im not the worlds greatest expert on US vehicles, so can one of you guys tell me whats the best way to get a reasonable US halftrack from kits currently avaliable?

i want to build a troop carrier in british service, and i know the tamiya troop carrier one is inaccurate.

cheers

joe

There is a great artical that details the half track inaccuracies at Modeling the US Army in WWII

http://www.usarmymodels.com/MODEL%20GALLERY/Hurtgen%20Forest/4halftrack.html

Check it out it gives good advice in how to correct the Tamiya halftrack.

thanks!

http://www.usarmymodels.com/MODEL%20GALLERY/Hurtgen%20Forest/4halftrack.html

Hopefully I made the link work.

Hi Joe,

AFAK M3 HT weren't that common in UK or Commonwealth Service. There were a few M3 HT in use but M5 and M9 HT were the one's used in greater numbers. AEF makes a conversion kit and to my assessment it's not that bad.

I would go with a M5 HT if you want to represent a HT of one of the Motor BN of an ArmBde being it an Independant one, like 8th ArmBde or from an ArmDiv .

Best regards

Hank Krapf

thanks for the info hank,

i couldnt find any info about exact numbers of each variant delivered, so ill probably just use the tamiya kit anyway.

regards

joe

I believe the recommended method is to swap the sides of the Tamiya M3A2 with the Tamiya M21.

Hi Joe,

I checked the old Osprey Vanguard US HAlftracks in WW II by Steven Zaloga. According to this pub Britain received 5.690 M5 and M5A1 and a large portion of M9 production.

As an helpful hint! You should consider the Tank Workshop (TWS) M3 sproket and idler set. This set includes also the tracks. The Tamiya sprokets and idler aren't detailed and their track is more on the stiff side.

Best regards

Hank

Hi Joe,

as Alan recommended in his posting, the sides of the Tamiya kit should be changed or adjusted. According to Hunnicut "Half-Tracks A Histroy of the American Semi-Tracked Vehicles" and the Osprey pub, no M3A2 with the "new type storage racks" were produced. Even the M21 sides show the attaching points that have to be removed.

Best regards

Hank

I remember a lot about the cold war, so I know the model makers would have a hard time on the newer equipment back then.

Then I remember when it was over, then they would let you look at almost all of the equipment, so they go a lot better, and the models were more accurate.

Now these halftracks were in museums during the cold war, so why did they get so many things wrong on them?

Kerry

thanks for the info guys,




good point kerry, i often wonder that myself! fair enough access to plans of modern equipment will be restricted etc, but as you say, WW2 stuff both plans and the vehicles would be in museums by now, so why do they get it wrong?

cheers

joe

Joe by now I'm sure you read the artical that I suggested, it is the best solution. I would like to caution you about the tracks, and you still may have problems with the tracks fitting, I don't know if TWS corrected that or not. The company was bought out by tiger models and I know they were reworking some of the kits. If you decide to go that direction, and used the supplied tracks from the Tamiya kit just becareful so you don't damage the the resin pieces. The resin sprockects are worth the little extra cash.

Their longevity in allied armies was the downfall of their WW2 accuracy. The halftracks were used throughout the 50s and 60s by some of the minor armies and modernized along the way. When the time came to make one, the Tamiya folks went to the nearest ones readily available at the museums. These were ones that had been considerably changed from their original configuration.

Accuracy in exact mark variation was not as important 30 years ago. They go see the M3A2 at Aberdeen and market it as a WW2 half-track.