RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Next is the commander.

The pose is original but not one that is of interest to me. As my RC M-113 has M2 gun flash and sound, i need a commander that has his hands on the machine gun.


Comparing the Takom and Jason Studio commander figures. Although the Jason commander is of obvious higher quality, I am selecting the Takom figure as commander to fit inside the cupola.


However, i will give him the nice Jason 3D printed helmet. I think it should fit.


In order to fit correctly in the cupola and also fire the machine gun, the body needs to be inclined towards the rear like Takom did, not towards the front.


Takom commander in position, standing on the seat at lowest setting, and with hands on the machine gun. It is more in a defensive position, so it should fit the overall diorama.


When in the cupola, the Jason figure has its torso right against the machine gun handles. It does not look good in such position and the superb figure is better displayed outside the cupola. But with his arms in the air, there is not much that can be done with him.


I have decided to retrograde the Jason commander to an M-60 gunner, standing in the rear compartment. I managed to bring one arm down, resting on the roof, while he is saluting someone with the other hand. That is what i could do with him.


This is one of the infantry rider. The pose is not that great for a tank rider, standing on balance with his feet like this while the vehicle is moving... At the first bump, he will likely fall overboard. I will have to give him a box to sit on to make it more realistic. His pose would be more appropriate if standing next to a VC tunnel or similar village scenario. I have removed the Ar Cav badge from his shoulder in order to fit the other riders.


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I sadly had to remove the Air Cav badge as my vehicle will not be from this unit.


Comparing the Jason (green) M-16A1 with the one from Reedees Miniatures. The Jason M-16 is superior in finesse, specially with the 3D printed muzzle and sight. However, it is extremely fragile and will not last 5 minutes on a RC vehicle. I have therefore decided to use Reedees M-16 on this build, but i might change my mind to see it for 5 minutes...


Take note that the selector on the Reedees M-16 is on Safe, while the Jason is on Semi-auto. The Jason also has the early type muzzle but has the forward assist.


The M-16 gives him some balance...


The other infantry rider is of similar excellent quality, and a bit more secure in his pose as a tank rider. But i can't stop thinking he would look better sitting on the cargo of a Huey helicopter, with one leg hanging outside the door.


Stangely, Jason has molded the hand on the M-16. I would have preferred not.



They look great but instead of getting light airborne troop to ride on a M-113 in Vietnam, i would have preferred heavy infantry, with body armor and a more gypsy look.


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This is a figure that has been selling on eBay for a while. It is well designed. It represents a black soldier, mechanised infantry, shirtless with body armor, which adds a lot to the M-113 diorama.

I need another M-60 gunner so this one will be on the rear compartment with some adaptation.


The right arm is still to be designed. I need to install the M-60 and shield to determine the position. I also want to raise the figure so i will need to buy some boxes to put inside the compartment for him to stand on.


This Vietnam M-60 gunner on the run has also been selling on eBay for some time. Although the pose is totally unusable as a tank rider, i have determined that it could be modified.


The right leg is already bended and can be used as is for a sitting soldier, the left leg is strait and needs a lot of modifications. It needs to be bended at the knee, the foot needs to be made strait, and then the whole hip and butt area needs to be reconstructed to fit the torso and the right leg.


First task was to put it in the microwave in 1 minute increment (between 4 and 5) until the resin is soft enough to be manipulated.


After bending, the left leg was put under cold water and it keep its new shape. The left leg is ready for modifications.


Structure is created in plasticard for the joint between the two legs, butt and hips. The two legs are reworked.


That torso is difficult to use because of the inclined pose but its doable. It took me a couple of hours of cutting and trying.


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It's starting to come together.


Finding a head for him was a real struggle. The original face of the figure is screaming, which is not aligned with the situation. A tried everything i had, the head of a russian spetnaz was used... I am not fully happy so i might change it.

I brought the figure to a higher level of completion than the other figures because i wanted to analyze the final results before deciding what to do with it. With some more fine tuning, i think it fits the diorama. He's a big guy.



This guy is armed to the teeth, similar to Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket. I also had to put his arm in the microwave to lower it.


Overview of the figures as they stand today. I lot of work and fine tuning is required but you get an idea where this is going.


By the way, Jason Studio makes an accessory kit for the M-113 that i will purchase soon. I need boxes, ammo, helmets... there are a lot of goodies in there.


Regards, Louis

Louis, as you know, I have been amazed by this build all along. Now I am enjoying your work on the figures. I think you might be able to get away with the guy crouching because he is using the stock of his rifle as a third point for balance. As I look at the photo of the gung-ho guy as you have him so far, I wonder if his neck should be just a bit shorter, such that the back of his helmet is very close to, but not touching, his collar. I mean this fellow:

Thank you Doc for your feedback.

Yeah, i agree, something is wrong with him.

I had a lot of fun yesterday playing Dr Frankenstein with various body parts. It would be easier if the world figure designers were using the same scale to define what a 1/16 should be. Some are using the average height of Asian men (5.7) while others are obviously using a 7 feet high giant as model.

I earlier purchased the whole set of 1/16 head from Reedees Miniatures. All of them were too big...



Went through all my 1/16 heads on inventory. Although the neck can be adjusted to fit the body and a US helmet, in the end, size matters the most.



So, probably, the best result is with the figure's original head. His red neck enthusiasm for shooting his M-60 at imaginary Viet Cong in the bushes might be a bit extreme, even for Vietnam, and does not fit the calmness of the other figures, but it is definitely the best fit for him. There is nothing worse than an ugly figure.


I also build up another figure yesterday. I had this 1/16 resin Vietnam M-60 gunner purchased on eBay and on inventory for a couple of years now, awaiting the next Vietnam build to become a tank rider. While assembling it, i knew the sculpting was not of the same standard but i did not realize how big it was in relation to the other figures until i put it next to a Jason Studio infantryman. There is no way to put this guy with the others for many reasons. Both advertised as 1/16... Which makes me think that the Jason Studio figures are probably a bit undersized. They do look a bit small.



So, this is probably the new look of my M-60 gunner. Yeah, i think its better. All the heads and some arms are holding with a single drop of superglue so that i can play with them, paint them and permanently glue them in place only at the end of the build.


thanks.

Yes, he does seem a tad agitated compared to the others. Maybe you could give him 2nd Looie bars as if he is fresh from ROTC. (oops... I'm in trouble now...). As to "1/16" figure size variations:

He’s yelling out “ Contact ” over the noise of the vehicle!!
The others have not yet reacted.
Like a picture, the pose of our figures is a snapshot in time which is nothing without context.
I reckon he works and adds drama to the entire scene.
A VC in a hole covered with a thatched camo cover & an RPG will fit right in

The boar needs a handle to carry it!

HERMAN BIX wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 7:11 pm He’s yelling out “ Contact ” over the noise of the vehicle!!
The others have not yet reacted.

Thanks Herman, agree, that is the story. The M-113 is in "Indian country", ambush can happen at any time. The M-60 gunner sees something, creams and opens up, and the others will follow.

Pavel wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 8:35 am The boar needs a handle to carry it!

Yes, agree. Thanks. The figures are not finished yet. That M-60 is a piecemeal assembly of various components discarded and leftover from previous builds. I also noticed that the bipod was previously assembled upside down. As the M-60 infantry gunner is in close proximity to the other two M-60, I was waiting for the ACAV M-60s to be build so that i can give it a similar look. See further below for the reworked M-60.


Finding references on the M-60 positions is difficult, specially with an M-60 installed so that we can check the attachment.


The mount and shields are of good quality. They contain many parts, some fragile. Even though the antenna is installed next to the driver, the plate blocking the antenna position is kind of on the way on both sides, interfering with the mouvement of the gunner.


This is the Takom M-60 machine gun. It is a bit rough, lacking finesse but all the components are there and it is quite solid, which is really appreciated on a RC vehicle. Yes, there are very expensive and detailed 3D printed replacements available but i think they are too fragile for an RC vehicle.


Now i can position the arm of the M-60 gunner. It is currently designed to hold an M-16 with the buttstock on the hip.


The arm was not extended enough to hold the M-60 with the buttstock on the shoulder. It needed modifications.


The arm was put in the microwave for about 3 minutes until the resin was hot and flexible. The idea is to soften the resin without cooking it, better go slow than sorry. Once soft, the hand was put on the machine gun handle and the arm extended towards the rear until the buttstock in on the level of the shoulder and then it was put under cold water.


The arm is positioned as i want it to be, glued to the machine gun. At this time, i disregarded the shoulder gap or the split that occurred during the extension process. That's the following step.


I had two gaps to fill up, shoulder and elbow.


The builder doing the same thing absolutely has to avoid filling these gaps with putty. It would take an eternity to dry and would have no solidity. The gaps needs to be filled with plasticard residue, cut and superglued.


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