I would like to build a US M3 75mm GMC Halftrack as a gift for a friend whose father fought in a tank destroyer in the CBI Theatre. I was thinking of using the Trakz US M3 75mm GMC Halftrack Conversion kit with the Tamiya M21 81mm Mortar Carrier (Kit #35083). Perth Military Modeling site has a good review for the Trakz kit:

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/trakz/tx0116.htm
Just wondering if this would be the best way to go????

Really the only way to go in 1/35. Make sure to get the Eduard PE set, K59 Drive sprockets and the R&J tracks too while your at it! :-)

Here's an article on the conversion in its original KMC incarnation which might help

M3 GMC

Will do John. Thanks

Dave: That article will be a big help.

Now, would one in the CBI theatre be OD or Camo or doesn't matter?

You could possibly get a photo of the friend's father's halftrack and use it's markings.

That's what I thought too but unfortunately his dad died about 25 years ago and I don't think he has much from his WWII days. He told me that when he tried looking into his dad's service records he found out that they were part of a large group that were detroyed in a fire at the record center some years ago.
AND to make things worst he doesn't know any of his dad's war buddies - thinks they made all have died already
Most of the info that I find on Tank Destroyer units seem to be from the European theatre too.
Guess I just have to keep looking.

I have to admit that the little bit I do know about the M3 is confined to North Africa and Italy, but if you can tell us as much as possible of what your friend does know, we can work off that.

Hope this makes sense....

My father was a CBI vet...

The color would just have been OD judging by the photo's of my fathers that I have... I have several photo's but none of the 75mm , but do have M16's they are all just OD. If you could give me more details of what unit he was with I might be able to get more info for you. Too bad you didn't post this about a week earlier, my father just got back from a CBI reunion...

If you can give me any further info (where he was, what unit, anything), please PM me and I will see what I can do.

Here's a start for you,

http://cbi-theater.home.comcast.net/menu/cbi_home.html

Does anybody have an idea of where to order the K9 stuff from. None of the bigger sites Ive looked at carry them. Have they their own homepage? Thanks!

R&J Enterprises.

http://www.rjproducts.com/

David & Paul: As soon as I can get more info I'll let you know. Thanks

Thanks very much Paul. Appreciated!

The K59 stuff is hard to come by even for R&J. When I talked with them at our contest back in Feb. they had been trying to get a restock, so hopefully some have come in. The other option for the drive and return sprockets is to get the resin set by Tank Workshop (I believe R&J also carries these). They are not as nice as the K59 set but are still a lot better than what comes in the kit.
I have also built this conversion and ran into a couple of problems I didn't find mentioned in other reviews. First is the gun site given in the kit. It really doesn't match what was used (I wished I could remember the web site that had good photos of the site mount). The other problem I had was the gunshield. What I found when I built it was that the overall hieght seems short by about 1/8 of an inch. When I used the brass shield there was no clearance between the gun and the top of the shield. I used the brass ones as patterns for sheet styrene but added about an 1/8" to the top. Everything seemed to work out fine and the side profile looks good compared to drawing in Hunnicutt's book.
Good luck with the project.
Eric

Thanks for the info Eric and if you remember the site please let me know.

David,

I went through R&J and had a GREAT experience with them. The items are really nice. I got the "combo kit," RJ35207, which consists of the M3 Wheel Set (drive and idler wheels in resin), the M3 Halftrack set (tracks in resin), and the M3 Halftrack wheels (front wheels in resin). This is all for an M16 I'm doing. Great company, great service, and great products! I now seem to have a spare set of the resin front wheels (mistakenly got a set of TWS off eBay...silly me). Might be able to help you out if you don't go the combo route.

HTH,

Mike (++) (++)

p.s. Paul is a WEALTH of knowledge!! and likes Fat Tire :-)

{Edit - Drader, nice link........I'd like to do the same sometime and this link was pretty darn good.}

David,
Just remembered at least one site I was using that had an M3 75mm GMC. It was the Washington Armor Club , www.pazerguppe.org. Unfortunately it looks like you need to be a member now to use it. I'll have to check my reference CD's and see if I can find any other photos.
Eric

Paul & David
Got some more info on my friend's dad and sent it in a PM.