easixpedro Posted January 19 Posted January 19 Alrighty amigos, haven’t built anything large scale in a while, but have wanted to a large scale ACAV kit for some time. My father drove one with 2nd Squadron, First Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam and while I’ve built countless 1/35 versions, this is kit is the holy grail. His troop arrived in August 1967 and he lasted till November and the Battle of Dak To. He broke his back when the track rolled - at least it got him out of there Here’s the box. It’s massive. Here’s the standard 12” elementary school ruler for scale perspective… Construction thus far has been per the instructions. Nothing remarkable thus far. Of note are the ejection marks. Took a few seconds of sanding to remove any trace. The detail is exquisite. Each tie down is its own part… which is super fun. Check out the old school 90 degree flashlight! Lord only knows if his track had a white or green interior. From his pics, I think it was green, but tough to tell. I went with green. Not sure I’m happy with this color - Tamiya XF-71. Might mix a bit of white into it. so there we are. A fun build thus far, will update as I plug along! -Peter Martinnfb, patricksparks, TankBuster and 15 others 18
panzerrob Posted January 19 Posted January 19 Hi Peter, This build has some nice tips: With regards, Rob Martinnfb, easixpedro and JeepsGunsTanks 2 1
Paulpk Posted January 19 Posted January 19 Nice start. Did you make the tie downs or were they supplied in the kit? Martinnfb 1
easixpedro Posted January 19 Author Posted January 19 3 hours ago, Paulpk said: Nice start. Did you make the tie downs or were they supplied in the kit? They come in the kit. There’s a bazillion. Which is good as I’ve broken a few. Kind of like separating Meng nuts from that sheet…
John1 Posted January 19 Posted January 19 Nice start. At one point in an earlier lifetime, I drove these things (A3's). A huge improvement over the earlier versions but nothing compared to the M2. I typically don't critique someone else's build, but your interior color is way too dark. The color used was Seafoam Green, I'd suggest cutting the color you used with 50% white. JeepsGunsTanks and easixpedro 2
easixpedro Posted January 19 Author Posted January 19 4 hours ago, John1 said: Nice start. At one point in an earlier lifetime, I drove these things (A3's). A huge improvement over the earlier versions but nothing compared to the M2. I typically don't critique someone else's build, but your interior color is way too dark. The color used was Seafoam Green, I'd suggest cutting the color you used with 50% white. Concur wholeheartedly! Here’s what the XF-71 should look like according to the cap…not even close. Braved the -20F to hit the local hobby shop and get some Tamiya XF-2. Mixed it closer to 60/40 white/green. Probably could have gone lighter still. so have sprayed the interior components and need to do some odds and ends. Then some interior placards to get her close enough to start assembling. Have to decide how I’ll do the floors as they were usually lined with sandbags or ammo cans. -Peter Lenny320, scvrobeson, TankBuster and 8 others 11
easixpedro Posted January 21 Author Posted January 21 (edited) Moving along. Final day of vacation, so construction will slow down soon… Have jumped around in the instructions just so I could paint the interior bits and some decals done before adding gear to the crew compartment. Kind of fun working in this scale… placards are easier than stencils for sure! Also cried uncle on adding each knob selection on each radio. Won’t see much once everything is buttoned up and a bunch of gear thrown on top. Also, my painting isn’t the best, but you can’t see anything with the roof on. And again with gear and weathering, it’ll be fine. One of the things that will get added are C Ration boxes. Have had this photocopy of an old Verlinden sheet forever. I’ll scan it and scale it up to 1/16th and print off a bunch. That will help fill up the interior for sure -Peter Edited January 21 by easixpedro Martinnfb, TankBuster, Dekon and 8 others 11
RNoAF Posted January 21 Posted January 21 Fantastic build!! The M113 is one of my favorite armored vehicles. easixpedro 1
LSP_Mike Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Nice progress. Will this get any "noseart", so to say? easixpedro 1
easixpedro Posted January 22 Author Posted January 22 1 hour ago, LSP_Mike said: Nice progress. Will this get any "noseart", so to say? For sure! I’ll share some details here in the coming days, plus the few pics I have. -Peter
LSP_Ray Posted January 22 Posted January 22 9 hours ago, easixpedro said: Moving along. Final day of vacation, so construction will slow down soon… Have jumped around in the instructions just so I could paint the interior bits and some decals done before adding gear to the crew compartment. Kind of fun working in this scale… placards are easier than stencils for sure! Also cried uncle on adding each knob selection on each radio. Won’t see much once everything is buttoned up and a bunch of gear thrown on top. Also, my painting isn’t the best, but you can’t see anything with the roof on. And again with gear and weathering, it’ll be fine. One of the things that will get added are C Ration boxes. Have had this photocopy of an old Verlinden sheet forever. I’ll scan it and scale it up to 1/16th and print off a bunch. That will help fill up the interior for sure -Peter FYI: Real Model has 1/16th Nam C ration boxes. easixpedro and JeepsGunsTanks 1 1
LSP_Ray Posted January 24 Posted January 24 FYI: FC Modeltrend just dropped over the last couple days several items for Andy's M113. Many are for other countries versions, though. easixpedro 1
easixpedro Posted February 1 Author Posted February 1 Small update. For the most part, the ejector pin marks are well hidden. Cool part is that the benches can be made in the stowed position, but that means the ejector pin marks are visible. The floor looks great. Lots of detail, but it’ll get covered by sandbags and detritus. And here’s the beginning stages of sandbags on the floor. It’s a LOT of Apoxie Sculpt. Most pics I’ve found show about 3 sandbags wide seems to be the ‘standard.’ So that’s what I did. These sandbags will get covered with ammo cans and C Ration boxes n’ such. Kind of a slog right now - there’ a ton of parts. The ramp and back section of the track had somewhere around 60 plus parts (can’t count that high as I don’t have that many fingers and toes!) More soon! -Peter Memphis, patricksparks, Hans and 10 others 13
easixpedro Posted Monday at 08:22 PM Author Posted Monday at 08:22 PM On 1/19/2025 at 5:50 AM, panzerrob said: Hi Peter, This build has some nice tips: With regards, Rob Seriously, many, many thanks for sharing this link. Was WAY overthinking the suspension and this video helped clean up the misfiring synapses!🧐 Back to building! -Peter
panzerrob Posted Tuesday at 09:20 AM Posted Tuesday at 09:20 AM Glad that I could help you! Rob easixpedro 1
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