I am building a Vietnam era ACAV M113. I question the presence of the benches in the back of the vehicle.. or at least all of them. I remember reading that much of the back and bottom of the vehicle was filled with ammo, sand bags and gear. Rear gunner stood on crates or ammo boxes.

Any comments? I am temped to remove the benches, make sand bags and use some ammo crates and fill much of the floor with that and other gear, weapons, etc.

Some of the center seats were removed to allow room for extra ammo and equipment. I saw some with and without the center seats. You could build it either way and be correct. for the time period.

Here are a few links to photos for some ideas. Based on the photos is looks like F troop of 11th Cav didn't have much use for the benches.

http://www.11acr.com/william%20puskarich/wp27.jpg

http://www.kysales.com/ftroop/Untitled-2.JPG

http://www.11acr.com/doc_cleaning_60_cal_machine_gun.htm

http://www.11acr.com/photos/charbeneau/f-trp.jpg

http://www.11thcavnam.com/Photos/batts/[email protected]%5B1%5D.jpg

All of the above were linked from here:

http://www.11acr.com/

I'd suggest searching more of the links on the 11th Cav page for photos. There are some great photos of M113s and Sheridans that I've been able to find by scouring those links.

-Sherb

Thanks all... I looked for but did not manage to find the photos on that site. I will remove them... makes sense to me. Ammo, water and food were important and they never carried a squad, anyway.