Small Scale Military Headquarters

Hi guys,
I'm making a vietnamese sampan boat, like one of the Verlinden 1/35 boats, but in the 1/18th scale. I wanted to do a patrol boat with 4-5 VC figures, but looking on eBay, I was surprised to see prices between 33 and over 50 $. Are they so scarce??? Anyway, I can not pay so much each for a bunch of them. So if somebody has a way to find cheaper prices or knows what GI Joe figures would also fit...

I got 4 VC for you:

Let me know if these guys will work for you.
You can email me at [email protected]
Razor

Replied back to your email.
Razor

Granch, the 21st VC and NVA figures are among the rarest 21c figures, hence the high prices. These were available only at Toys R Us stores in the USA back in 2001 and 2002 as part of the original XD Vietnam War line. I remember my local store having a lot of the carded figures (including the VC) and I should have bought a whole lot more than the two US Infantry figures that I did... I did get the M-48 tank and the Huey, just hardly any of the figures... Over the years I have managed to get an NVA and VC figure, but they were a lot more than the $4-$5 the figures originally sold for.

Razor, did you use the Forces of Valor Ages of Action ninja figure as the base for your custom VC figures? I got one of the ninja figures back in the day for that very purpose, but have never opened it.

tmanthegreat wrote:Granch, the 21st VC and NVA figures are among the rarest 21c figures, hence the high prices. These were available only at Toys R Us stores in the USA back in 2001 and 2002 as part of the original XD Vietnam War line. I remember my local store having a lot of the carded figures (including the VC) and I should have bought a whole lot more than the two US Infantry figures that I did... I did get the M-48 tank and the Huey, just hardly any of the figures... Over the years I have managed to get an NVA and VC figure, but they were a lot more than the $4-$5 the figures originally sold for.

Razor, did you use the Forces of Valor Ages of Action ninja figure as the base for your custom VC figures? I got one of the ninja figures back in the day for that very purpose, but have never opened it.

Tman,
No, they are from Pirates of the Caribbean line (TAI HUANG)

and
Elizabeth Swan figure

to make my rice paddy scene.

Well, that explains why two of them looked Chinese and not Vietnamese.

Thank you guys for your replies.
So I'm not going to desperately seek after affordable Vietcong figures, my sampan boat is nearly finished - have to varnish and paint it, and try it in a river, before it is frozen.
Thank you Razor for your mails, and the excellent idea to use figures from the Pirates of the Caribbean brand, didn't know it at all.
By the way, Chinese looking figures in a Vietnam scenery might not be so disturbing. Along many centuries, Chinese people emigrate along the south-east Asian coast and established trading posts as far as to India, keeping their own culture and not so much mixing with the local population, like the Greeks and Jews around the Mediterranean see. The disturbing point would be the clothes of these figures, their are too heavy for the south-east Asian climate. Nothing's perfect. For my small oriental river harbor diorama, I've used figures that are not so oriental looking though, mainly Star Wars and Indiana Jones figs. with a pale paint on face and hands and black for the hair. Vietnamese people seem to have a darker skin than Chinese.

My sampan (vietnamese-thai fishing boat style) is almost done, missing some figures and stuff (click on the small image to get a full screen):

It seems that it floats well. Of course, the outboard engine is a Mercury one, not typical for this kind of boat, but it push it well. And sorry for the flag, I tried to make the VC one, but the 2 colours (blue and red) didn't keep in their field and mixed together.

The sampan looks awesome, I guess I missed it somehow. Is it fully wood?

Yes, all balsa wood.