I've got a detail set that is designed for the Academy M113 series, but is also marked to be suitable for the Tamiya and Italeri as well. The resin and white metal detail set is #MRA-35142, but I have no other info on the manufacturer.

The set includes wire cutters, ice cleats, rear view mirrors, head and taillights,tow hooks, whoopie lights and other fixtures. I want to add this to the Italeri M113A1 and make a Canadian plain Jane M113A1. Does anyone have any info on making a Canadian M113? By this I mean markings, colors and do they use the regular US M113 tracks or do they use the NATO type that AFV Club markets?

(yes, I know that the Academy kit is the standard in M113 quality. I have this Italeri kit and want to build it.)

I know they yse the Diehl track with removal pads/ice cleats. Try ;Maple Leaf Hobbies
url=http://www.cyberus.ca/~morganz/MLM_Modern.html. I know they sell Canadian M113 items.

Rob,
For the life of me, I cant remember his callsign, but there was a gentleman here that signed on not to long ago that offered pictures on Canadian vehicles. He is in the Canadian Army.

Rob,Diehl tracks are what are used as Ranger74 says,the Grousers(Ice cleats) are stored while not on the track on racks on the hull outsides.As for colours a lot of ours in my old Regiment still were in the Nato Green and black,others were in a flat OD/green.The callsigns were done in black paint,tac signs were in black .

HTH

One more thing I forgot,M113's still in service have the external fuel tanks instead of the fuel tank in the crew compartment. There may be some floating around with the Fuel tank inside,but all of ours had externals.

Rob,

Try asking Paul Fredenburg of TrackJam models (most likely he will reply to your post). He is listed as a member here under his last name. I have found him to be a wealth of knowledge on modern Canadian vehicles. Archer Fine Transfers makes the markings you will need for it here: http://www.archertransfers.com/AR35154.html
to the best of my knowledge you will need to add the small canadian flags to the front and back, and add two "Canada" licence plates. Large Black tactical call signs are added to either side. The black maple leafs are markings for the leopard and are not applied to the bucket.
You can find photos of the placement of these markings here:
http://www.armouredengineer.force9.co.uk/bucket/users.htm
I also have a couple of grainy photos of an M113 TOW variant that clearly show the markings if you want them.
Canada also uses the Diehl tracks which you can get here:
http://members.rogers.com/trackjam/index.htm
They also have the external fuel tanks which you can get here:
http://www.cyberus.ca/~morganz/MLM_Modern.html

Hope that helps,
JC Hayes

The ice cleats that come with the detail set are on a rack that attaches to the front. Now the Italeri kit (as well as the Tamiya and Academy) comes with regular US style tracks even though the kit comes with German and Belgium markings. Does this mean the kit is wrong or just that later variants used the Diehl tracks?

Hi Rob,
I think I just felt my ears burning. I do indeed have a load of data on the Canadian versions of the M113A1/A2 and special variants. I am writing a reference book on it which will be ready around Christmas. However, you caught me at a bad time. Tomorrow I am taking a bunch of chairborne warriors out on a spot of adventure training into the wilds of northern Ontario and won't be back until 24 Jun. I can provide you with what you need at that time. Hope you can wait.
Cheers

Rob the Canadian 113's have been using Diehl track for at least 22 years(The time I was around them).Not only the 113's had diehl but also the 577 and 548's.As for the grousers before we had racks on the sides there were usually kept in a tool bin with the drivers tools and assorted Junk.
The early M-113's probably came with US tracks when they were delivered in the mid 1960's.I imagine it was the same for the German 113s.

4 CMBG was pretty well converted to Diehl tracks by 1977 when I went on a flyover to 4CER. (RIP)