Bob's Dragon 1/35 M2A1 Halftrack

[Guest]

Hi all,

This is my entry into the GB. I know its a bit late, but I did start this kit two weeks ago. It has since stalled and I will try to smash it out in the next 5 days.

Build Plan
I will build this in the desert chamo scheme shown on the box art. As I have minimal time, I might not get to do much weathering.

Kit Details from www.scalemates.com
Brand: Dragon
Title: M2A1 Half-Track 2 in 1
Number: 6329
Scale: 1:35
Type: Full kit
Includes: Plastic sprues, Photoetch, Waterslide decals, Clear parts, Rope
Released: 2006 | Initial release - new tool
Decal options

1. M2A1 Half Track
   US Army
   1944
2. M2 Half Track
   US Army
   1 Armored Div.
   Tunisia | 1942
3. M2A1 Half Track
   US Army
   1941
4. M2A1 Half Track
   US Army
   XX Corps 4023320-5
   Belguim | 1945
5. M2A1 Half Track
   US Army
   1941

Kit Contents









The chosen marking option


Here is the sprue I started working on



and here is where I am upto





The chasis is almost done, but lots of detail work left to do. I will prime this tomorrow, and move on to painting the tyres wheels and tracks.

I hope you all like the post. All comments welcome.

[Guest]

Nice that you join in Bob.
Don't worry about the time, just get fun building it

[col68]

Nice job so far bob

[monica]

nice start so far Bob,looking good,
I agree with Polux,just enjoy the build,and have fun,

[Guest]

Nice that you join in Bob.
Don't worry about the time, just get fun building it

Nice job so far bob

nice start so far Bob,looking good,
I agree with Polux,just enjoy the build,and have fun,

Thanks all, and thanks for that Polux, although I will try to complete it as soon as possible for personal satisfaction. Though I might not make the deadline!

Well here is the first update, and I must say this kit has a ton of parts, and each part has a ton of sprue gates for some reason. It takes a while to clean up am average part as it will have around 4 - 5 sprue gates.

I have decided to build this in modules (or sub assemblies). Mainly the chasis, followed by the drivers cab and the rear. Tools and weapons will be added at the end.

Here it is the engine parts were masked off and the chasis was primed, using a commercial white primer



I built up the cab as well



The wheels were also done up, this took me ages to complete, and I wasnt very satisfied with the result, I am usually better at doing wheels, but I just couldnt be bothered to uber detail them this time.



Lots of small parts painted up.



Cab primed


Chassis painted using Humbrol 93 Dessert Yellow Matt enamel


And here are all the parts in there current state




Thats it for today, tomorrow, I will start work on the rear part and see how I go. As I said before this is a massive kit, and it is taking alot longer than I thought. There are so many small parts unlike in Tamiya kits were alot of the detail is molded on, here you have to add several parts to get the same result.

I hope you all liked the update. All comments welcome.

[Guest]

I wish I could build as quickly as you Bob! You're really doing a good job with this.

It's true what you say about Dragon kits. There's nothing wrong with Tamiya, but Dragon do go the extra mile & then some.

[Guest]

I have this kit in my stash so I'll be watching closely, nice start looking good so far.

[monica]

real nice work on this one so far,looking good,
well done with all the small bits,

[Guest]

I wish I could build as quickly as you Bob! You're really doing a good job with this.

It's true what you say about Dragon kits. There's nothing wrong with Tamiya, but Dragon do go the extra mile & then some.

I have this kit in my stash so I'll be watching closely, nice start looking good so far.

real nice work on this one so far,looking good,
well done with all the small bits,

Thanks Patrick, Scott, Monica!

Scott I am building the Desert version and there are 3 other versions you can build, but I think you know that. I am also building it in sub assemblies as it is more my style.

Here is the next update

I preshaded the cab with Tamiya Enamel XF-1 FLat Black



I then continued work on the rear

Seats painted using Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black Enamel



These were then masked off using Tamiys curved masking tape.... and it took me a few hours to to do so.



Rear assembled major parts assembled





I then painted the cab with Humbrol 93 Dessert Yellow Matt



The preshading came through though it is not visible in the photo.

Next up is priming the rear and then doing up all the detail work for it.

Hope you all liked the update. All comments welcome.

[Guest]

Nice work so far keep it coming.

[monica]

coming along very nicely Bob,if the sub-assembly works for you,keep using that way,

[Guest]

coming along very nicely Bob,if the sub-assembly works for you,keep using that way,

Nice work so far keep it coming.

Thanks Monica and Scott.

Quite a lot of work done today. The GB ends tomorrow, and I might not meet the deadline which is fine, but I am still trying to get this near complete by tomorrow.

So painted the rear and finished off the cab. Lots of little details done up as well. I have done some light washes with Vallejo acrylic wash Light Grey straight over the enamel paint - only on the cab though.






The rear was being attached using tape whilst being glued.



All glued up




Seats all unasked and extra seats attached (these were painted on the first day)



Here it is for now







The small pieces still left include the machine guns, an antenna, fuel drums, the radios and tools.



Hopefully I will get most of it done tomorrow.

Now I know I said I would do this in the camo scheme, but I really like this plain desert look, and I have decided I will stick with this look. I like the way it has weathered out too.

Also I want to move on to my next project and this kit has been so hard to build for me, so instead of me losing my interest I am going to leave it in the Desert color - with new unpainted Olive drab Jerry cans!

I hope you all like the update. All comments welcome.

[monica]

very nice work,Bob,real liking this looks so,good,the seat color is nice,like what your used,
I do agree,it dose look good,in that color,and a bit of a wash,and some chipping,will
look even better,

[Guest]

very nice work,Bob,real liking this looks so,good,the seat color is nice,like what your used,
I do agree,it dose look good,in that color,and a bit of a wash,and some chipping,will
look even better,

Thanks Monica, yeah I liked the way it looks. Well Ive spent quite some time on this now and very happy to say it is completed. Here it is - only 2.5 hours late (if you live in Honolulu!)

A few final build pics first.

I have done up all the tools, and also the Radios

Here is a look at the radios.





Here are the Jerry cans which took me quite some time to get right



The underside - I fixed up the wheel and weathered this later



I then washed the kit a bit more and applied decals and started chipping. I think I might have gone too far with the chipping so let me know what you guys think. The decals are actually still drying here.

Here are the final pictures.





















So like I said finished on time and am posting this now (2 hours late with Honolulu time in mind!)
and so very happy with that. I dont think I compromised any detail while going a bit faster than I do.

I will have a completed post up sometime next week with more pictures and a video, might do some more weathering, might not. But for now this is complete.

I hope I dint go too far with the weathering!

Hope you all enjoyed the speed build of a slightly complicated Dragon kit.
Happy new year to all. All comments welcome.

[Guest]

Brilliant work mate
John