Hi Johnnych01, thank you for your answer.
Ok, so I can preserve both the ladder-shaped and the rear racks if I want.
For what I’ve read, the instrument panel of the kit is already as the M3A1.
I’m not sure about the difference of the armour of the pulpit. I see that some photographed half-tracks have the side armour extended backwards as the one of the kit, while other ones have it cutten just behind the strut sustaining the ring. But many of the photos with the extended armour as on the kit are labelled M3A1. Or, is it a matter of size?
About the sprockets, I’ve already new ones, self produced with 3D printer, that appear much better than those of the kit.
About the tracks, I hope to keep them in shape by some small wires hidden by the wheels and tracks. I can’t see other solutions.
The Tamiya kit is a bit of a Mishmash of the two variants. From the Hunnicut book on Halftracks:
The A1 Pulpit did not have the rear armour extension part like the A2, and what is in the kit.
The Pulpit on the A2 had fillets between the outside of the rim to the armour, where the A1 was just open as per the kit.
The mounting points for the ring to armour were very different between the A1 and A2 and don’t exist in the kit.
The support strut at the rear of the pulpit was centrally located on the A1, but ragged left on the A2 , as it is in the kit.
The ring mechanism was raised above the the pulpit armour on the A2, where the A1 and Kit depict it flush at the top.
Massimo, as far as I know from what everyone has said or I’ve seen, the A1 DID NOT have the stowage racks on the rear door panel… Sorry if what said was confusing…
A very late model may of had the side ladder type racks as per Ken’s post I quoted…
And everything else Peter @petbat highlighted…
Glad you have sorted the sprockets out already 
Hi Petbat and Johnnych01, thank you for the informations.
Now I see a bigger difficulty: the winch on the M3A1, the same of M21, is very different from the roller in front of the M3A2. This could be a major difficulty if I don’t want to cannibalize the M21. I’ll have to see if there are M21 with the same roller of the M3A2, this could solve the problem.
Till now, I’ve found this M-21 with the roller
http://www.maquetland.com/article-phototheque/8478-half-track-m21-mortar-motor-carriage-mmc-le-canet-2015
but it is the only one and it has many differences with standard model. I wonder what type is it.
And this… but they are all restored vehicles. No way to know if they mixed pieces of many vehicles.
@ MassimoTessitori. Not meaning to stir the pot, but rather than cannibalizing and having to source a lot of aftermarket, would Dragon’s (6332) ‘M3A1 Half-Track (3-in-1 kit)’ suit your needs more easily? HTH.
—mike
Hi Mike, it would be good to save time and probably to have a better result, but I have those kits to build and if I buy another one to add to my stash, I prefer that it is not a better duplicate of what I already have.
Besides I’ve already invested my time to make the wheels.
I rarely buy aftermarket. I’m considering to make a new winch with 3D print.
Hi Massimo,
Oops… Guess I miss-read the part where you said you have 3D print capability. That’s a whole new ballgame. Carry on then, and please post a build log of your work. … Can’t get enough Half-Tracks!
Cheers!
—mike
Hi,
yes, a log would be nice. I’ll try to take photographs decent enough.
I made 3D drawings of the wheels with Inventor, a friend has kindly printed them just for a refund of expenses. The outer side is excellent, the inner one can be a bit deformed during the curing process, but not on all pieces.
Will be good seeing it all get built up.
Catching up here, great work Johnny. I’ve got this M3A2 up on the shelf, so I’m gonna have to work it someday.
Cheers Steve. In its defence, it is a decent kit and you can build it as the very limited A2 apart from the dash which is wrong or a very very late entry A1 which has the side stowage ladder type racks but not he rear panel racks. The PE set from Eduard is ok if you wanted it, although I only used about half of it and the piece that would really help it for detailing (the side ladder type racks) are not in the PE set oddly.
The kit itself goes together really well and didnt have any fit issues so it was very good on that front. Its let down by the solid sprockets and idler, which do stand out. I was just looking on scalemates, and there are a shed load of extras you can get if you wanted to go down that rabbit hole
Ya know, it’s been so long since I’ve opened the box, but I’ve got the Squadron book and aftermarket kits in there as well. When time comes, I monkey with the mods, but I may just run with it as is.
Ruck On Bby!
So what I have read on this thread about this Tamiya kit, you think you can get away with it by painting/marking it in use with the IDF with little to no mods ?
Cheers
I did ask Israel about this on a different matter, and I think you could possibly get away with a very very early one with a few little tweaks … But the best answer with references would probably be from Israel @ReluctantRenegade or Nikos @gtdeath13 … I wouldn’t want to hand out any duff info…
Thanks. I just wanted to start here since there was already good info here on the accuracy of the Tamiya kit.
Cheers
Most excellent - Thanks
Just wondering, what type of drill and what size of drill bits are you using to drill out the gun barrels??