Introduction

The Academy M-113 IDF Fitter includes an interior that is just crying out to be detailed even further. The basic Academy interior is good, but now we can dress it up even more with the Eduard interior PE set.

The Set

The first stage in the instructions covers the new anti skid floor panels. The details on these plates are much closer to scale, and design, than the Academy floor. One thing to watch out for here is to make sure the hole in the drivers floor plate matches up with the hole in the Academy floor, this will allow a smooth fitting of the drivers seat support. Also covered in this stage is the addition of a mesh screen for the radiator, plus a support bracket. This section also covers the addition of some small brackets on the drive shaft housing and the fan.

Stage Two commences with the addition of a plate to go on the throttle pedal, again improving on the kits pedal. After this you are instructed to make new parts for the control column, be very careful with these parts as they are very prone to bending, but do look good if fitted correctly. Then it is onto the door opening mechanism. This is one of the nicest subassemblies in the set, and really does look much better than the kit parts, and then finally we have the “support” for the drivers seat.

Stage Three of the instructions starts with the addition of some seat belts for the center-mounted bench. The seat belts are formed to a realistic shape and add some “eye” candy to a rather plain bench seat. After this we move onto the inside of the roof, this receives several parts, including panels for the drivers control, hand straps that add as much to the roof, as the seat belts do to the bench. There is also a complete radio and it’s supporting shelf. Why this is included I am not sure as there is nowhere for it to go and I would suggest not using these parts.

Stage Four mainly deals with the rear of the interior and has a complete map table replacement, which is very detailed, but easy to assemble. There is also a new mounting bracket for the extinguisher and a small card sheet with dials on for the radio and a PE cover. Next are a few minor details for the rear hatch, a firing port cover and a new locking handle. Finally Eduard supplies the part that is missing from ever injection moulded M-113 kit, the rear ramp winch. This part can be very annoying to assemble, but does make a big difference to a completed M-113.

In Conclusion

This PE set from Eduard offers replacement parts that are much better detailed than the Academy parts. This set is a must for any Fitter, whether that is an Israeli one or an Australian one. I do not find this set to be too complex, and with a little bit of care and persistence, every part can be used.

My thanks to Eduard for the review sample.

References

IDF Modelling

Israeli Weapons

PMMS