Why on Earth would you scratchbuild an M113 in 1:35 scale?

[Guest]

I started on the ground work, but decided I had to build it up first. I cut some 5 mm and 3 mm foam board to the shapes I had in mind for the ground and glued them to the base:

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I put a sheet of MDF over it and clamped it to make sure the foam stuck down well, as the sheets I used were curved a bit. Next, I trimmed the edges of the wood trim to match the contours, using a sharp knife:

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I took a little bit too much off at the low side, because the wood split that way. No big worry, that’ll get covered up with filler later.

Here’s the model posed on this raw groundwork:

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The rear ramp at the top is a Tamiya part I had long ago cut the door from, so I could pose another M113 with its door open. I can use it here if I cut off that bit and put it on the edge of the base like here.

[Guest]

Next step, wall filler:

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I taped off the edges of the base with painter’s tape and trimmed it to the level of the wood edging. Then it was just a matter of putting non-shrinking (supposedly) filler over it with a putty knife, which I textured with a big, short, stiff brush for most of the base, and by dragging a bigger brush over it for the raised road area in the lower left. Both of these brushes I had moistened with water, because else I ended up tearing too much of the filler off the base. It’s been ages since I made a diorama, so I kind of had to re-learn the skills The bare area in the middle is where the floor will sit, so no need to put filler there too.

That done, I covered the whole base in cling film (it’s just small enough that I only needed one piece) and put the M113 parts in position. I also took an M113 track from the AFV Club kit and pressed it into the road a few times to give the impression of tracked traffic there recently. Luckily, after I removed everything and pulled the cling film off, nothing came up along with it, so now it’s sitting somewhere safe to dry.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Hope the filler doesn't shrink. Nothing worse than it all looking fine until it dries and cracks appear. Looks good.
Jim

[Guest]

It said non-shrinking on the tube, so I suppose I’ll just believe that until I see otherwise

[Guest]

It indeed didn’t shrink, I’m happy to report

Once it had dried, I removed the masking tape along the edges to get the groundwork nice and square, then painted the frame with a medium brown, translucent furniture paint. I then applied some more masking tape and painted the whole base with a sand-coloured acrylic craft paint (much cheaper than modelling paint, the chief reason I used it ). I had to water it down a little to get it to paint easily over the rough terrain, using a large brush because this doesn’t really need to be done overly neatly — it just needs to cover everything.

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When it had dried, I added an overall wash of a somewhat darker and browner sand colour of the same make, and while that was still wet, also some local washes of even darker brownish modelling paints that I blended into the “main” wash. All this added some shading to make the terrain look better.

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After leaving this to dry overnight, I applied some artist’s pastels in a pale sand colour to some raised bits, especially the road area, and rubbed them in with my finger. Of course, most then promptly flew off again when I blew over the base, but enough stuck that it was worth the effort After that I drybrushed everything with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, another pale sand colour, to add more highlights and blend the colours together a bit.

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I think I may have to repeat this with an even paler shade, though. After that, I’m not sure how to proceed yet. Much of this needs to be covered with grass, but I think my usual static grass is a bit short to achieve the effect I’m after. Suggestions are welcome

[Guest]

Grass added:

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The usual way, really: I brushed slightly thinned PVA glue to the areas of the base I wanted to cover, then sprinkled static grass over it with a tea sieve, and after letting it dry, I shook off the excess (both on a piece of newspaper, so the grass didn’t go everywhere and I could recycle the leftovers) and sprayed the base with artist’s fixative. I think I’ll airbrush the grass once everything is properly dry, though, as I feel the current colour is too light.

[adt70hk]

Great work Jakko!

[Guest]

Thanks

[Guest]

Front plate of the hull:

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I cut this earlier, but only now out the detail on. I first scribed a circle for the access hatch, using a simple circle template and a steel pin-type scriber tool. The rest is just some plastic strip, punched bolt heads and spare parts from M113 kits. The tan lamps are Academy, as are the spare track links, the indicator light between them is AFV Club from their M548, the rest is Tamiya. I didn’t space the lights correctly, I think, so the hooded light didn’t quite fit. As a quick fix, I just put it at an angle, as if it’s been dislodged by the blast that ripped the vehicle apart.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
That base has come out well. The grass may benefit from some darker patches but looks good as is. Front plate is nice - lucky you have a well stocked spares box.
Jim

[Guest]

I have too many M113 spares, but of course never all I need for something like this I think I’ll paint all the grass on the base, it looks too much like static grass at the moment, but aside from that I’m quite happy with it.

I also did more work on the suspension. The best picture I could find of it is in the operator’s manual:

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This shows some kind of plate through which the torsion bar for that side passes, and that for the other side anchors into. I used my RP Toolz cutter to chop ten lengths of strip and then had to find a way to cut two corners off each. Eventually, I settled on improper use of that same cutter:

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Which gave me:

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I glued these to the longitudinal bars on the hull sides, drilled a hole through and then added a piece of plastic tube and two rivet heads that I made with a punch and die set:

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After that I had more fun cutting lengths of 1 mm brass rod and filing all the ends flat, so I can have this:

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[grumpa]

I think what you are doing is commendable in the extreme and....uhh...hmmm....

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[Guest]

I must admit I’m not entirely sure myself But I hope that it’s clear by now what the model is to represent:

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[Jim R]

But I hope that it’s clear by now what the model is to represent:

Getting clearer by the minute :tongue-out3: :thumb2:

[Tarps]

Hi Jakko nice scratch building. I like the diorama base you are working on. :thumb2: