【Military Half-track】 Developed by incorporating all practical experience in actual combat of half-tracks, Half-track M3A2 turns into a 3D model!

“If I were to choose one US military vehicle from World War II, what would be interesting?” For model fans thinking about such things, what I want you to pay attention to by all means is “US M3A2 Personnel Carrier.” A unique half-track possessing tires in the front while equipped with tank-like tracks in the rear. That figure alone is sufficiently interesting as a machine, but M3A2 has a history that cannot be settled by mere words like personnel carrier. The US Army repeated research from the late 1920s and mass-produced M2, M3, M3A1, and others in World War II. Incorporating that actual combat experience, what was born in a form aggregating a series of developments was M3A2. In other words, when gazing at it as a model, if you know the background of “a single vehicle that lies beyond where half-tracks matured,” details of the vehicle body look all the more interesting.

The actual M3A2 adopted an open-top vehicle body using face-hardened armor plates, capable of carrying up to 12 fully armed soldiers. Installed at its heart was a White 143-horsepower inline-6 gasoline engine, with a maximum speed of 72 km/h. Furthermore, by combining rubber-covered tracks, an excellent suspension, and driven front wheels, it exhibited high driving capabilities not only on paved roads but also off-road. It was a vehicle packed with ingenuity to steadily perform the job of “transporting soldiers and materials to necessary places.” Joining actual combat from the end of 1943, it was used in various regions until World War II ended. Also, numerous self-propelled guns making use of the basic design were developed. Even after the war, its active role did not end, being operated in various countries including Japan's Self-Defense Forces, and among them existed vehicles that were active until the 1970s. From the fact that it was used for a long period, its high utility is conveyed.

Enjoying such M3A2 on a 1/35 scale is this plastic model kit. Not only reproducing the appearance plausibly, but the point where the vehicle body interior and chassis are expressed 3D-wise is a major highlight. You might think “Even though it's a part hardly visible when completed, you make it that far?”, but rather for model lovers, that is likely the enjoyable part. Because you can trace the actual vehicle's structure while assembling, you can touch the mechanism of M3A2 that cannot be understood merely by gazing at the completed product. A combination of front wheels and tracks different from tanks, an open interior unique to personnel carriers, and more—it is a kit where you can thoroughly observe configurations unique to half-tracks as a 3D object.

The point that you can give your own expression to details cannot be overlooked. Radiator shutters and doors can be assembled selecting between open states and closed states, and front wheels can also be steered left and right. For example, if you turn the front wheels a little, movement is born in the vehicle compared to placing it straight, and if you open the door, an atmosphere like being in the middle of getting in or out can also be produced. Such choices seem like small differences, but greatly sway the impression after completion. Not “ending by assembling according to the instruction manual,” but in being able to build while thinking about what kind of scene to make M3A2 into, lies play unique to this model.

What is even more interesting is that 9 figures combining a driver and soldiers are prepared. For a personnel carrier, as expected, its original figure comes into view by adding people. If combining abundant accessory parts such as jerrycans, blankets, landmines, and rifles there, stepping a move forward from standalone display, you can also challenge a finish imagining a scene acting on the battlefield. Because impressions change even by slightly altering how luggage is placed or how soldiers are arranged, it will be easy to reflect the creator's ideas. Enjoying the sense of precision of the vehicle body is good, and adding a sense of use to finish it like a veteran vehicle is also good. Letting you imagine not only the vehicle M3A2 itself, but even “where, who, and how it was used” is precisely the major charm of this kit.