M113 FSV ** pics **

Phil it looks real nice.  A little silvering around the red/yellow decal but overall it looks great.  While I don't mind 'em dirty, this one looks right some how lighlty weathered... and I have never seen one of these before

That;s the one thing about being newer to armor... seeing stuff for the 1st time, then having to go look it up and reading about it... this learning stuff is really cutting into my bench time.

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Next time.. Color coat, clear gloss coat, decal, clear flat coat.... You MUST have a smooth surface for decals to prevent silvering.. A shot of Testor's Glosscoat works fine for it...

Thanks Hans - been there, done that, written the tutorial. The dec's were applied over "spot" applications of Tamiya clear gloss.

I agree with Wing_Nut on the weathering. I think that it looks perfect for this vehicle.

Great job!

I like it 'as is' too Phil. IICRC, the only real drawback to the kit were the decals. Off register a bit and the vehicle name(s) were a tad thick (?). I'm sure that others might mention the turret being off dimensionally somewhere or something but, to me, it was and is a great build and a nice variation of the M113 to have on one's shelf.

Good job!

Thanks Kevin.

Yep, there are certainly some register problems with the decals. Some of the white areas are a bit off. The yellow disc on the trim vane has a white underlay to improve opacity. Unfortunartely it's undersized and slightly offset, so it looks terrible. The vehicle name on the side also has a thin sliver of white showing across the top of the black block. They're typical of mid-80's Tamiya decals - thick and unresponsive to setting solutions.

Thanks for looking.

 Other than the aforementioned decals, looks really nice Phil. The weathering looks just right...imagine ME saying that.  It appears you need a little attention on the "depth" of the barrel; maybe some flat black or a touch of black pastel down the tube to kill the reflection.I  think the silver headlights need a little more attention to bring them to the level of the rest of this gem.

It's amazing what the camera catches that the Mk1 eyeball misses isn't it?

I completely forgot about the inside of the muzzle . I may just spray a little clear flat down there to cut the reflection.

Can you tell I hate headlights with recessed lenses? I thought I had got in deep enough around the inside of the rim with the base colour, but from the pics it looks like I didn't quite get there.

Phil_H wrote:

It's amazing what the camera catches that the Mk1 eyeball misses isn't it? I completely forgot about the inside of the muzzle . I may just spray a little clear flat down there to cut the reflection. Can you tell I hate headlights with recessed lenses? I thought I had got in deep enough around the inside of the rim with the base colour, but from the pics it looks like I didn't quite get there.

It might help you to apply a touch of future to each lense (with the model tilted vertical) and left to dry thoroughly and then..... dilute some Tamiya smoke w/future (make a thin solution-maybe add a tiny bit of distilled water) and use as a pinwash around the lense edge to give an illusion of depth (again, drying on the vertical). You might have to repeat the smoke pinwash until you get the effect. Has worked for me until I just started drillin' them out instead.

Thanks for that.

What I did was close. sprayed silver, overcoated with clear gloss. But then covered with liquid mask to do the surrounding colour.

Just a few minutes ago I was pondering the merits of using a wash of sorts to fill in the rim. I have a tube of olive green oil, which I might try on a test victim first. 

Having been around M-113s for much of my army career I think the left track has a little too much sag in it. Other than that it looks great.

The paint job on the tracks look especially realistic. You'll have to tell me how you did them so I can try to improve my own technique. Being new to armour myself.

Denis

I think your weathering is perfect. Looks just like a weathered vehicle after going through the bird bath...weathered, but clean. An excellent build.

Charles

Nice build Phil!! The weathering is superb. What color did you use for the rubber on the road wheels? Seems spot on!

 Hello,

 IMHO the weathering is just right. Very well done. A neat looking build.

 Best Regards,

 Mobious

Really nice job on this-I agree that the weathering is pretty spot-on for a nice clean build!

 Man! We're seeing a lot of the M113 variants here lately! Kinda cool!

Phil - I know you built this as part of the Vintage Group Build so besides what has been mentioned it looks GREAT!!!

The tracks are excellent. the fading and weathering looks great.

Doog......We are coming for all you Germaholics....soon you will see 113s everywhere

Rounds Complete!!

redleg12 wrote:

..soon you will see 113s everywhere...

I'm working on one at this very moment...lol...

Great looking build Phil...I'm in agreement with most comments before me, the silvering of the decals was unfortunate, but overall, the subtle weathering looks fantastic on this. I hope mine turns out half as nice!

Cheers

Hi guys,

Thanks for looking, and I hope you don't mind if I say a collective thanks for your comments and encouragement.

RMC_Birdgunner wrote:

Having been around M-113s for much of my army career I think the left track has a little too much sag in it. Other than that it looks great. The paint job on the tracks look especially realistic. You'll have to tell me how you did them so I can try to improve my own technique. Being new to armour myself. Denis

Hi Denis,

The left track is hanging a little unevenly because of a couple of incurable kinks. The upper rear section is floating a little and the camera angle seems to be exaggerating the sag. I would have been happy to have it layig flat across the tops of the roadwheels like on the right side

The tracks were painted overall witha light coat of Tamiya Flat Earth, the pads picked out with Vallejo Black-Grey, the cleats were pin-washed in the recesses with burnt umber oils and then drybrushed metallic grey.

Jester75 wrote:

What color did you use for the rubber on the road wheels? Seems spot on!

Hi Jester,

The rubber on the roadwheels was airbrushed Tamiya German Grey.

the doog wrote:

Man! We're seeing a lot of the M113 variants here lately! Kinda cool!

Hi Karl,

Gotta love the M113 - I have the ACAV version in the stash whispering "build me". I would love to get hold of the AFV Club MRV version (similar to mine, but with a Scorpion turret and added on flotation tanks - this one looks really mean) but it's OOP and a little difficult to find.

redleg12 wrote:

Phil - I know you built this as part of the Vintage Group Build so besides what has been mentioned it looks GREAT!!!

Hi Redleg12,

Thanks for hosting the Vintage Armor GB. Considering that the criteria for entry were kits originally issued prior to 1980, with no AM, I think we had a reasonable completion rate and the finished results, particularly bufflehead's ancient PzIII , were all great.  Hopefully we'll see a few more finished by the completion date.