RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

The junction box is assigned to the speaker wires...


The speaker is temporarily positioned to show the result. The speaker will be permanently installed only after the inside of the fighting compartment is painted with Interior Green.
I also have to be very careful not to install some equipment until the painting phase. All the black wiring will be carefully installed at the end of the painting phase along with the radio and other stuff.


As shown, the M113 fuel tank is not installed directly against the wall, it is like that with the real thing. There is spacing in between. This provides room for the sound to escape.


I will need to study the M113 interior wiring. It somehow seem different from one picture to another.


Regards, Louis

I definitely admire your attention to detail. Great speaker solution.

Thank you Derek and everyone for your interest

The next two posts are for the driver's position and the headlights.


For the installation of the driver's seat mount, the cable for the rear ramp is in the way. My solution was to make the cable go through one of the seat height adjustment hole, second from the bottom.


It works well, the cable is well hidden and protected. The horizontal seat bracket is just inserted without gluing. As i have ordered all 4 Jason Studio M113 resin 1/16 figures for this build, i want to know exactly the height of the driver's figure with his head coming out of the hatch before i determine the height of the seat, i prefer not to assume that the seat should be at the highest position.


For the headlights, the model needs 2 working white headlights, the other 2 in the inside position are infra red and should be black.


The kit's headlights are hollow, which is great. It is easy to drill a small hole in the mount and insert a Warm White LED that can be found on eBay, 20 for 9 dollars with free shipping. I have been advised in the past that my headlights were too bright. I finally found warm white colored LEDs that are definitely better.

It is very difficult to glue these LEDs in place. They are completely impervious to superglue. After giving it a small base at the bottom of the casing, I had to insert a tiny strip of plasticard in the wire's hole to squeeze the LED wire and make it stay in place until the glue is completely dry.


After painting the interior in silver and tested them, i have enclosed the headlight.


I have completed the area of the driver's position that i wanted to do at this stage. It is well detailed.


Those 4 pods on the left are for cables going into the engine compartment. I decided to make the speaker wires go through them.


The headlights are installed and the wires are directed towards the engine compartment. The glacis is in two section, i added some reinforcement at the joints.


The glacis is put in place with a few drops of superglue strategically placed. If i ever need to reopen the glacis because of some repair to the gearbox, winch or else, the glacis will snap out of position with some force applied at specific area. I tried to design something that would make the glacis easily removable but the part is very thin and it would be complicated because of the interior detailing.


The headlights are working well, connected to LED4 port on the control board. I installed the electronics in the optimal position before closing the glacis, and i did a full electronic test. Well, "installed" is a big word, it more like piling them on top of each other, with the battery and the on/off switch at the top.


Continuing on following post

The vehicle is very dusty. Much adjustment was required inside to make the glacis fit in place properly. The engine compartment bulkhead in the middle of the chassis had to be trimmed at bit.


These are the speaker cables, coming into the engine compartment from the 4 access points. They are already almost pre-drilled. It is just the cap on the inside that need to be drilled as per the size of the wire.


As shown below.


I am very glad and proud to have made all the electronics fit inside the engine compartment and the fuel tank.


This is the interior as it stands today.


nerxt step, finishing up the glacis and details.


Regards, Louis

Astonishing
Even by your own high standards, this has to rate as one of the best static-to-rc conversions ever.

I saw one of these kits yesterday in a shop and I mentioned to the sales guys that some lunatic Canadian is converting one into an RC version with sound & a motorised ramp & he just flatly insinuated that I was full of
Once you finish this I have a plan for retribution...............

Your work on this is simply fantastic. I really want to do this myself. It would definitely make the members of the modelling group, where I go sit up.

Thank you Herman and Meter Rat for your encouragements.

These kind of builds are in a different paradigm than regular RC tanks. While robustness and durability in combat scenarios are usually praised as the most important things for RC vehicles, this little M113 is quite fragile and mostly to drive around. The main purpose of modifying it for RC is to make it come alive, have some fun while displaying its accuracy and showcase the interior in close up inspections. It's also a good modelling challenge for the builder.

Continuing with the build


Looking at the main headlight guard on this Canadian M113, it's quite low and almost touching the headlights.


The model has it higher but otherwise the same.


But looking at some other references, this one from Vietnam era is matching the model. I noticed quite a few variations throughout my research.


Everything then looks good from the sides except the bolt heads that needed to be added from a Meng SPS-007 bolt kit, rest is good.


I am noticing the big hook needs to be finetuned to remove a seam inside the eye.


The right guard does not seem right at the base of the headlight guard. Takom has molded the bolt head on the bracket below instead of on the guard, and they created a guard shape to fit around the bolt heads. This does not match the references i have seen but i have not decided to redo it. I doubt it is a variation.


The engine hatch was not fitting properly. There was no way to put the hinges on because the central bar was too long. The bar needed to be trimmed in order to move the hatch about 0.5mm to the left when looking at it from the front.



As you can see, there is absolutely no room to spare, the board wires are right against the glacis. However, the battery and control board can be removed from the top.


continuing on following post

Side skirts were usually not installed in Vietnam and will therefore be discarded. However, Takom created pin holes for them that are way too big and i will likely have to fill them and redo the holes.


The holes should be much smaller as shown below.


But i am noticing that sometimes, the bolts were screwed into the holes but the holes might still be too large. I need to do more research to determine what to do with this situation.



Did the interior right side. I was not impressed by the quality of the parts for the battery at the rear. I also did not install the heater at the front. There was no need for heaters in Vietnam... I decided to leave the molded on wires in place as they do not show much from the rear hatch, mostly hidden by the seat.


The seats are difficult to install. Those brackets that should fits under the seat do not fit correctly, were loose and not designed with the modeller in mind.


By the way, for those who want to install the heater for a colder front, this is how it should look.


The instructions are very weak and the parts have a vague resemblance to the real thing, it is incomplete. It has been greatly simplified and it is a good thing to leave it off for a Vietnam war vehicle.


Regards, Louis

Meter rat wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2025 9:40 am Your work on this is simply fantastic. I really want to do this myself.

Yes it is a wonderful build once again Louis. A great blueprint for others to follow.

Thank you Estnische


The following posts are for the completion of the rear ramp and mud guards.


The ramp

And the embedded rear door with its rotating latch.


The kit latch is made to be glued in place in the open position. As i want to operate the door and show the latch in the proper position, i decided to make it functional. The plastic bolt is replaced by a brass M1.2 x 14 bolt and nut.


The interior and exterior latches are interconnected.


Closed position


Opened position


The door opens and closes very nicely.


When fully opened, the door is made to lock into a thin retaining bracket that seemed too fragile to drill through it in order to insert a bolt . I did not make it functional and it was glued in the open position.