I’m extremely new to military models so please excuse my question. Is there an aftermarket engine for the Tamiya M3A2 half track? Or does anyone have any ideas/pointers to scratchbuilding one? I’ve tried a google search but found nothing useful. Thanks in advance.
Yes, Verlinden has an engine and other add-ons for the M3A2. Go to: http://www.verlinden-productions.com/
click on “search” and type in “halftrack”. All the extras will show there.
I’ve just completed a conversion from the M3A2 to the M3A1. Any questions feel free to ask.
By the way, welcome to the forum.
Jesse
welcome to FSM. I just built tamiya’s m3a2, but didn’t add a lot of conversions
Welcome to FSM mikeyboy. Good to have you join us in the Armour Forum.
I’m sure you’ll find this to be a great place and will spend countless hours here like the rest of us.
Enjoy !!!
Thank you all for responding to my question. I did go out to the site as suggested and ordered the engine & compartment items. I appreciate the welcomes also. My only problem now is that I am spending more time cruising the FSM site then I am building!
Just curious, how are you going to display the engine? The hood of the M3 opens rather strangely
jmorgan_11,
being a model car builder, i thought it worked just like an automobile. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Well you seem to be already fitting in!
For displaying the engine you might could try cutting the panels on top of the hood and having them open or doing the same with the ones on the side. Is this going to be the for the project you asked about at SA?
There are panel lines that run down the hood from front to back. If you look at the hood closely, you can see the hinges on the top. I recommend getting Squadron/Signals M3 halftrack book. You can also go this web page: http://www.patblair.com/half11.html
jmorgan_11 - thanks for the web page. it looks like the hood is based upon the same principal as the 20s and early 30s automobiles. that will be a big help.
Chris - in answer to your question, yes it is the same one although in the instructions for the half track, there was a sentence that said they were also used as ambulances which got my interest up. maybe after this “firetruck”, i’ll have to build one of those.
I just finished my halftrack with the engine compartment opened and a heck of a lot of verlinden stuff. The engine looks great when done just be patient!!! It is a bit of a bear trying to get it to fit properly into the compartment the right way. Mine ended up with a nasty gap at the transmission link, but nobody will see it under there. I also back dated mine to a M4 mortar carriage which has been field modified. If I can figure out how to post pics, I will. Good luck.
Tim
A halftrack as an ambulance? I’ve done a good amount of research on the M3 and have read a couple of books on it but I don’t remember reading about it being used as an ambulance. Where did you hear about that?
Sorry, I made a mistake. The Tamiya M3A2 instructions has a history of the half track. On page 2, it talks about the Half-Track M3A1. “Like the M3, the M3A1 was used in World War II by units in the US armoured divisions as an armoured command car, armoured ambulance car, armoured radio car and armoured general purpose car.” I didn’t refer to the picture of the M3A1 Scout Car. My fault.
That’s cool. Did you know that the M3A2 never made it into production. There were a few built, but it was the M3 and M3a1 that was used in combat.