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Description
Half-track vehicles were developed after WWI (altough early prototypes existed as early as in 1911), when the army commanders realised that infantry may not be able to follow the tanks. This was especialy important for Germany, which adopted tanks as main strike force, rather than infantry support vehicle (like in Britain). They produced various half-tracks in many sizes, from Sd.Kfz. 2 Kettenkrad (often put as "tracked motorcycle), popular Sd.Kfz. 250 and 251, to the heaviest Sd.Kfz. 9 FAMO.

Half-tracks had an advantage over full-tracked vehicles, because they were simpler to drive and did not demand such extensive crew training. They used driving wheels instead of control bars like in tanks. When turning, they first used the front wheels. For more narrow turns, tracks' brakes were engaged. This gave the half-tracks a better mobility than wheeled vehicles and allowed better speeds and ground-pressure ratio than tracked ones.

M3 Half-track was developed since 1940, altough it used already existing chassis of M3 wheeled transporter. Replacing the back wheels with tracks was a piece of cake and soon this vehicle became more popular than its predecessor. Along with Sherman tank, this is by far the most recognized American symbol of WWII. It was used by several countries and foreign forces, including Polish Armed Forces on the West.

Red Army didn't bother to provide a safe transport for its troops. The most popular method was called "tankodesantnik" - "the tank rider" and was simply putting the soldiers onto the tanks. This tactic led to a massive losses among Soviet soldiers, who were totaly exposed and had little to no things they could catch on (falling under the tank's tracks was almost always fatal). After the Lend-Lease Act was signed, many M3s were send to the Eastern Front as a support. They were not very popular among soldiers who complained about open crew compartement and thin armour which hardly protected it against machine gun fire, not even to mention anything bigger. These with M1 anti-tank gun were named SU-57 and used against German tanks and bunkers. They were succesful in destroying older types of tanks, but in combat with Panthers and Tigers they were no match.

People's Army of Poland recieved some of the half-tracks, but in case of destroying or damaging the vehicle they could not ask for supplies, because there were simply no spare parts or vehicles. One of them (maybe more) was used during filming "Czterej pancerni i pies" TV series as German transporters.

M16 MGMC was an anti-aircraft version of the half-track, carrying M45 Quadmount guns in place of the infantry seats. This American equivalent of Flakvierling could deliver a massive barrage of .50 caliber bullets over large distance. This was quite helpful to the Allies, since despite their air supremacy, Germans kept attacking them until the very last days of the war in Europe. The largest use of the M16s was during Rhine assault. Luftwaffe used every plane aviable to destroy the bridges before they fell into Allies' hands. M16 downed many planes and allowed the Allies to capture several lodgements and a single bridge in Remagen, altough it soon collapsed due to the excessive traffic.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Just wanted something simple. I bought it in toy shop on Piskorzewie street.

A nice Revell kit, probably of design bought from Matchbox. However if you like to have models with a lot of moving parts, you may be disappointed. The gun mount rotate, but the guns don't. The wheels are also movable, but with static tracks, this gimmick is useless. Nicely detailed belly of the vehicle - unlike the tanks, which have very simple bottoms, there is a chassis with engine and other details.

It's one of my fastest-assembled models. I bought it yesterday, painted the pieces and assembled today. I finished it before 5 p.m.

Like in all Revell's 1/76s we are given a simple diorama to expose our model - in this case a ditch with the destroyed rails. Allies often used the well-developed German railways as a cover.

Oh, one thing - I really like the box art. Most of my 1/76 vehicles have them standing or moving to some unindentified location (Panzer II Ausf. F being a nice exception with battle raging behind it). M16's box presents the gun firing fearcefully against a pair of Focke-Wulf Fw 190 bombing a forrest where the M16's crews' comrades are hiding.

Also it's my last model made in 2010

Model: Revell, probably repack from Matchbox
Paints: NATO olive are mixed Polish khaki and some other green of Pactra, so are the lighter mud and tire black. The rust, darker mud and metalic are Humbrol's.
Scale: 1/76

Description
Half-track vehicles were developed after WWI (altough early prototypes existed as early as in 1911), when the army commanders realised that infantry may not be able to follow the tanks. This was especialy important for Germany, which adopted tanks as main strike force, rather than infantry support vehicle (like in Britain). They produced various half-tracks in many sizes, from Sd.Kfz. 2 Kettenkrad (often put as "tracked motorcycle), popular Sd.Kfz. 250 and 251, to the heaviest Sd.Kfz. 9 FAMO.

Half-tracks had an advantage over full-tracked vehicles, because they were simpler to drive and did not demand such extensive crew training. They used driving wheels instead of control bars like in tanks. When turning, they first used the front wheels. For more narrow turns, tracks' brakes were engaged. This gave the half-tracks a better mobility than wheeled vehicles and allowed better speeds and ground-pressure ratio than tracked ones.

M3 Half-track was developed since 1940, altough it used already existing chassis of M3 wheeled transporter. Replacing the back wheels with tracks was a piece of cake and soon this vehicle became more popular than its predecessor. Along with Sherman tank, this is by far the most recognized American symbol of WWII. It was used by several countries and foreign forces, including Polish Armed Forces on the West.

Red Army didn't bother to provide a safe transport for its troops. The most popular method was called "tankodesantnik" - "the tank rider" and was simply putting the soldiers onto the tanks. This tactic led to a massive losses among Soviet soldiers, who were totaly exposed and had little to no things they could catch on (falling under the tank's tracks was almost always fatal). After the Lend-Lease Act was signed, many M3s were send to the Eastern Front as a support. They were not very popular among soldiers who complained about open crew compartement and thin armour which hardly protected it against machine gun fire, not even to mention anything bigger. These with M1 anti-tank gun were named SU-57 and used against German tanks and bunkers. They were succesful in destroying older types of tanks, but in combat with Panthers and Tigers they were no match.

People's Army of Poland recieved some of the half-tracks, but in case of destroying or damaging the vehicle they could not ask for supplies, because there were simply no spare parts or vehicles. One of them (maybe more) was used during filming "Czterej pancerni i pies" TV series as German transporters.

M16 MGMC was an anti-aircraft version of the half-track, carrying M45 Quadmount guns in place of the infantry seats. This American equivalent of Flakvierling could deliver a massive barrage of .50 caliber bullets over large distance. This was quite helpful to the Allies, since despite their air supremacy, Germans kept attacking them until the very last days of the war in Europe. The largest use of the M16s was during Rhine assault. Luftwaffe used every plane aviable to destroy the bridges before they fell into Allies' hands. M16 downed many planes and allowed the Allies to capture several lodgements and a single bridge in Remagen, altough it soon collapsed due to the excessive traffic.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Just wanted something simple. I bought it in toy shop on Piskorzewie street.

A nice Revell kit, probably of design bought from Matchbox. However if you like to have models with a lot of moving parts, you may be disappointed. The gun mount rotate, but the guns don't. The wheels are also movable, but with static tracks, this gimmick is useless. Nicely detailed belly of the vehicle - unlike the tanks, which have very simple bottoms, there is a chassis with engine and other details.

It's one of my fastest-assembled models. I bought it yesterday, painted the pieces and assembled today. I finished it before 5 p.m.

Like in all Revell's 1/76s we are given a simple diorama to expose our model - in this case a ditch with the destroyed rails. Allies often used the well-developed German railways as a cover.

Oh, one thing - I really like the box art. Most of my 1/76 vehicles have them standing or moving to some unindentified location (Panzer II Ausf. F being a nice exception with battle raging behind it). M16's box presents the gun firing fearcefully against a pair of Focke-Wulf Fw 190 bombing a forrest where the M16's crews' comrades are hiding.

Also it's my last model made in 2010

Model: Revell, probably repack from Matchbox
Paints: NATO olive are mixed Polish khaki and some other green of Pactra, so are the lighter mud and tire black. The rust, darker mud and metalic are Humbrol's.
Scale: 1/76