Ok i know it’s ancient, but wanting to know if there are any missing weld seams from the Tamiya M113A1 Fire Support Vehicle? I’d like to try my hand at making some if there is. Considering the low price of the kit, this would be a perfect kit to experiment on.
Hi Michael,
Most of the weld seams take the form of very small fillets as per the pic in this link. http://svsm.org/gallery/M113A1FSV/IMGP0500
If you study the pics here http://svsm.org/gallery/M113A1FSV and compare with the kit, you should find most of the things you need to change or add to the kit. I did one recently as an exercise in adding little details, as there are a few bits and pieces missing or incorrect in the kit.
At your option, the mods would include:
- Extend the lip of the trim vane
- Add the folding extension to the trim vane
- Add the external fire extinguisher box behind the driver’s hatch
- According to the collection of pics linked above, the ventilator dome on the upper hull near the rear ramp should be removed
- Add the forward lifting rings to the turret
- Add wiring for the smoke grenade launchers
- Add the right side antenna mount to the turret
- Add the catch/release handle for the ramp door
- Delete the skirts and drill bolt holes
- Add the sponson armour under the front portion of the sponsons (only visible if skirts are not fitted)
- Add jerry can racks to the rear hull
- Add the canvas “boot” on the barrel.mantlet sleeve
When you get to painting, Tamiya’s instructions suggest painting the vehicle Olive Drab - however, Australian “Lustreless Olive Drab” is much lighter than US Olive Drab. Out of the bottle, Tamiya XF-73 Dark Green (JGSDF) is closer. I used a mix of 1 part Olive Green (XF-58) to two parts Dark Yellow (XF-60) for mine and then discovered XF-73 after I finished… [#oops]
Mine can be seen here: /forums/1020511/ShowPost.aspx I’m sure that I could have found more stuff to add or mod (I missed the ventilator dome) but the purpose of the exercise was to just build it and personalise it a little. I pretty much just eyeballed the mods on mine.
I know I’ve exceeded the scope of your question, the listed mods above are merely options to consider.
Cheers,
Phil
On the front, from the tow hooks down to the track gear box. Those were usaully bead type welds. Where the side platesmeet the top, front and back is a fillet type weld.
The bucket is never too old. With the door down in the back…you could also do a nice interior.
Rounds Complete!!
I’d guess the correct color of O.D. sorta depends on the time frame. I saw two different O.D.'s used in 1968, and the stuff the Marines used looked alittle more “greener” than what the Army used. (note this dosn’t apply to the SPG’s the Army loaned the Marines).
As for the “trim vane”, more often than not with 18 months of hard usage it would have been history. You did see a lot of M113’s that still had them, but they always used by the track machanics or headquarters troop. The track guards were removed (and forever lost) as soon as it got muddy or the track got bogged down somewhere. Most units removed them when they recieved them.
A well used ACAV will have more scrapes and gouges in it than just about anything out there. These scrapes almost never got painted over till the next CMMI. Then the paint didn’t usually match. There will be lots of bare metal scrapes ontop near the gun mounts. And speaking of guns; you can pretty much do whatever comes to mind. An M113 was by far the single most customized track on the planet.
gary
OK…to discuss OD first go here
http://www.olive-drab.com/od_mvg_odpaint.php
Now that you have seen the evolution of OD, here is the paint chart
http://www.mil-mod.nl/html/featod.html
Hope that helps with what shade of OD???
Rounds Complete!!
Well, we are talking about an Australian vehicle painted in a home grown brew, not a standard US colour. Australian “Lustreless Olive Drab” was introduced in 1967 and is still in use today.
As far as I am aware, the only model paint manufacturer to make an actual version of Australian lustreless OD is White Ensign Models. My suggestions above are only close approximations. (Also add Gunze H-320 Dark Green (JASDF) to that list.)
The trim vane included in the kit represents the “short” version on the initial (gasoline engined) M113. The trim vane on the M113A1 (upon which the FSV variant is based) was deepened about four inches by virtue of an extended lip. In addition the Fire Support Vehicle had a four inch folding extension added. I have not seen any photos of this variant without the trim vane fitted.
Well the idea is to write an article around this kit. Building on a Budget. The kit was cheap, no AM accessories, no heavy scratchbuilding with sheet styrene and the like. Just what’s in the box, some scrap, and maybe some floral wire(because it’s cheap as dirt).
Hi Michael,
That was essentially the basis on which I built mine.
As per the rules of the “Vintage Armor” (pre-1980 kits) GB, AM was excluded, and the kit was built essentially OOB, with some small scratched additions. I did use brass rod for the front turret lifting loops, but the rest of the mods were little bits of styrene rod or scrap and woven mesh ribbon for the engine intake screens.
In terms of additional materials used, I doubt it would have exceeded about $2.00 worth of stuff I already had in my work box.
Looking forward to seeing how your build goes.
I don’t think there were any FSV’s in I-Corps, but if there were some they’d have been near the DMZ with the 5th Mechanized Infantry. There were a few M113’s that had the thicker trim vane floating around, and they were usually the only ones that seemed to have kept them intact. Just to add to this, I’ve actually seen a couple M113’s that had plywood trim vanes! Why, I’ll never know.
gary
Hi Gary,
Just so we’re on the same page, the kit/vehicle we’re discussing is the Australian M113A1 Fire Support Vehicle, (M113 fitted with a Saladin turret) which was built in very limited numbers (about 15) in 1970, of which a number were trialled in Vietnam.
My understanding is that the “standard” (flat) trim vanes were made of plywood with sheet metal lips top and bottom. The later “thick” wedge shaped variety (eg. on the M163) were metal (steel?) and incorporated an internal buoyancy tank
now I know why we never saw one. I was chasing Tina in 1970. For what it’s worth, it was found out that the styrofoam filled cavities actually would cause an RPG to go off early. The damage would still be there, but further out. I’ve seen the thick trim vane on ACAV’s as well as regular M113’s. The 75mm cannon might have been a little light for bunker busting. The 152mm cannon on an M551 was about as good as it got for doing that
Looking the photo, I’ve never seen a trim vane that looked exactly like that! Never saw anything with sheet metal trim on it, but in the bush it might have been just ripped off like everything else.
gary