The next two posts are for the decals and some other items.
The M113 is small and does not have any big gun. My thinking to make it stand out a bit more is to give it the most exciting decals i could find. It seems that Vietnam M113 of the 4th infantry division, 1/10th Cav had the more colourful markings. I have therefore decided to make my model one of them. If you just put some basic unit markings without any Vietnam graffiti, it could look drab.
Talking about drab, every book, instructions, paint producers and blogs talk about the M113 being Olive Drab. My model was painted in MIG Ammo US Post war Olive Drab in a pack designed for Vietnam vehicles. However, when you look at many color pictures of M113 in Vietnam, such as the ones below, it is obvious that many M113 (and M48) were not olive drab at all. In the picture below for an M113 of the 1/10th Cav, the vehicle seems to be of some kind of dark bluish grey. It is not the angles or the sun, we can see that the uniforms of the soldier are themselves Olive Drab and contrast with the vehicle. Yes, many M113 in Vietnam were Olive Drab, but certainly not all of them. I did some research but did not find anything about this dark bluish grey. It is too late for this build as the model is already painted Olive Drab, but i will investigate this further for any future Vietnam build.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 1.png (1 MiB) Viewed 1477 times
I like the fact that many of the 1/10th Cav had white stars on the side.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 2.png (1.11 MiB) Viewed 1477 times
Although the white lettering decals on the Takom sheet are oversized, some other decals seemed ok, like the red and white flag.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 3.png (858.28 KiB) Viewed 1477 times
Notice the LIFT HERE on this vehicle, not present on all M113.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 4.png (328.66 KiB) Viewed 1477 times
For graffiti, i looked around for inspiration on all Vietnam pictures i could look at. The idea was to find interesting ideas to reuse for my model. So, this model is a representation of a M113 in Vietnam, one of thousands sent there, it is not trying to be authentic to one specific vehicle. I also tried to think of stuff that would have been popular in 1969.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 5.png (393.2 KiB) Viewed 1477 times
This is the model at this time, painted Olive Drab with decals. It has not been given a Vietnam weathering yet. The markings were faded with a light overspray of olive drab, then washed with a cloth after it had dried.
Items come from different sources. White star, 1/10th Cav flag and mud guard markings are from the Takom decal heet. The US ARMY with Serial numbers on sides and back, the skull on the shield and the LIFT HERE are from the Echelon M551 decal sheet. The white letter graffitis are from the Archer Generic Lettering (hand lettering) AR35109W dry transfer.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 6.jpg (1.7 MiB) Viewed 1477 times
Gave the model a basic dry brush of dark steel pigments.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 7.jpg (1.46 MiB) Viewed 1477 times
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 8.jpg (1.8 MiB) Viewed 1477 times
The Skull and crossbones are from the Echelon sheet, letters are Archer hand lettering.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 9.jpg (1.44 MiB) Viewed 1477 times
I looked all over the sprues for the shovel that goes on the glacis, it is sadly not included in the kit.
- 1/16 RC M-113A1 ACAV - Converting the Takom/Andy's HHQ kit to RC
- 10.jpg (1.46 MiB) Viewed 1477 times
