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Building the DML M2A1 Halftrack

bodywork

In stage 7 the instructions show the two front wheels being fitted, but I left these off for easier painting. Stage 9 details the beginning of putting all that lovely bodywork together! This begins with the front cab and hood. As mentioned earlier, there are panel lines engraved onto the inside of the hood, so if you’ve chosen to display the hood open, now is the time to begin work cutting! For the rest of us it’s simply a matter of building the two-part seats, and cleaning up the gear stick and other levers located in the driver’s area. The seats already have a nice texture moulded into them, and the only thing I didn’t like about this area was the fact that the foot pedals are moulded into the floor. However, these are easily replaced if you want to with some spare PE or plasticard. When come to fit the toolbox, part B4, onto the right fender, it’s placement is critical, and there’s a small insert to show the exact placement, so line everything up as in the insert and you should be OK!

Stage 8 details the assembly of the .50 cal, and it’s one of the best Dragon has ever moulded. Pre-drilled barrel, multi-part assembly, it looks great! The mount is extremely fiddly to build, but just clips into place on the ring when complete…..just make sure you give it a while to dry and gain some strength!

Now we come to another thing I didn’t particularly admire about this model, the jerry cans! I just don’t think that they can ever look really good when moulded integrally with their holding brackets. I still don’t. I realize that a PE bracket might have been impracticable since this kit is supposed to be a ‘Smart Kit’, but it should be possible to produce an injected bracket separate from the can itself, and therefore give us the option of making retaining straps that look a little more realistic?

Construction continues into stage 10 and mating of the cab sidewalls to the floor. Although I more or less followed the instructions, I diverged a little here to improve the look of the tools on the outside of the cab. They have moulded on straps and look a bit plain. It’s a simple improvement to use the ones supplied in the kit without the moulded clamps and use strips of lead foil instead. Remember, unlike the German vehicles of this time, the Allied vehicles such as the M2 used straps, and these are much easier to replicate, with the addition of a few spare PE Eduard buckles I had in my spares box. If you don’t have any spare buckles, then fine wire can easily be bent into a rectangular shape and used instead. At this point in the construction we also get to use the PE sliding visors for the vision holes in the cab armour. These are simply super glued in place, and no styrene alternatives are supplied, so again, look after them!

At stage 12 we are offered another choice that this time applies to both the M2 and M2A1, whether or not to have the armoured windscreen cover closed or open. I decided open….. it just looks so cool! The windscreen for the M2 is supplied as a transparent moulding, so before I started work on the assembly, I cleaned it up and masked both sides with masking tape. The three small supports for the cover are very fragile. In fact, mine broke during assembly, so were repaired with superglue and then sanded smooth, so take care, and note that if you choose to display it closed, the supports to use are different ones. I suppose there is an argument to be said for leaving the whole cover off until you come to paint, but if you’re careful, and have used superglue for it’s construction, it’s fairly robust. This stage also instructs us to mate the hood and windscreen with the earlier prepared cab. It’s starting to take shape!

which version?

Although I had to make the decision earlier whether to make the M2 or M2A1, it’s at stage 13 that the instructions themselves actually diverge into 2 streams. As I was making the M2 I just carried onto the next stage, but if I had have been making the M2A1 I would have had to ‘jump’ a couple of pages to the alternative stage 13.

The M2 stage 13 deals with building the rear wall of the vehicle, the only difference between this part (K8) and the rear wall for the M2A1 (K9) being the supports for the skate ring on the inside. It’s here we’re instructed to install the 3 tripod mounts for the .50 Cal and 2 .30 Cal’s. Interestingly, Dragon actually do provide PE straps for retaining these, I attached these around the mounts first, and then attached them to the wall. Make sure that parts K7 are correctly inserted and that both rear fender supports are dead straight in relation to each other. The two PE rear mudflaps can then be simply super glued to these, and they each have two small slots to make sure they’re straight.

Stage 14 is the building of the two large lockers that are placed inside the rear body of the vehicle, along with some radio gear atop one of these. The large locker on the left is supplied with shelves to fit inside it, although no provision is made for having it displayed open, but with a little corrective surgery along it’s hinge line, it shouldn’t be too difficult to do. This stage also shows the construction of one of the two .30 Cal’s, most people will need two, but the instructions don’t mention this.

In stage 15, I installed the two plates that form the underneath of the rear body. It is really easy to install these the wrong way around! I know this from experience! If you do, it means that much later in the build, the body will not sit on the chassis properly…..so take care! At this stage you also install the lockers you made in the last stage, and the foot rail around the bottom of the crew compartment.