It's been a long time since I did anything, but this has been in the planning stages for a couple of years so it is about time I got started. I will [ut it in a small vignette with part of the wall as a background.

If you read the descriptions of the fight Sgt Smith was not part of the 113 crew and neither was the driver. Both went into the track after the original crew was evacuated when a mortar struck the open driver's hatch. So, I am not depicting the driver or the TC figures with CVCs.

Here is a photo that is close to what I am doing. The only difference will be that it will be an M105 trailer instead of the MICLIC. I have to compress the suspension like this photo too.


An image to show how limited the view is through the hatch so I am not worried about all the superdetailing, but I wanted to get the basics in there, which is a little more than the Academy kit provides. And I corrected the steering yolk which replaces the incorrect kit driver sticks. Some hoses and pedals added too.




The driver figure. I will sculpt the MOPP suit hood to the back of the neck. I will not be bulking out the rest of the figure since it will then be too big to fit.


I will have the driver head facing up to draw the viewer's eye to the Sgt Smith figure in the TC hatch.


I already have the link to link tracks completed. Next I will be fiddling with the rear area which will be mostly detailing out the rubber upper and lower runners for the sliding spall liner doors. The interior will be cluttered up with lots of gear so again I am not worried about getting all the details correct, but the runners are prominent no matter what angle you see it from.

Bob

Looking great, Bob. This should turn out to be a great build. A very fitting way to honor SFC Smith.

Ahhh...off to a good start.....and so it begins

Rounds Complete!!

Looks good Bob, looking forward to following it!

(dumb kid at the back of the class raises hand) um . . .can you explain the story of Sgt Smith? Please?

http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/smith/profile/index.html

http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/smith/battlescape/presentation.html

HTH

Frenchy

Yes, so Seaman and Smith were not part of the 113 crew to begin with, so I will depict them in kevlars. I just got confirmation on that as well. I need to remove the seat back for the driver. This was removed by the crews of this platoon.

He earned the 1st MOH in OIF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ray_Smith

Question: Where does the TC plug in his CVC and where does the driver plug in his CVC?

The driver's Commo box AKA Charlie box is behind his left shoulder. The TC's is in front of his hatch, mounted on the firewall, just below where the roof meets the firewall. You also need to add the two hand grenade boxes, just below the driver's panel. The boxes are angled upwards at about a 45 degree angle.

There are interior pics for the M113A3 on Prime Portal, if not, use the ones from the 1064 as the driver's and TC positions are identical between the two vehicles.

The driver figure looks good.

JC

Thanks John for pointing me to the M1064 photos - that is where the best driver position photos are. I do have photos of the Sgt Smith track and the grenade box holders are not there so I will not add that, but now I know where to put the comm box for the driver. The kit already has the comm box molded to the bulkhead wall for the TC. I did not know what that was until you pointed it out. Thanks!

Even though the two figures I am depicting did not wear the CVCs the departing crew left theirs behind - and connected, so I need to show that.

I will be doing some more work this weekend and will post some photos.

I have been working on the rear troop area this week and I have found some compromises are in order there since it is not possible to squeeze in all the details. The seats come up too far and hide the rubber rails/back supports, so I will only hint at them, and not be able to show their full width like I had planned. Also, since I don't have to worry about the ceiling (rear hatch will be closed) I will not worry about getting the ceiling rails correct either. I did put in a bulkhead behind the driver to close in the spall liners, and I will show one door slightly open to reveal a peek at the radio, but I am not going to bother with a corrected SINGARS since only a small part of the radio will be visible. I am concentrating on filling out the interior with the crazy amount of gear they had - and the mess. So trying to get the interior vehicle detail will be a waste since the only view will be through the large cargo hatch and a bunch of gear will be lying around.

Hope to post some progress in a few days.

Bob

Bob- Long time no see. It is looking good. Are you comming out to Auburn?
Joe Bevans

Hey Joe, good to hear from you. No, that's too far away, but the main reasoon is I have nothing to bring. This is my first project that will finish in years. I will be making this and for a different build I will be making another OIF M1A1 - maybe working at the same time to change things up. Maybe then I will then have something to take around to the shows.

A bit more progress. The bulkhead behind the driver is added with a comm box attached to that. And I added the spare periscope holder next to the driver's panel. I used some scrap PE to make this. A bit larger than it should be, but "whaddya gonna do"? A fire extinguisher will go below the comm box.

I also hinted at the black rubber rails for the spall liner doors but this is a compromise due to the kit sizing issues. There are really 4 doors on each side but I am not making a big deal about this either for the same reasons as noted before.

For the ceiling I added a comm box near the troop hatch and a dangling wire connection.

Before adding anything to the outside and so I could roughly handle the exterior of the hull I felt it was a good time to add all the little holes the A3 has on all four sides. I used a template to do this as that was much faster than measuring out everything.

Paint finally starts this weekend.





Bob

It's looking great Bob. Good work so far.

Bob,
If you use the M105 trailer, remember to reverse the wheels to extend the wheel base. That's the way all our trailers were set up when I was in the 4th Combat Engineers.

Bob,
Nice work. I think that you might be missing the fixed fire extinguisher bottle which is between the radio rack/Kevlar front wall and the driver's instrument panel. I looked at the M113A3 pics on PP and could not see it but the bottle is in that location on the M113A2 and M1064 pics and frankly, I don't know where they would have relocated it to in the interior.

John

John, yes you are right. I just left it out until I paint it.

Progress.
Pin wash next.
I was advised the benches were removed and not just folded up, and so I removed the appropriate ones. I have to come up with lots of wooden boxes for the engineer stuff, and a long pioneer box which they used instead of the benches.















Bob

OMG you actually have paint on something?

Bob,
That interior looks great! Can't wait to see it "lived in." Did you say you were planning on replacing all of the tie-downs on the roof?
Brian

Bob, I'm pretty sure that Buck has that track in his collection.
Dan

Yes, the track is at Ft Stewart and I have some photos. I have been able to interview a couple of the guys who were at the fight. One soldier informed me about the benches that were removed. This will end up at the Ft Stewart museum.

I don't plan on removing and replacing all of those tie downs on the roof since there are so many and the stowage will cover up all that work. I will be adding the tie downs to the side of the track, though, since they need to be added to the kit. I already made the holes that go on either side of them.

Bob

Sounds like you got a good plan going Bob. D

start's to look great Bob

this one will turn out just as great as your other builds, with your eye for detail



,Gijs