I'm building one of the M3 75mm GMCs used by the Rangers in Italy. Can someone help me figure out what the circled object is in this photo? Thanks for your help!

Michael,

it looks like it could be a MG Mount, maybe field installed, similiar to this one on a M151A2 Mutt (images from Prime Portal):

For sure? Dunno.

As a guess, it looks like a cut down MG pintle mount. It _could_ be a wire breaker (not cutter) due to the open cab, but it does remind me of a style of Jeep MG mount I've seen somewhere.

That's all I got.

Paul

The first thing I though was a field installed MG mount, but it seems like an odd place. I guess there aren't a lot of options when trying to mount an MG on the front of a halftrack, though. I hadn't thought about a wire breaker.

It's a machine gun mount for the commander and is easily accessible from his side of the cab due to the lack of windshield in the GMC.

There are better views of it in other pictures of this vehicle but it is in fact, a field made MG mount.

HTH

Thanks, Ken! I was reading you blog just last week. Do you know where I can access the photos? The only pictures I can find are those provided on the Archer Fine Transfers website.

Michael,

the photos you see on the Archer site were once hosted on the LIFE website along with a few others but they have since been taken down for some reason or another, perhaps the original photographer/or his family chose to have them removed? It has happened before to LIFE photo links

When I researched that transfer set for Woody, those were the only photos I had managed to salvage, while I do have much larger versions of those on my hard drive, I don't have the photos of the mounted .30 caliber MG .

There are also additional photos in some books, namely LIFE: The Italian Campaign, but I don't recall if the photos in question are there or not as it has been a while since I saw that particular book.

If you return to the Archer site and look at the photos of the other M3 GMC (Marines Bougainville) I researched for Woody, you can see a similar field mounted MG pintel on the hood in almost the same exact spot, it seems a fairly common alteration done to this variant probably due to the lack of factory installed armament.

Very cool, Ken! I didn't realize you were the researcher for the transfer set (I see your name in the credits now). This is my first time using dry transfers, so I'm excited to try them out.

The photos of the MG mount on the Marine M3 GMC are very clear - thanks! I do appreciate the knowledge!

No worries, glad to help.

I will say that the size of the text for the fender markings is a bit too large, something that got missed in the creating process but became apparent when placed on the actual fenders. I'm not sure what happened but hopefully this can be addressed for future sets.

Dry transfers can be fidgety for the first time, (heck, I still have the occasional problem) but for really tough placement, I have some clear decal sheet that I apply them to and then just use them like a water slide decal, that is always an option if they give you trouble.

Good to know about the fender markings. I picked up some other transfer sets from Archer when I got the M3 set, so I'm planning to practice a bit before I really get started. I'll try out the wet application as well.

I'm glad to find your Youtube channel - some really great stuff!

Thanks again for your help!