IDF M113 Chata P (Late)

[Adam Durrant]

It takes a long time to make any visual progress on this one. Most of the time is spent cleaning all the parts up and removing the surface details from the donor kit.

The front storage bin and the equipment racks were all soldered up. The racks will have bins in them and there is a retaining mechanism to hold them all in.



Storage lockers on the right side. They are slightly warped, but due to the thickness of the resin there is no way I was able to heat them and then bend them straight. Luckily its not too noticeable.



..and the rear, straps holding the tarp are tamiya tape and the buckles are from the conversion kit. There is a jerry can holder to go to the right of the tail ramp, this is all soldered up but I've left it off to help with painting. The hole in the back of the right storage locker is hidden by the jerry can holder.



I've given the interior a coat of Ammo "US interior green". This is a sickly shade of egg shell green that will hopefully tone down with a few filters and a bit of weathering. Most of it will be hidden, but with the tail ramp down and the commanders and drivers hatches open there is a fair amount of the interior on show.

Will hopefully get a bit more of the interior done tomorrow as well as remove all of the top deck details to be replaced by kit resin and PE.

[Olivier Carneau]

Really great job on this conversion. Thanks to your efforts, AFV Club will certainly release this version of their brand new M113. So please hurry up

[Mark Aldrich]

Looking really Nice! So hope mine is as gorgeous as yours.

[Adam Durrant]

Thanks guys. The Legend set has proven to be pretty good so far, the only parts that look like they will be disappointing are the two MAG 58 machine guns. They look like two resin blobs! Luckily I have a couple left over from an AFV Club kit that are very nicely molded in plastic.

I'm with you Olivier, with the release of their ACAV I suspect AFV Club will do a range of M113s and it will be just my luck that the Fitter and Chata will be in it!

[Vincent Power]

Fantastic work Adam.

Vincent

[Philipp Gross]

It certainly starts to look a lot different than a standard M113. Always fascinating to see a basic design adapted to new circumstances.

Philipp

[Chris Smith]

The conversion certainly makes a huge difference to the appearance of the M113. Nice progress so far.

Chris

[Adam Durrant]

Made some progress over the last week. Left hand side is complete, storage bins and their latches added as well as the bars that hold them all in place when the vehicle is in motion.



Finished detail painting the interior. The sickly eggshell green colour has toned down a bit with a few filters and a pin wash. Started adding a bit of weathering to the floor.



Problem with the M113 series of vehicles for a modeller is that the large rear ramp, large roof hatch and the big commanders and drivers hatches let in a lot of light and so most of the interior is visible I'm going to have to "clutter up" the inside with ration boxes, jerry cans, personal kit etc. Luckily the A2 series onwards had the large spall liners which close off a lot of the interior stowage space from view when they are in place

Managed to get most of the nose of the vehicle done.



There was a fair amount of soldering of small parts! The Academy fit is pretty sloppy so the resin parts cover a fair amount of evils. I've used a lot of AK acrylic filler and I've got to say I will be abandoning the Tamiya grey filler in favour of it. The Legend instructions a pretty poor just being photos of the parts in place with numbers. This leads to a fair bit of anguish when you fit some bits then realise you have crowded other bits out The PE in general is pretty good but is missing fold lines on some parts so you have to "make it up" as you go along.

Off to the US for 12 days so no more till I get back!

[Mark Aldrich]

Looks great! I know about the Legend instructions. On the M31 they include a resin fire extinguisher handle system and never even show or mention it in the instructions. Your resin is so much nicer looking. Can't wait to see it done.

[Adam Durrant]

Back from Vegas, a little lighter in the wallet!

Managed to make quite a bit of progress this week and weekend. Pretty much all done, just have to finish off the MGs.

The width indicators are very delicate but was able to solder most of the parts together for strength. Just going to have to be very careful not to knock 'em off during painting



I pity the fool who has to walk around on top of the vehicle, there is very little clear space with lots of projections to trip you up





The is a large hole on the back of the right hand side locker. Most of this should be covered when the jerrycans are in the holder, but I think I will add some styrene to make sure its not glaringly obvious.









Not sure about tracks yet. I have the ModelKasten ones but forgot to use the ModelKasten drive sprocket which has a proprietary axel I didn't install during the build The Academy individual track links are OK, I have made up one run but am not terribly happy. The Academy rubber band tracks provided are actually pretty good and they may get used. I could get the Friul ones but there seems little point as they use a bespoke drive sprocket as well!

Hopefully get some grit on the rear ramp this week to simulate the grip paint used by the IDF. Should have primer on by next weekend.