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I have put some photos of the pulpit I am constructing in my gallery. I have used the M49 ring from Armorpax which I can thoroughly recommend. I must also thank Tony Read for supplying photos of the real thing - I am sure they must have made it up as they went along!

David

Hello David,

Looking very good.
Can hardly wait to get started on my halftrack.
Keep us posted on your progress please

Excellent bracketry there David!!! Getting it all to fit together so well must have caused one or two headaches!

I have to say that your halftrack is looking very, very fine indeed.

If others would like photos and measurements of the mount I'm more than happy to post them here.

Hello Tony,

If you could post the pics that David is referring to in this thread would be great. It would certainly help me with my M3

No problem Ad!

The M49 ring transfers the loads from the 50/30 cal direct onto the halftrack at 3 points about 120 deg apart via brackets. These brackets are located at the front corner over the commanders door, above the windscreen and at the rear supported by a pole.

I'll start with one of the easy ones. This bracket is located over the commanders door.

This shot shows the bracket in place, it also shows the angle sections used to connect the pulpit armour to the halftrack. The front angles are higher than the side to clear the windscreen. My angles are welded to the pulpit armour - I believe this is because a M3A1 upgrade 'kit' was fitted sometime during the war, this halftrack was originaly built by Autocar as a M3, the chassis being overstamped M3A1. Factory built M3A1's always seem to have bolted angles (slotted countersunk dome heads).



This particular bracket came off a range target - hence the damage!













Hope this helps! I'll post pics of another bracket in the next day or two.

Great pictures Tony Thank you.
Looking forward to seeing more of those

Ok, this is the bracket at the rear of the mount, supported by a pole. Apologies for multiple shots, the rusty brackets were again taken off a range target and so have the odd bit missing! Note that this bracket must be curved to match the ring/armour.



This is the pole base.



The support pole is approx 58mm outside diameter. In this photo you can see a bracket which is welded to the pulpit armour. This is bolted through the bracket on the flange of the ring and the top of the pole support bracket (bolts missing).



Now for the holly bits!













Next time things get a bit more complicated!

Right, this is where things get a bit more complicated. This is the angled bracket over the windscreen. I suppose its this shape to fit the 120 degree spacing on the ring and to stop people banging their heads on it.



It is bolted at its bottom to the support rail over the windscreen. You can also see the angle section at the bottom of the armour.



The top is bolted to the ring, over this is another bracket which supports the armour (details to be provided later).



The following shots are of a repo bracket - it is slighly different in style to the original one, but the overall dimensions should be the same.













Next time I'll give details for the armour support bracket which fits over this one.

Tony,

Wow you really go for the details, don't you ?
Thanks for that.

This is the armour support bracket (slightly worse for ware!) that in turn sits over the ring support bracket over the windscreen.









That's it for now, but if anyone would like details of the armour then all you have to do is ask and it will be done!

but if anyone would like details of the armour then all you have to do is ask and it will be done!

Tony,

You don't know what you are getting yourself into

Ad, If it helps people by putting the information out there then I don't mind.

If you look at the original brackets then at Davids model you can see what a first class job he has done. Well done that man!!!

Hi Tony,

can see what a first class job he has done

I can only second that, awesome bit of scratchbuilding.

Thank you for your comments.

David