Fictional Cold War Vig

December 20th, 1957


Day 2: Scouting ahead of our patrol for a downed American airman who was shot down yesterday. I don't know how he would manage to survive over a few days out in this frozen wasteland...but it's crucial that I find him. I've got to get those photographs his spy plane took before the enemy does.

Question: Should I keep the pictures like this, or make them in B&W? I'm kind of torn between the two. Suggestions guys?

I don't know how large your collection is, but any expansion you could make to the ground would be good. Think of a vast desert, studs stretching as far as the eye can see.

As for the photo, you can keep it colour, but I would suggest adding a bunch of noise and whatnot to make it look old-timey.

Okay, I'll try that on the next one; thanks for the tips

nice! I agree with memz that you should expand the ground. Looks good though!

COLOR FTW!!

If you did it in black and white, you would have more freedom with colours. Tan may not differ from white too much in low contrast B&W.

I recommend you use a program for it, though. Don't take it in B&W straight off the camera (not sure if your camera has the feature or not, but IMO it looks better to convert it later).

PS: Nice vig and story! Looking forward to more.

Yup, I'm looking forward to making more of 'em. Right now I'm looking at this small vig, the Pilot minifigure, and a KGB agent. I dunno what I'm going to do about the KGB agent yet...the Col. Dovchenko (sp?) head just looked really cool with a fedora and an old Johnny Thunder "bomber jacket". The KGB minifigure was originally meant to be a "native guide" of some sorts, but then I added the fedora and the Russian Colonel's head, and it screamed "KGB"

I'll probably post up the next shot in a few days; glad you guys liked the first one

I think black and white would be cool, but I also think a sweet color editing would look cool, like how 60's photographs are colored a bit differently, not sure how to explain it.

I know how 60's era photographs look; it's just getting the filter right...and I still can't figure out how to do that

Although I did find a cool "glow" setting that would be cool for the effect of a nuke being set off

I'm going to upload a color picture to Flickr, and see what tools they have up there. If I still can't figure out how to do it, I'll try the next picture in B&W and see how it looks.

1125 Hours, December 20th, 1957


Day 2, 1125 Hours: I found a body a few hours into my search...that of an American airman; hastily buried in the snow. I dug part of the snow off of him, and began searching the body. I checked the dog tags, pulled them off of the chain, and then looked into the man's face. Shaking my head, I looked down at his jacket and noticed two bullet holes. Closer investigation revealed powder burns; he had been shot in the chest at point blank range. I covered the body back up with snow, wishing I could give him a decent burial. But I couldn't. Something was wrong...and I was going to find out what it was. That's what they hired me for...but it wasn't just for the money anymore...it was now for the man behind me, buried in the snow. I owed him that much. I shook my head again as I shoved the dog tags into my pocket and turned to leave. The man buried in the snow wasn't a Lieutenant Harland.

I'll try a B&W photo next; let me know what you guys think about the story line so far, etc. It's interesting to see what people think about it/what can be improved, etc

If you use PicNic, I know they have a 50's-60's color filter. Or just Google Photoshop techniques.

Okay, thanks!

EDIT: I tried out PicNic, and got this. Now I'm torn between three kinds of filters



UPDATE: I'll be using the 60's filters in almost all of the pictures from now on...I say almost all, because the flashbacks will be in Black and Whi-

>_>

2nd PIC IS AWESOME!!!! where did you get the bandanna around his mouth?

I think I ordered it off of the Lego website a long time ago; I don't remember for sure

cool! I've never seen one before except in a few youtube vids.

I have like 20 of 'em, they were popular in the Wild West sets.

ah. do you know if you where you can buy them?

1245 Hours, December 20th, 1957


Day 2, 1245 Hours: I'm starting to feel the effects of the cold...my face and hands are starting to feel numb, but it'll be awhile before I get frostbite. I just have to make sure I get back to the base in time to thaw out. I did find the plane...what's left of it, that is. It's kind of hard to miss a giant debris field out in the middle of a frozen wasteland. The nose of the plane was intact, and I managed to recover the camera. It's amazing really; that something as small as this could be so valuable. I don't know what's on the microfilm, all I was paid to do was recover it. I was briefed on this type of camera before I left for this assignment, so taking it apart, removing the film, and then replacing it back into the nose of the plane should be no problem. All I have to do is get my numb hands to work fast enough so that the Russian squad I radioed in doesn't catch me in the act. Should be a piece of cake...right?

Elffy: Bricklink.

As my "comrades" continue to pick through the wreckage, I keep thinking back to that pilot buried in the snow...the spy plane's tail number keeps repeating itself in my head...WD-15...Where have I heard that before?

WD-15...

...

It was in Korea.

1750 Hours, February 20th, 1951, South Korea:

I stared through the driving snow as a lone figure made his way towards my foxhole. I removed the .45 caliber automatic from my coat pocket and racked back the slide. Private Parsons looked up from the letter he was about to open and pulled out his .357 magnum as well. The Marine TACP assigned to us dozed on; either unaware of the approaching figure, or to tired and cold to care. The figure was wearing the uniform of an NKPA Tanker. Parsons strained to see through the blinding snow; sure that there were more out there, waiting for us to come out of our new dugout. No attack materialized, so we captured the tanker and briefly questioned him. He spoke little English, and all I got out of him when I asked about enemy troops in the area was "Many, many Chinese," over and over. I told Parsons to take the gook back to Battalion HQ with him; we had a translator there, he'd probably be able to get further than we had. Just as Parsons was leaving, I had a sudden thought.

"Hey Parsons!"

He turned and looked over his shoulder, "Yeah?"

"Remember to bring back some M1's; our Carbines are having problems again."

"Alright; anything else Sarge?"

"Yeah, if you can find anything heavier, bring it. If this gook is telling the truth, we're going to need all the firepower we can get. I'd love to get my hands on a Tommy Gun if you can find one."

"Roger that Sarge; I'll see what I can scrounge up."

And with that he turned and disappeared into the driving snow.

I originally was going to have the flashbacks in B&W, but I found this filter at PicNic, and I thought it looked awesome for snowy scenes (I added the snow with PicNic later; the filter I applied first gave the picture that darker color.) Thoughts?

EDIT: Next one is up:

1317 Hours, December 20th, 1957


Day 2, 1317 Hours: The tail number still eludes me...I'll have to try and remember later; right now there are more pressing matters at hand.

The squad arrived in a little over half an hour. The cold temperature is starting to take it's toll. I wish I would've had the time to bring a hooded jacket, but it was either leave right then, or let Dimitri get to the plane before me. The squad brought an outsider with them, which was unexpected. The small outpost our squad is based out of doesn't get many visitors. He usually keeps his fedora down low over his face, and a large lump in the side of his coat leads me to believe that he has a concealed automatic. If I had to guess, I'd say he's KGB. That's pretty bad. I might have to get creative if he needs to be taken care of. Something that would convince the guys in my squad that he died of an accident; something that wouldn't lead back to me. At least something they wouldn't figure out until I was long gone with that microfilm. I just hope the KGB guy doesn't know how to open that camera. He already knew exactly where it was on the plane. Like this day could get any worse than it already was...

I noticed Dimitri running towards me.

"Comrade Sergeant! Comrade Sergeant! Come quick! We've found the pilot!"

Ah *crap.



I'll be flipping back and forth from the "present" (1957) to the "past" (1951) as the main character tries to remember certain things (example right now: the plane's tail number). Once I get my BA order in, I'm hoping to do some Korean War combat scenes with the dark/snowy effects. Again, let me know what you guys think, C&CC welcome :]

*edited; I'll be editing all my stuff if it has profanity in it (at the most I'll probably have a few words, I usually don't do much) if you want to read the un-edited version, you can check out my Photostream on Flickr.

1807 Hours, February 20th, 1951


My mind races as I follow Dimitri towards the nose of the airplane. I notice the figure in pilot garb from a long way off, surrounded by Russians. I don't recognize him.

...

WD-15; Of course. The pilot buried in the snow-


1807 Hours, February 20th, 1951, South Korea:

"Hey buddy, you got a light?"

I raised my gaze long enough to glance at the Marine TACP; then dug a Zippo lighter out of my overcoat pocket. The metallic sound of it opening and the small flame brought back memories--I never smoked, but how could I leave it behind? Some rear echelon soldier would've grabbed it for sure if I would've left it with the body. The click of the lighter closing acted as a tap though; it effectively closed off the stream of memories from the earlier part of the war. The Marine looked up as I huddled back into my overcoat.

"Thanks for the light Mac..."

His face glowed briefly from the orange tip, and then disappeared under the shadow of his helmet brim as he took the cigarette away from his mouth with shaking hands. He exhaled contentedly and gestured towards the radio.

"I'm going to contact headquarters; see if Parsons made it back yet."

"Fine by me; ask if they can send up some hot chow."

We both knew the food would be frozen by the time it reached us, but it couldn't hurt to ask, could it? I huddled deeper into my overcoat as the Marine raised HQ on the radio.

"Fox Hound One, this is Walker Dog One Five, over. Fox Hound one, do you read?"


Credit to Tim for the Zippo lighter. I was just trying to think up some call-signs; I know Hound and Walker were not the military alphabet designation for "H" and "W" in WWII/Korea