Ordering the attic i found an old italeri kit, the M901 ITV 1:35. Although i like the M113, that version looks rather bland to me. I plan to convert it to a M113A3 in Iraq 2003. On the buying list are the following sets from Voyager: US smoke launchers, US antenna bases and the one for the M113A2 from tamiya.
However the Italeri kit has not the normal cupola for the .50 cal MG. I wonder where can i find sprues from Tamiya or Academy with the cupola.
Also I would like to know if the kit is more or less accurate or should I better forget about my plan and invest in the Academy kit. In that case what can I do with the Italeri kit?

Thanks in advance.

Javier

That kit has some minor issue like the other Italeri M113 kits. Some more interesting options besides a US Army vehicle are M901 in the Greek Army or an Iranian M901 captured by Iraq and found by the US during Op Iraqi Freedom.

I've got some pictures of both of these. But the standard cupola should be easy enough to get parts for. Most Academy M113 variants also include the standard cupola.

Paul

The Ialeri kit is so-so as an M113. I would get the much better Academy kit. It is much easier to update it to a proper A3 standard (which it is not). Check out Vodnik's M113A3 build to see what can be done to it.

The Italeri kit build up into a pretty nice M901 ITV. Either build it as is, or you could sell or trade it here.

Does the M901 kit come with external tanks? IIRC the roof part of the hull is different for all the TOW head supports and what-not. I think by the time you collected all the parts for an M113A3 you'd be better off starting from the Academy kit Gino mentions.

Jim