M3/M3A1 Half-Track Personnel Carrier - M21 MMC TS1 Plastic 170118

[Pinky]

Love the canvas tops.  Especially the M3 version - perfect for a half track looted by the Africa Korps!

[airborne]

Could this be the basis of a M3 White Scout Car as so much as already been sorted.

[Rubicon Models]

Could this be the basis of a M3 White Scout Car as so much as already been sorted.

There is still a lot of work need to be done on the basic M3 Half Track.  Once done, we might look into the M3 White Scout Car.

[Rubicon Models]

Pretty much a work in progress, some detail work still needed to be done, but the overall design are shown here!
Even though we have made quite a few other variants, we have not shown them all...



























Please Note:  NOT ALL will be used to produce as a plastic kit.  These are prototypes for us to play around and to create the best M3 Half Track plastic kit for the masses.  We might incorporate the missing prototypes to another kit or an expansion kit later...

Please feel free to comment!

[Pinky]

Wow - this kit is really shaping up…

I really like the M3 with pedestal-mounted .30 cal.  I think the .30 cal should have the earlier curved cradle, but that probably doesn't matter.

The M3A1 looks great too.  Is that radio installation right though?  I thought the radio set went behind the middle front seat, and was smaller, but I'm not sure.  I also thought it was the box-like BC-620 set that was fitted.  The only photo I could find of an M3A interior is below, and it's not very clear.

I've just noticed that your canvas hood overhangs the windscreen.  This isn't correct - it should be flush with the top of the windscreen. 

The rear stowage racks on your "M3A2" were retro-fitted to the M3 and M3A1 in September 1943.  I've seen a couple of photos of halftracks in service fitted with the ladder-like side racks, but they seem to have been rare.  I think the "M3A2" version of the .50 cal pulpit might be based on an inaccurate kit, like the Tamiya one.

The M4 Mortar Carrier was built on the M2 half track, not the M3.  The mortar carrier version of the M3 was the M21, which had a forward-facing mortar and a different internal arrangement to the M4.  It would be great if you could include the M21 version in the kit, but I guess that's quite a lot of extra parts.

[Rubicon Models]

I've just noticed that your canvas hood overhangs the windscreen.  This isn't correct - it should be flush with the top of the windscreen. 

We have modified the way the canvas top rested on top of the vehicle.  This is because there is a "thickness" to the plastic and we want it to be removable too!  The only way to make it look natural and fit our requirement, we need to do it creatively and in a logical manner.

If you look at our first canvas top sculpt and then compare it with the current one we are using, then you will see the differences on the changes.

[Rubicon Models]

The M4 Mortar Carrier was built on the M2 half track, not the M3.  The mortar carrier version of the M3 was the M21, which had a forward-facing mortar and a different internal arrangement to the M4.  It would be great if you could include the M21 version in the kit, but I guess that's quite a lot of extra parts.

We have two different references on our design; one of which is from Squadron/Signal Publication "Walk Around M2/M3 Half-Track". This is the first standardized variant available on both the M2 and M3 series.  There is only 3 parts for our current variant, to include the M21 version would require a lot of work and many extra parts.

We still have not decided on what to include in our first M3 kit, but we tended to offer just the basic variants, followed by MMC / HMC etc.

[Pinky]

Like the M3A2, the M4 version of the M3 never went into production.

[Rubicon Models]

Sprue layout of the M3/M3A1...


The M3/M3A1 Half Track is going to be released in Q3/15 (July to Sept time frame). We are also working on several variants based on the M3 chassis - the M21 Motor Mortar Carriage (MMC) equipped with the M1 mortar (81 mm) is one of them.

Due to limited sprue space on the M3/M3A1 kit, the tarpaulin originally planned to be incorporated with the base kit will not be included. The tarpaulins had to be sold separately as an option in one of the upcoming expansion kits for the M3/M3A1.

[Pinky]

Good to see this progressing.

Looks as though you're still including those stowage boxes that don't appear in any photos of WW2 half-tracks, and that weird radio mounting that replaces some seats.   

Also - there are four .30 cals - why?  They rarely had as many as three.

Seems to me like you could have saved some space on the sprues... 

[Rubicon Models]

Looks as though you're still including those stowage boxes that don't appear in any photos of WW2 half-tracks, and that weird radio mounting that replaces some seats.   

The stowage boxes are for the rear racks which do appeared very late war... and into the Korean War; and the radio set was mounted on many M3A1s.

Also - there are four .30 cals - why?  They rarely had as many as three.

The BA rules allows three .30 cals MGs on the vehicle and they are clip-ons as well; another one is for the standard M3.

[Rubicon Models]

Like the M3A2, the M4 version of the M3 never went into production.

The M4 is the MMC based on the M2 chassis.  The M21 (rear mounted) and M21A1 (front mounted) MMC are based on the M3 chassis; both were in production.

The M21 had seen battle (during the 4th battle of Monte Cassino, May 18, 1944) with the Polish 1st Carpathian rifle battalion, 3rd Carpathian Rifle division, part of the famous Polish II corps lead by Lt Gen Wladyslaw Anders.

[elias.tibbs]

It's looking good. I will need 5 of these for my US armoured infantry.

[Pinky]

Looks as though you're still including those stowage boxes that don't appear in any photos of WW2 half-tracks, and that weird radio mounting that replaces some seats.   

The stowage boxes are for the rear racks which do appeared very late war... and into the Korean War; and the radio set was mounted on many M3A1s.

Any photos of these stowage boxes or that radio? 

I'm wondering why anyone would bother with the racks on if there's also a stowage box.  I do wonder why you tend to include this kind of marginal stuff on sprues, when you've had to drop something much more popular like the hood.  Including a hood also gives your kit even more of an edge over Warlord's (I'm sure your detail will be sharper!). 

[Rubicon Models]

Pinky, there are two large pieces for the tarpaulin that is as large as the chassis itself, plus two smaller parts for details.  Even if we removed all the "marginal stuff" from that sprue, the four tarpaulin pieces will not fit.  The thickness of these pieces compared with other parts on the same sprue also proved to be a challenge during the mould injection process.

We also do not want to add an extra sprue to make the retail price higher.  The tarpaulins will be featured in an expansion kit more or less the same time as the base kit; much like what we did for the SdKfz 251 series.  Customers who wanted the tarpaulins will have to buy the more expensive kit instead of the base kit.