M3 Half track ,,PE to the extreme .

[Wardukw]

I built this years ago and i honestly dont know if it even exists anymore and i found these pics when clearing out a old hard drive and thought you guys might like to see it .
Youll see in a mo why the Subject is called what it is 
DSCF1913 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF1911 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF1900 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF1899 - Copy by Phill Harrison, on FlickrDSCF1893 - Copy by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF1886 - Copy by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF2020 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF2021 by Phill Harrison, on FlickrDSCF2026 by Phill Harrison, on FlickrDSCF2027 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF2028 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF2218 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF2224 by Phill Harrison, on FlickrDSCF2227 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF2229 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF2230 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr

This was a commission build ,,theres no way i could afford the PE conversion for the Dragon M3 half track as at the time is was a $80nz model and then this ,,i believe was a Legend converison but i dont remember for sure now ..i think it was well over $150US for it tho ...this was not a cheap build by any means and i dont remember ever showing you guys so heres ya go     

[Old Wombat]

That was a fabulous build & dio, Phill!    

How much of the kit was left? Can't have been much.

[Wardukw]

Thank you matey 
Actually there's a heap left over..all you use from the kits bits is the chassis ..suspension and steering..steering wheel..seats and guns and mounts.
Everything else ends up in the parts box and man there's was a heap left over .

[Old Wombat]

We've come at that from opposite directions but exactly as I thought; not much of the actual kit left in the build.  

[buzzbomb]

Well that is a full on PE. It would certainly be in scale as far as thickness goes..

Pretty damn fine job, I can clearly say that not a snowflakes chance of me tackling something that extensive.

[NARSES2]

More brass then plastic ? 

Fantastic build   

[Wardukw]

Thanks Chris 😊
Right here's some info on this build which I hope scares the crap out of uou guys never even think of attempting to build this ..cause I am bloody sure I won't be.
I've been thinking of what I had to do to build and it's scary lads.
The simple stuff first ..the mud chains on the front wheels are scratch built as is all the tie downs ...now the nasty stuff.
There's hinges which are included..each hinge is made from 3 parts...there's 4 hinges pur door and also the hood panels aswell...the hinges are about 3.5mm wide once made .
Every piece of PE has to be bent..kneeded so it can be bent easily and then soldered together.
The rear crew/cargo area is made up of about 35 odd pieces of PE ..again all bent and soldered or glued...mostly soldered tho.
The drivers and co drivers area is made up of over 40 odd pieces of PE .
The front radiator armour is made of 10 parts alone.
Build time was nearly 3 months with well over 1000hrs.
Never again gents..never again .

[Jakko]

Was that one of those over-the-top Voyager etched sets that replace even more perfectly good plastic parts than Eduard would have you do? Never saw the point of those ... but it's impressive that you managed to not just build it but persevere

[zenrat]

  Wonderfull.  Not something i'd even contemplate doing.  But wonderfull none the less.

I presume you can tell it's PE once its all painted and weathered?  I mean it wouldn't be possible would it that an unscrupulous person could pocket the cash and then hand over a finished build using a cheaper, lesser PE set to supply the parts that were obvious...

[Wardukw]

Was that one of those over-the-top Voyager etched sets that replace even more perfectly good plastic parts than Eduard would have you do? Never saw the point of those ... but it's impressive that you managed to not just build it but persevere )..

Ahhh Jakko mate that's probably the bugger ..like I said it was quite awhile ago now and yeah over the top is the bugger for sure...and thank ya mate 😉..yeah this was a ton of work and I'm pretty sure I invented at least 10 new swear words on this build.
The point of this was to build a M3 with scale thickness to all armour which is nearly impossible with plastic as the metal is so much thinner than the plastic..if it was plastic it would be about .20mm thick..incredibly difficult to work with with the hull sides would break damn near as soon as ya looked it it.

Wonderfull.  Not something i'd even contemplate doing.  But wonderfull none the less.

I presume you can tell it's PE once its all painted and weathered?  I mean it wouldn't be possible would it that an unscrupulous person could pocket the cash and then hand over a finished build using a cheaper, lesser PE set to supply the parts that were obvious...

Honestly Fred I don't think there is another set quite like this out there ..hence it's price..it's bloody mental mate..I think there's 15 sheets of PE and hundreds of bits of it..there's 32 parts to the hinges alone and as for swapping it with a cheap set..no other to swap it with and dude this thing is heavy...there's so much PE connecting to other bits of PE it's mind blowing.
The instructions or small book is I think 9 pages...both sides !
The smart ppl amongst us here haven't built this ..or more smartly wouldn't have built this 
Still tho..hell of a challenge and one im glad I've done ✔️ 🙂

[Jakko]

The point of this was to build a M3 with scale thickness to all armour which is nearly impossible with plastic as the metal is so much thinner than the plastic..if it was plastic it would be about .20mm thick..incredibly difficult to work with with the hull sides would break damn near as soon as ya looked it it.

That's what I figured the idea was, yes But unless you can see the actual thickness, I don't think there's much point of going to all this trouble — and with American halftracks, there's always a strengthening piece running along the visible sides, so non-scale thickness usually isn't obvious unless the part is really think. I've got a Dragon M2 halftrack car in the stash and I know for sure that I won't be getting the Voyager set for it

Long ago, Steve Zaloga wrote an article in Military Modelling in which he corrected the old Peerless/Max/Italeri/Revell/Zvezda/etc. M3A1 scout car kit by replacing all the sides with thin plastic card. I don't recall the thickness, but it must have been close to scale. Again, rather him than me, though

[zenrat]

I was wondering about the weight and if that would have been a giveaway.
How strong was it all when it was finished?  Did you have to be carefull handling it or was it as strong as an all plastic one (which could obviously be not that strong)?

[kerick]

I would have pulled my hair out even trying to do that.

[Wardukw]

Jakko the scale thickness can be seen all over the place..the doors..Engine covers ..armoured radiator sheld..the 50 cal pulpit..wind screen armour...luggage racks on the rear ..the more you look for scale thickness the more you find it.
As for your choice of only building that out of good ol plastic ?
Couldn't bloody agree more mate 👍 😀
We're talking weeks apon of weeks of slow very careful work as so many parts have to align..it will do your head in for sure.

Fred once its built and soldered it very strong..it's all metal once you've got it together..the small parts like the  cargo and crew gear tie points (you can see those along the side near the top of the sides) those where apoxy resined in place..so still very strong .
Ya still gotta be careful handling it not cause of strength but because of the weight..that would hit the floor with a lot more speed than a plastic one and alot harder to repair if bent badly...trust me ..plastic it much better 😉

Kerick mate luckily for me I have very short hair cuts 😄

[Jakko]

As for your choice of only building that out of good ol plastic ?
Couldn't bloody agree more mate 👍 😀
We're talking weeks apon of weeks of slow very careful work as so many parts have to align..it will do your head in for sure.

That, and my soldering skills aren't great At least the parts should already be the right size, because that's my other problem with metalworking: the stuff is so hard to cut and shape that I find it difficult to make two parts the same size. Leading to things like:

You cannot view this attachment.

Top is my first attempt at a rack for the front of a Sherman, in brass L-profile, that turned out to be obviously taller on one side than the other ... bottom is the second try in plastic. Thicker and not as crisp, but at least I could get it all square in one go