Small Scale Military Headquarters

Picked up the new FOV Halftracks this week -- the US M3A1 Normandy one, and the Sd. Kfz. 251/1 Hanomag Normandy deco. Some brief remarks:

The Hanomag:

This is now the third FOV Hanomag I've picked up. I don't consider -- or I didn't used to consider -- myself a huge Hanomag fan, but darn it, each one has so much going for it! The kanonwagon was a blast, I loved the Eastern front snow camo on the recent issue with all those winter troops -- and now a more basic Hanomag with yet more cool troops. The camo looks great, and even though some people have noted that the FOV halftracks seem a bit more fragile than their other stuff, I do think this is a well-executed piece.

One note on the troops: they look fantastic, great poses, great paint jobs, great face sculpts. But they look a lot closer to 1/35 than 1/32 -- they blend right in with the Dragon can.do 1/35 troops! Next to my Conte paratroops, they look like the Lollipop Guild, you know? No wonder this poor guy got wounded!

The M3A1:
I was REALLY excited for this, as I AM a huge fan of the US halftracks, and had no illusions about it. The prospect of an FOV halftrack got me smilin'...

But I have to say, in some respects I'm disappointed in the execution...

First, the good: the figure is nicely detailed, there is a good assortment of gear (actually appropriate to the design), it seems durable, and the detail is well done. It looks good.

Sadly, there is a lot of bad:
The weathering, while better than the Grant and the Panther got, is not that impressive to me. There's clearly SOMETHING here, but it doesn't look really weathered -- neither dirty nor rusty. It almost looks like it's simply molded in green and not painted, you know?

The figure is nicely detailed, but awkwardly posed, and there's only one of him. I know that lately we've been getting upwards of four, and that's pretty spoiled, but it seems like these should come with no fewer than two figures. And this guy is really awkwardly posed.

The rear folding stowage racks I'm using to seeing are not here -- I'm sure that could be accurate, but I miss 'em. And while there's a ton of gear, the rolls that go on the front bumpers have no way of being fixed in place -- I realize it might screw things up if they included something, but it would be nice, as these are always falling off and I fear losing them. I could just glue 'em, but I like having the option of displaying it without 'em....

The last complaint is a bit minor -- I just miss all the features that 21CT put on theirs. It makes it a bit more of a toy, I suppose, but 21CT did a lot more than an opening hood -- the seats opened up for storage, the rear stowage racks unfolded, the guards on the doors and the windshield opened -- the FOV version just feels so much more low-frills next to that. I particularly miss the ability to open up the windshield -- the permanently-lowered guard (a carryover from the multiple gun carriage) feels like a cop-out to me.

This is still a nice piece, and as always FOV gives some great die-cast for the price. I just feel like it does not blow away the 21CT version, and I was hoping it would. Usually, IMHO, the 21CT stuff is slightly less impressive but worth it for the savings -- this time, it feels like the products themselves are pretty close in quality, and so 21CT REALLY wins out in the "value" department.


Those are my thoughts, anyway...

Law

I was glad to see some changes made in the US halftrack since the M16 was first introduced. At least the hood star is correctly positioned (not upside down) and doesnt have the outline cast into the hood like the M16 did. The basic paint is better. The M2 mount is unfortunate in that the ring is not functional. The only way I could get the figure to actually fit behind the gun was to place him outside the ring on the driver`s seat aiming off at the three o`clock position. He actually fits in the 21st Century Halftrack better than he does in his own ride. The cast in vision slots are cheap, and the US Flag is printed backward on the passenger side. I still like the vehicle despite some of the minor shortcomings, but I find the Hanomog to be a better executed model.

TJ

As a long time researcher of US armor, let me add a few observations.

On the GOOD news - FOV modeled an M3A1 instead of the M3A2 modeled by 21C. M3A2 was only built as prototypes and never got to the troops. The interior is slightly more detailed than 21C. The .30 cal MGs are MUCH more accurate than 21C's.

On the BAD news - yes, the ring mount doesn't slide around and the .50 doesn't elevate without surgery. I agree that having the drivers' armor molded shut is quite annoying. You have to rebuild the whole front with parts from a 21C halftrack to get the armor in the raised position. FoV did the suspension a little heavy-handed. The 21C tracks and suspension look better. The drivers' doors have the upper hinged armor molded in low-relief, so you have choices of the way too thick 21C, the way too thin FoV, or ignore it (I am taking the last option on the one I am detaiuling now).

21C has the roller on the front - FoV has the winch. Both are correct and served side-by-side. 21C has the late stowage rack at the rear - apparently added as a kit later in Europe to SOME haftracks. 21C has the mines in the mine racks molded on the the side of the hull. They have to be shaved off to change stowage in the racks. F0V has the mines separate, but the mines don't look as good as 21C's.

One fun thing about halftracks is adding stowage. I steal extra stowage from my 1/35th armor resin sets, as well as shaving packs off figures, The BEST musette bags come from Conte paratroopers - the second best from the new TSSD GIs. Real halftracks in Europe tended to look like a Gypsy caravan - stuff was hung everywhere.

Both makers have brought out decent halftracks and while not as nice as they could be, they offer a lot of fun for those of us who redetail our vehicles.

Thanks! That's what I love about this place, everyone is so knowledgeable about this stuff. Really great info to have.

Law

what was the roller on the front of the halftrack used for?

Binder, the vision slits on the windshield armor appear to be cast in the raised position, that is the plates are in the upper position. The opening that is supposed to be there is filled in. One would just have to drill out and file the hole square(and add glass behind to emulate the windshield) to achieve a more correct look. The drivers of the 21st made halftrack complain about the armor vision port plate sliding back down to the closed position-they just dont stay up...

TJ

1) the roller- the roller was mounted on the M3A1 scout cars and the halftracks. The idea was that if a halftrack tried to cross a ditch, the roller would help get the front up the opposite side instead of having the bumper dig into the other side of the ditch. The roller was a common feature, but I don't know if it worked as planned. In the end the Army decided that a winch was more useful in field conditions so the winch was used on later vehicles.

2) the vision slits. The big armor plate could be raised, and there were protected vision slots in that plate. I wonder if real troops had a problem keeping the visor up because a surprising number of photos show the halftracks being driven with the visor down.

The rear storage racks were only used on M3A3 halftracks. The M3A1 wouldn't have them.

The "M3A3" halftrack never existed. It is a figment of 21Cs imagination. There was a proposed M3A2, but these were prototypes only and were never put into series production. The personnel carrier halftracks were only M3 and M3A1 (a few M3 were rebuilt to M3A1). The stowage rack DID appear on the M3A1, both the Army designed "add-on" and some field manufactured versions. The M21 halftrack mortar carrier also had the racks. That's where you can get them in 1/35th - from the Tamiya M21 kit. Some people on the armor modeling sites have stated that the racks didn't see combat, but they show up clearly in a number of photos.

For reference - "Halftrack" by R.P. Hunnicutt, "US Halftracks At War" by Steve Zaloga, "M3 Halftracks In Action" from Squadron/Signal, "TM9-710 Basic Halftrack Vehicles (reprint), plus a number of older publications and articles.