Great work, Joe.
These are some really good conversions of Bravo 6 figures. You did an excellent job with the added accessories like the grenades with pins and clear lettering on the smoke grenades, cigarette packs, toothbrush in the helmet band, etc. The way you photographed the figures is excellent, too. The black and white pictures look like they could have come from a newspaper or news magazine, but not from January 1968 due to the Soldiers wearing tropical rucksacks. That would be a bit early for widespread issue of that particular type of pack to regular Infantry units (my best friend's dad was in the 4th Infantry Division from May 1967 to May 1968 and he and his unit carried the lightweight rucksack). Although there were a few different packs that you could see American Soldiers wearing at the time (lightweight rucksack, mountain rucksack, ARVN rucksack, and indigenous rucksacks for example) the primarily issued pack and most widely seen being worn by Army troops was the lightweight rucksack. In late 1969 and into 1970, the tropical rucksack started getting issued in larger quantities to some units. LRRP and Ranger units got them first and then regular Infantry after that. After Soldiers started realizing that the X-frame could dig into the center of your back, some started attaching them to the lightweight rucksack frame. So a better timeframe for your figures would be late 69 and into the 1970's. No big deal, they are outstanding figures. I am just one of those Vietnam modelers who is into the uniforms and equipment so little things like what gear is being worn is something I look at more closely than others may. I also know how our supply system worked and still works. Most supply sergeants will issue out the older stuff until those supplies are exhausted before issuing out newer stuff. That is why in some of the equipment reference books, there is gear such as the M1967 equipment shown as being a development from experience in Vietnam and being noted as being placed into the supply system on a particular date, but Soldiers are still issued older equipment after the newer stuff is "available". I remember Soldiers still getting issued M1956 items in the late '70s and early '80s. Perhaps this info may be helpful for a future project of yours.
Cheers,
James
