Hi all,

It’s been a while since I posted. Have been stuck in the weeds scratch building titchy components and painting. Have finished basic weathering in the interior. It actually came out looking a bit more beat up than I had expected but I think it will become more subtle when I dust it all down. Note the gloss coat is still on in the below images so there is a bit of shine from the lights.

All the major components have still not yet been glued in place and are just bluetacked in. I figured I would post one final set of picks before I lock in the details as this is my last chance to move things around.

I still have to hook up the radio wires and hydraulic lines as these lines connect to the fire wall, roof and body and so I can’t do these until I am just about to seal up the interior. I’ll need about 5 hands to get that done I think!!!!

Anyway all. Hope you like the progress.

W

Looking brilliant, if you are still doing 88 then she had the modified drivers hatch central key locking (I'll see if I can find a picture) and three ply in two sections covering the upper winch mesh. It was hinge in the middle and a small fold down leg was on the narrow end so it could be raised into a table.
This is really great work.
Some Pics:
Drivers Hatch Interior, (This is on one of our Fitters but all four vehicles in the Tp had this mod:
Interior of B Sqn 2 Cav's Arvl - note the top of the winch which has the same mod I mention

This is the exterior of 88 about 3 mths before the Vic Bks open Day whereBarry Marriots image was taken. Despite Barry's claims this was 94 and not 84.


BTW the ding in the RHS flotation pod was done by yours truly much to my Drivers disgust. Had a disagreement with a tree on a slippery slope whilst spelling my Driver. The Vehicle name was on the LHS just under the Drivers hatch above the pod. Until the RSM banned AFV names she was called "Reichfuhrer" in 4" tall stencil block letters
Cheers
Al

Wayne,

It seems we both have the same interests in Australian armour. I wish I had gotten the Maple Leaf kit before it went out of production. At least the external set from Mouse House is available in the US. I dropped a post on the thread with your M577 about the rucks you used on the kit. Are they Mouse House or is there something close I can use instead. I am close to finishing up my M577 thanks to the pics you sent and am now just trying to kit it out. Not much Mouse House available in the US and I am trying to save myself the the difficulty in trying to get stuff from Australia. Any advice? By the way, one again, an excellent build on this one. I am looking forward to seeing the progress.

Glad to be of service ... there I was thinking them jerry cans was too tall!

Wayne good to see progress on this the interior looks great and very cluttered.
Good work.

Hi all, It’s been a while since I posted an update.

Have glued in place most of the stowage - Victory!

The first 2 pics below show the start of the hydraulic lines. I spent quite a while figuring out from my reference pics where all the lines go. It’s a real spaghetti junction with hydraulic lines and radio cables connecting the firewall, roof, body and winch. Figuring out how to thread it all together takes allot of lateral thinking and getting the roof on is gonna be hard!!!!




One thing I just noticed looking at these pictures is that I am missing ocki straps to hold all the stowage in place. No mysteriously hovering stowage on this vehicle!


I am happy with the track breaking gear: sledge hammer, crowbar and track gear bag stowed in the left rear of the vehicle, nice and handy near the rear door. It will be needed often as I intend to fit the car with T130E1 tracks.

I think the DPCU in these shots came out nice. I am sorry I can’t tell everyone what colours I used as I mixed them by eye and it took me far too many iterations to get them right. However as the guys discuss over at the Aussie Abrams and ASLAV threads there are so many variations in the shades of the DPCU pattern as the equipment wears out and gets covered in dust, so its hard to go wrong.


Ahh the genius of a jaffel iron, what more could a crewman wish for! Also note the cable laid out ready for the radio handset which will be hanging from a roof strap and CVC helmets to go in the hatches.


Last 2 for today. I FINALLY committed to gluing the firewall and glacis plate in place. Was a nightmare to get the pivot cables in and almost snapped some of the finer details off in the process but I feel better knowing they are there!




Yeah it feels good locking in all those details. Now it’s onto the winch assembly.

W

The interior is looking great but the wiring and fittings are damn impressive.

Good to see the correct fitting of the driver's seat and the height adjustment lever is a nice touch.

Paul

INSPIRING build! I've got a few buckets on the go, but haven't added the level of detail you have because, quite frankly, I am disappointed with base kits available ... why go adding every nut and bolt when the kit will only ever be an approximation?

Tamiya has finally corrected its Matilda (although LOVED the original), perhaps they should look at updating their M113 (although the original is also a classic).

If there's a problem with reference material, I am more than prepared to host Mr Tamiya's representative and line up a multitude of vehicles for them to inspect.

hey wayne

im loving this build and the interior is great
the interior paint work is great aswell
just keep my eye on the final finish of the outer body

keep up the good work

tony

Hey Wayne crazy work on the interior!. All your hard work has really paid off!.

hey where have out profile pics gone?

hey wayne , great work there ,, can i ask where you got the coms boxes from , these are very impressive and i require a set to fit my bradley interior out ,,thanks in advance ..

Hi all thanks for the words of encouragement.

Ian, I used Aussie Armour’s Kit 354 - Radio Installation for the M113A1 for the radio harness. Its available from http://www.mheaust.com.au/MHE/Catalogue.htm. From memory I think the set includes 1 x VRC 524 radio, 1 x VRC 64 radio, 4 x C-2298, a few AMUs and 1 x AM-1780 junction box. Enough for equipping one vehicle with it’s radio and intercom harness.

I know Verlinden do a US 1960 – 1990’s radio set which includes some of the above but I have never bought it so can’t comment on which is better.

The Aussie Armour offering looks just fine to me.

If you want some good radio reference material take a gander here http://www.prc68.com/I/VIC.shtml#VSB it helped me remember allot of what I had forgotten.

Mick, Yeah I feel your pain. So so so much work is required on the academy kit just to get to a basic A1 standard hull! The M113 is one of the most produced armoured vehicles ever and is used in so many different versions by so many different countries, I am surprised that none of the model companies have tackled the vehicle as the current offerings from Academy or Tamiya are probably 20 years old or older. I can only imagine that a new M113 kit would make money.

Jason, I think if you click the ‘show user details’ tab your pics will come back.

W

hi wayne .
thank you for the info ,, very helpfull indead ,, it is the junction boxes and other small fitting i need , not the radios them selves ,thanks again

Wayne,

A very impressive buid. The interior and all the detail is turning out great. What did you use for the cable and hydraulic lines? They scratch?

Tony

Wayne, I can feel the backache just looking at the pics. That is stunning and you have captured her well. We had a Green canvas Hammock that slung from the Rear ramp activator bar at the front and a bar bolted between the ramp release latches at the rear. It was on the Drives side of the vehicle and was my bed, we had 10 ply sheets that made up the Drivers bed on the right side. His Bed Roll included a 6" thick foam mattress and lived in front of the radios when not containing Alfie. The Jaffle iron is a great touch and the most important item on the vehicle. If you add rations just make sure they are the 10 man packs and not "B" type as my driver and I had a great aversion to these and the Q Sgt who was a great mate ensured we never got "B"'s
Cheers
Al

Very nice work on the interior Wayne. I hope to get close to that level if and when I ever get around to building a Canadian one (those are my photos on the Webshots page ). The wiring and hoses add a new dimension. Which data placards are those? (the silver/black ones). Looking forward to the exterior build. I'm glad to see you started spelling Maple LeaF Models correctly too!

Jim

Hi all, Thanks for all the encouragement.

Jim, honestly, thanks a bunch for the photos on your webshots page. I can’t say how good a reference they have been! Great walk around! and literally the only decent ARVL walk around I have been able to find! The http://www.network54.com/Forum/169232/ is such a good source of info for us antipodeans as we use much of the same kit and you guys are keen to share info and references too! FYI the Data placards come from archer who have some great generic dry rub stencils. I also found that Eduard offer a nice set of PE placards for the HMWVV which has a bit more colour on it. I used a mix of both. Maple Leaf!! - yeah my smelling is noy geed?>./z,

Al, Yeah I had fun adding some little bits and bobs to the open 5 man ration pack which has been raided for a tasty brew and jaffle! When I pull my finger out I will add some jackie rations - ½ eaten doritos packet!

Tony, Lead / copper wire for the hydraulics and radio lines. I used Masking tape cut to size and wrapped around the line where I need a coupling or end connecter.




So an update on my ARVL. I glued the roof on over the weekend and managed to grab a few happy snaps of the final interior before it gets all locked away forever.

A few minor tweaks. Installed the spaghetti junction of hydraulic lines. Many of them are seen hanging in mid air await connection to the roof. That was a nightmare! Also note I added some leaves and litter to the interior of the vehicle. Carriers inevitably build up a bunch of leaves and twigs when driving around in the Australian bush with the cargo hatch open. I think they add to the lived in look I am going for. Leaves came from PlusModel. I got brown and green cherry leaves as they look fairly close to gum leaves. Not 100% but good enough. To that I added some mixed herbs to add a bit more colour and irregularity. I plan to scatter more on the top of the vehicle when it’s done and stowed.

A good deal of the Australian specific stowage items come from Mouse House’s excellent MA315 kit which has all the goodies to make a vehicle feel like home! Nice work guys!

Finally note the radio handset handing from a hand loop on the roof of the vehicle. I will connect this to a wire coming off the face of the A set radio.

Now onto the exterior!

Wayne your interior looks superb!. It looks so busy!. I don't know where to look first! Your leaves are a very nice touch!. Outstanding work keep it coming.

Hi all,

A few pictures of the finished exterior of my M806A1 ARVL before painting.

I have left the major sub assemblies and stowage separate for painting. The white resin is from the Aussie Armour kit, the pink resin drivers hatch is from the Mouse House M113 T50 turret kit (a leftover from the spares box), and I selected a few green resin items from the Maple Leaf Models kit where the detail was superior to the aussie armour kit – not necessary but I needed both kits as the aussie armour kit does not have the interior. There is also PE on the exterior from Eduard and a few scratch built items like the cargo hatch bump stops and catch mechanism.










Both the Aussie Armour and the Maple Leaf kits had their issues with large bubbles in the resin however it was nothing that could not be fixed by cutting out the bubble and gluing in an appropriate shape of plastic stock, puttying and sanding back to the correct shape as seen in the below image of one of the spades.


The academy kit gunshield is wrong for an Australian vehicle in service in the 90’s / 2000’s. Modern Aussie gunshields look like this.


As you can see these are not the same as the kit item or the Eduard PE replacement available.


So I made my own gunshield based on the kit gunshield (its green plastic as I got the donor shield from my spares box so I could keep the kit one incase I messed things up!). I sanded it to a more scale thickness and added extra items as needed.




I needed to redo all the tie down loops on the vehicle as the roof layout was different. After asking around on this forum Jason M suggested using eduard PE tie down loops bent to shape with a blob of white glue on each end to represent the weld bead. A neat solution and a good way of stopping them from being easily knocked off. They look ok now but the white glue I used was not as viscous as I would have liked and the blobs spread out a bit. I plan to lay on some primer and see what they look like under paint…. Fingers crossed!!!!!


Overall that’s it. It’s a quick and easy build now I am finally done with the interior! It feels good to make some progress. Onto painting.

W

WOW , I've been following your build thanks for the update , your level of detail is beyond my descriptive vocabulary Outstanding . Looking forward to the updates on the exterior

Hey Wayne

What a stunning build.... I'm speechless the interior just looks fabulous. It reminds me of the time when I got my drivers license of the M-113. Nice touch with that little cooking fire and the leaves inside. Do you have a dio in mind?? I will surely follow this one from now on. Great job once again!!

Cheers Roel

Wow. That is a lot of tie downs.

The Academy fuel filler cap is a bit off IMO and could be reshaped a bit.

Paul