The Australian M113A1 MRV is a really neat vehicle. Added it to my want list. Sent me on a hunt for other tanky M113s. Found an experimental version with a 90mm gun turret. No plastic model of that one.
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I am building one right now. It appears to be a post-Vietnam era FSV, so you’d have to backdate it. Which is not all that hard, really.
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there were several experimental ones done over time -
this is the M113_with_LCTS-90_turret
The M113A2 has been fitted with the GIAT TS 90 turret
Cadillac Gauge Turret 90mm Cockerill
M24 Chaffee Turret
this one is based on a FNSS modified variant of the 113 with a BMP3 Turret (Turkish)
Panhard AMNL-90 Turret (think this is from Pakistan)
the Aussie M113 MRV Trial vehicle
an M577 with an old BMP turret on it
this one was a 60mm Cockerill HVG gun version from Israel
and last off this looks like a turret gun but is a 120mm Royal Ordinance Breech Loading Mortar
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does Star Decals do any decals for the south vietnamese army?
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yes go here and look for ARVN sets Star-Decals 2024 - Modern 1/35 decals
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There are some in the Academy kit too.
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I’ve had the old Tamiya one in the stash for well over 25 years. I think I recall seeing a photo of one next to a Centurion. It might make a nice little vignette. Obviously it needs some major upgrading. I have some leftover Centurion smoke discharges. I thought I’d start there.
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What is the point of the stepped down side plates on some M113s? It seems like straight lines would simplify the design and increase internal volume with no loss of protection. For example, the K200A1 in the previous response has stepped down sides. Are the sloped sides thick protective plates added to flat sides of a normal M113 underneath?
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I can’t pretend to know the answer to that. I leave that to others. However, the sloped armor, even if it is not made from thicker plates, gains thickness by being angled. And depending on the munition, could increase the chances of a deflected shot.
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@18bravo darn, you got quite some M113-candy stashed away. That Fitter is all but impossible to get, same as the K200.
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I may have picked up the K200 on one of my many trips to Korea. I used to take an extra aviator kit bag with me just to bring kits home. My uniforms got stuffed in the kit bag. The kits were more protected in the huge azz dead hooker bag.
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Very nice. I notice Academy still used the early wheels on that. I recently asked how long they might have been in use but never got a response. I guess I’ll do some research. Ah, I see some later variants with a mix of wheels. Good to know,
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Start buying some of the DEF Models wheels and tracks.
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According to some articles I just read, the puffy sides are bolt on spaced armor. I wonder is there are explosive reactive armor blocks hidden under a thin skin.
Now that I see more of the vehicle, the step downed back allows the forward gun stations on the roof a clear field of fire over vision blocks on the rear quarters. Someone then decided to put more machine guns on the rear quarters, eliminating the benefit conferred by the stepped down back.
With regards the sloped armor, I find it interesting that the slope on rear flanks is much more pronounced than the slope on the forward flanks. The benefit of the slope at the front would only help against rounds about to pass over the vehicle.
The vehicle has an interesting pedigree, being a locally produced, Korean variation on an American proposed replacement for an older version of the M113.
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Yeah! When I did an image search last night, many of the ones you linked popped up, leading to some late night reading.
Just now, I started looking for books on the M113, then remembered the series by Hunnicutt. Bradley contains a section on the M113. Well, great! It is fairly cheap on Amazon. Memory kicks in. Wait… I hobbled downstairs and found the original issue on a bookshelf. 
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Not sure that makes sense - ERA blocks would destroy the thin skin every time one detonates, so you’ll have an ongoing spares problem. The thin skin would most likely become shrapnel too
Mal
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