Hi all. Thought I would share the build I'm doing for the Vietnam campaign. It's the Airfix reboxing (no retooling of course!) of the old JB Models M113 Fire Support Vehicle.
The vehicle I'm representing was used by the Australian 3rd Cavalry Regiment.

I had Intended to do a quick, straight OOTB build to catch up on campaigns but after collecting some reference photos and reading some history on 3rd Cav. Regt. I felt the kit needed some improvements!
The kit is really lacking in the detail department and has a number of errors.



I started with the .30 cal as the kit one on the left was quite poor.The one on the right is a spare from the Airfix Willy's Jeep kit. Sliced off the old mounting on the airfix one and fitted the sliced off brackets from the kit one.

Cheers,
Tim

A couple more progress shots from the Airfix M113 FSV. Sorry about the quality had to take them indoors.
The completed turret ready for priming.
The turret is the same as the JB models Saladin armoured car kit but is not set up to Australian specs and is lacking some general detail being an old kit.

Main barrel and co axial MG drilled out. Distressed the canvas barrel cover with hobby knife to get a material look to it (thanks to Sabredog for the tip).
Added 4 lift rings from copper wire.
Puttied the aerial socket as this was incorrect for the Aust. version and added the two attennae mounts on the turret sides using scrap plastic.
Added the 3 grey fixtures from scrap plastic.
And I deleted the smoke launchers as none of the 3rd Cav. vehicles I have photos of had these fitted. They were probably of little use in the jungle!


Thanks for looking.
Tim

Tim,

I see that you have decided to add another former JB Models build to the others that have been appearing in this forum recently. While dated, these kits are a perfect point for people beginning the hobby, or for others to experiment with. Sometimes, as you are doing, a little work here and there can bring new life to these little gems. ;-) I'll be following this excursion down memory lane and thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Jan

Hi Tim

good to see you have the knife and putty out & into a build & campaign, & doing a few improvements to it as well. I'll be following the build, dont see a lot of Australians in Vietnam modelling in Braille.

I see its going to be a 3 Cav unit, are you going to put it on a base, and have you a specific date/place/operation in mind for this Vietnam era build ?

cheers
Neil

This is going on my watch list

Keep up the good work!

Interesting model. You have a great play with this model.

Regards.

Pedro.

Hi all. Thanks for the comments.
Neil: I'm basing the build on vehicles from A squadron - 3rd Cav., based with 1st Australian Task Force at Nui Dat ,Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam in 1971. They had 12 FSV's I believe as part of a trial on the vehicles and they were used primarily as fire support on and around the base. Im not sure at this point if they were used in any operations. Many of them had nicknames on them but unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to rustle up any decals to use so I will do one of the unnamed vehicles.
Thanks for mentioning a base. I have really being wanting to push myself to start getting some practise at doing Dio's etc, so I will have a go at making one for this build.

Some more progress shots.
The completed chassis.The road wheels and tracks are a one piece part. There was a seam line down the middle of the whole track assembly that had to be removed, and the drive sprockets are poorly moulded.The wheels are really quiet poor and the track work doesn't look right either so i'll be liberal with the pigment in this area during painting!


Australian M113's had additional belly and sponson armour added so I have added some plastic card at the front and back to represent the belly armour. I did not add it along the whole belly as the inner side road wheels are a smaller diameter than the outer wheels and are off centre so it didn't really seem worthwhile. In this scale the road clearance is minimal so you wont be able to see under there anyway.

I have also made a couple of changes on the completed turret. I had the rooftop .30cal in the wrong position in the middle of the hatch, so moved this over to the outer side. And I drilled a couple of small holes in the side of the coaxial .30 cal to get that cooling jacket look that .30cals have.
Cheers,
Tim

Love these moldy goldies! I don't know about all the extra work you are putting into this little beast but for the most part this looks like something I might give a try. Will follow this with interest.

Regards,
AJ

Thanks AJ. There quite a unique vehicle, you should give one a go.

The added sponson armour. It was placed above the first three road wheels.


The sponson and mud guards part was a poor fit and left a large over hang on the right side of the hull. Putty and sanding had it nice and flush again.
I sanded the mudguards, particularly the rear ones as they were quite thick.

Cheers,
Tim

Hello

Very nice kit. Interesting. Looking forward to see more. :-)

Cheers Daniel

Thanks Daniel.
Some more progress. The rear of the kit as it comes OOB.

I added rear lights from scrap plastic. Light guards from some staples. Added some extra detail with plastic card. Drilled out the tow points and drilled out a hole for the tow hook which i'll add after I've glued the hull all together as there is going to be some fit issues there.
Made some small cuts with hobby knife on the tow cable to give it some more detail, I should replace it but have nothing suitable on hand. I replaced the kit fuel cans with some spares. Drilled and carved out some handles on them and made the storage tray/bracket and tie down straps from plastic card.

The turret with reposistioned .30cal and added vision windows made from paper which I then coated in white PVA glue to seal in. Plastic card was a bit to thick.
Some cleaning up to do on these two sections (thanks to the all seeing digital camera eye!) and they'll be finished.

Cheers,
Tim

Hi Tim

good progress and improvements in your shots. I agree that moulded on rear tow cable is not good, but its an old kit, and good value, so there is little point in being too critical of the kit. I think I'd cut and sand all traces of the cable off, but thats just me, and my unrequested suggestion . In the end a good paint job and finish does much to lift a build & minimise any imperfections a kit comes with.

looking forward to the next update

cheers
Neil

Hi

Nice work.
Like the extra detail on the model. But the tracks and the cable looks bad.
Maybe you take some time to sand and replace the cable. Maybe you can drill some holes in the tracks. Or show the vehicle in mud. So you can blend the tracks. Good luck for next steps.

Cheers Daniel

Just spotted this build, looks great. I had ago at it some time ago, pretty pleased. Based it on picture D2 in Osprey Vanguard 34. From which kit did you get the .30 machine gun? The old JB/Airfix kits are fun to dabble with.
Cheers
Nick

Excellent extra details. I think like Daniel. It would be better to replace the tow cable.

Regards. Pedro.

TIm, keep up the good work. You've done a very nice job on those spare fuel cans. I have to sort of agree with several others that the tow cable could use some spiffing up.

Regards,
AJ

Thanks for the comments everyone.
I will be adding a new tow cable from a spare from a Dragon T34 kit. I will need to scratch build the ends and brackets.
I have just about finished the front hull section.
I removed the thick plastic wedges that were supposed to represent the headlights and repositioned them as they were to high. Added some headlights from scrap plastic. Copper wire lift hooks. Headlight guards from plastic card and a new hinge for the engine door from scrap plastic as the old one was much to small. There was also a paper thin spare track link on the lower right front which I removed.

Next step was to ad the extended trim vane from scrap plastic and the hinges. These were present on Australian M113's to aid in the fording of creeks/rivers.
Then added a spare shovel and made some brackets from plastic card.

The front mud guards where to long so sanded them shorter. Added some vision ports around the drivers posistion using paper sealed with PVA as plastic card was a bit to thick. Drilled and carved out the block on top of the drivers hatch.

Some cleaning up to do here and then on to the next section.
Thanks for looking.
Tim

@Firefly – Tim,

With all of the improvements and modifications that your making to this little kit, all very well prepared, you’ll have a jewel in your hands when your done and your skill level will have shot up tenfold. I like how you managed to open up the block on top of the drivers hatch. Keep it coming!

Happy Holidays,
~ Eddy

Hi Tim,
I know, Kit is very poor, you are doing fine details. Continued ...

cheers..