M3 with 3 inch Gun

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

Meanwhile....

I'm working on a series of vehicles that did not come of the standard production line.
But were put together afterwards. Often in the field. Sometimes because there was a need
for upgrading a vehicle's firepower. Or making heavy artillery mobile.
Sometimes captured guns were put to good use by mounting them on the vehicles of the captures.
Sometimes it was the other way around.

What I like about these vehicles (the kits) is that they seldom come in a box.
This means I have to put the parts together myself.
The result is a unique kit that very few modelers have/build.
And they were unique in the war and often non have survived till the present.
They were the odd results of creative experiments and ingenuity of the mechanics and engineers.

The first one in this series of mine is the Stuart Pak that I built a few weeks ago.
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=8905

Here's the next one in line:
The M3 with 3 inch Gun.

After I saw a few pictures of this halftrack with a big gun mounted on top of it,
I thought it was an US 3 inch Gun. I bought the kit and afterwards noticed that
the gun in most pictures is a modernized French gun!

Oh, well. I stuck it on there anyway.
As it turned out, lot's of different guns have been put on M3 Halftracks.
So why not a 3 inch gun? Looks very cool!

This in spite of the fact that I am trying to make this series authentic.
I promise to do my homework better on the next build.
(Cause I already built it. , and have photographs to prove it's authenticity. )

I Stuck the gun on an old kit of mine, that I bought half my life ago.
Spiced this puppy up!

And finally, here are the pictures:

This is the box of my old kit:


This is the old kit. I removed the machine gun mount to make room for the gun.



I put the windshield down to make room for the barrel


This is the box of the gun, from AFV Club.


So I started building the gun. This is not a beginners kit! Many many parts! Some smaller than you would expect in a 1/76 scale kit! It took me 4 hours to complete! And I didn't even have to build the main part of the under carriage!


I chopped the ends of to make it fit on the halftrack. (next picture..)












Metal barrel!








Conversion complete:


Next up: Painting!

Thats all for now folks.

cheers

[HWGuderian23]

Very interesting project Han! Will follow with large interest .

[Gb64c]

Your work is always amazing

[Nige99]

Really clever Hans, looks great mate

[trnkepfc]

[AchtungPanzer]

3 x Yes my friend

[Coen]

Holy crap! From scratchin a six wheeler in the desert to a hack n' slash on an m3, Han this is excellent work!

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

Painting sofar:

First a dark grey. Than the inavoidable hairspray. Then the green basecolor. I desided tondo an airbrushed camo although I must admit I could only find records of hand painted camo's on M3's. And even those were very rare.
Than decals and chipping. Than a dark wash with deluded oilpaint.
That's where we are now.

Dark grey


Hairspray


Base color


Camo


Detail painting


Chipping


Dark wash


That's it for now..

cheers

[jbellos1]

Fantastic!

[SeanH20]

I'm trying my first hairspray attempt, and have been wondering about the order you do things. That simple sequence of photos is so helpful and inspiring. Thank you!

[hansolo]

I'm trying my first hairspray attempt, and have been wondering about the order you do things. That simple sequence of photos is so helpful and inspiring. Thank you!

You're welcome.
Let me know how it works out for you.

cheers

[hansolo]

Hi guys

Did oilpaint rendering, pigments and graphite powder application.



Till next time

Cheers

[AchtungPanzer]

Hmm...OK

[JayCub]

I really enjoy your builds Han, has a real feel good factor about them, and dangerous look with the surprise element thrown in
Tom

[hansolo]

I really enjoy your builds Han, has a real feel good factor about them, and dangerous look with the surprise element thrown in
Tom

Thanks Tom. This is a great community at work.

cheers

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

Back already.
I did some stowage. Leftovers from the stowage kit that I bought for the 6 wheels truck
and I made some from miliput. The great thing about this last method is that you can
shape the stowage to the spot where it's supposed to sit.

I also put a soldier together from two other ones. (top half bottom half)
I think he goes well with the M3. He is a cooool driver! Chillin'











That's it for now.
Up next is painting and pigmenting the stowage and pigmenting the dude.

Lator
Cheers

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

You can check out the final reveals at: http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=9670

cheers

[Tiger131]

gotta love the hairspray less than half the price of the modelering products that do the same job and cost a lot more..you have done a cracking job han