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That's going to be a big'un.
SMA What's New In Your Stash?!?
- Thread starter Elm City Hobbies
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Jakko
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The old Tamiya M3A2? The Dragon kits are far better, though not without their problems either (you can only build late versions from them, for example, even though they provide markings for early ones). Unfortunately they cost about three times as much as the Tamiya kits
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Ah Nuts! I went back to the shelf... Good news and bad news. It is a Dragon Kit, but it's the M2/M2A-1. Close, but no gold star.
Still quite appropriate for North Africa!
Andy the Sheep
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Are you going to moor her at your local yacht club?
What a kit! Are you going to post a thread?
Jakko
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Stroke of luck thereIt is a Dragon Kit, but it's the M2/M2A-1. Close, but no gold star.
Still quite appropriate for North Africa!
To be accurate for North Africa, though, you will need to backdate it, by removing the springs on the idler wheels. This is my M2 that I started last year, and which I hope to finish painting over the next few weeks at the latest:
Notice the filled-in bits (white putty) on the chassis ahead of the idler mounts, and the bits of plastic rod on the idler mounts so that the adjustment screws reach them.
You also need to remove the jerrycan mounts from the cab, which is rather more of a chore — and worst of all, Dragon should (could) simply have moulded them separately, because on the real thing they're open at the top and bottom so you would need to take them off and replace them even for a halftrack with jerrycans …
There are other details you can add or improve too, such as fitting pedals, improving the skate rail for the machine guns and adding the edges of the lids on the storage compartments, replacing the gearshift, and more like that.
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Hmmm, have bookmarked your suggestions. Won't remember any of them by the time I get to it! Thanks for the follow through!
Cheers
Jakko
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An alternative option I forgot to mention is to replace the springs (A21 and A22 in step 4, BTW) by smaller ones. The real halftracks initially didn't have any at all, but due to problems with the track coming off when the suspension compressed, 2nd Armored Division decided to try adding a spring in the autumn of 1942, before it was deployed to North Africa. In late November '42, this was made official and to be installed on all halftracks, while in July 1943 it was replaced by a larger device with two concentric coil springs — which is what Dragon gives you. These were all to be installed in the field, BTW, so they would (eventually) appear even on vehicles that had already left the factory some years before.
Quick photo of the early spring from Hunnicutt's Half-Track: A History of American Semi-Tracked Vehicles, where I got the above information:
Quick photo of the early spring from Hunnicutt's Half-Track: A History of American Semi-Tracked Vehicles, where I got the above information:
Jakko
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Yes: don't. You've got a kit of an M2 halftrack, which didn't exist in a "British 'rounded ' variant"
Potted history of US halftracks: the M2 halftrack was designed as a general-purpose vehicle and the M3 as an APC (officially, they were the Half-track Car M2 and the Half-track Personnel Carrier M3). The M3's body is longer than that of the M2, has different interior arrangements and a rear door that the M2 lacks (a supposed M2 with a rear door is actually an 81-mm Mortar Carrier M4), while the M2 (and M4) have hatches in the sides that the M3 lacks. These were all made by Autocar, Diamond-T, White and others, but because there was a need for more halftracks than these could produce, International Harvester Corp. (IHC) was also asked to build them. However, IHC adapted the design to its own production capacities and preferences, which produced the M5 and M9 halftracks. The M5 is the equivalent of the M3, the M9 of the M2, and these are the ones with rounded rear corners because the side and rear are made from a single plate of steel. There are many other differences between IHC halftracks and those of the other manufacturers, which means you can't just round off the rear corners on an M3 to make an M5.
What's more for your particular idea is that first of all, the M9 is a "long-body" halftrack like the M5, rather than being shorter like the M2 is relative to the M3. Furthermore, there were no "basic" M9s made at all, only M9A1s, with the ring-mounted machine gun over the front passenger seat. On the inside, the M9A1 is much like an M2, but on the outside, it is 100% indistinguishable from an M5A1: it has a rear door but no hatches in the sides, for example. If you can't see inside the rear area, you cannot tell if a halftrack is an M5A1 or an M9A1.
The US Army standardised on the M2/M3 series (and their derivatives) for use in Europe, so as to avoid the logistics of supplying spare parts for the M5-series as well. They did, however, supply the M5-series and most of its derivatives (chiefly the M9A1 and the Multiple Gun Motor Carrier M14) to the British — and ended up using a few M5s itself as well in Europe, but not a lot. (The US did use the M5 for training in the USA, though.)
Also speaking against your idea is the fact the British didn't use any American halftracks in North Africa, to the best of my knowledge They did in Italy and in North-West Europe, including M14s converted into APCs, command posts, ambulances, etc. as well as M5s, M5A1s and M9A1s.
Potted history of US halftracks: the M2 halftrack was designed as a general-purpose vehicle and the M3 as an APC (officially, they were the Half-track Car M2 and the Half-track Personnel Carrier M3). The M3's body is longer than that of the M2, has different interior arrangements and a rear door that the M2 lacks (a supposed M2 with a rear door is actually an 81-mm Mortar Carrier M4), while the M2 (and M4) have hatches in the sides that the M3 lacks. These were all made by Autocar, Diamond-T, White and others, but because there was a need for more halftracks than these could produce, International Harvester Corp. (IHC) was also asked to build them. However, IHC adapted the design to its own production capacities and preferences, which produced the M5 and M9 halftracks. The M5 is the equivalent of the M3, the M9 of the M2, and these are the ones with rounded rear corners because the side and rear are made from a single plate of steel. There are many other differences between IHC halftracks and those of the other manufacturers, which means you can't just round off the rear corners on an M3 to make an M5.
What's more for your particular idea is that first of all, the M9 is a "long-body" halftrack like the M5, rather than being shorter like the M2 is relative to the M3. Furthermore, there were no "basic" M9s made at all, only M9A1s, with the ring-mounted machine gun over the front passenger seat. On the inside, the M9A1 is much like an M2, but on the outside, it is 100% indistinguishable from an M5A1: it has a rear door but no hatches in the sides, for example. If you can't see inside the rear area, you cannot tell if a halftrack is an M5A1 or an M9A1.
The US Army standardised on the M2/M3 series (and their derivatives) for use in Europe, so as to avoid the logistics of supplying spare parts for the M5-series as well. They did, however, supply the M5-series and most of its derivatives (chiefly the M9A1 and the Multiple Gun Motor Carrier M14) to the British — and ended up using a few M5s itself as well in Europe, but not a lot. (The US did use the M5 for training in the USA, though.)
Also speaking against your idea is the fact the British didn't use any American halftracks in North Africa, to the best of my knowledge
They did in Italy and in North-West Europe, including M14s converted into APCs, command posts, ambulances, etc. as well as M5s, M5A1s and M9A1s.
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Thanks! Saves me a whole lot of head scratching!
Guess I'll need to find out if it was American M2, or M2A in operation Torch landing in Morrocco, with flags to 'appease' the Vichy defenders, or possibly in Tunisian action later on, I'm thinking in a torrential downpour, or thereafter.
Guess I'll need to find out if it was American M2, or M2A in operation Torch landing in Morrocco, with flags to 'appease' the Vichy defenders, or possibly in Tunisian action later on, I'm thinking in a torrential downpour, or thereafter.
