Tamiya 1:35 US M3A2 Half Track (doom build)

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

I was looking at my models today, and I saw this halftrack that still needs to be finished...
I started to build this M3A2 two years ago, and for some reason I did never finished it.
So I decided to pick up this build and take it off the shelf of doom and give it the glory it deserves.

The story behind his build is that the US half track is driving trough a small French village to go to he front, and grandpa (minding his own business) walking home with a basket of flowers to bring to his beloved wife.

Here's a small list of what needs to be done:

Chipping the vehicle.
Detail Painting the figures, and dry brush them.
Paint the anti tank mines, back packs, riffles, and the figure walking along the half track.
Paint and add the tents and tarps on the wooden cases.
Paint and add the tools.

Here are some pics of the model where I left of....





Repainted Grandpa...



What do you know... I found a old pic from this build on my Flicker account...




I have primed all things in the list above, so I can start painting them soon..




So I'm hoping to finish this build after 2 years standing on the shelf of doom...

[Paul]

Looking good mate, look forward seeing what you do with it now though

[wappynutter]

Oh you are such a tease Frans.....
All these beautiful pieces and diorama's you keep waving in front of us!!
Ha ha.... Good luck with the overhaul on this 2 years in the waiting masterpiece..
Looked like a cracking kit to start with... Why you leave it so long??
Happy Modelling mate..

[longlance67]

lovely work Frans

it looks great, can't wait to see what you do with them


Shane

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

This is going to be another Frans cracker... although even before redoing things this already looked better than what I have on my shelfs.... Haha

lol! Thanks mate! I'm not going to redo a lot, but for it's 2 years later now, I know some better techniques and got better skills. The figures were only in base colours, so finish them like I would paint figures now. Grandpa received a dry brush as for I didn't mastered that 2 years ago...

And I like your models too buddy!

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Looking good mate, look forward seeing what you do with it now though

Cheers Paul
The setting is going to be the same, I glued the halftrack on the base 2 years ago, so It will be on there..
Just adding more stowage, and paying more attention to the figures.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Oh you are such a tease Frans.....
All these beautiful pieces and diorama's you keep waving in front of us!!
Ha ha.... Good luck with the overhaul on this 2 years in the waiting masterpiece..
Looked like a cracking kit to start with... Why you leave it so long??
Happy Modelling mate..

Haha! lol

Yeah Andy, Guess you got to restock some more buddy..

Why did I leave it waiting so long? Well... I blame ISM (and Chief)...
Let me explain that one..
I picked up this hobby again in 2011. Did some builds and posted them on Flickr.
There I meet some awesome guys, Chief was one of them.
He said to me that my work should be seen by a wider audience, and came up with ISM.
He pulled me into ISM and now I'm hooked.
I became a member in the middle of this build. But I wanted to start with a fresh build here on ISM, so I put the halftrack on the shelf. Having so much fun on ISM and competing with GB's and SIG's, I kinda forgot this halftrack.
Now I finished the steel rain SIG and waiting for the D-Day GB, I picked up this build again.

So that's why it took so long...

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

lovely work Frans

it looks great, can't wait to see what you do with them


Shane

Cheers Shane
Working on it right now, and after such a long time it's really fun to get it to the finish line

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Another update already?
Yes, having fun with this one again.

What did I do so far:
Painted and added the anti tank mines and the battalions backpacks.
A steel cable is hanging from the side, and after repainting grandpa put him back in the dio too.







Added the remaining figures to see how it will look.
Now I'm not 100% sure if I will add the soldier that's walking next to the halftrack.
I find his pose a bit stiff, and he holds his rifle in a bit weird way. But I might be wrong, so I would like your opinion on this one guys
What do you think, add or don't add Mr walking guy?



And here we are at the end of this update gents!
Tomorrow I will try to finish the remaining figures.
Thanks for looking

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

A small update, but at least it's a update

The figures are all painted, they only need to receive the patches on there arms witch I do with small decals.
But looking at the diorama, I was missing something.

It's a halftrack slowly driving trough a small French village, and you could only see that by the signs and the French farmer.
The only "city" thing that was to be found were the two poles in the ground.
I was missing something, so I searched for a French bike to put to a pole.
Tamiya does bicycles, but no French.

I found MK35 (French company) that does basically French figures and props, and I found a great bike.
I does not come with spokes, but I don't mind. I tried to make spokes from wire, but it would be a real bitch to make them, so left them out. besides, the bike is a prop and not the main thing. That would be the M3A2.



The brakes were missing, so added a brake handle from wire. Old French bikes had one single brake at the front.
All aluminium parts are chipped with brown to create a corroded look.
The frame received a gloss varnish. The chain is rusted.









I think it adds a lot to this small dio
All that remains now is to finish the figures.
Thanks for tuning in guys!

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Hi fellow modellers!
I'm enjoying the sunny weekend here, and decided to do some building in the fresh outdoor air.
That means that I finished painting the last things on this build, and finished this diorama.

First I painted the rifles.
The guns slings are simply made from painted masking tape.



And added them to the vehicle







Next I applied all patches and helmet markings to the figures.



The chaplain is riding along too...



Added a small tarp over a crate. Made from tissue with diluted wood glue.



So now this build is finished. After 2 long years standing on the shelf of doom
Not sure if i'm taking this model with me to the modelling contest this year, we'll see.
For now, this model deserves to get a more prominent place in my display cabinet.
Here are the photo's of the finished model, enjoy!























Thanks for watching guys!
Hope you enjoyed it!

[JayCub]

Looking superb as always frans

Sadly my graphics card
died so im browsing from my phone

[Omi]

Excellent Fran's, quality finish, I love the splash of colour from the flowers it really draws your eye, but the detail on the half track is super.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Just awesome Frans!

Looking superb as always frans

Sadly my graphics card
died so im browsing from my phone

Excellent Fran's, quality finish, I love the splash of colour from the flowers it really draws your eye, but the detail on the half track is super.

Thank you very much gentleman

[wappynutter]

Fran-bloody-tastic mate...

You have created another gorgeous piece to display...
I like it a lot.....
Well done mate..
Take care and Happy Modelling...

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Fran-bloody-tastic mate...

You have created another gorgeous piece to display...
I like it a lot.....
Well done mate..
Take care and Happy Modelling...

Thank you very much Sir!
Started a new build already! Have some old Tamiya kits laying around here, going to build those first to make room for other kits Build them OOB nothing special. But trying to turn them into Frantatstic models!
Happy Modelling to you too Andy

[Rob]

Lovely work Frans. Looks fantastic