13 replies to this topic

[Ralph_S]

Eurobricks may be mainly town and pirate oriented, but that doesn't stop me from posting my military stuff here. Last week I've spent many enjoyable hours building a new military model.

The M113 first entered service in the 'sixties. Over the years many different versions were produced for different roles. The final production version for the US Army was the M113A3 APC, which entered service in the 'eighties. Even though many M113s have been replaced in service by M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, M113s are still in fairly widespread use in supporting units and heavy brigade combat teams.


The M113 represented by my model has a few fairly common modifications made to M113s in service. On many M113s the side skirts have been removed, something that made construction of my model a lot easier. Because the vehicle commander's position is fairly exposed on top, many M113s have been fitted with a gun shield and added armour -modifications that were first made to the so-called ACAV version of the M113 used in the Vietnam War. A final modification is the addition of IR identification panels on both sides of the vehicle, common to vehicles serving in Iraq.


The troop compartment in the M113 offers (very cramped) accommodation for 11 troops. It can be accessed through a large hydraulically controlled ramp, a hatch in the roof and a smaller door in the ramp. On my model, all of them can be opened.


The M113A3 is powered by a six-cylinder Diesel engine mounted in the front next to the driver. It is accessible through an inspection hatch in the front (normally hidden by the vehicle's trim vane) or by opening a larger hatch.


full photoset on flickr

M113s might be little boxes on treads, but I had a lot of fun building this, especially adding all the working features. I hope you'll like it too.

Cheers,
Ralph

Edited by Rufus, 02 July 2011 - 11:17 AM.
Indexed

[SeaKing61]

Great model, Ralph. I love the functionality of all the doors and hatches. Does the turret turn too? Although the model is very accurate and full of details, I think the plethora of studs on the top and the use of large basic bricks for the camouflage makes it look like a less accomplished model than it actually is. Perhaps a one colour version would make it easier to see all the details at a glance.
Having said that, I do really like this model, especially the functionality of the hatches and the shape is spot on. It would rate highly in playability were it a miniland scale set!

Cheers,
Laurie

[Forneiro]

Nice work, very detailed and with many features.
Thanks for sharing this.

[lightningtiger]

Again 'Ralph_S' you have done it  - another AWESOME military MOC !
The maxi-figs are COOL and the details, man the details to this carrier - too many to quote.
Excellent designing again and keep on bricking !

[General Redwater]

Just one word describes this...................AMAZING
Keep on bricking.
-
General Redwater

[Ralph_S]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

SeaKing61, on Apr 18 2010, 02:35 PM, said:

Great model, Ralph. I love the functionality of all the doors and hatches. Does the turret turn too? Although the model is very accurate and full of details, I think the plethora of studs on the top and the use of large basic bricks for the camouflage makes it look like a less accomplished model than it actually is. Perhaps a one colour version would make it easier to see all the details at a glance.
Having said that, I do really like this model, especially the functionality of the hatches and the shape is spot on. It would rate highly in playability were it a miniland scale set!

Cheers,
Laurie

Thanks for your very fair comments. The turret (and the figure inside it) can turn a full 360 degrees. I'm not even sure it can do that on the real vehicle  

The colour scheme on this was problematic. At first I wanted to build a Bradley fighting vehicle, but I soon realised that I wouldn't have enough parts to build it in these colours; black, dark green and (old) brown. Small plates and tiles were a problem, in particular in dark green. I decided I had to go for something a bit smaller and an M113 seemed the way forward. It's also a fairly slab-sided little box that I felt might actually look decent in camouflage rather than in overall tan (which is the other colour that US Army versions come in). The latter seemed a but dull to em and I'd rather use the parts I have in that colour for a Bradley sometime in the future. I realise that the vehicle in some respects it might look a bit messy, but in real life (as opposed to in a picture) it looks decent.
I normally don't bother to cover up studs and covering them up now wasn't really an option either in this colour scheme.



Cheers,
Ralph

[SpaceMonkey]

Great work as always Ralph! The real world vehicle itself isn't the most exciting thing to look at, but you've represented it perfectly and included an impressive amount of detail. The camo looks really great here, yet it's the opening doors and the engine detail that make this one stand out to me. The white and orange look a little odd in there, though I'm guessing you've taken that from the real vehicle (?). I'm not a huge fan of the maxifigs, but I have to admit that they're very nicely done, especially the control lever headsets, and the brick built LMG.

Edited by SpaceMonkey, 19 April 2010 - 09:14 AM.

[Ralph_S]

SpaceMonkey, on Apr 19 2010, 06:56 AM, said:

Great work as always Ralph! The real world vehicle itself isn't the most exciting thing to look at, but you've represented it perfectly and included an impressive amount of detail. The camo looks really great here, yet it's the opening doors and the engine detail that make this one stand out to me. The white and orange look a little odd in there, though I'm guessing you've taken that from the real vehicle (?). I'm not a huge fan of the maxifigs, but I have to admit that they're very nicely done, especially the control lever headsets, and the brick built LMG.

Thanks. I know brick-built figures aren't to everyone's liking, but I'd rather have brick-built figures than no figures whatsoever. I agree that the white and orange looks a bit funny, but the colours are based on those used in the engine bay of the real vehicle. I had difficulty finding decent pictures of the engine bay of the M113A3 model (the details differ from one version of the vehicle to the next) but the few pictures that I do have (showing the engine seen through the front inspection hatch) show an orange hose/tube and a white box.

Check out these.

Cheers,
Ralph

[Milan]

Good one.
Turret is nice, so is the body.
Figures are ok. my favorites is still your police officer from Crown Victoria.
Regarding camo, it looks good, maybe it would look different with plates instead bricks, but there were few debates about this in the past.
I think it is ok the way it is now, it would be hard to create plate camo pattern with all those slopes.

[Ralph_S]

Milan, on Apr 20 2010, 11:54 AM, said:

Good one.
Turret is nice, so is the body.
Figures are ok. my favorites is still your police officer from Crown Victoria.
Regarding camo, it looks good, maybe it would look different with plates instead bricks, but there were few debates about this in the past.
I think it is ok the way it is now, it would be hard to create plate camo pattern with all those slopes.

Thank you. I too like that policeman. He's still standing next to the car on one of the shelves where I store my LEGO models.
I probably would have worked some more plates into the camouflage scheme if I'd had some. Unfortunately dark green plates seem to be rare. I've mainly got 1x6 plates in that colour and they are too long to be useful for something like this in most cases. I have use some of them on the top.

Cheers,
Ralph

[ShowaddyWaddy]

This MOC is awesome because of all the opening compartments, also the maxifigs (especially the one with the LMG) look great.

[Fumoffu]

Very nice MOC.  Very accurate and nicely done.  I like the Reminded me of the Tamiya model I had years ago.

[Ralph_S]

ShowaddyWaddy, on Apr 24 2010, 09:04 PM, said:

This MOC is awesome because of all the opening compartments, also the maxifigs (especially the one with the LMG) look great.

Thanks. The opening parts were what made this fun to build. At first I wasn't going to do the opening engine bay. I did plan to have the inspection hatch, but that was it. However, as I was building the engine I felt it was a shame to go to all that trouble if it was only going to be visible through a small hatch. Making the whole bay open meant a fairly comprehensive rebuild of the front of the vehicle, but it actually ended up looking better because of it, even with the hatches closed.

Fumoffu, on Apr 24 2010, 09:14 PM, said:

Very nice MOC.  Very accurate and nicely done.  I like the Reminded me of the Tamiya model I had years ago.

Thank you. In some respects I am a failed plastic model builder. I never was any good at painting them, so instead I turned to LEGO to build the planes and vehicles I like.

Cheers,
Ralph

[WhiteFang]

Thanks Ralph_S for sharing this with us. I really like this green camo looking design of the M113 armoured vehicle. Very detailed design, and even the miniland solders are great. I really enjoyed viewing this marvellous piece of military work of yours.