70 Years ago began the Battle of the Bulge, or as we Europeans know it, the Battle of Ardennes. For Years, this battle fascinated me more than any other. I have visited the battlefields and I have collected books and artefacts linking to this major battle. Now with the anniversary in two days, I decided to do another thematic build. The chosen subject will be something less common - a M21 Mortar carrier in 1/35. I will use the Dragon kit with som additional equipment, but its possible that there will be more AM stuff added then what You see right now. There will be no diorama, but I will add some figurines to it. This one will take a while since I plan to do this a bit more special.

Great! I'm a great fan of the DML Half track kits and have built up four already (I'm currently working on the M4 Mortar carrier). Depending on how detailed/accurate you want to get, contact me and I can get you a list of fixes generic to all DML half tracks.

roy(dot)chow(at)aya(dot)yale(dot)edu

Nice! Great idea!

I need to scare up something to build too.




Jeff

Thanks Guys for the comments.
@Roy Im not an expert on the Halfracks, what Im interesting in is if there are any major issues which need to be fixed.

So today I started to cut and glue. Contrary to the instructions, I istarted with cleaning the vehicle frame and addint pieces to it. Part went nicely together and no major cleanup was needed.

Roy

I've nearly finished that kit, modified so that the mortar fires forward. You show me yours and I'll show you mine . . .

Regards

Rob

Hi Naseby: Some hints for the DML Halftracks

Basic fixes:
1) on front frame, attach front frame parts C20 and C22 (which attach to the winch bumper) to the main frame A42 before the front leaf springs (A33 and A32). It'll align better.

2) replace the too-short connecting rods on parts D22 with a 7-mm length of 1-mm diameter rod

3) scratch build an exhaust pipe bracket to the right bogie

4) maybe carve out the lumps that DML would have you add the jerry cans? In reality it was a bracket.

5) armored windscreen B3 is missing two rivets on the right hinge

6) add a power take off handle for the winch control

If you want the full monty as far as rivet replacement and other tweaks, I can provide them too!

@wedgetail53 check your PM. I'm doing the same thing, the 2AD modified M4A1 MMC.

Hi Naseby

Nice to see another Halftrack coming along. Will be checking in often!

Cheers!
Stefan

Cool!
I'll be watching this one as well!

Thanks Guys for the comments, Roy thanks for the details, I will look into that. Unfortunatelly the front leafs were already glued in place when I read Your comment, but I will have to deal with the D22 parts, thats for sure. I will be using the tracks from the kit, so maybe I will glue the wheels in place since they will not move anyway. There is also another issue - the part D34 in instructions is turned the other way around. Fortunatelly I had some walkaround pictures and noticed this in time.

So here we ar so far :

I´ve continued the work throughout the weekend and made some progress. The kit is very good I didnt encounter any major issues so far. I have ordered additional equipment, but it will take some time before it arrives.

Here's an additional hint for you: see the air filter (A37) that's part of the engine? Cut it and insert it between winch rope roller parts C28 and 19. I do this to add bulk to the winch rope. I then wind a single layer of metallic embroidery thread over A37. I also use other aftermarket chain and glue hook C32 to it. I find the DML supplied rope and chain to be too thick and out of scale.

I got my thread from Michaels or a sewing place. The metalized embroidery thread has no fuzzies and mimics the winch rope very well in this scale.

At this stage, don't worry about gluing either the drive sprocket assemblies or the idlers to either their axles or to the tracks. I leave them all separate to aid in painting.

Also check on inserting part B2. You may have difficulty b/c you already glued the frame to B9

Thanks Roy, I will make some of the change You suggested. In the menawhile I bought the brand new Miniart set of US Officers. I wanted to use one or two of them because they are in winter clothing. However Im not so happy with the quality of the kit. There is a lot of flash and althou the major body parts do look good, the heads are not nice at all. I dont get it why did they sudenly decide to split the moulds of the heads sideways ? I will probbaly replace the heads and helmets with some from Tamiya/Dragon figurines.

I had som time to spend on the build during the last two days, so there is some progress. I decided to ignore Dragons instructions and to assembly the cabin and put it on the frame and only then start adding the details. It took me some time and effort to get the proper alignment of all the parts. This was the most challenging part of the build so far, but also the most important. I dont understand why Dragon instructions advise to put the assembled cabin and crew compartment on the fraim as the last step of the whole build.

We had the very first show shower of this Year today so I decided to look for some pictures from the Battle of the Bulge for inspiration. And here are a few.










Some of these pictures are from the 6th and 11th AD sites, which also have a lot of reference :

http://www.super6th.org/
http://www.11tharmoreddivision.com

Just a quick update. I had to put the work on the M21 on hold for a few days, because I decided to finish another project before the Years end. I had the AFV Club M42 DUSTER nearly finished for a couple of months waiting just for the tracks and a few more details to add, so this took precedence. As You can see from the pictures the DUSTER is nearly done, so the work on the M21 will continue in the next few days.

Nice progress on the M21. Miniart tend to have a bit of flash, bu usually clean up nicely. Can't say I like the change witht eh heads though.. At least they're not two part as DML did fr a while...

Really like the duster! Don't forget to post some pics of the final build!

Cheers!
Stefan

I was able to finish the basic assembly this weekend. The biggest issue so far was the fitt of the windshield. I dont know if I maed a mistake somwhere or if the instructions are not correct in portraing the placement of the windshield, but I ended up with a 1mm gap between it and sides of the hull. Well now I have to wait for some additonal equipment which was ordered and should be in the post this week.

Nice work on the door handles!

I think you glued in your PE door window ports inside out. The outer surface should be smooth and the inside face had the two nubs (for a footmans loop)

You are right Roy, I messed up the window ports. I will have to remove them and reattach them or file them down to a smooth surface. Thanks for the hint.

What did you do to hollow out the door handles? Did you drill a hole and then carefully carve? I like your results A TON! Now I don't like mine, whatsoever!

Thanks Roy, Yes I drilled the handles and carefully carved them with a scalpel blade.

Well I ordered some additional equipment on the 11th of January and waited till now to get it! I was planning to finish this project before March to keep with the Battle Of The Bulge anniversary, but I had to wait for arrival of the Black Dog set. So now I can finally continue.

Small update. Wheels from Black Dog needed some small modification in order to fit the kit. Now, its time for some paint!

Here is a little update on the M21. The basic Olive Drab/Olive green was aplied and post shading was done.

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing the completed paint/weathering.