M 113 T.o.w. Armored Personnel Carrier

**GEEDUBBYA** · 27-06-2006

Howdy Guys,

Well, since I am making photos, I thought I would take my old M 113 armored personnel carrier out and take a few shots of it.
Once again, the shots are taken from ground level, out on the drive way, by the grass and in the "dead spot" in my yard with no grass.
I dont remember much about who made the model, (its been a few yrs since I built it) but its 1:35 scale and the camoflauge was my first attempt at camo on such a small item with my airbrush. (I have been camoflauging shotguns and rifles for ppl I work with for hunting for yrs though).
So, here it is, enjoy, lemme know whatcha think.

Have a good day,

Greg aka GW

**Bunkerbarge** · 27-06-2006

That's certainly an interesting camoflague pattern. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

Interesting model well positioned in a nice picture setting. Many thanks.

**GEEDUBBYA** · 27-06-2006

Howdy Bunker,

Well, that camo pattern is indeed unique. At the time I built that model, as I said, I had camoed many rifles and shotguns for guys I work with (for turkey and deer and duck hunting). I had been preparing to camo a 14' flatbottom boat for use on the bayou down the road from my house. (The bayou is called Bayou Bartholomew and is the worlds longest bayou).
Anyway, I guess you could call this a test run of the camo pattern in mininature lol because it is the same pattern I used on the boat.
Maybe sometime when I am over at my friends house, I will get a photo of the boat to show all of you.
Thanks for the kind words again,

Have a good day,

Greg aka GW

**rjwood_uk** · 28-06-2006

yea strange but lovely spray job there! any chance you have any pictures of the rifles you have done?

how do you go about painting them?

im guessing you have to strip them down, sand down the wood..etc?

**GEEDUBBYA** · 28-06-2006

This posting is abit off topic, sorry folks.

GW

Howdy RJ,

No, I never thought to take any photos of the rifles or shotguns, but I can take some pics of one I did for a guy I work with, but, it will be after I get my neck all healed up. (I am not really outwardly mobile right now).
As for how I do the guns, first now I dont strip or sand them, I do however spray them down with electrical contact cleaner to degrease them, then I paint the entire gun flat machine gray. I let that dry, and then, taking a "center page" from the newspaper (a two page fold) and tear an irregularly shaped 1" strip from corner to corner, wet it and wrap it spirally around the length of the gun making sure all the excess water is off the paper before doing so. Then I spary the entire "uncovered area" with a flat olive drab. I let that dry, remove the paper and then wrap it again with another piece of paper in the same fashion and add flat black. Let it dry, remove the paper and with my air brush, I put in the "treebark" pattern, I then add leaves vines etc and when finished I spray the entire gun with testors Dullcote. Oh, I forgot to say I use testors enamels for the paint and testors airbrushes.
I used to paint the guns by hand and it would take me about 8 hrs to complete one, but then I bought a new airbrush and cut that time down to about 1 & ½ hrs.
I guarentee all my work for the life of the gun, if they scratch the paint, rub it off or anything like that, I redo them for free. But so far I have only had to redo 1 gun out of the 40 to 50 I have done.
The process is abit more detailed than what I typed above, but not much more. Below is a computer drawn rendition of the steps for painting a shotgun that I did a few years ago for my old website. I used to have the detailed instructions, but you can look at each step and follow along with what I wrote above.

Have a good day,

Greg aka GW

ps. Yes I also do computer drawings lol

**rjwood_uk** · 28-06-2006

what do you mean by off topic? have we made it go off topic or do you mean it because you posted it in the aircraft section?

when you can...i would love to see a pic of the shotgun.

i only thought you would strip it down as paint/moving parts....paint drys....parts dont move?

obvioulsy not a problem though...

**GEEDUBBYA** · 28-06-2006

Howdy again RJ,

Nope, I leave the original finish in case the owner wants to strip the paint back off the gun although I have never had anyone do that that I know of. But I do tell them how to do it should the need arise.
And I will get a photo for you of one of the guns, like I said, it will be after I get my neck healed up abit, I am currently off work for 1 herniated disk and 2 buldging disk in my neck which are affecting the nerves in my left arm.
As for moving parts, yes, there are places like the reciever/ejector on the shotguns that the paint does come off of, but I explain that this is to be expected since it is a moving part.
On the other hand, I only charge whatever the person feels the paint job is worth, I have been paid in beer before, but usually I make about $35 dollars (US) for each gun but have made as much as $55 before. If you buy a factory camoed shotgun, it will generally cost you about $80 to $100 more than a non camoed gun.
And having done approx 40 to 50 guns, I do pretty well as a hobby. I have also painted 4 wheelers, deer stands, boats (like I mentioned before) and Bows for Bowhunters.
anyway, I will get you a photo of the gun and of the boat too in that strange looking pattern lol.

have a good evening,

Greg aka GW

**Bunkerbarge** · 28-06-2006

Yet another creative outlet for modelling talents.

Interesting stuff GW, thanks for the explanation and the pictures.

**GEEDUBBYA** · 28-06-2006

NOTE: once again this is WAY off the M 113 topic.

Howdy Guys,

In regards to the Shotgun/Rifle camo, I found my old file and reformatted it into a zipped .pdf for anyone who wants it. REMEMBER, you can enlarge the .pdf so as that you can see the illustrations better.

Have a good day,

Greg aka GW

**rjwood_uk** · 28-06-2006

yes it has gone off topic but thats the beauty of forums, it has not gone largely of topic as you were the one who mentioned you doing the camo on the rifles in the first place.

so by you saying that it started a new thing to talk about in this thread. have a look at any thread and you will see in some way or another they link up and start new topics within them but they are always somehow connected to the original topic.

hope this dosnt sound rude as it is deffinatly not ment to!