http://groups.msn.com/armorama/porkchopsarmor.msnw?Page=Last
First shots of the interior on my Academy M-113 Zelda....

Nate
Wisc. USA

The link didn't work.

Thanks:
It should work now....

Nate

oooooohhhhh theres a blooper in there!!! nice interior!! I like the subtle details like the playboy magazine in there...............oooooohhhh playboy....... #:-) #:-)

Way nice! Reminds me of my old cav home!

wow very nice work, looks great

Bender

Wow, nice job. That is superbe.
Couple of points, seeing the grenade launcher and the lovely lady on the cover wasn't she Miss November '74??? the AFV is Viet Nam era. The dirt in Viet Nam was pretty red, I would expect to see a bit more dirt. Not much, just a suggestion of it. The rest of the detail is to good to muddy up to much.
Second point I'm not really 100% sure of. On the back door are the circles in the corners ejector pin marks? There are a lot of them which makes me wonder if they are something else. If they are ejector pin marks I'd fill'em, if not I'd ignore this second comment.

Great work - inspirational.

Looking great, Porky, especially all the stuff you put in there, the magazine. I am sorry my religion prevent me from giving nice comment to the magazine (I am against nude women) #:-) , Is the aluminum can on the side a cooler of some sort? nice touch.

Great work.

Thanks guys....
Slodder.... good call on the pin marks, I threw some putty in there already ( I think) but those really stand out in the photos. I guess the consolation is you really can't see them with the top on. You can see much of that stuff with the top on. But the back door (which I will have open) and the top hatch also have those marks (I may use a flag to cover them on the hatch). May need more putty....
I debated on the inclusion of the magazine, but figured what the heck it would garner a few chuckles and hopefully not too many frowns.... I discarded the centrfold idea though......
As far as mud, I'll throw a little more in the Nam era M-113, but went light on this version. Nice thing with Israeli vehicles is you can pretty much use American weapons (the M-79 and M-16) and be reasonable sure it's accurate.
And Dave, that is a water cooler on the side from the Verlinden 'Nam stowage set....
I'm still a few weeks away from finished, who knows what else will end up in this baby...

NATE

how would you know??????? hehe just kidding
huh??

Great looking interior! What paint did you use?

Stuke

That's MM Acrylic Pale Green straight out of the bottle.
Most of the grime is Raw Umber thinned. Also MM, but enamel I think.

Nate

:-) Nate, loverly interior. Personally I like nude women, so the inclusion of the Playboy mag is a good touch. Something you would expect to find in one and every western AFV on the planet. I think it should look more "used" though Looks even less comfortable than a 432. :-)
Mal

Thanks Nate. I have one of these sitting on the shelf, and want to use that same color.

PorkChop - nice calls on all your points (Mud, pin holes, magazine, weapons etc). Love to see that you've seen all angles and have thought it all through - Good job!

I have to agree with all the other guys .... great work Porkchop. lovely interior work. I especially think you made a marvellous job on all the panels in the driver´s compartment. It all looks so good. Also the middle benches. You would think they were made from chip board.... are they?

Very nice!
As a fellow Zelda nut, I like to see the time and energy you put into the beast!

Since the ramp will be up, are you planning on adding a ramp pulley?
The only reason I ask is this is my chief gripe with all the m113 kits. So far only the Zelda interior etch set and the Maple Leaf models Canadain interior sets include this part.

even without it, it's very nice work!
Mike

Not much I can add Nate .... just that it's a great looking bit of work so far. Good attention to details and very clean workmanship. Keep us posted please.

Excellent work so far. My only thought concerns the Playboy. (Getting really nitty picky here #:-) ) The corner looks to be bent over more than the small amount of overhang from the seat should allow given the thickness of the magazine.

With regards to the centerfold... I did a Vietnam dio with an ACAV where the crew had just gottena care package from home with a couple Playboys and the crew were rather enjoying the :-) :-) centerfold, which was accurate to 1971. It always got a lot of attention whenever I showed it. In scale, the image was no larger than the nose art on a 1/72 B-17. No one ever complained.

Al:
You think that's bent too far? That's why I posted here....
Ok, I can still bend it back a little bit.
Thanks for all the kind words, I've been working a litte blind on this kit using web sites as my main references. there's a lot of good IDF stuff out there and Rob's motorpool has been a big help as well.
As far as the seats, they're the plastic ones that came with the kit, with a little tissue on them to give them a little texture, the photos I have seen look like vynl or some other soft material.
This is a fun little build. Time to experiment with the flag.... and if it works I'll let you all know....

Nate
wisc. USA

Porkchop,

What a nice interior of the Zelda you have done. One thing I wanna know is will you glue the top before weathering or vice versa?

Steve

Real nice job, I also liked the small details that brought it alive (like the playboy mag).
Great

I will weather the exterior in two phases.
The top and all outside panels will be glued on and weathered.... the Zelda also carries additional plates of armor spaced a few feet from the hull, and those will be weathered seperately from the hull. That way it keeps things for looking too consistant in color, applications, etc...

Nate

I'm not an expert in IDF vehicles, but to me it looks great!!! I'd love to have your painting skills... Thanks a lot for sharing your work!
Ciao

And I'd love to have your skill with brass and PE!!!!!

Nate