Sounds like a real bargin right? Well i'd always intended to convert it into a Vietnam era M113 ACAV. I'd already removed the stowage and extra armour when i first bought it. So last month i finally had a little spare time and figured this shouldnt take to long. I'll leave the R/c gear for now and if i like how it turns out i'll replace it with some ESC's.
First i decide to remove the skirting from the tracks as i prefered this look, and then fill all the holes left by the stowage (note - if you're doing this yourself, the top, sides and front of the hull can be removed as one piece by just removing hte 4 screws on the underneath. Do this first and its much easier to get all the rubbish off the APC)
Then I cut off the speaker as the sounds are not great and the speaker is fixed under the engine screens so it becomes a pain with this still attached. Besides i have a plan to fit some more sounds in to it later. The filling on the hull sides didnt look that good so i reskinned them with a thin layer of plactic card. Then searching Google images and using a 1/35 M113 kit as reference i made up the rear mud guards (the left hand side one has some kind of drain gully in it). At this point I realised the top of the drivers hatch was hindged in the wrong position so that it would hit the commanders cupola when fully open. All it needed was to be moved around the hatch hole clockwise a few mm's, fortunately the hindge is pretty basic and is pushed through holes in the hull from underneath. So out came the dremmel and i just needed to enlarge these holes to the right, slide the hindge over 4mm's and glue it back in place and fill the gaps. The hatch now opens fully without hitting the cupola.
I then moved the r/c aerial to the post just behind the drivers hatch and in a fit of madness decided to remove the moulded on tie down points and remake them with wire. This wasnt as bad as i'd thought and will allow me to add loads of stowage later without having to glue it in place.
I wasnt happy with how the left mud guard had turned out, the gully in it just didnt look right when i check the reference pics so i cut out a larger channel and replaced the gully. Then i came the bit i'd been dreading... the commaqnder cupola's armoued shield. This is what really defines the ACAV M113 so i had to get it right but its not an easy shape to recreate. After a bit of chin scratching, studing the reference pics & the little 1/35 kit i decided the best way to do it would be to make a cardboard former on the top of the existing vision blocks and then fit the plastic card around this. The formers were made as two seperate cones so i could work on the upper and lower parts and then join them together. I mapped out on paper the shape i'd need to cut out in plastic card and then lightly tacked the plastic card onto the former with superglue. A quick blast from Mrs Crispy's hair dryer and the plastic card softened to the shape of the former and once cooled held its shape. Then it was just a matter of glueing all the pieces of plactic card together and holding them in place until they set. Unfortunatly the plastic shield just wouldnt hold to the cupola with ordinary liquid poly glue so i had to dill and pin it in place and then super glue it. Hopefully this'll hold up to being bumped around when driving (theres no suspension on the APC's road wheels!) if not i'll add some extra strips of plastic card inside.
And thats where I'm at with at the moment. Just waiting for a better 50.cal so i can get on with the gun shield and i'm ordering some figures that'll give me the M60's i need for the rear deck. I'm not to sure about the front amphibious screen, it makes it look too toy like as it is. I could rebuild it and loose the existing hindges but i plan to cover the vhl is stowage and figures so they will likely be hidden anyway. Many reference pics i found had the screen removed and i dont intend to show it deployed so thats another option.
I intend to have a cheap MP3 player in mine with a load speaker playing a loop of Vietnam era tunes (arguabally the war with the best soundtrack) as though the troops are rocking out.
I'll post more pics when i have them.
Nic
