Modern - M113A3

Following on from the M1064A3 proxy I used some of the lessons identified to work on the first of the M113A3s I was going to need.

I cleaned up the back of the BF M113 by carving off the light clusters and jerry cans and then carefully trimmed the track guard to make a vertical surface.  I also cut and sanded the track guard out to make it look as it it was part of the fuel tank on the inside face as will.

I then made up a template for the sides of the fuel tank and then cut out sufficient pieces for two vehicles, the idea being that if this worked out okay I could crack on and duplicate the pieces for the third model using the second template.  I still worked on fitting the pieces together on the model rather than building the tanks and then fitting.  I am not skillful enough to get that bit right yet but might try it out on the last two models to see if speeds up the process.

The idea of the vertical surface was that it would give me a reference point for the bottom of the fuel tank and would then allow me to sand the shape to give a better representation.

The tank filler caps were added as was a second antenna mount and blanking plates on the top.  I am still thinking about the rear light fittings that are needed. but as these are gaming models I might do that as a last thought.  Smoke dischargers also need to be considered as well as spare track pads and other little details.

Again the Road to Baghdad book identifies that the ACAV kits are fitted to all the M113A3s needed which again is useful.  What it does mean however is that I have now run out of BF M113 kits as one was used a while ago for my Israeli 1982 project so will need to order another pack in the future to finish off the BandAid (probably).

The PSC Sdkfz 251 kit provided the jerry cans again as I can't find the box with all my white metal jerry cans. 

Will still need to find or make some stowage and Combat ID panels for these and then look at decals.  As I can make my own and they will be in black it should be straight forward but need to do some research first to find out what is actually needed.

Model has been given a black undercoat and I might get chance this afternoon to give it a coat of Tamiya XF-59 which is the colour I have decided to go with for the US Army vehicles