New to me

[Peter Silcock]

Sorry Jerry typo mistake. I reduced the gear to 34 tooth not 30. Involved a new X member as well. Whether you would get any benefit from just this mod without all the alterations to the tracks etc I don't know.

Sooooo Peter, tell me more about these aluminium tracks you spoke of! Do you have photos?

Jerry

The aluminium tracks avoid every problem you and others have encountered Jerry. In addition I found that the rubber tracks will split very quickly if you don't run the model on grass. They were a good solution for realism and accuracy but I found them not to be practical and they don't lie on the rollers correctly . Will post photos tomorrow as I'm away today.

[Peter Silcock]

Piccies of tracks before being painted. Only a 20 footer in terms of scale appearance but much better for running.

[Jerry Carducci]

Very interesting approach Peter. Strength and durability have a certain beauty all their own...

Jerry

[Robert E Morey]

Thats cool - Nice solution Peter. Thanks for sharing.
b

[Jerry Carducci]

I haven't been sitting on the model over the last week or so. Assessing what I need that's missing in terms of what I'll ask what's available in Kian's spares supply versus what I can make myself. I'd like to bash together the M3 version; the original owner had focused on the M16 variant and so 'some' other parts have gone awol over the intervening years...namely most of the rear 'box' parts for the M3 but I remain hopeful...

So I've taken the hull to pieces and have spent days de(un?)-rusting many parts. I decided no matter if I'm going to use a steel part or not I'm going to prime them all; a re-occurrence of significant rain yesterday reinforced that idea. Hopefully tomorrow I can get to it.

Spent some while re-cleaning the rubber loops and chains after my ill fated attempt to use a silicon adhesive. This time I'm actually reading the instructions and minding them and giving loctite 410 a go. It was oddly rather difficult to find over here until I opened an account at Henkels directly..

So the tracks are reassembled and I'm letting them sit the requisite time.

These half tracks stir memories from my earliest days before I really knew just what they were- they symbolized US troops in the Good Fight in
WWII when I was but a wee lad. I wouldn't mind having more than one of these, different variations of course. So you can imagine how I voted on the recent poll....

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

More progress on this model. I'd spent the initial time working on the chassis which for the moment is about as done
as I can get it. Not entirely satisfied with the track's ability to run smoothly despite the grinding and smoothing of
the roller chain master link pins and the overall impact of all the roller chain link pins. But for the moment I've
done what I'm able with what I have.

I had turned my focus to the body. I've been hampered a bit by missing parts which the previous owner has been locating
a few at a time. I'd decided to make a few things such as the front roller and a few angle brackets. At this point I believe I have
all the parts to complete an M2 version of the machine although I'd wanted to build an M3... the body parts just aren't there although
I do have the parts, assembled for the M16 version- I realize there's some commonality between the M3 and M16 parts - I just don't
have the M3 side of things.

Anyway, the M2 body is coming along well, I've slightly increased the depth of the sheet metal countersink holes; this due in part to me
locating 2mm oval head screws- in most cases they look more appropriate than the flat heads...

Although still one of the most difficult tracks to mount or remove I've come up with a mounting procedure that works for me and I usually
come away with uninjured hands (most of the time!)....

I've been splitting time between this and my King Tiger.

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Having seriously underestimated the number of oval head machine screws I needed for this project I must pause construction on the body while a reorder of screws arrives. I like the way the ovals look so it's worth the wait. I've increased the countersink hole depth on most parts to better accept the screw heads although it's a delicate balance between appearance and strength..

I believe I'm one short of the required number of the small brass hinges used for this model and not knowing if/where these are available I plan
to make up something of my own..

For the moment I'll focus on the dash and the latches for the stowage bins followed by the details for the driver and passenger side doors.

Not certain I'll use the original electronics for the model; there's not a lot of hidey space on this thing so space is at a premium and the black boxes are pretty hefty. I'm going to use my same FrSky X20HD system communicating to a x8R receiver that I've updated the firmware on to have it be compatible with the latest ETHOS OS. I hope to use a single speed control and a Benedini micro for sound if the mood strikes; overall the space required for these shouldn't pose a problem.

I'm going to try to come up with driver/passenger seats for the model, not sure if these were ever part of the kit or not; I've not seen
any indication that they were. Not sure if there was ever aftermarket bits for these...

Not sure how well this model will run; my bench tests weren't stellar however I'm hoping being actually on the ground running might have a positive effect on run characteristics.

I think one of the things I will try, eventually is to eliminate the master link in the track roller chain backbone. My logic is this: once the track is assembled the master link is irrelevant. This track will always be a fixed length; unlike tank tracks there will never be any adjustment to track tension by removing or adding a link. In my opinion once the track is assembled the master link is not only irrelevant it becomes a liability which I plan to remove. The master link will always have a wider profile than the others due to its function and way it provides that function- a function that isn't needed for this implementation. In every test I made where the track hung up the master link was the cause; and I've ground down and shaped the master link pins as much as possible however because of the retaining clip there remains even minimally a certain degree of sharpness. sharpness that can and does hang up on the idler in particular.. I plan to eliminate the master link by removing the retainer clip and peining over the pins like regular link pins; basically riveting the link together.. In this way they can be made more smooth to conform to all the other link pins...

Jerry

[Peter Silcock]

Nice progress there Jerry. I have a spare hinge if you want it. Any other parts you are missing let me know - I have some left over stuff I won't be using. You are probably already aware but halftrack.info is a great forum for getting information and is loaded with good photos of the details of restored and unrestored US halftracks.
One thing while you are still at the building stage. If you move the storage lockers 10mm towards the rear or enlarge them by that amount you can get the next size up battery in there which will give a longer running time.

[Jerry Carducci]

Nice progress there Jerry. I have a spare hinge if you want it. Any other parts you are missing let me know - I have some left over stuff I won't be using. You are probably already aware but halftrack.info is a great forum for getting information and is loaded with good photos of the details of restored and unrestored US halftracks.
One thing while you are still at the building stage. If you move the storage lockers 10mm towards the rear or enlarge them by that amount you can get the next size up battery in there which will give a longer running time.

Thanks Peter, I've been considering what pack I'll use for this, I believe there's a few options especially if I don't use the stock electronics
which are quite bulky.

Regarding the hinge, again many thanks; I might try some alternatives there as well. On the stowage bins possibly, freeing up the stock hinges for use elsewhere..

Jerry