"Mike Force" Topic

Further images posted on behalf of Troopwo. He will add commentary.

First and third picture explanation here.
Both pictures of the same figures in front of a Baker Company M113.

Left to right.
Figures One and Two are from Parkfield. They have a limited number of figures in jungle hats. Some are US troops, some are Kit Carson Scouts. The heights are the same but the kit varies from no webbing or kit to webbing to full webbing and even tropical packs. You can see the webbing 'h' harness on the back of the second figure with the M148 combo. Matching heights for the Gringos 40 ARVN figures.

Figures Three and Four are Empress ANZACS with M16s. Webbing is more in style with the US pattern.

Figures Five and Six are Eureka ANZACS. The weapons are a tad thinner. The webbing is more the late fifties pattern for FN FAL/SLR with kidney pouches rather than the later US type.

The Empress and Eureka are a tad shorter. If you are using them as a Mike Force like me, that is good, since most of the ethnic minorities used were even shorter than the Vietnamese. These last two go together seemlesly. Not even the Australians had a consistent webbing given the variety of weapons they deployed, never mind the odd kit that showed up and was bought for use by the Mike Force units.

The bonus of the Eureka range is tyou get various M60, M79 and M203 figures. I love you too Empress but I despise prone figures like half your M60 machine gun pack.

Pictures Two and Four explained here.

Left to right.
First figure is the Gringos 40 radioman with M16 for comparison.

Figures Two and Three, with Two starting to get into the edge of picture four are from Grubbys Tanks/brittannia Minitures. They started as Malayan Emergency Ghurkas with No5 rifles, Brens, Stens and Owens. After my bad vision exacto surgery, the weapons were replaced with resin printed Only Games M16A1s. While the wepons are nice, I detest working with resin print small things. They are delicate and if you drop a figure they shatter or snap.

However they turned out very well. Bush hats, M16s. They have british pattern webbing, but the arms cover the front quite well and the rucksacks on their backs are covered with extra canteens and kit that hide the webbing well.

Figures Four and Five are Keelman Minitures. Starting as British Postwar Range from Reiver as Bush Hat and SLR. After exacto surgery and conversion with metal Full Metal Miniatures M16A1s. Whuile kitteed out with '58 pattern UK webbing, the universal pouches are not too far off M16 mag pouches. Only thing sticking out is that the back is plain open with cross braces. Maybe a rucksack to cover it a bit. I only did two figures to add to my next lot.

Figures Six and Seven are from Warbases Indonesian confrontation Ghurkas. Again the '58 pattern webbing but oversized universal pouches and again with plain opne back with cross braces. So, some kind of rucksacks to come and maybe some grenade and smoke grenades to put next to the universal pouches to hide them a bit.

All three Grubbys, Keelmas and Warbases are a tad shorter and perfect for use as indiginous Mike Force troops, with the Warbase Ghurkas pretty much ready out of the bag.

Again, forgive my convesions. Primer will fill in any gaps and if I am crazy enough to paint them, I have no doubt they come out beautifully.

Any questions, please ask.

A most very grateful thank you to Deadhead for posting the pictures.

Pictures two and four are in front of a 1/55 V150 Commando.

Thinking about it now, I missed out taking pictures of my Emress ARVN and my Black Tree Design CIDG conversions. I'll have to blackmail my brother into another pic or two.

Glad to help.

These kind of comparisons of different makers' figures are very popular. I just love to see any conversion work, but I am currently totally committed to Waterloo in 1/72 (not my scale of choice) for a massive National Army Museum project.

Send me any more pics and happy to post

Just in case anyone wants to know, I didn't buy just samples.

I have a complete infantry company of a hundred figures of the combined Eureka and Empress troops. I also have two platoons of sixty plus of the Warbases Ghurkas, a platoon of three dozen of the Grubbys Tanks Ghurkas and a platoon of another thirty of the Parkland bush hats figures.

Yeah I went a little overboard.