Introduction

Good things come in small packages is a good analogy for the M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier. Developed in the late 1950s and entering service in 1962 with the U.S. Army the M113 went directly into combat in Vietnam. It provided Infantrymen with the ability to travel under armoured protection to and from the battlefield with a great deal of reliability and standardization.

The M113 is known worldwide and truly a military workhorse with more than 50 countries using the venerable little tracked machine. The M113 has been modified, converted, and adapted to multiple roles and functions over its 53 years of continued service. The M113 is still used worldwide in various configurations with a great deal of success.

The basic M113 APC has been upgraded many times and received countless modifications depending on its intended role. On the somewhat opposite spectrum in the scale modelling world the M113 and multiple variants has been produced by Tamiya, Academy, and Italeri/Revell over the years. The individual kits have their own merits and limitations based on when they were produced and the modelling technology utilized for the molds.

Modelling enthusiasts of the M113 series wait patiently for a “new tooled” state of the art M113 series to materialize but alas there is not even a sniff of it occurring any time soon. While the real M113s continue to serve the 1/35th scale versions are becoming old, left behind, and in some cases no longer produced.

Don't fret! In the interim there are ways to increase the “curb appeal” of currently available M113 kits. Legend Productions has released a small but well created detail set for M113 APCs.

Review

The new Legend Productions M113 APC Detailing Set is likely best used with either the Academy M113A3 (13211) or the Tamiya M113A2 (35265) kits. However, there are many generic details in the set that would be very useable on any M113 kit.

The set consists of 51 resin parts, 156 PE parts, and nylon string for the tow cable. All of the resin parts are of a highly quality level of casting. The PE parts are located on two frets with the parts numbered.

The M113 APC detail set parts include the following:
- Tie downs
- Pioneer tool mounts
- Trim vane lever
- Driver’s hatch
- Driver’s hatch periscopes
- Tow cable mounts
- Jerry can racks
- Fire extinguisher pull handle housing
- Exhaust guard
- Engine grill mesh
- Rear hatch details
- Headlights and guards
- Commander’s hatch, cupola periscopes, machine gun mount
- .50 Calibre HMG with cradle
- Upper hull details
- Antenna mounts and guards
- Horn
- Tow cable nylon thread
- External fuel tank armoured cap locks
- Late version pivoting tow pintle
- Taillights and guards
- Grenade dischargers guards
- Engine deck hinges
- Rear ramp door details
- Hull top hatch details

A plethora of various sized resin bolts are also provided for ease of use to detail the PE parts.
The instructions consist of one two sided colour sheet showing the part placement via blown up images. A part breakdown is also provided on the sheet.
There are no parts for detailing the interior and this is understandable in order to keep the set to a low cost.

The nylon string for the tow cables is a common trend with Legend Productions. Given the small length of the M113 tow cable it would have been far better to have included about three inches of brass cable to permit for the best detailing possible.

Using the set is simple. You are going to use the set parts to replace kit parts. In some cases it will be a straight swap and in other cases you will need to remove molded on parts. There is nothing complicated about this set and all that is required is basic skills for sanding and limited trimming to prep the kit M113 hull.

All of the resin parts are attached to casting blocks. As with any resin part take your time to cut, trim, and sand the parts in order to prepare them for use.

Conclusion

This is simple “one stop” detail set to super detail your M113 build. It is a high quality conversion living up to Legend Productions very high standard of resin and PE products.

Whether you call it the M113, the Green Dragon, the One-One-Three, a Track, a Bucket, or a Bush Taxi you should find this set very useful for making your build even more eye catching through the use of well detailed parts.

I have to reiterate that good things come in small packages. This set is small, very well detailed, and very easy on the wallet for modellers who want to detail their M113 APC with both resin and PE parts.