M2 halftrack, Philippines, 1942

After about a year of on-again, off-again working on this, I finally completed this Dragon M2 halftrack:

Sorry, no build pics, though if you want to see those, you can see them over on Scalemates :slight_smile:

The M2 HB is from an RFM Sherman, the M1917A1s are half-scratchbuilt on the receivers of the M1919A4s that came with this kit. The figure is by Bravo 6, chosen mainly because it was one of the few I could find wearing the early US Army uniform but without the jacket on, which made for an easy conversion to the tropical uniform with just paint. The canteen and musette bags are Tamiya, with the bag on the seat having had its securing straps cut off and replaced with some twisted plastic strip so it looks like the bag is open — because that’s where he keeps his shaving gear, of course. The mirror is nothing more than some aluminium foil stuck to a piece of plastic card. The M1928 Thompson leaning against the driver’s seat and the ammo pouch for it are from a set of American equipment by MiniArt, while the helmet on the left rear seat is an old one from Italeri, because the MiniArt set oddly doesn’t include any M1917 helmets.

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Love the painting and weathering! US half-tracks are my favorite things to build.

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Nice to see Pacific war subjects! Very nicely done!!

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Thanks :slight_smile:

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Those machine gins look excellent Jakko

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Very nice :+1:t3:

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Very nicely done. The paint finishing is fantastic…
One thing that strikes me though, is the tyres on the road wheels look too clean compared to the rest of the running gear and wheels. But that is just me of course.

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They’re the Dragon M1919s that come with the kit, with the barrel cut off and replaced by sprue, plus bits of strip and rod for the other details of the M1917:

(Bottom is a Master Box gun I bought to use on this model, but it’s so poor that I converted the kit guns instead.)

I was trying to go for the look of a vehicle that has been travelling on perhaps dirt roads, but not proper cross-country going. So I figure most of the dirt and mud will be on the outside of the track, and the running surfaces of the track and roadwheels would be largely clean.

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Nice build loos great.

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Thanks :slight_smile:

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