combat

I was kind of peeved as I see Tamiya has a version with 3 figures and all the shells for the inner hull

cocktail sticks with blue tack

Well huh looks like I'll be away a bit longer - I got caught up building this I bought it in an auction for about 250gbp and then decided to make it like a Tamiya Willy's Jeep I think my imagination got the better of me. When the weather cools down I'll try to get back to the amazing ACAV that I was building

Lovely tank me too I have been 'off' fixing my car, hoefully will be back again in the autumn - have a good break yourself

Added a radio and some wiring - it's a bit shabby rather busy with car maintenance right now will try to get back on board in the summer hols

and a couple more

Dang people thanks for all the thumbs up it really does help with enjoying this great hobby don't know about all of you but I usually have 2 kits on the go at the same time, one in the background that I can do when waiting for parts to stick or dry or I need to think about things I always finish the kits in the order I start them so here is a little break in the build as I finished up something from my comfort zone Tamiya 1/35 German field briefing without any tea and for once I am fairly happy with it - it's not finished as the dog collar still needs to be painted in the pictures but that's all done now, here are the pics - and will see if I can put up something on the ACAV by the beginning of next week

Cheers the smokes came with the kit - the decals are waaaaaaaay to big and need to be cut down, almost easier to paint them up yourself, there's a bit of dust in there too from filing down some parts as I was having a few fitting issues.

Oh, not been at it much lately, I am finishing up some other figures and then will try to crack on with this my first Vietnam kit busied up the interior some more before a second coat on the outer hull and then adding the wire roll, the cots, the MG's and finally onto the dust effects etc. If I can get this organised I'd like to try something in 1/48 after as I have never done that scale before

Minor update and rubbishy pictures again As you can see my efforts to clean up the inner hull were hopeless, I added some straps here and there, some maps, a mirror, a pencil and a few rounds the cigarettes and coke cans will come soon

Spruecutter cheers for the thumbs up but yeah some of my pix could be more interesting I think the top section is glued to itself but not to the hull so you can just lift it off to see the interior

Dag that's encouraging to hear and yep me too I am enjoying this kit a lot this time it's a bit of 'the good the bad and the ugly' the ugly was my hopeless attempt to patch all the injection mould indents and other holes inside the hull, it looks right awful but I shall disguise it with some chipping and whatnot - puttying up over defects is not my strong point I discovered the bad I broke the steering sticks twice ! I lost a part and made my own and then lost that ! So had to make it again, but the second attempt was better the good I put a little pin in the front hatch so that it opens and closes, all the sub assemblies are done, including the wheels, and the base coat of Tamiya xf62 is done, gotta do the black on the wheels next [/url]

Badder glad you are enjoying if you need help with your French let me know here are some terrible pixs there are a lot of fiddly parts on the sub assemblies, one part was missing from my kit (or just lost itself) so I had to make it (not the hardest part to duplicate mind) the opening doors and hatches are really neat - I must say I am enjoying this kit like I said awful pix - will try harder next time

Hello there anyone have any info on the motor the Tamiya colour guide just says metallic grey, aluminium and white and I can't detail up 'cos I don't have anything source material starting to build up the inner hull which is fun btw Francis have you read The Modeller's Guide by A Pocuc, if not I highly recommend it to you, I think that book alone has given hope to my modelling

3 warriors on acid !

Your attention to details is inspiring I will try harder from now on, thanks for sharing

Francis glad it's good for someone, thanks again for the kind words gave the drive a mic and some wire for the headphones - body halves were a bad fit, so Vallejo putty to the rescue once again started on the motor, it's not glued to the hull plate so I can lift the whole assembly off for easier painting the real motor seems to have lots of pipes, wires and tubes, but I can make head or tail of pictures so it's a bit hard to add effective detail here (I made the phone wire from stretched sprue then wrapped it around a thin piece of wire to get the curly effect)

One warrior up and sprayed in matt varnish, sticky tape strap for a bit of realism he still needs his buckles and poppers painting and he should be done, the others will be done in similar fashion Dag your airbrushing looks flawless, are you using Tamiya ?

Cheers snapper I am no historian to say the least, so all the help I can get, yes early interior is white, as are the driver's seat, I went dyslexic on the cammo, I thought the buff was the main and the black the streak, so I had to black over the buff to thin it down - kind of annoyed me, but can be fixed I guess my first ever 113, it's almost as iconic as the Willy's

And this is it for this time round not sure if this cammo pic is right for me but I tried to copy this one, next time I will do the buff much thinner and lighter, always better second time round ! Enjoying the popcorn Francis Enamel wash balck for the uniform, burgundy for the flesh Finished adding base colour Webbing and pouches dry brushed with lime green oil camo, first buff then black (like I said above, I think skinnier, streakier buff would have been closer to Tamiya instructions) red oil to add texture to the face and arms (eyebrows added too) finger nails done in white

Airbrushed Tamiya for the clothes and skin and vallejo for the boots and rifle hope this is not too boring and I also hope that I'll be able to update enough to keep someone's interest up, if not my own oh yes, and I noticed a bit of a gap in the soldiers shoulder so some vallejo water based putty to the rescue (highly recommended as you just thin it down with aqua)

Here are the parts, I am going to start with the figures. How many kits give you soda and smokes, there are decals to make them come alive ! There are some nasty mould seems that are easy to miss sometimes A dry run with blue tack (albeit yellow)

I wonder if most of you joined the forum for the same reasons I did? I guess I want someone to see my model, but more than that I wanted the encouragement to try a bit harder. And putting your work up for others to see is a good way of taking the temperature and receiving some encouragement. I have a little stash to dig into and was thinking of doing Matchbox 1/72 Humber, but have decided on the M113 Tamiya seem to be the jack of all trades among kit makers. They are good quality, build up to a good kit and usually have decent figures. Nothing ground breaking, but rarely disappointing. Aftermarket kits will make it better, usually for way more than the kit itself. There are offerings by Italeri, AFV club, JB Model, Airfix, Academy, Trumpeter. Aftermarket parts by Friul, Kasten, Verlinden and Edouard. Tamiya have 6 versions in 1/35 alone ! The rather nice Command Post version even has a folding chair, what's not to like Fact File This vehicule was the Ford Escort of the US army, known to Aussies as the 'Bush Taxi', but more frighteningly to the VC as 'Green Dragon'. With it's aluminium arnour and in its variants it accounts for half of all current US armoured vehicules. Used in over 50 countries it is one of the most widely used military vehicules of all time. I guess we are priveledged to be able to assemble these kits in the peace of our own clubs or homes !

Lovely kit I really like Tamiya's 'new' 1/48 line, some kits are a bit pricey and others seem to be packed with goodies. I ended up getting the AFV club 1/35 version with a bit more interior. I like the aftermarket kit you got very much. Do you get ammo with the Tamiya kit ? In this series I have the US troops at rest which comes with a very cool little 'Willy's Jeep'.

Rob I find Vallejo white undercoat flows well and has a very matt finish what airbrush do you have I find that all Vallejo acrylics dry very quickly and if we are using a very fine brush like the Iwata super fine we have to be careful to keep de-clogging I have found that Tamiya acrylics thinned with alcohol are a dream to use - unbelievably smooth matt finish and they don't clog as quickly. Happy hunting for the ammo