You know how it is ... Friday after a big week and you settle down to watch a movie you've all ready seen and dig out something from the stash to tinker with.

I've had the Italeri M109 No 235 in my horde for at least 15 years, and I think I got a set of AFV Club for it in the past decade.

I'm a keen Vietnam era modellor and I've always intended to build it as an American Army vehicle in plain olive drab (weathering for dry or wet season makes for interest in otherwise drab vehicles).

I'd dug out the kit more than a few times over the years and all of the parts remained on their sprues. From my research, the old kit is quite sound, albeit with some hatches annoyingly moulded shut and some tools that definitely need replacing.

Looking back, I think why I'd always baulked were the sink holes in the side of the hull and around the base of the turret. I've been modelling for 40 years now, but I'm always learning, and when I took another look on Friday, them sink holes didn't seem daunting at all, and by the time I went to bed I had the basic "block" built, sans sink holes thanks to Tamiya white putty:





Last thing I applied some Gunze Mr Surfacer and this morning I smoothed out the turret and side panels, as well as enlarging the commander's hole to accept a Tamiya M113 ACAV cupola (these were fitted to American Army 109s in Vietnam, although I can't say how many ... I had the cupola with shields all ready built as part of a long abandoned project):



Tinkering on and off throughout the day, I got most of the little bits in place, and tomorrow I hunt down some tools and see if I can give the beast a squirt of OD out of a can, and maybe even apply some decals:





Compared to my other epic odysseys, this one is definitely a "no brainer", and the painting will be be a breeze.

The fit of the kit is excellent, although the moulding and some details are starting to show their age. Nevertheless, a fun build which results in a distincitive looking track. Keeping with the ethos of keeping it simple, I'm going to depict the 109 in travelling mode with the gun in the lock, which means the base will not need to include an emplacement.

Anyway, if work doesn't impose itself on me tomorrow, I might post of pic on the kits on OD with some stars.

Any pointers about features for US Army vehicles in Vietnam welcomed ... I've basically built the base kit without the Euro features such as smoke dischargers and turret jerries.

Didn't quite make the paint stage, but the vehicle's essentially built with only some small details to add, and naturally a few more to come after the oaint goes on:

Interesting subject Mick, looking forward to seeing more.

Hi Mick,
Great job so far. I'll be watching this one closely as I'm well into Vietnam modelling aswell & I have this kit too. So I'd like to see how this one comes out.
Good luck with the build mate!
Joe.

Nice choice of subject. I study Vietnamese culture and History as well as the Amercan involvement in Vietnam so this is an exciting subject for me to see. I look forward to seeing how you will work the monotone paint scheme. Should be very exciting!

Thanks mate ... I'm looking at doing a "dry season" vehicle with minimal crud ... because these vehicles were mainly driven along some sort of prepared road to emplaced positions, they didn't end up too grubby.

Here's my Cent 5/1 "in progress" (very close to completion) ... the 109 should end up looking like this, but not so beaten up - in US Olive Drab:

Al-right Mick I love your no brainer projects especially when they are Vietnam subjects. This is sure going to be an interesting build. How are you getting on with your buckets? That Centurion is great too. Could you possibly share any pictures of the M109 with the ACAV shields serving in Vietnam please?

Jaymes

G'day mate ... here's a pic of a 109 with ACAV cupola from this site:



About to launch back in to the Buckets ... watch this space ...

It's great to see this kit being built, since mine has remained in the box for nearly 10 years now.

Build it!

There are no problems in putting the basics together, and beinga very chunky and utility vehicle, there are no annoying fiddly bits like light guards etc.

For suject matter it eclipses most modern kits, but there are also some very dated aspects about the kit ... the rubber band tracks are nigh on useless, but cost effective and very good replacements are available from AFV Club.

You could remove all the moulded detail on the roof and start again, but I chose to obscure it with some of the clutter of a vehicle on the move (these vehicles were in static position and had a big crew, so they would have been carrying things like cots, tarps and pickets despite their support vehicles like the M548).

I suppose it's a basic kit, but you'll get it together in a night, and the paint job of Vietnam era vehicles is simplicity itself ... sometime you just need to swiftly finish a build to raise your morale!

Now I have some knowledge of the beast, I wouldn't mind building an emplaced vehicle next ...

Hi Mick

Nice to see on of those oldies being built. I've had mine in the stash for a very long time and it's waiting for a conversion to a Swiss KAWEST. Good to have some pointers on the basic kit.

Cheers!
Stefan

Mick, lovin the cent, its absolutely filthy, which is brilliant!
M109 coming along nicely too there

Its looking great. Always good to have more artillery here.

I have built a bunch of the Italeri M109s and they are great. They are pretty easy to build and can come out looking great. They have just enough detail to be fine straight from the box, or can be a great base for a super-detailing project.

I am looking forward to seeing it with some paint on it.

Keep up the good work.

I now have the beast sitting on wheels, and have been tinkering with the AFV Club tracks ... there are no sink holes and they go together well, but the pins are a bit fragile:



I know I said this was going to be a "no brainer" build, but I found these promoinent bolts on the barrel counter weight in a reference snap, and they will be hard to ignore:

I'm glad you're doing this. I've had these same parts in the stash for a while but unfortunately don't have much modelling time these days.

Anyway, good thing there's no paint on it yet. There are a few minor things that'll add to it.
First, as mentioned, is the turret roof detail. You may not want to go whole hog removing it, but the rectangular spare barrel bag really needs to go, as well as the rectangular bag for the aiming stakes. Ten seconds with a steel cutter and they're gone. You don't even have to be precise because the replacement bags will hide the gouges, unless of course your aiming stakes are deployed, then that portion with have to be smoothed out.
Second, you can add the welds along the top edge of the hull with (.010 x .040 IIRC) Evergreen strip.
Third, replace the lugs on the front of the hull with pieces of tubing. They are actually mounting locations for the swim kit. You're no morre than 15 minutes away from a vastly improved kit.
Of course there is more, depending on how much into the weeds you want to get, but those things would be at the top of my list.

ETA: I see in your photo above the oxbow swim kit cover has been removed. It's a little trickier, but well worth the effort. Just fill the gap underneath with CA glue before you start. Again, the steel cutter works wonders, followed by finishing with a sanding stick. Add bolt detail. There is one photo of the process in my album.

Hi Robert,
I'd be interested to hear what else you would do to improve the kit.
Joe.

Going through the Australian War Memorial photos, I found another pic of an M109 with an ACAV cupola, although I was more looking for markings:



Moving right along ... I wanted to take a break from writing resumes today and put a few more final bits on the 109 in preparation for a squirt of OD. I gave the underside of the turret and barrel a rough coat before putting the travel lock in to place :





I then gave the vehicle a coat ... what I like about US Vietnam era vehicles is you can spray them from a can, which makes for a speedy process if you want something to come together quickly. Because the kit only had Euro markings, I raided the spare decal stash to mark the vehicle in what looks to be a typical but definitely fictitious fashion (they came mainly fron the Tamiya M48 and M113 kits):







After I positioned the decals and they started to settle down with some solvent, I gave the vehicle a coat of Dullcote.

Now it's a case of letting the lacquer harden and then giving the vehicle a wash and weather. These vehicles were mainly in emplacements and the only travel they did was generally on roads between fire bases, so I won't be going to town with the mud and foliage.

At this stage the kit looks like a diecast toy, but I enjoy pondering how I will proceed while I'm literally watching lacquer dry ...

Had a "let's try and get at least one of these hulks on tracks" day today,and managed to get the Nam 109 looking almost like a finished project.

The tracks were actually the reason I didn't build the kit when I got it about 15 years ago ... don't know my excuse for it languishing in the decade since I got a set of AFV Club tack for it ...

Anyway, the track went together a treat - easy to assemble, no sink holes, fit to the sprocket was perfect, and the installed track really lifts the appearance of the old Italeri 109.







I find my projects really fly once I get thim to this stage - next thing is to get it on a base, which will minimise the need to handle the model while I detail, wash and weather it.

These vehicles tended to stick to the road and then sat at fire support bases, so I won't beat it up too much and I'll depict it moving on a road in the dry season as I love the Vietnam red dust finish.

Naturally, I need to add some more stowage, the .50 cal and some crew.

A very nice looking build. Did you decide against adding the bolts to the barrel? And, do you intend to do any weathering?

Yep, I'll be giving the 109 a dry weather Vietnam red dust weathering ... still looking for the right sized bolts for the back of the barrel counter weight ...

That "counter weight" is actually a bore evacuator, or fume extractor, depending upon where you are from. For bolts, purchase every available size of Plastruct hex rod. Just slice off bolts a little higher than what you need, and sand them down to the desired height after you've cemented them in place.

I still think it's not too late to replace those lugs with small bits of brass tubing...

Please provide the appropriate reference pics so I know what you are talking about ... I know zero about 109s, except that the Italeri tracks were unusable!