Slowly but steadily … 
Though it has to be finished in about three weeks’ time, so maybe I should get a move on …
Though it has to be finished in about three weeks’ time, so maybe I should get a move on …
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The driver’s position is now largely finished, with rifle racks as well:
[ATTACH]403950[/ATTACH]
Though I’m wondering whether to also include the boxes that should be here, like the master switch, because if the racks were still present, those probably would be too.
I’ve also been working on the rear:
[ATTACH]403949[/ATTACH]
The mudguards and tail lights are Academy, the tan plate behind the left-hand light is Italeri and the guards above the lights are Tamiya. Everything else is strip and rod and stuff, as per usual by now The jerrycans are Italeri, with new caps made from a punched disc and some strip, because the Italeri set has fuel cans while pictures of ARVN M113s mostly show water cans being carried on the rear. They still need their straps, of course, and some more details also need to be added to the rear plates still.
The lower part of the rear plate that has broken in two, is plastic card formed to shape based on the dimensions of the AFV Club M113 hull. To get an authentic-looking break, I made a small cut in the top and then tore it in two with my hands. For convenience, I will assume its counterpart at the top has vanished together with the roof plate
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In that case, I’m wondering why this is taking me so long
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The rear plates are now mostly done:
[ATTACH]404100[/ATTACH]
The jerrycans are in place with their straps, everything hanging to the sides because of course, the sides of the vehicle will be almost flat on the ground. I also glued strip to the edges of the rear ramp opening.
At the front, I glued the glacis plate to the bow:
[ATTACH]404101[/ATTACH]
It’s almost vertical rather than angled back like on a complete M113. This is not how it sits in the original photo, but I can’t work out how it’s attached there, so this seems a good compromise. The pipe is 1.5 mm copper wire, an electrical cable with the insulation stripped off. This turned out to be far harder to work with than I expected, as it’s much tougher and harder material than I thought it would be, but I didn’t have any good alternatives so I had to make do with it The brackets on it are aluminium strip, cut from an offset printing plate. I also added the front bilge pump (the white plastic box that the L-shaped bit of tube runs to) on the floor — that’s what the pipe is for, expelling bilge water.
I now also intend to put a piece of interior wall in here anyway, stuck to the back of the glacis plate. This would make more sense than the wall being entirely gone, I think.Comment
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jakko, the great detail continues. As to the copper wire try heating it to bright red then quenching in water this should anneal it and make it easier to work.Comment
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Thanks for the suggestion. I had had that thought too, but by the time I did, I had already formed the “pipe” to the shape I needed Good thing to keep in mind for the future, though.
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I’ve added lots of cables to the vehicle now. First I made a wrapped cable by taking a few strands of thin copper wire and wrapping a thin strip of masking tape around them, like on the real thing:
[ATTACH]404248[/ATTACH]
It goes behind the bilge pump pipe and through holes I drilled in the remains of the firewall, where I then cut them all off. This because the four things I fixed it in, represent the sockets the cables plug into on both sides. I randomly bent the other ends, to represent them having been torn from whatever they were fixed to, and also added some more random cables draped over and around the engine:
[ATTACH]404251[/ATTACH]
Basically, this is half trying to represent the real thing and half gizmology for the overall appearance.
On the right-hand side, I added some cables as well, because the battery box sits at the very rear here. One cable ran forward into the engine compartment, the other earths the electrical system on a bracket welded to the hull side:
[ATTACH]404249[/ATTACH]
I won’t be including the battery box or the batteries, but above it on the rear wall are some more fixtures that I suppose would have remained.
All that done, I decided I want to have the radiator next to the wreck. It hangs from a duct that is normally attached to the roof of the engine compartment, and Tamiya provides both parts. However, if the radiator came down to the ground from some height, the duct would surely get deformed, and that’s not possible with the plastic kit part, which is far too thick. So I copied its dimensions onto apiece of aluminium sheet (a printing plate) and bent it into the shape of the duct:
[ATTACH]404250[/ATTACH]Comment
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I added some straps to a few of the tie-downs:
[ATTACH]404400[/ATTACH]
These are just 0.1 mm plastic card cut into strips of random length, then folded, scrunched up and otherwise mishandled before glueing into position.
And all the main parts posed on the base I made earlier:
[ATTACH]404401[/ATTACH]
Missing is the trim vane, which should sit on the bow. Someone promised he would mail me one, but hasn’t so far
Anyway, next, I sprayed Vallejo white primer from a rattle can onto all the parts:
[ATTACH]404402[/ATTACH]
This needs a second coat tomorrow, because some of the pencil lines still show through. Then the real fun begins, because I need to decide which colours the interior actually was after the explosion that blew the whole thing apart. I can’t figure out what exactly is visible in the photo of the real vehicle: why are the lower hull sides light in colour, but the upper sides and floor, dark?
The interior of these M113s was painted white (the more familiar green finish came once the M113A1 was already in production), so are the light areas white paint, or perhaps bare aluminium, or even aluminium oxide resulting from a fire? Are the dark bits on the interior scorched paint? If not, what else might have caused them to be that dark? Speculation would be appreciated
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Hi Jakko
Primer means the end of building and onto the next stage. That's a big achievement on its own. All the cabling looks good and the radiator duct has worked well.
JimComment
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Yes, it certainly felt like getting somewhere finally
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Thanks
I wouldn’t use the word “enjoyable” … “Frustrating” is more like it, at least until I get a decent mental picture of what things are and how they go together. Once I can wrap my head around that, it’s usually easy enough — until I run into things I thought I knew but turn out not to. Quite often with this model, I was sitting on the sofa or something and had a flash of inspiration, went to my hobby room and then found I still didn’t quite have it clear enough yet.
I’m not I’ve got one week left to finish this thing, and I have no idea yet what colours I should/will use anywhere except the outer surfaces (namely, OD).
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just had a catch up.....you have made a lot of progress and it is looking very nice indeed. Hope you make your deadline. Rick H.Comment
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Thanks, and I should be able to do it, if I can think of plausible colours to paint it in.Comment
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