Does the M-113 of Italeri that good as other M-113? As I look into the box art, it shows an interior, does this kit have one too? Is it rubber tracks or single-piece? Can it be used for the desert version (ODS)?

The Italeri is ok for the money but I would suggest the Academy or Tamiya kit. I have used the Italeri kits for making the guntrucks and even used one for the Alabama Slammer. They do not have a very detailed interior and the tracks are sectioned plastic. It is good model to start with but I think you would be happier with the other kits out there. As far as using one for the ODS I think it would be a lot of work to and a lot of am or scratch building to get there.

I believe that you are asking about the Italeri M113A1 kit. My gut tells me that this kit would be ok to use for ODS, but I would check your references.

I have not built this version, I'm only speaking from their M901 kit that I have built.

I believe that their tracks are individual links. I know that I swapped those out for the Tamiya belts. The main gripe that I had with the Italeri kit is the two-piece top deck. Not sure, but I am assuming that this two-piece will carry over to all their M113 variants. Careful assembly there will result in minor gap filling. The deck splits just behind the driver's hole.

There was also a strange row of bolts on the road wheels. Easily removed. I added the periscope guards from thin styrene. I also replaced all the tie-downs with Yoshida Photo-Etch.

One blackout light is missing from the left (as you're looking at it) light arrangement.

I like Italeri kits... tho not perfect... close enough for me.

I've noticed that some road wheels have a series of rivets along the "hump" of the inner road wheels surface.

The left road wheel has no rivets, the right one does, just barely visible through the mud. I don't know if these are the same as the bolt detail Kevin is talking about.

Good photo Rob.

The small rivet heads shown on the right wheel are to be found in the Academy ACAV kit wheels, but I seem to recall the Italeri ones being much more pronounced. I do have the Italeri A1 kit being discussed here and even tho I am tempted to crack the seal to look (seeing that I can't remember squat anymore) that would be breaking 'policy' as I don't open a sealed kit until I'm ready to build it. (Because I'll forget if I took something out of it or not.)

Tough getting old...

I don't know if the kit is ok for the one you want to depict, but italeri it's quite good for the money and with minimun detail scratchbuilding (very easy too) you can achieve good results.





I love the lik & length tracks coming with the kit too...
Ciao
(:-) (:-)

Thanks Fabio. Very nice too!

In my opinion the Italeri kit is better than the Tamiya one in both detail and ease of construction. I know people like rubber-band tracks over links, but the Tamiya rubber-bands for the M113 are pretty horrible. Italeri's tracks are link and length, not true individual link. Also, Italeri has better overall detail than all but the newest of Tamiya's m113 kits.

I just happened to have the M901 that I bought from someone online. It was a partially built kit and I had some grand designs of kit bashing it...any way, it does have the rivet detail exactly where the actual photo shows the rivets; however, the size of these rivets would probably scale out to a lug as big and prominent as the road wheel lug nuts. As you can see on the actual vehicle, the rivet is about as prominent as a thin dime on the road wheel surface.

Fabio, your M113 is beautiful! Kevin, I've seen yours in person and it is outstanding as well.

One thing the Italeri M113 kits have is that the blackout drive marker is molded upside down. Easy to fix, but rather annoying.

As animal states, a bit of work would be necessary to make it an ODS version. You could make it look cosmetically like an A2 by just concentrating on the engine intake grills and exhaust area.