and dioramas.
I guess we will have to wait.
I had never fire an M60.
Is that pose very realistic??
I’m thinking the figure should had be made w the gun legs deployed better as if resting in wall/tree else, as aiming so close in air will have done not much work and possible harm.
May be I’m wrong !!??
My thoughts!!
Erwin – You CAN fire the M-60 like that, but it’s not a likely way to do it. It would more likely be used as you stated, so it can be more accurately aimed at point targets or suppress the enemy in an area target.
Thank you Greg.
I imagine you may come and help me as I had never fire it; all do I fire others.Never ger a grip on it.
I was a bit concerned because his knee position in ground too .So maybe the pose is taking in mist a moment of glance action.
I had fire the MG 42 Spaniard verssion and feel the pressure in shoulder but is me as I’m small and not heavy.
So I bet any heavy than me will do the job.
I apreciate your expertice in it Sir.
Brian, I am not a figure painter per se, but I am a Vietnam combat infantry veteran of the U.S. Army. Almost any shade of O.D. will work for the tropical dress and gear. Mixing shades so no two are alike is right on. I never saw a shotgun or an M1 carbine in the field in 1971, or at least I don’t remember them. There is a lot about my tour of duty I would love to forget! But I am really looking forward to seeing all the figures close up, and playing with them in red dirt.
Hi Paul, I just googled “small arms in the Vietnam war” it lists 96 weapons & I’m sure there are more. It has a lot of shotguns listed. I’m obviously not a vet as too young & wrong nationality. When you get your figures there is a pic on back of box of the figures painted. on the bottom row the figure 2nd from right carries an m16. but the actual figure I received carries an M1 or BAR sculpting not that good (I’m sure someone will tell me)
Hey Brian. I hope to shed a little light on the small arms topic. Yes, there were loads of weapons in the inventory for the 13 year duration of the war. Some were there early and were phased out, new ones came in. The M-16 made its debut there and became the standard issue infantry weapon. Before that, the rather large M-14 was the standard. Some of these 96 weapons were special issue items like the Car-15 or Stoner LMG. They would only be seen in small numbers in certain spec. ops. units. The use of shotguns was waning as they developed several rounds for the M-79 Grenade launcher that had that effect. Counter arguments existed so that some commanders at brigade level kept their shot guns. The M-1 Carbine was an antiquated weapon that was not likely to be seen in a line Infantry unit, especially if they were already equipped with the M-16. A lot of the MAC-V (advisors to the South Vietnamese Army) carried them because they were believed unlikely to have to ever fire. Same stuff happened in this last go round. We changed uniforms 3 times, introduced a modification to the M-240, experimented w/ shorter barrels on the M-249 and even brought back the M-14 rifle! Each squad had a ‘designated marksman’ for firing longer ranges. The Barret .50 Cal sniper rifle became famous out there and several additional pistols were added to the inventory to make up for shortages (Sig. P220, Glock 19. Love that Glock!). I won’t even get into all the vehicles modified and added into the system. I think you got the point. Hope I didn’t babble too much.
Hi, Brian. I hope to inform and not bore you about the long list of small arms; the war lasted some 13 years. In that some weapons were being phased out, some coming in like the M-16 replacing the M-14. There were a lot of spec ops weapons used in small numbers like the Car-15 and the Stoner LMG. The use of shot guns was largely at the discretion of brigade or even division commanders. The M-79 grenade launcher had shot gun-like rounds, but some commanders argued that more shots could be got off with the shot gun for clearing bunkers, rooms, huts, spider holes, etc. The M-1 Carbine was already an antiquated weapon. US members MAC-V (Military Advisory Command -Vietnam) were issued them since their role was to remain out of the fight. You would not see them in line infantry units. We fielded a huge pile of different small arms in this last go ’round, too. The M-14 came back for longer range fighting, we messed with shorter barrels for the M-249 and M-4, we tried several types of side arms (which sold me on Glock! Yeah!) the list goes on. When ever you get a long conflict like this, you’ll see the changes in uniforms and weaponry just as it would have happened in peace time.
Sorry for the near duplicate responses. My computer did me dirty and it appeared that I’d lost the response the first time. Whoops.
No its fine Greg. Thank you for taking the time. I knew some of the stuff. But lots of new info too. I read a series of books written by 2 Vietnam vets under the pen name of Eric Helm “Vietnam ground zero” about MAC V THEY WERE FICTION OF COURSE BUT BASED ON REAL STUFF.
Bill, you raise a very interesting point. What is the “play value” of something so profoundly traumatic as this?? hmmmmmmm….
Nick of TSSD, is also a Viet Nam veteran is he is one of the fellows making Viet Nam era soldiers. I think he covers his feelings on the subject on his site. I view the production of these figures as sort of a tribute . Me, I’m not a veteran of this war, but I don’t see it as negative. They have been producing WWII figures for as far back as I can remember, I have never heard of complaints about that.
In regards to the political discussion, if you want to do it please go some where else. You can argue until the cows come home and still not change someone. Our interest here is to talk about toy soldiers. If it continues I will delete.
Hey Brian, the painting looks great!
Thank you my friend
When Louis Marx introduced his WWII Battleground sets, about 15 years had elapsed since the end of WWII.
When Nick of TSSD introduces his Vietnam War Playset, more than 40 years have elapsed since the end of that war.
It’s hard to see what the problem is.
But still feeling pain is understandable. As the descendant of Confederate soldiers, I felt genuine emotional pain watching Pickett’s Charge in Ted Turner’s “Gettysburg”, and I felt it again in “Gods and Generals” watching the death of Stonewall Jackson, to whom I’m distantly related, and who had always been my hero growing up. As I stood in front of the Vietnam War “wall” in Wash. D.C., I also felt grieved and moved as I looked at all the individual names. And as I stood on the beach in Salerno, Italy, I felt a sense of loss over my uncle, who was killed in the beach landings there during the invasion of Italy.
But in all instances, I don’t object to a movie on the subject, nor do I object to Nick’s Vietnam toy soldiers, just as I did not object to Louis Marx’s WWII Battleground playsets.
I kind of remember hearing or reading somewhere there were some comments made when he (Marx) introduced Germans and Japanese to oppose his GIs in the early 60s. I don’t think it lasted long, though.
Brian, I think you did a bang-up job in portraying the guys and hot, sweaty, tired (and probably POed) grunts doing the job. Just pointing the color thing because you asked for input – otherwise all I have for you is kudos – even that comment was pedantic.
As far as the M60 pose, I would hate to run into the guy who could fire a “60” like that in a dark alley. That’s why they gave us bipods to fire with if we didn’t have a tripod for the beast. I would definitely use that pose behind a wall or stump or other piece of scenery and even then I would use the bipod for stabilization. The guy is limited as to use but it is a pretty neat pose, though I wouldn’t want too many of them.
In respecting Paul’s guidelines, I will offer you a chance to discuss this someplace else. You can oppose a war without treating the participants as criminals.
Respecting the 60’s MARX playground I think they came in era that war playset start to get low popularity because the anti war movement .From 1960 till 1967 the playset were popular .After end of 1967 as war in Vietnam start to get a bad wrong bad review at home it start creating a negative in parents and young generation. Children may had not see it but parents got influenced in many cases.By 70’s as Luis Marx had probably predicted from late 60’s he was already thinking in sale off his company and his military line toys that had give him so much profit was about to end in the market abruptly . As he foresee it and sold out just in time .By late 70’s all but western were popular.
Any historical and big epic movies were gone and Hollywood was in to ZF and other type epics not historical related.
Cinema had been always the main impulse of toys for children. I blame cinema-Hollywood for changing so fast and given negative popularity to the war-historical drama films and there for reducing the impulse of war related toys.
I’m not been political neither siding…
Again I do not go in to politics here.If any take my words for or to start a political argument please avoid it .
I will appreciate it to respect admin wishes and forum.
Respecting the view of those who had serve and I appreciate their services to this country I will understand if they do like or not the figures as they entailed to their opinion base in their personal experience during the war who I bet had left a deep wound and we should respect with human feeling.
For me that I had not shot any in any war but as reenactors(always playing the bad guys-lol) I take the figures as granted and from only historical/hobby point of view.
About theM60 if I try shoot in that way I will had my B in the floor very fast .I can do the mg42 from hip or with support legs on a wall/tree. But I can not do what his doing.
I bet a strong guy could do it as Greg mention, of course not accuracy at all after first few rounds. Greg knows well.
I like the figures and the price, fair enough set .Hope they continued with wherever they want to do ,even if they are cavemen throwing stones !!
Best regards.
my thoughts..
6-9 round bursts really recommended to keep barrel changes down,but tactics/situation/adrenaline take precedence when TSHTF.
Erwin said: “After end of 1967 as war in Vietnam start to get a bad wrong bad review at home it start creating a negative in parents and young generation. Children may had not see it but parents got influenced in many cases.”
I remember one day in about 1970 or 71 when I finally pressured my mother into buying me a bag of the smaller MPC army men. Previously, she had a pre-20th century soldiers only rule for me. That day she relented and bought me a bag of modern guys and took me to the park. What a mistake! At least 5 different strangers passing by made negative judgmental comments about my toy soldier battle. I wasn’t allowed to have any more modern toy soldiers until I started buying my own Airfix sets in 1976.
I don’t remember it being that way in my part of deep East Texas. While I noticed the Christmas catalogs not having many War toys, The department stores, 5 and 10’s and Food and convenience stores all had plenty of Timmee, Mpc, Lido, ect bags and window boxed playsets with military figures for sale. I also didn’t notice any negative attitudes toward the military. Maybe it just had to do with were I lived.
BOBBYGMOORE
Definitely the local areas may had keep it x as long they want or like, but the fact that new catalog stop caring a big line of military toys in favors of non and companies such Tim me changing the color of the armies trucks and toy soldiers in the new sets coming definitely defined the era. It was a fact the Viet Nam era war change x ever the era of toy soldiers/army sets and companies making them either adjust changing over else or definitely close down or sold out.MARX.Aurbur,IDEAL,MPC ,Remco.
New modern era action figures, ,fantasy ,SF,electronic and non military toys start with new big brand such Mattel,Hasbro and others that took over the toy market.
Army figures become only a matter of HK knock off ,revised poses or else and at few hobby stores.
TM and Lido army guys struggle in between around pushing as minority impulse at stores. Not more the main toys.
When Louis Marx introduced his WWII Battleground sets, about 15 years had elapsed since the end of WWII.
Perhaps, but the figures were the same for both sides. Just different colors.
My own opinion is that Marx recognized that there were still raw feelings about WW 2 He wisely tested the waters by not having Germans or Japanese in the first few Battleground sets. He then waited for a reaction
Only after the playsets were well received, did he venture into the are of “enemy”soldiers. And that was due to the cry of kids everywhere for real “enemies”
to be enlisted to fight against. Marx was a smart businessman. He did some testing and went with the results.
It wasn’t my intention to start any sort of political discussion about the Viet Nam war here. I was just making the observation, that for some, the scab has not healed yet.
I don’t think that I’ll ever get over it.
But that’s just me. You guys enjoy yourselves.
Question to any body…
Why Marx used roman numerical instead arabs number s in figures years ?
Erwin, interesting question about the Roman numerals. I think it was because in those days Roman numerals were used to give dates on a number of cultural products. Older movies will use Roman numerals. I just pulled a novel down from the shelf that was originally published in 1942 and it has the date in Roman numerals on the title page. Perhaps this was all because people were a bit closer to the traditional classical education in the earlier 20th century and old habits died hard. I can’t remember if I ever paid much attention to the dates on the Marx marks on my soldiers – maybe Louis Marx made a mild contribution to our educations as we figured the dates out!
Thank you Daniel.It may well had be a possibility.
I will like to know more in to it.
Wile it made sence.Others at same time used regular numerical number.Marx mark some too with Arabs number too.Such rin tin tin and captain galland of 1955 and 1957.
Then in the japanese and others till 60s come w it in ….
It will be interesting to se how well the Viet Nam line sells. I can think of tons of accessories & buildings to add to the figures if it catches on. Helicopters, bigger weapons, tanks, medical units, etc.. Hope it takes off big. That would be good for the hobby.