Hobbyeasy has Academy's M163 listed for $24.

Here's the 1:1 "Attaboy" (one of the markings options)





H.P.

Here's the 1:1 "Attaboy" some other images.
Militaryfactory.com doesn't seem to appreciate direct linking






Links to the images posted by H.P. :

https://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/imgs/m163-vulcan_2.jpg

https://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/imgs/m163-vulcan_7.jpg

am i right in thinking that italeri did one of these with vietnam era markings?

Academys old boxing had decals for a Vietnam vehicle. The re-release don't seem to include that.

Cheers,
/E

Maybe I'm favored, because the pics in my post are showing on my screen...

H.P.

If you visit the links the image will be cached in your computer. When you submit the post your browser will fetch the image address from the cache, this will bypass any blocks raised by the website. I can also view the images in the post by first visiting the links and then viewing the post.

It is possible that different web-browsers handle this differently. I am using Firefox.

/ Robin

One of the links gives me this error message when I clicked the link in my post:

"Error 1011 Ray ID: 3ef1a9c3feb775e2 • 2018-02-18 14:26:44 UTC
Access denied
What happened?

The owner of this website (www.militaryfactory.com) does not allow hotlinking to that resource (/armor/imgs/m163-vulcan_7.jpg).

Cloudflare Ray ID: 3ef1a9c3feb775e2 • Your IP: 213.114.155.81 • Performance & security by Cloudflare"

If I copy the link into the address field of a new tab I can view the image without any problems AND it makes the image visible in your post as well. The next time I click the link in my post my browser displays the image in a separate tab while the other image is still broken because I haven't brought it into the cache yet.

I'm hoping that some of the am companies pick up, on this one. I know there was a set of etch and barrels are still available. Even Verlinden and, more recently Black Dog have produced something.

Thanks for the explaination Robin. So I'm not one of the Chosen Ones...

H.P.

The Eduard etch is long out of production, and the PE for the Italeri kit is fairly rare now too. Been looking for ages. Most of it can be sourced from the Eduard set meant for the Academy A2.

Not sure it would be wise to focus on these rather old kits? Word on the street is that a new-tooled M163 is in the works. No producer mentioned thought.

For the Academy kit the brass M61 would do a great deal. It's available in 1/35 from both Master and Aber.

In the photos of the Academy re-release ther seem to be mesh over the air intakes. Not sure if this is molded in or if photo etch screens are included?

Cheers,

/E

Because the Academy kit is quite nice and in production. It is much better than a whisper of a rumor, as well.