She's really cranking them out!!

During the recent research my wife did in order to paint a South Vietnamese M8 Greyhound ("Mrs. History PhD strikes again!" - April 13, 2015), she came across an article that described several ARVN M113A1's that had been locally modified by adding turrets to them taken from non-operational M8's. She (and I) found this intriguing, though no amount of Googling since then has managed to turn up a period image. Undaunted, my wife has forged ahead and I have provided the necessary bits and pieces for her very first kit-bashing!! 

M113A1's in South Vietnam, were they ARVN, US, or Australian, generally had the flat, rectangular trim vane (really just a breakwater) that you normally associate with the M113:

But not all did. Others had a modified vane that was supposed to cause less buffeting of the vehicle as it swam and provide additional flotation:

That being the case, I had just the item lying about. The unused hull of a GHQ M163 Vulcan with the modified vane. This had the added advantage of having a turret ring already cast onto it. 

So here is Mrs. History PhD's offering:

She's really taken to the "severely grubby" look that I prefer. If you've never spent time around military vehicles that have been in the field for more than an hour or two, take my word for it, you really cannot overdo the muckiness. I bought the wife a bottle of Mig Productions Vietnam Earth pigment powder:

which I have never used before, but I must say that I'm very impressed with it! If she keeps on like this, she'll bring back my "Vietnam fever"!

That's the weekend done, so more next time!