IDF Fitter's M113, (not so) quickie build..... it's back!

[rbaer]

Thanks, guys. I've got a couple of days to let the OD cure on the two Shermans I just painted, so this one should get some action soon (I hope).

[rbaer]

Argh! Pics of IDF stuff, with any real detail showing, are sometimes hard to find. A guy over on Armorama sent me a couple, both of the actual thing and his model, that will get me over the hump. The painting and weathering on this one should be fun, as it's something IDF that I can make look well-used; in fact rode hard and put up wet.
I WILL FINISH THIS MODEL!
Dicky, I'm also going to dig up your M3/M51 dio and look at your crane, see how you did the hydraulics. I have all the hoses running outside the crane body, and the pics I now have show them to run between the cylinders and the crane body itself. The kit crane is pretty tight in there, so I may end up having to "fake" it, and not have the crane moveable. I'll know more in the next couple of days.

[Deleted]

those tracks do look good must try some

[rbaer]

Apr 3, 2014 12:55:56 GMT -5 @snipersmudge said:

those tracks do look good must try some

Thanks, 'smudge.
I'm okay with the color now, but if I was doing something like Russian tracks, I'd want them a lot darker, but this about the same color I've been doing Magach/Merkava tracks lately, and as far as I know, they're all roughly the same alloy and polish up pretty quickly in the local terrain.

[Deleted]

"Warning ! Always check your cup of coffee for steel tracks and vinegar !!!"

[rbaer]

Good idea Carl.
Man, work is not supposed to be so busy. I couldn't even make time to upload pics yesterday, and today's about to get crazy. But before it does.....
Paint! And a quick shot of gloss coat.....

Tracks have a wash, then a wipe. Pads need to be painted, and then dirt. Anit-slip on the rear came out OK too. Plans are to leave it open and clutter up the back of the inside with junk and parts, like a repair is in progress. I also whipped up the front fold-up work surface which looks to be made of scrap armor plate, but I don't think I got any pics of it. Edti: Duh, it's in this pic. The vise is from an old Tamiya modern US accessories set.

Right side. Paint is a little thin in the nooks and crannies, one of the drawbacks of using Tamiya paint in a rattle can: it goes on a little thick and the spray pattern is pretty wide, so it can be tough to get good coverage in places. This area will be really dusty, so I'm not worried. Yet.

And the left. More tan, Tamiya TS46, the same color I used and liked on my M50 and M51. It seems to be a good representation of the IDF sand before and during the early '80s.
Next: decals, more gloss, washes.

[Leon]

Making really great progress Russ.Looking good.

[rbaer]

Thanks, guys.
Dicky, cranes are pretty different, although I have to say the lock plates on your clevis pins are un-worldly.
Looks like the major difference is placement of one cylinder/ram and the fact that your hydraulic hoses run up through the middle of the base, whereas the one I'm doing has the hoses externally routed, and connected to what I would imagine are quick-disconnects on the hull roof.
I have the hoses re-routed, forgot to take pics of the crane.

[deafpanzer]

Awesome... it looks good with paint on now!

[Deleted]

Paint looks just fine from this side of the internet Russ .
Them areas that the paint didn't get to give it a shadow look and some depth imo .
As Martha S. used to say in her commercials "its a good thing " .
But then she went off to jail and it was a bad thing .

[rbaer]

Thanks, Carl.
Martha was a pretty good scratch-builder, too. I bet she got better in prison.....

[wbill76]

Nice work sneaking in paint time on this one Russ, looking good! Now get back to work...

[rbaer]

Work! That's what I'm supposed to be doing! I just knew I was up here for a reason.....

[Deleted]

Apr 9, 2014 11:26:15 GMT -5 rbaer said:

Thanks, Carl.
Martha was a pretty good scratch-builder, too. I bet she got better in prison.....

And she aint tellin ........

[rbaer]

Not a peep.
I did some weathering last night, no pics yet cuz Iz jus got too much to dooo!

[Deleted]

Some much too doo . So little time too doo it in .

All this talk about work is wearin me out Russ .

[rbaer]

It's exhausting, gets in the way of modeling something fierce.
So, pics:
A little bit of dirt in the nether regions:

More of the same, and the folding work table that goes in place of the trim vane:

And even though it may not be totally appropriate, I'll be using a darker tan, scrubbed off, around the junk stuck all over the sides of this thing to represent abused paint and shadows:

The above pic also shows all the junk that stuck to the paint. Such is life when you paint in the garage, I guess. I'll have to clean that up eventually.
Inside of the ramp, showing anti-slip and the beginning of the heavy weathering this area will receive:

More later, UPS is here.

[bullardino]

Great progress, Russ. I love it

[rbaer]

Thank you sir!
One thing I'm looking forward to on this build is painting the various gas cylinders that will be stowed on it. I have the two from the kit and one from a Tamiya accessory set, and based on what my own cylinders look(ed) like, I'm going to do some serious chipping. I might even steal my wife's hairspray.
I can hear it now:
Her: "Honey have you seen my hairspray?"
Me: "Uh, yeah Boo, (that's what I call her) it's in my model room".
Her: "Where?"
Me: "In my model roo... er, hang on a minute, I'll get it for you".

As it is now, she still thinks it's sweet when I buy her new emery boards for her nails every few weeks......

[wbill76]

Looks like today was a 'big dirt' day for you Russ! Nice progress on this one.

[deafpanzer]

Hey #19! Your number looks good at that size!

[Deleted]

Russ , dirt looks the right color .....XF64 ? Tracks came out just right IMO .

I was over there but the surface I was on was coastal sea water blue .

Paintin out in the garage and all that stuff got stuck in it ? Dang , you need to stop paintin on the floor !

Funny discussion with your wife !

[rbaer]

Dicky, ask Gary. She knows it's not for my hair.....
Bill, Andy, Carl: Thanks!
I can look at the paint code, Carl, not sure. It's probably got a little bit of something else in it too, can't remember.
I did some more nastiness last night, but Monday morning came way too early and I ran out of the house without taking any pics. I should be able to get some tonight, but I started some secondary washes, using very dark gray enamels, just around places the might have fluid leaks and the cooling intake and exhaust vents, plus did a little detail painting. It may not be totally accurate, but this one is going to look well-used, and than some.

[rbaer]

Hmmm.....
As finished and on a dio base, not quite completed:


Not exactly a "quickie", but what the heck.

[deafpanzer]

One of my favorites builds coming out of Bear's Cave. Or was it supposed to be Baer's Cave?

[TRM]

Well, Hmmm,Very nice work on the Dio, "not quite completed"!! Great stuff there fella!

[rbaer]

Jul 18, 2014 22:24:38 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

One of my favorites builds coming out of Bear's Cave. Or was it supposed to be Baer's Cave?

"Baer cave". Ed Zachary.
Todd, I have now found the means to "complete" this dio, and it's simple. What I felt it was missing, and had been told so by others as well, was a reason for the Magach and 113 to be so close together. "Why is it such a tight fit?" was the question asked, so I printed up a couple of "Minefield" signs, in English, Hebrew and a couple of other local languages, just need to stick them on a backing board and whip up a little razor wire, yay.

[rbaer]

This may make a difference, explains a couple things:

There's a sign in the empty corner.....

[bullardino]

[deafpanzer]

Nice touch... I really like it very much!!!!



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