Thursday, January 9, 2014

M-113 "Zelda" in the 1973 Yom Kippur War

The M-113 "Zelda" was one of the main battlefield transport vehicles of the IDF "Hermesh" armored infantry. These vehicles were seen on both fronts (Golan and Sinai) of the 1973 war and served as infantry, communication, ambulance and command tracked vehicles. The "113" was adapted by Israel in much the same way they have done with mostly all the armaments that they have purchased abroad. Among some of these modifications were: External racks for the stowage of spare ammo crates, water cans, tarpaulins and personal effects. Extension of the exhaust pipe. Articulated FN MAG Machine gun mounts. In-vehicle modifications were racks for spare ammo boxes, radios and seating for an infantry squad.
This Model is Tamiya's 1/35th scale M-113. It is an old kit and I decided to work with it until I had a reasonably accurate replica of an Israeli Army "Zelda" as it would have appeared in the Yom Kippur War. Since the vinyl tracks were quite pathetic I purchased a set of metal tracks from "Friul". The rest of the work was done with styrene shapes from "Plastruct". Here are a few photos from the beginning of the build. The Friul tracks are lying in front. They are a pain to assemble but well worth the investment in time and money. The weight it gives to the model is very satisfying.
The next step after the basic assembly was to construct the external racks which are a very "Israeli" modification and could not be overlooked. I used Plastruct styrene strips to make the rack on each side. The upper rail is made from very tiny brass tubing. The supports were made from styrene strip. this photo was taken after this step was completed.
I next detailed the interior. This involved building the ammo box and radio racks. The bench seat was last to go in.
My intention to crew the vehicle with at least a partial squad involved converting 1/35th scale figures from other kits to fit the vehicle. The tank helmets are very period 1970s and had to be included on at least 4 of the crew figures. I tried to use "Hornet" heads with this type of helmet but decided that they were too small for the scale. Instead I used a Dremel tool to grind out the faces of some Tamiya tank crew and then added faces from various other figures. The facial hair is made from "Green Stuff" epoxy putty. In lieu of painting eyeballs, I decided to add sunglasses which works well in a modern desert scenario.
I added the metal mesh screening over the engine air-intakes and extended the exhaust pipe, next were the FN MAG articulated gun mounts.
The vehicle was painted using Testors 2103 Model Master Afrika Dunkelgrau 1942 Ral 7027 Enamel Paint. Finally the unit markings for the Brigade and squadron were added. After the base coat was painted the pastel powders were applied.

8 comments:

  1. Excellent job! I'm trying to do a 1973 diorama with paras, but apparently they did not use the Zelda. Or did they? Checking with one of my veteran friends--more likely they used M3 halftracks. And I can't find any decent figures to do paras.

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  2. Dragon and Italeri both do excelent kits if you can find them

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  3. https://www.kingkit.co.uk/product/italeri-military-1-35-337-israeli-paratroops

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  4. https://www.emodels.co.uk/dragon-1-35-israeli-paratrooper-3001-plastic-model-figures.html

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  5. Also if this helps https://www.scalemates.com/kits/academy-1368-modern-infantry-set--204504 after a bit of searching was able to get all these
    If all else fails the old Tamiya US armored troop kit is available and the IDF arms and equipment kits from AK helped with my conversion of the Tamiya M113 Desert version

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  6. Also IPMS Telford might have old kits

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  7. PS dont forget your Bison or Star decals

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