Thx Bill. In the process of getting the tubes in, Frickin' PITA's.
I'll come back to them later.

Anyways, I have another update tomorrow.

See ya in the funnies...............

Morning everyone,
After spending about 4+ hours with the ammo tube installation yesterday and only getting one to stay put, I figured it was time to move on.

I did alittle more work on the M3-75mm last night. Finished up the front end, added the winch bumper, did some minor repair work to the rear. Hopefully I'll have the tracks, Driver's compartment and motor in today.





Enjoy! See ya in the funnies..............

UPDATE: Progress is moving along on the M3-75mm, I did run into some issues last night which I'll try to address here.

1. In my review for this kit back in 09', the two piece molded tracks were not something I was acustom to and voiced my opinion on this area. Well, I'm eatting crow this morning. LOL . However, some caution is needed in get the center guides on the tracks to slip up over the boogies since there is very little flex or play in the tracks. I have no photo's of this since my cam's battery run out on me.

2. I noticed when I went to install the winch bumper, I'd put it in incorrectly, builder's goof there. This was corrected.
However, this lead to the discovery that the placement of the winch gear box and driveline to the winch itself maybe incorrect. There is a tab on the part for the gear box that should go just to the back of the transfer case housing, this is plugged when the transmission is installed in the earlier part of the build. Also, the winch driveline on the bumper side leading back to the gear box runs thru the bottom of the radiator. I do have a photo of this which on the bottom of this post.

Again, these are things that I've noticed in the build, any correction to this comments are welcome for those that have already finished this kit.
I'll try to have some photo explainations later today when the Batt's are replaced in the Cam.



See ya in the funnies........................

Ok gang, here's the shots concerning my last post. Question are in the photos.











More to come. Comments are welcome, don't be shy. Seen alot of lurkers. LOL.

Enjoy. See ya in the funnies.............

Hi Brian,

I've built several of Dragons half tracks so maybe I can help?

As far as the fitting of the PTO to the gearbox, unless the instruction sheet for the M3GMC is very different (it might be as I've never seen an M3GMC with a winch front end) you should have been instructed somewhere before assembling the two tranny halves, to remove the tab if you chose the winch:








Since your transmission is assembled, I suggest simply trimming the tab off of the PTO and just surface mounting it. Now that you see where the tab is supposed to line up, you should be able to get it close?

As far as the driveshaft going through the bottom of the radiator, something is amiss there. It should go just below the radiator BUT you must have the nose section mounted to the front of the cab and the whole assembly mounted to the frame first, as there is a hole under the louvers in the bottom:








I notice when looking at the underside photo that the pulley shield doesn't line up with the front surface of the bumper, this may have something to do with the fit problems, the front surface of the PTO pulley shield/guard should line up flush with the front surface of the bumper, perhaps this is part of the problem?









HTH

Ken

Hey Ken,

Thanks for the reply. I went over my instruction for the PTO box and saw that they do not have the "cut-off" icon printed on them. Not sure if these are older instruction or if this was not an option or if this was total missed.

As far as the shield and the winch goes, everything was dry fitted so I'm sure these areas will be fixed once I get everything placed. I do thank you for pointing these out.

See ya in the funnies........................

I hope to have an update shortly on the driver's compartment. Hope to start with the business end shortly also.

See ya in the funnies.....................

A little paint went on, just to make it interesting. LOL.

Progress has slowed somewhat, hope to ramp it this weekend with more paint and photos. Sucks when your dog sitting a Great Dane mix and a Golden Lab that have tails that can be used as deadly weapons.
Planning ahead for the PE gun shield and fighting compartment.

Hey gang,
Well I didn't get as much work done as I'd like to have this weekend, had to play doctor and help deliver 7 kittens on Saturday.

Anyways, here's what I got done.

Hey gang,
Did alittle work last night, got the 75mm gun build, dry fitted the Griffon PE box, finished up driver's compartment, started on the fighting compartment, right side in place. Still have alot of work ahead.
I'll have progress photo uploaded in the morning.

Next up, PE gun sheild attachment to 75mm, putting the hinges and doors on the box, ammo tubes, and finally finishing up the fighting compartment.

Hi Brian, nice progress so far, good to see you back at it. Have this one in the stash and hope to get to it in my lifetime...

Cheers!
Stefan

Hey Stefan,
Been along time indeed, had a touch of "Life Interuptitis." Thx for the comments. When you do get around to this kit, get the AM barrel. The kit four piece barrel is a bit of a pain, plus it would counter balance the weight of the storage box nicely.

Anyways, heres some photo's

Brian first of congratulations on the Kittens! Second. Great work! your making easy work of all of the PE It is going to make a real difference once completed mate! I am following all the way.

Jaymes

I love White trucks, and the M3's are like the cream of the crop. I just got one of these after seeing an incredibley nice build back in the Blitz III campaign. Been watching this a bit on the sidelines, but now I've subscribed. Nice work so far Brian

Thanks Jaymes,

The litter of 7 is now a week old, born on the 4th, sadly one of them passed on this morning at around 9:30am. So we are down to 6. Bit a bummer since it's my wife's B-day today also.

Anyways, back to the PE's. I'm not really out of the woods as far as that goes.
Still have the ammo tubes, gun sheild, hinges and doors for the storage box to do as I mentioned. Hope to knock these out shortly.

Stay tuned.

Thanks Jeremy.
Pressure's on now! LOL. It's been a challenge this build has since this is my first Dragon kit and first time using PE's. Alot of dry fitting. I've got another Dragon kit in the wings. Going to keep that under my hat for now.

Hey gang,
Finally got the ammo tubes in after the umteenth time. and the ammo primer's are done. Learned a neat little trick, Installed them on the frets.

I'll hit the stowage box doors and hinges tomorrow. I'll try to get the photo' posted for that before my phone/internet goes .

Awesome work mate! that trick with attaching it to the fret is really great! You really can't tell you haven't used Photo etch before!

jaymes

Thanks Jaymes,
Something just clicked with doing that, Easier I guess.

It's ALIVE, ALIVE!!

I think this falls under the classification of "unfinished business."

Yes, this was in storage, chased out the dust bunnies on dirt bikes and taking inventory to make sure its all there.

Here it is:





How time flies.............

See ya in the funnies........

Hey gang,

Wow, how time flies...Anyways, I've restarted the M3 75mm today after being in mothball for too long.

To refresh everybody's memory this build was started back in 2011 and involved the following P.E. sets.

1. Griffon's L35A040, Stowage compartments.
2. Griffon's L35A038, Gun shield, Final production verison.
3. Griffon's L35A039, Ready round Ammo rack.

After pulling the rest of my collection out of storage, I went and did inventory on the M3 75mm. Luckily I've only had to do some minor patch work so far and found all the parts to continue were I'd left off.

Progress photo's will be posted later today.

Thanks for tuning in.

See ya in the funnies.............

Hey gang,

Here's what was done today.









The track are covered with electrical tape so when I get ready for paint their covered from overspray.

See ya in the funnies.......................

Hello Gang,

Well its been about a month since last update. I've been going thru some of my other kits, grabbing parts off them and trashing those that can't be repaired. Sadly that was a lot.

Anyways, I've done some work on the M3 75mm and will post photos later today. P.E. rear storage box installed, front grill installed, mating of cab and fighting compartment to come in the next few days.

Basically major work is coming to a close. Hope to wrap it up by the end of the year. Been a long build, but it's been fun.

See ya in the funnies....................