¹⁄16

Trumpeter M16 Halftrack

The Engine
The well-detailed 6-cylinder engine is really the jewel in this kit, with only some sparkplug leads needed to make it gleam. The engine, a kit in itself, is covered in Steps 2 through 6. I spent a whole day on mine. Part W26 (the engine exhaust manifold) is correctly moulded with a noticeable casting seam –don’t completely sand that off! Part W37, however, must be shaved-down to attach in a straight vertical plane, and still meet the exhaust pipe later (in Step # 7). Also, the locating lug on part W8 (engine timing cover) must be trimmed considerably before attaching to the engine, as does Z41 and Z42 –these parts were slightly warped.

No fan belts (they are twin belts) are provided - I used 1/16 masking tape. Photo-etched tappet covers for the engine give nice detail. The air cleaner is well done, finished with PE clamps. The hose clamps on the engine plumbing are all present, but suffer from unfortunate placement of the mould seams. The radiator cooling fan is a single PE part, but the fins should be slightly twisted at about a 30 degree angle –look under the hood of your car, to give it a realistic look. One of the kit’s glaring weaknesses is the lack of a radiator. I cut a piece of 3 mm plastic card to fit inside the shroud (partW48), covered it with plastic mesh, and added a bit of trim. The engine firewall is nicely finished with air cleaner and voltage regulator -both with PE brackets. Almost everything in the engine bay, including the engine itself, was originally painted in OD green, but would of course be quickly covered in black goo.

The Cab
In the cab there are plenty of sinkholes and injector pin marks, though few will be visible after assembly -the exception being numerous and large marks on the interiors of the doors, which are visible. The cab doors are moulded as one-piece units. Slotted screws festoon the M16, though they are not of the correct dome shape in this kit. I carefully scored through the molded joint to portray the top half of the cab door in the folded-down position. Two “potable” U.S. water cans with flip-up lids and two jerry cans with screw-type caps are included. The solid racks and straps for these are PE parts and look correct. The side-view mirrors can be omitted –they were never mounted on wartime halftracks. The hood (bonnet) is in separate pieces with working hinges, allowing that beautiful engine to be displayed. Sadly, the bonnet lifting handles lack any detail. Be sure to work the stiffness out of those hinges before installing, and use nothing but a minute drop of “gel” type super glue. After cementing the hinges in place, the instructions would have you pin parts J7 through the holes in the hinges, into the bonnet as scale “bolts” -an impossible and tedious idea. I used some 2mm lengths of wire to line up a couple holes on each hinge, with the corresponding holes in the bonnet. It’s the same operation for the cab door hinges. The radiator louver actuating lever in the cab is poorly represented, but a new one is easily scratch-built (Fig. 8). To weather the windscreens, I carefully cut a mask from cello tape, roughly in the shape of an arc left by a sweep from the windscreen wiper. I then lightly sprayed a transparent wash of watercolor “mud” onto each glass pane (using the same mask) to replicate dirty windscreens. When installing the windscreen glass, I didn’t use glue. I just brushed black Testors paint (“scale” glazing mastic) into the frames (E1), let it set-up for 30 minutes, and dropped the clear panes in. The armored radiator louvers are molded as one-piece (in the open position). The canvas seats, including the gunner’s seat, were painted a greenish khaki color. Instruments are a brushed aluminum color on museum vehicles, but black-faced gauges with white numerals are correct. The kit provides decals with white faces.