Have an M113 from Italeri on my building table. One thing what confuse me a bit is the side skirts. Did these kind of skirts that is supplied in the kit appear on a M113 during the -60’s. Just curios because my first thought was to finish it of as a vehicle from that period. But I have also found that if I place it in Vietnam skirts are non existent at most of the M113’s. That would be the easy way out maybe.
The Italeri kit is an M113A1, used during the 1960s and into the 70s. The side skirts aided in amphibious river crossings but were often removed in the field.
Definitely lose the skirts foe any NAM-era M113, B.S., unless you’re modelling a vehicle just off the supply boat,
Ok!
Well I have thougt what I will make it without these skirts if I will set it in Vietnam.
That kind of unit is II 4CAV. Is the cavalry unit belonging to some higher unit at corps level or divisional? Any suggestion there this unit served??
Yes I think I will solve the problem that way. By the way. I had an old kit of the Tamiya ACAV kit with the extra armour for the commander. But unfortnately does these parts not match the commander cupola on the Italeri kit unless some kind of surgery. So another question will be. Did the M113 APC serve in Vietnam without this armourkit? Or it was supplied as soon it was available to the different units in the country?
After seeing your question, I had a look through my ‘VietNam Armor in Action’ book. It has photos which clearly show 113’s in APC guise with just the TC’s cupola & 50 cal on its mount & no TC shield, so yes, you could do that prototypically. Course it will be an APC, not an ACAV.
II 4CAV would mean II (Second Corps) 4th Cavalry Regiment. Regimental cavalry units are corps assets.
The bumper number could also be 1 1 4CAV which would mean 1st Infantry Division, 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry Regiment. Divisions normally had a cavalry squadron assigned to it.
Depends on whether the “I” is a 1. They normally use the same stencil for 1 or I.
Well at the decal it is like the normal form for the roman sign of 2, II, with no spacing.
Ok!
The source I had at hand was Osprey Vanguard old issue of the M113. And there did I not found a picture without TC cupola. By the way my intention is to build it as a APC not the ACAV version.
But after some thinking, maybe I will try to fit the Tamiya TC cupola on it. It has already get some parts like the episcopes for the driver and fittings at the inside of the roof to get it more close to reality.
The cupola armor is just an add on kit to the actual vehicle and can be put on any M113 variant with the same type of commander’s cupola. The ACAV is just the name of the vehicle when it has the armor installed, but it is still just an M113/A1/A2/A3 with the ACAV armor.
It is even possible to use the .50 cal shield and not use the cupola armor.
I have read article that indicate that some commanders on m113 did not like the gun shield baecause it limits visibility. However, they did like the side protection from the rounded coupla armor. I don’t know if certain units specified that their m113 had to have a certain configuration or not. If you look closely at other vehicles you will see that many other vehicles used the same shields as the m113 (the sheiridan, m109’s, m106’s, etc.). In the early part of the US’ involvment you can see an earlier version of a coupla around the 50 I believe it was referred to as the “Okinawa” version (because that is where it was made). Right now I am working as an m106 mortor carrier to which I am attaching the ACAV gun shields and mounts for the m60’s on the sides.
As to the side skirts most of it was rubber only the top and ends were metal. And, as I have read it they would get torn off or the troopers would remove them because of the build up of mud could immobilize them (not a good thing). The metal along the top of the skirt would sometimes be left on the m113. I have cut the rubber and end pieces off and only used the top metal portion. Don’t forget to drill the mounting holes if you “drop the skirts”.
Grizz