Yes Rick, the halftrack mounted self-propelled artillery are great modeling subjects. This is my third. The first was a T-19 conversion of the old Tamiya halftrack and the second was a T-30 conversion of a Dragon halftrack. Dragon came out with their T-19 shortly after I finished mine, and so far, no one has done a T-30. Commander Models has done a conversion for the T-30 based on my build.

Here are pictures of my first two in case you missed the threads on here.





Dave

Boy, those are beautiful, Dave. Your dioramas take me right back to those Shepard Paine half-track scenes which got me into modeling to begin with. I guess I have a soft spot in my heart for half-tracks. I will eagerly follow this T-19 build in the weeks ahead.

The next side project I did were the two side mine racks. It is obvious from the pictures that they are not standard. They are shorter than the ones on either the M2 or M3 halftracks. Plus they have a center rail and more vertical supports. I took the racks that are in the kit (marked as not to be used) and cut them as shown in the picture. Cuts are at the black lines. Then I added the center rail and the vertical supports.



I moved on to the gun shield. I thought that the Griffon set had the gun shield, but it does not. There may be a separate Griffon set that does, but not the one I have. I considered the kit shield, but passed on it due to the lack of detail and it’s thickness. Luckily, the Trakz kit has an etched brass gun shield so that is the one I am using.

I soldered the top, front and sides together. This was not that difficult except for having to figure out how to hold the pieces together so my hands were free to do the soldering. Once I figured that out, the rest was easy. Once soldered and cooled, I cleaned up the seams using a Dremel with a sanding stone followed by a wire polisher.





Then rivet detail and other parts were added to the interior. Plastic rod will be used to add rivet detail to the outside.

Your questions and comments are appreciated.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Two cracking builds and the detail and work on the 3rd one is excellent. Terrific work.

Al

Hi all. I know it has been awhile.

The gun and mount have been a task. I spent 2 hrs working with the PE slides for the bottom of the gun barrel. In the end I gave up. They were too small for my fingers and tweezers, and I could not get them to glue together, nor was I able to solder them. Old age sometimes creates its own problems in modeling….LOL

The solution I came up with was to carefully cut and sand down the parts from the kit gun barrel. This is probably not the best solution, but it worked for me.

I next began to assemble the gun mount. I had to be careful to continuously cross check both the Griffon and Dragon instruction sheets. If you don’t do this, I can guarantee you will miss something.






The assembly is pretty straight forward, but there is a lot of plastic removal to be replaced with PE. I try to stay about two steps ahead of where I am actually assembling, so I can anticipate any problems. This has saved my butt more than once.

The Dragon instructions are not easy to follow (big surprise there…LOL). There are parts that can be easily missed or mounted wrong if you are not careful. My advice is take your time when assembling the gun. It has taken me three days, but I feel I have a nice representation of the 75mm and mount.

Pictures of just the gun and mount.







Pictures of all three major sub assemblies dry fitted.









I am fabricating a gun pedestal for this build. The Ranger M3 was an early version of the M3 75mm GMC, and still had the AA 50cal mounted on a pedestal in the rear compartment. To do this, I am using plastic rod, a mount from the AFV Club LVT4 I just finished and sheet stock. The 50 cal is a combination of parts from Academy, Dragon, and Aber.

Next I will mount the rear storage bin, the 50 cal and the 75mm to the rear compartment. I still have the headlight guards and tools to prepare.

I should soon be ready for final assembly and base coating.

As always, your questions and comments are appreciated.

Dave B

Quick update….I finished the 50 cal and mount.



Dave

Looks impressive Dave. Keep at it.

All Sub-assemblies dry fitted.







Next will be final assembly, and a primer coat. Gas cans, lights, tools, etc., will be painted separately and added later. The load for the rear storage bin will be assembled from the parts box. As soon as the replacement decals come from Archer, I will put them on, and then the side mine racks can be added.

Still lots to do, but the major assembly is done

Dave

Hi Dave,

I'll be watching. These are one of my favorite US halftrack variants.

Dave thanks for the info on the springs. great job on the build.

You're welcome Roy. Others have always been helpful and responsive to me, so I feel an obligation to do the same whenever possible.

Dave

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my Irish Brothers and those who are Irish because of the love of beer and good fun

A minor point in this beautiful construction article: Just in case you are tempted to sand the bottoms of the front tires to give them a little "sag". I caution against it because the majority of these vehicles (if not all of them) utilized SOLID RUBBER TIRES as a "run flat" precaution which left them with little or no "give". It was a hard ride in more ways then one!

Thanks Michael. That's the reason I am using the Hussar aftermarket tires instead of the kit tires.

Dave

Excellent work David.

Al

Thanks Al. It's getting there. I spent the afternoon filing straps and holders off of tools and picking out stowage from the parts box. Hopefully if the weather cooperates, I will get a primer coat on it tomorrow.

Well, after close to a weeks worth of work, here is the latest update.

I assembled all subassemblies and then painted the model with a base coat of Model Master Olive Drab #4728. Tires, track and bogies were painted with Floquil Weathered Black. A good substitute would be a German Panzer Grey if you can't find the Floquil.

Archer produces an excellent decal sheet specifically for this vehicle. I used it and their M2/3 instrument panel sheet for this project.

Decals were added to the exterior and to the dashboard.

** One small note here; I felt the Archer Decals for the fender, “CAR3” and “RNGR”, are out of scale (too big) based on the reference pictures I have. So I used another of their products (US Bumper Codes in white) to make smaller ones for my model.

A coat of Dullcoat was sprayed over the entire model to kill any shine from decals or irregularities in the base coat.

Next, I added the mine racks and all stowage. Stowage came from Tamiya (Allied Vehicles Accessory Set), Legend(M2 Halftrack Storage Set), Value Gear(Set #8) and assorted finds in the spare parts box. All stowage was painted with Model Master or Vallejo paints.













I still need to add the radio antenna, paint the rear lights and a few other small details.

Weathering will be the next step once I have given the model a chance for the paint to cure.

Your questions and comments are always welcome.

Dave

Hi Dave,

The build is coming along really well, look forward to the next installment.

Will you be adding a figure or two for scale or is this one a stand along job?

Cheers

Al

Hi Alan,

The plan at the moment is to mount the halftrack on a small vignette base depicting the Chiunzi Pass with a couple of figures. It is dependent on being able to design an appropriate base and find appropriate figures. I plan to do some figure searching at AMPS Nationals in about a week.

That said, I'm sure there will be at least one figure used with the completed model to show scale like you said.

Dave

Sounds Cool Dave. Even 1 figure gives a vehicle scale and I always think sets the scene.

Cheers

Al

Dave-- outstanding workmanship. The detail on the 75 is awesome.
Great job!
DJ

Excellent work mate Have you considered adding figures to the model? Maybe a driver and/or a gunner on the back? Would be really sweet and as mentioned here before give a sense of scale to the entire thing. Cheers

DJ and Nigel - Thanks for your comments.

Don't worry Nigel, there will be at least one figure added to the finished product.

As I stated above, right now I am working on a small vignette idea that would have a couple of figures. I am using this picture as my inspiration for the vignette.



Dave

Well, AMPS Nationals are over, and I have finished the weathering on the vehicle. It was done by giving the entire vehicle and overall brown wash followed by a black wash. Then MIG pigments were mixed with an acrylic paste and added to the lower areas to simulate dirt buildup. This was followed by a dusting of pigment to carry the dirt up the vehicle.

Now that this is finished, I will start working on the base and figures.



















I'll post more once I complete the base.

Dave B

Hey All,

Just a quick post to show the progress on the base. It is composed of pink insulation sheet.

The rock faces are cut with a hot knife, wood rasps, files and sand paper wrapped around dowels and wood blocks.

I will finish the coloring of the rock faces, and then add Aves ShayClay for ground work. I am still researching the type of road surface that would have been present in the Chiunzi Pass, Italy in 1943.

Here are three pictures of the progress, and a picture of the actual Chinuzi Pass.









Your questions and comments are always appreciated.

Dave