From MartinN - 28mm M3 Halftrack & US Crew (14 Points)

I really didn't expect to get something presentable done before the holidays but these four chaps were not overly difficult to get ready. So this entry is far from being a points bomb others seem capable of but one more tiny step towards the goal.

The figures (except the driver) are plastics from Warlord Games from their "American Infantry" boxed set. They were slightly converted to fit them as passengers into the newish plastic M3 Halftrack. The Halftrack itself unfortunately doesn't count points wise as it was begun before the challenge.

It only needed some cutting and gluing to make the figures fit. Well, almost... as you can see they're a little taller than the Halftracks side panels leaving their helmeted heads exposed to enemy fire. I'm not entirely sure as of how accurate this is as I could only find one picture showing how far above the panel the helmets would stand out.

Into the bargain these chaps are sporting the brodie helmet, so I still believe the figures are slightly too tall but I don't care.

As you can see on the picture below they made themselves pretty comfortable on the passenger seats.

The figures were a pain in the ass to put together and I definitely didn't enjoy painting them. Except for the weapons and the faces the detail is quite soft and the overall sculpting is pretty weak. The netting on the helmets for example was a real shame. In fact so much that I completely removed it from one of the helmets. Compared to their newer USMC and Blitzkrieg Germans as well as their rather nice Soviets these were a complete disapointmant and I'm quite happy I didn't buy the whole box but only the one sprue fur just that purpose.

The Halftrack itself is quite nice a model but I wasn't entirely happy with the way the plastic .50 cal and .30 cal looked so I swapped the former for a metal one and left the latter off completely.

The stars on bonnet and grille were painted by hand as I couldn't get those darn decals to fit.

All in all I think the crew really added to the look of the Halftrack and I'm pretty pleased with how it all turned out. As the figures have no basing and the driver has no feet at all I would rate them for 14 points unless The Snowman in all his wisdom decides otherwise.

From Curt:
Gorgeous work Nick! I've always admired your smooth paint style and these crewmen show it off quite nicely. That M3 is a wonderful lump of OD Green and rust. I love the weathering and you did a cracking job on freehanding those stars on the grill and hood. Brilliant stuff.