By: Nickels
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Sometime in early 2016, I saw a listing on eBay for a set of 21st century toys tracks and drive sprockets for a 1/6 scale Bradley fighting vehicle, and another listing for the idler sprockets, I bid, and after a small bidding war I won! It wasn't cheap, but I could swing it at the time. I've wanted an A.P.C. since 1998, when I got back into G.I. Joes again, so here was a chance to make one. I've never scratch built anything 1/6th scale either, but I remember seeing a photo-build story in the tips section of G.L.'s site the ultimate soldier unofficial fan page, where a guy called Vtkljnky, built one, starting with the main body of the vehicle, but the story ended without the tracks completed, and never showed the finished project, I was somewhat encouraged, I had the tracks already, I'll just start with them and take it from there.
I was further encouraged by Matt on the Facebook page, 1/6 SCALE Vehicles, and numerous other groups like 1/6 scale Dioramas of any kind, THE GI JOE EXPERIENCE, and others. Then I got a Tamiya 1/35 scale model of an A.P.C., for a guide as to what goes where. Now, I'm not looking to build an exact replica or an R.C., or anything over my skill level, it is just a static prop for my G.I.Joes, Basically a cheap toy that looks good enough for me. Some things are slightly out of scale, and I took some artistic license, but that is O.K. by me. So I started looking for something to use as road wheels, because I really don't like having to cut circles, out of any kind of material, and I need 10 of them. I looked everywhere, hardware stores, office supply, craft stores, flea markets, garage sales, and I have an extremely low budget. In the meantime I drew a picture of where the sprockets and idlers need to be to fit the tracks, I got bored one day, and built the 1/35 scale kit, later I bought an ACAV version in 1/35 built that, and got another model of a A.P.C. to use for the project. Several months later, like late September, I found the road wheels at a garden shop... the saucers that go under 4" flower pots. I picked up 22 of these things, drilled a 3/8" hole in 10 of them, inserted a 3/8" bushing (from the local hardware store) and glued a drilled half with a plain half thus making a full set of 10 road wheels. 3/8" dowel rod will connect the wheels to the A.P.C., and then I marked on my drawing where they should go. |
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By this time, my bother Paul (who kindly lets me live in his house for low rent) noticed what I was doing, and looked at my drawing, and we talked for a while about the hows and whats and stuff. I showed him the 1/35 scale model, and some drawings I printed from the internets, 2 days later he had made a frame out of wood he had ripped from a short 2x4. We mounted the wheels, sprockets and idlers, the tracks fit, and looked GREAT!
So now I decided to use foam core for the hull of the vehicle, for a smoother surface than cardboard, so in October I got a couple of large pieces of it and shortly after that, Paul had finished making the hull, top, and rear hatch cutout. I was surprised at how fast he did it, and how nice it had turned out. (Paul is the king of level, plumb, and angle to the dangle.)The hull and chassis are not permanently attached so it will be easier to move around, and who knows, I could build something else to sit on those tracks. Now I had to figure out what to use for the hardware store for $1.00, after Paul cut it with his angle grinder and some sanding, I had a driver's turret ring and the commander's hatches, and engine louvers.... And the project stalled, till summer of 2017, when Paul found a 4" P.V.C. pipe cap on sale at the hatch top, but I still needed something for the commander's turret, like an upside down dog dish, large ashtray, or something like that, the search was on... in the fall of 2017, I found it, the same planter saucer, but in the 8" size, but it didn't look quite right, after cutting the upper ridge off, for a more suitable profile with a Dremel tool, it was done. |
| In December 2017 work resumed, the engine louvers were made out of Popsicle sticks, exhaust pipe is a copper tubing elbow that I cut at an angle, the rest of the detailed pieces were made from small bits of wood, cardboard, plastic, foam core, sculpy clay, and whatnot, and a lot of trial and error. Some pieces I had, (.50 cal. Machine gun, fuel cans,) some, like the lights, shovel, axe, and stuff, I got from eBay, or Justice Fighters. |
| Now it's 2018 and in mid-April it is what I would call complete, just some small details left to do, if I decide to do them, like I said before, it only has to be good enough for me, I also decided not to do the interior, other than paint, so I would save time and headaches. The driver's hatch opens and closes, as well as the commander's, which also rotates, the large hatch on top also works, and the ramp in the rear opens and closes |
| I hope you like it, feel free to leave comments, good or bad, and No, it's not for sale. |
| Very very cool, my friend! You and your brother did a superior job on this one, in my opinion. It's definitely a beauty for sure! Many years ago, I was hoping that 21st would make an M113 APC, unfortunately they didn't. Lucky I get to look at this masterpiece and keep dreaming :) Special thanks for sending this terrific project in and sharing it with all of us. - GL |
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