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I had always wondered if the Israelis had M577's in their stock. I finally had the answer when I picked up a book at the local hobby shop and there on the cover was an Israeli M51 Isheram bigger than the gun tube itself sported. It wasn't the M51 that caught my attention, but the M577 that was tucked away way in the background. And so the story begins......
The model began life from the old, and I mean old, Tamiya kit. I had forgot how bare the inside of the model was until I opened the kit up and realized that it had absolutely nothing for an interior. Having served on one of these things early in my military career, I had to rely on some prior knowledge to complete the interior as besst I could. The Israelis seem to be notorious for doing things to vehicles, no matter how small or large, they do something to them. I put my artistic license to work and just basically had fun. I asked myself where I'd want things if it were my own track and went from there.
I started by building the drivers compartment which really wasn't all that detailed to begin with . I salvaged a few spare parts from previous M113 kits, like the seat, instrument panel,and fire extinguisher. The laterals (steering levers) were scratchbuilt using styrene tube and stretched sprue. The engine access panels to the right and rear of the engine compartment were also scraatch built out of sheet plastic. I added a complete crew compartment consisting of a map board, radios, storage cabinet, overhead lighting, radios, charts and graphics, commanders seat and pillar. All the commo boxes inside were cast from an original and wired accordingly. The Commanders gun ring is brass as is the .30 cal MG. I had to cut the ring down so the hatch would be able to open and close.
The swim vane was removed as a lot of Israeli vehicle don't carry them and I don't like the way they look anyways!
Most of the gear on the exterior is stuff I cast from Verlinden items I had lying around. All of the external stowage boxes / bins are left overs form other kits. The large tarp looking item on the rear is the TOC extension and was made using some epoxy putty wrapped in tissue and then wetted with water and white glue. The figure is a Milart figure I think. I had it lying around and decided he would pull duty with this model. Although it is not visable in the picture, there is a telescoping antenna that is made of brass and wired into the vehicle also. The base section can just be seen in the pics. It scales out to around 16-18' in height. It looks really cool when it is set up.
I took this to the 98 Nats in Santa Clara CA. I didn't take anything with it, but enjoyed the experience nonetheless.
The drawing is my prelim sketches of what I was planning to do. Some of it I did the rest I didn't. Not sure if the markings are on the mark or not, but I like them. Any questions?? feel free to write me...L8er "Q"
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