M2A1 Halftrack restoration-- dialup beware

[catman]

you sure do nice work, that thing look very nice. The Cutlass looks good too.
Chuck

[alpaca andy]

Great Pic, that looks like an m15 minus the .50 beside the 40mm, and that was used in ww2, in Korea they used alot of the m16s, so it wouldnt surprise me there were m15s mixed in

What a great job you have done with that H-Track. I remember in the late 80's when I lived in Illinois, I chased down a story of halftracks sitting in an auto salvage/scrap yard in the farm town of Amboy Illinois. There was three of them plus some "meat wagons" from the Korean war era, saw them from the road through the chain link fence. Here is an antiaircraft variation most people have never seen. This belonged to the 1st ADA Training Brigade at Ft. Bliss TX. I was in that unit in 82-83, some of us would drive it to ceremony's on post. Since I was in the motorpool I got to do some of the preventative maintenance on it. The story is that it came home from the South Korean Army and sat in the state of Maine for a long time, it was restored at Ft. Bliss after it was purchased from private ownership. That turret could rotate, 40mm gun that was magazine fed and operated by a crew of three.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1f1033a3-1.jpg

[67tank]

Andy. Outstanding work/craftsmanship. Just picked up 1945 factory converted M2A1 (according to the dash plaque) in pieces. I have gone thru your postings multiple times for tips, ideas, techniques, etc and am humbled. I have a very long rode ahead and will PM with you with multiple questions if you do not mind. Air cleaner conversion was sharp.
Well done Sir.

Pat

[Peter Laidler]

Hey Pat alias 67tank. While you'rs at it, keep us ALL up to date please. It's been a real eye opener. Andy has almost been coerced into writing this all downh in a small paperback book for us. Don't worry, we'll get him there in the end..............

[alpaca andy]

Pat, either post some pics here or start a new thread. Would like to see your track. Where are you? Have you been to halftrackinfo.com?

Btw if you guys are nuts enough to go pic by pic, incase i didnt post, here is the resto from day one to now

M2A1 Photos by isleofskyealpacas | Photobucket

[67tank]

Thanks Andy - i have posted some photos on SS and may actually start a build thread on this forum so i can get some input from others. Don't want to hijack your build thread with photos of my wreck.
I'm in Marin County, California. i had not been to halftrackinfo.com (or heard of it for that matter) thanks for that tip...And thanks for the photobucket link - very helpful.

[alpaca andy]

So been abit. Another set of fenders came, and are in better shape than mine, but still needed work.

Fender ground down and test fitted


After filler used to fill in a zillion dings


Installed on the halftrack


Test fitting the Passenger side fender



I should have the passenger fender done this week and installed. More pics to come

[Sarge1998]

Andy, about 3-4 weeks ago I finished American Tanks and AFV's of WWII by Michael Green, I purchased the copy for my Kindle/PC/Android, when I reviewed your entire thread in makes much more sense with just that tiny bit of basic knowledge (Chp. 7 Armored Half-Tracks). Now I can quickly reference sections as I don't have to dig out a book. Anyway thanks for sharing your project.

[Claven2]

Looking great Andy - I was going to ask you if you used the old fenders or not. Are you going to replace the front rubber tires?

[alpaca andy]

Funny as I used alot of the internet for pics to figure out how to put it together, it was like building a giant model kit without instructions

Andy, about 3-4 weeks ago I finished American Tanks and AFV's of WWII by Michael Green, I purchased the copy for my Kindle/PC/Android, when I reviewed your entire thread in makes much more sense with just that tiny bit of basic knowledge (Chp. 7 Armored Half-Tracks). Now I can quickly reference sections as I don't have to dig out a book. Anyway thanks for sharing your project.

---------- Post added at 07:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------

I ordered some tires back in jan, was suppose to arrive late may, no word or reply from the wholesaler since may when they said it should be in soon, and its a big distributor, My fenders were beat and torn, so these are alot better but still need alot of work. I had to use part of one of my fenders for one of the new ones though. Should have the headlight finished and installed on drivers side tomorrow, already stripped down the pass fender and started bodywork

Looking great Andy - I was going to ask you if you used the old fenders or not. Are you going to replace the front rubber tires?