It may be a lil silly but could anyone post some pics of a M113 in Vietnam loaded with external stuff (you know bags, rolls, net and all this) so i ll do a realistic load on my one for the Cover up Campaign. I d also wanna ask where on the vehicle are the exaust exits for the engine. If spotted on some picture it would be nice.
Thanks a lot guys

Costas;
I will send a few good links I know about M113... for a nam dio you probably building the ACAV version... plz see first URL immediately it iwll answer most of your questions
http://afvinteriors.hobbyvista.com/m113/m113a.html
http://military-graphics.net/acav/acav.html
also some modelling page can give hints about extra loading
http://www.geocities.com/model_maniac2/model13d.htm
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2000/12/stuff_eng_isaksson_m113.htm

Engin thanks for the links allthough i ve already tried them, but they dont give me the exact answer. I really wanted to find a pic of a M113 fully externally loaded with lots of stuff, but still havent found one

Costas I remember an Australian m113 model with an excellent extra load.there were PSP plating on both sides.I will try to find this photo in net and send you

I'm at work without references but, it's at thefront right left -across the front of the vehicle from the driver- there with the engine air intakes. Don't cover up those either.
Mike

thanks guys, i appreciate your help and take a look at your references on both items and i hope till tommorow i have the completed answers. Thanks a lot (:-)

Thanks for the links, thats awesome information !

Cheers,
Garry

Costas if my memory serves me right the crews of the APC's didn't carry too much on the outsides of their vehicles. Because of the constant wetness (rotting)and all the jungle gowth any gear would be torn off. Besides they needed the room to sit on top of the APC. Most crews perfered to sit on the outside rather than ride inside the vehicle. They weren't very safe and it was better to carry the extra equipment in side as added protection from land mines and RPG rounds. I could be wrong but from all the the ones I saw there they were clean of extra equipment.

What was stored outside was usually inbetween the opened trim vane and hull front. This also helped to deflect a LM blast somewhat, and I heard that crews would load up this area just for that reason... to keep the full force of the blast from reaching the top deck.

Costas,

As the others say, M113s weren't that much loaded at NAM.
But if u wanna make such an M113 (as below) u can make the desert version with all of these Verlinden stuff.

Costas, everyone here say that there is not much extra load on M113s during Nam war. I believe you should listen them because one of them is an authority on the subject as a Nam Vet...my respects to my friend 'animal'
instead of heavy loading the APC,it can be good to add something different...a roll of mesh wire as a shield of RPG attacks.

My dear friends Thanks for all the advise and info . From pictures i ve seen, on books , or on documentaries, there were M113's totally clean outside and others that you could not see an inch of olive drab depending on the moving of the unit the period, and a lot of other circumstances. Any way on my dio the M113 will be parked at a temporary camp for the crew so many stuff could have come out of the vehicle for use. I am not talking for so many load as M113 showed in his kindly posted picture but 1/3 of it. The typical, some bags , some rolls. Checking the google last night i found here and there some veteran sites and some pictures of them so i ll sort em and see what i ll do. As for the wire roll for RPG protection Engin, i ve seen it in a pic and i did it last night made it and paint it and is ready for hangin when the painting is finished. Thanks for all the help and the effort as always guys . It is so good to know you always have support!!! (:-)

Here you go Goose. I used the Verlinden Vietnam Equipment set and the legend M113 Accessory set. Its not pictures of the real thing, but it can be a start.

Thanks a lot for your help Epi.