Hi all,
Firstly I admit to knowing sod all about US armoured type vehicles so please bear with me , can anyone ID the base type of either of the two attached pic's i.e. M2 or M3. Second question which kitset would be most suitable as a base for a conversion (well to be honest a base for scaling up to 1/24th )
Again sorry if these seem basic questions but after trolling through various reference materials I was failing to see the differences and I do know there are differences .


TIA
Roger.

Edit. I'm a bit of a stickler for basic details and accuracy so it is an issue for me LoL.

If you had pictures of the back, it would be easier to tell. The differences between the M2 and M3 were mostly behind the driver's compartment. Since these conversions tore all that off, I don't think it matters which you choose.

scaling up to 1/24? I don't know. I see one in 1/18th from Fairfield Mint Diecast Collectibles.
In 1/35th, the Tamiya kits are affordable and offer most of the m- part of the vehicle. Notice the front bumper, upside-down? For this front end, go with the Tamiya M16 or the mortar carrier version. Dragon makes a better rear half running gear.
Very interesting subject.

Hi Casper,

A 1/24 halftrack build, now THAT's ambitious. It appears to my untrained eye that the second, fire truck version looks to be more of a M3. I agree that it's hard to tell from the angle of the photos but it appears to me that the length of the rear chassis area looks more like the M3. You of course will be insane to attempt to build this, but I say that primarily because I've chickened out on attempting a 1/24 scale M3 of my own.]
Best of luck on this one. Though, given the outrageous success on all your other ambitious builds, even something like this probably won't be that difficult for you!

Keep us posted!
Jim
Large Scale Armory

Well, since these look as if they were photographed in the States, i'll stick my neck out and suggest that they AREN'T International Harvester production as those were principally exported. So the Tamiya M3 would be an o.k. start point...

....and AFAIK, IHC half-tracks M5 and M9 have flat front fenders ...


Frenchy

Thanks for the replies and thoughts.
My own general view was that because these vehicles were highly modified that I could basically term them as a "hybrid" and not lose sleep over it.
Just thought I'd ask those more in the know, no doubt if I do start this project some anorak will rear their ugly head and state it's actually version XY because this bolt is there etc etc (you know the story) .


The bumper is upside-down otherwise it would interfere with the pump inlet coupling


also they used banjo-type front axles (as seen in Frenchy's photo) vs split-type and also had rounded rear corners (N/A in my pics and not clearly obvious in Frenchy's).
See I did learn something during my research .
Thanks again for the input
Roger.

Of course if someone was to do an M3 in 1/48th scale, the tanker trailer (using a truck kit of more or less the same scale) would be a damned sight easier...

Roger,

There is absolutely no difference between an M2/M3/M4/M16 etc. front end. They are all exactly identical from the factory. The differences lie in the crew compartments, not the frame length. The M2 was only around 11" inches shorter than the M3, the frame rails are identical.

Any of the current half tracks available today would be fit the bill, winch front bumper notwithstanding.