Canadian M113 Platoon

 Today I was able to take some photos of the finished Canadian M113 Platoon - this time just the AFVs.  I'll jump straight into the photos.

Here's M113 No. 1.  Not exactly sure how the vehicle commander ended up looking quite so relaxed in the cupola - I hope I can fix that at some point in the future.  So No. 1 is an S-Model M113, with a variety of stowage including an old Airfix bicycle and an Elhiem .30 Cal.  The commander is from AB figures.

This M113 No. 2.  No. 2 is another S-Model M113, again with a variety of stowage, an Elhiem .30 Cal and an AB figures commander.

M113 No. 3 is a little bit different.  It is an old ESCI kit I made years ago and was going to be an American M113, but I needed just one more AFV to make up the platoon so the Canadians won out.  It to has a variety of stowage from different sources, AB Figures commander and driver and 2 Elhiem troopers riding in the back with the rear hatch opened.

M1113 No. 4 is a straight forward S-Model kit with no crew.  Nothing to exciting to add here...

Finally the obligatory group shots of the whole platoon.  I haven't totally decided which is the platoon commander's vehicle, but at the moment I'm gunning for M113 No. 2.  Each is unique enough that I will be able to note which squad is in which vehicle at the start of any game - which is always handy.

I tried a couple of different things on these vehicles.  I used Vallejo gloss and matt spray-can varnish on them.  Not 100% sold to be honest - but I'm willing to give them another go.

I also used 2 MiG Productions Oilbrushers on the vehicles.  I only have two colours - Dusty Earth (a light tan colour) and Starship Filth (a grey colour) and I tried to give the vehicles a dusty, grimy streaky look.  I'd be interested in any feedback - as I think I may have overdone it a little.  Who knows...

Anyway - I'm very happy to have these finished and to be able to move onto something else.  This will be it for the Canadians for a little while, as I wait for my 3D Printer to arrive.  Then I will jump back into this particular project with bells on!

Thanks for looking

Richard 

Canadian M113 Platoon (AFV's Only) Progress

 So onto the second post covering the Canadian M113's.  Things have progressed quite nicely and I'm pretty happy with how they are looking right now.  Obviously I should have thought of things like decals before I started this project, but alas, that's not really me - so I've just ordered Canadian 1:87 decals from Germany - from TL Modellbau  Here's the set I ordered:

I also ordered some Danish decals so I can finalise some of their vehicles as well.  I went with 1:87 mainly because I couldn't really find anything else.  Battlefront do 1:100 Canadian decals which look OK - but I don't think you can order them without buying their kits - so I didn't bother there.  I've read these fit perfectly well on 1/72 kits - so we'll see how they go.

At the same time I ordered some vehicle mounted FN MAGs for another Canadian project...  I have started work on the crew for these M113's but I don't want to mount them until after I have properly weathered the vehicles - and I can't really weather them until I've added the decals.  So they will probably remain looking like this for another 6 weeks or so - depending on how long mail from Germany to Australia takes.  Then I can also paint the lights.

So here are the pics:

The M113 is from S-Model, with a Elhiem (slightly modified) .30 Cal added and various different bits of stowage.  ESCI track links on the front.

Another S-Model M113, again with a modified Elhiem .30 Cal, various stowage and an Airfix bicycle.

A 3rd S-Model M113 - essentially straight from the box, with various bits of stowage and an ESCI road wheel mounted on the splash board.  The S-Model .50 Cal is a bit long to my eye, but is nicely detailed.

Finally this is an ESCI M113.  While I think the S-Model M113 is a great little kit, the old ESCI one is outstanding.  You can have the driver's hatch open - so why not!  Again this has various bits of stowage and the rear hatch opened.  I'm planning on putting 2 Elhiem Canadians in the rear hatch.

Here they are all together:

So that's it for now.

Thanks

Richard

Guess the project!

 Quick post today....

I've spent some time this week spraying and masking 4 M113s for the next new project.  This one is actually more progressed than what I'll be showing today, but this is where this part of the project is at.

First one to correctly identify the correct nationality of these vehicles sadly wins nothing but brief fame on this blog.  Hopefully correct identification also means I got the colours correct.

Please bear in mind these are work-in-progress shots - just the first base coats have been finished.

Here we go:

Good Luck!

Richard

Airfix Sheridan

Something a little out of left (or perhaps right) field to keep you all on your toes.  I was never really going to get any Sheridan's as they had pretty much disappeared - at least in Cavalry units - by my preferred 1986/87 timeframe.  I think the 82nd Airborne still fielded them then.

But with Battlegroup NORTHAG looking at an earlier timeframe I can see the value in having a couple of Sheridan's should I need them.

I got this at my local Wargaming Convention - MOAB - which was just over a month ago in Sydney.  It was a good decent price as well.  Please note I did not make or paint this - what you see in the pick is what I paid for.  So here it is:

Pretty damn well painted in my opinion.

Thanks for looking

Richard

Danish Battlegroup

OK - back to 20mm, and back to the Danes for the last time for a while I think.

When finishing the Centurions I thought it might be nice to take a couple of photos of all the Danish armour finished thus far.  So without further ado - here we go:

Front Row Left to Right: 3 x S-Model M113 forming a Danish Mechanised Platoon, and a S-Model conversion to a M150 TOW Carrier

Back Row Left to Right: 2 x Airfix and 1 x Britannia Centurion forming a Tank Platoon, 2 x Warmaster M41 Walker Bulldog tanks to field as individual light recon tanks.

I've built an Italeri M106 to add some mortar support to my force, and will also be adding a couple of Unimog trucks, which can play a couple of roles.  One day I'd like to add a platoon of Leopard 1A4s as well - maybe when PSC does the Leopard 1 in 20mm.

Anyway - it's likely you'll see West Germans next...

Thanks

Richard

Danish M150 or Danish M113 with TOW ATGM

There appears to be some debate at present as to whether or not there was any such vehicle as the M150 or was it simply a M113 with TOW ATGM.  I don't have an opinion, although everytime I decide it's an M150, I find further evidence that it wasn't, and then more evidence that it was.

Anyway - the Danes had them and I decided to make one!  I used a S-Model M113 as the basis (as I had one spare from the rest of the platoon (2 boxes of two).  I used a Dragon TOW system (from the spectacularly useful HMMWV box sets) and both AB Figures and Elhiem for the crew.  I also used some ValueGear stowage - pretty much the same as in my previous post.

Onto the pics:

Originally I had planned on having the TOW face forwards, but once the drive and the .50 cal were in place I thought it made the front of the vehicle look to "crowded" so I decided to have it firing off to the side.  Hopefully you can see the TOW tripod legs, folded up on the rear deck.

Finally - here is a pic of the M113 Platoon and the M150 (or not):

That's it for today.

Thanks

Richard

The Mechanised Bit - Danish M113 Platoon

OK - so on with the show and onto the transports for the troops shown last week.  The Armoured Personnel Carrier of choice for the Danes was the ubiquitous M113A1.  I've chosen to use the excellent S-Models M113 and have added some bits and pieces of stowage primarily from Value Gear and other model kits.  Figures are all AB Figures - British Tank Crew in Pixie Suits.

Here is the Platoon Commanders track:

1st Squad's Track:

2nd Squad's Track:

Now the whole platoon:

So there they are.  Ready to roll out and take on some Soviets...

Thanks for looking

Richard

LandZeeland Danish Armour - W-I-P - Part 5

Time for a couple more quick photos of some progress on this project.  This time I'm trying to move my Danish M113s along.  As explained previously they are all S-Model kits.  Here's where they are up to:

As you can see the green is pretty bright.  We'll see how it looks once the black pin wash has been added and then the models are dry brushed up.

More soon - and maybe something else completely different...

Thanks

Richard