28mm Streets of Hue

Thank you. you mentioned interesting points.

I/ Damaged buildings

I-1/ My MACV display diorama vs real
In fact I did not find pictures of damages on the buildings I have chosen for my diorama:
the main MACV building, the big gates, the Duy Tan hotel house, the Marines security (guards) houses were relatively spared from battle damages.
But I found photographs of destructions of the Esso gas station, the bunker beside and wall corner in front of it after I constructed them.
But yes, certainly, many bullet holes are missing in my buildings...
All around MACV compound, many buildings were damaged (like in ste Jeanne d'Arc school) or destroyed. But for the moment I did not represented them yet.

I-2/ Damaged building
I-2-a/ Bullet holes
I was thinking using isolated bullet holes or walls riddled with bullets for buildings like the Treasury building, a police station under long siege or a villa used as a strong point.
But such buildings are long to create and it would effectively break my heart (to say that politely) to pound them with an ice pick to create bullet holes in them...
The choice of the material is important too: I am using architect foam sheets and I would use, if I had to create bullet holes, plaster or a dense isolation foam to have a better rendering.
But for sure I will test that later.
I-2-b/ Candidates
Heavily damaged buildings candidates could be the Treasury building, the citadel gates and walls, a villa, a police station.
I target to create some ruins bases that would look like Cholon after Tet offensives or Quang Tri sector in 1972.
But destroyed roofs, walls are diffult to model and long to paint.
But the Whaou effect on a diorama or wargame table is undeniable...
I-2-c/ Simulation
The civilian buildings I made for the moment are quite intact. I made them to reflect the lifestyle of that period.
I try to capture how this civilization was propulsed in this fascinating American way of life during that war.
The way tradition and modernity sleep together or oppose together has always interessed me.
But I made them with detachable shop signs.
I think I could simulate battle damages on them by detaching the shop signs, burn them, add burnt cars in front, adding false smoke and debris on the floor,...

II/ Debris
I have some debris to put on the streets.
They are not sticked to the streets because I targeted to spread them and remove them after.
Debris are long to paint so I will not have many differents.
I will use miniature bricks, small pieces of cork, birch seeds, mimosa leaves for the foliage, electric cables...
I have to test the rendering.

III/ Extending my modest MACV diorama
Extending my modest MACV diorama to an area where to find the main/major battle sites of the battle of Hue...
I think it is a task...difficult. It would take a place, a time that would consume the time I need to paint my minis.
But creating decors for my minis is a real pleasure and I have some bases in mind, to expose my minis at home.
Maybe all these bases, put together, could represent something.
Tunnels, Ho trail with burnt ZIL trucks, jungle, bunker hill,
US embassy, Hue music school, Hue treasury building, Cholon Chinese temple, Caltex gas station, ruins,
abandoned French graveyard, Hue garden houses, USO show floatting stage, a ruined church, Michelin plantation,
Police station and an old French fort.

The photo of the house i had for the design. Bullet holes on the big gates suggest it is after the battle.


But the Esso gas station was in bad shape:

Fantastic!!!!

Tom

I saw a footage of Tet offensive in Saigon, where a Shell gas station was burning. The "S" of the sign was the first letter to burn. This is the idea behind this base.
The weathering of the ground is not 100% finished.

Nice!

Love it!!!

I just added these two bases: a building, shops and in situ with a Parkfield Miniatures 1/56 M113 (and a part of a Solido CADILLAC Gage Commando in 1/50)
Still have to model the shops content.
Still have 4 more built bases to paint then I could switch to last vehicles, new bases and minis.
I maid detachable shop signs. I assume such buildings could be suitable for Middle East with arabic signs.

Now this is talent. The photography of these miniatures is incredible (great depth of focus). All I want now is masses of battle damage on the superb buildings.

OK, I said before. Bullet holes, chunks taken out by shrapnel, debris all over the streets. Compared with the construction work here, that is a cinch.

This is a terrific thread

Liam

I have added this new base. Still 3 to paint...;
The shop signs are detachable. Useful because I was lazy to make the rembardes.
I don't know exactly what to do with the Pet Shop panda conical hat I found so for the moment it is a kind of bar sign.





I keep thinking about battle damages representation.

I just bought and recieve a box of US Marines from Rubicon. I will try to paint them asap to see how they look in such decor along with other metal miniatures.

I just finished this new base with some tube houses and Gringo40s miniatures.
I painted them with a palette compatible with modern buildings of that period, even if the turquoise blue is a bit flashy compared with blue color you can see on historical photos or footages.
I still need to stick some hand painted shop signs there.
Still 2 buildings to paint...

Gorgeous work!!

I think I recognise Captain Christmas and his W/O.

All you need now is Colonel Cheatham as well.......

Very nice

Liam

That power pole is shnazzy too!

Thanks for your comments. And now an old French manufacture (Opium de Paris, that is supposed to be fictional), with occupied concrete sewer pipes in front. This is inspired by an picture taken in Saigon. Just to recall refugees and slums of South Vietnam cities.
And finally a last building to paint (RAP cinema)...

AMAZING!

So it is not Hue but inspired by Saigon photographs but it may fit a Hue new city street, near the railway station for example: the RAP cinema (with the movie "Pas de pitié pour les salopards") and the Maxim's restaurant. The "Maxim's" poster can be replaced by the "King" bar (as it was my original idea - but I wanted to model the piano absolutly). The advertising posters can be removed too (In French, "bastos" means bullets)
So most of the stage is set. I still have the ground to do for my MACV Compound diorama and some other bases WIP but now: let's try to catch up with my minis painting...So I could finally poppulate these empty bases.

Fabulous work. Love the little details.

Another amazing piece. Really sits well in that time period.

Wonderful stuff!

You have a great deal of dedication to your project, Richard. (Lots of talent too, of course). This has been a big project.

Tom

After a forced stop, I am resuming my activities of 28mm terrain building for my display dioramas. I am making three 35cm x 35cm bases on different topics.
Here there are: an old French fort (inspired by a fort that existed nead Vung Tau), a dammaged church (inspired by the Tra Cau church near Duc Pho) and a USO show stage (it should look familiar). It is WIP and should be detailed, textured and painted in the coming month.
It is not related to HUE but the church could do the job.
I just found the old French fort funny on its eroding dune. I just added an armored cupola, with shell impacts, compared with the original.
the church was along Highway QL1 and was photographed by many soldiers. ( here is an album about it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/albums/72157668332298667/with/42931153931 )

Great jobs so far.
Man, it's sad to see the progression of destruction of the church in those photos. Looks like it was in a couple of scraps. I wonder if there are any combat accounts out there that talk about it?

These look great - are you painting some Playboy bunnies too?

Indeed there are some Reaper miniatures (cowgirl, ...) and Colonel Bill Belt fed minis that could do the job ( https://www.colonelbills-store.co.uk/store/Calamity-Jane-Wild-West-Legend-p460166492 ) but... why not.
I was rather thinking about an abandoned USO stage in the jungle.
These last days I had worked on a Hue citadel gate.
I target to do some battle damages on it. I prefer to start from an intact model then damaged it instead of modeling from scratch ruins, that is hard to do I think.
So for the moment, this is before Tet... (with a Corgi Patton tank in 1/50 scale)

I was thinking to add some extra bits to a Hue citadel intramuros display diprama, like incense burners, aquarium statue and three of the nine Holy cannons (there are in fact pencil sharpeners)

Awesome stuff Richard!