Canvas for M3 Half Track
1/35 #BL35059K
Review by Terry Ashley

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Cleanup was made easy by there being only two small pour points on the rear corners and a minor cast seam lines along the rear top bend which are both very easy to be cleaned up plus some very minor ‘flash’ along the bottom of the canvas sides which again is very easy to remove with the wave of a hobby knife, the other thing I noticed was the resin was quite thin over the whole cover and is translucent in a number of areas when held to the light which gives a nice light feel to the cover.

Due to the thin resin there are a few internal air holes visible but unless you go poking around these will disappear with a coat of paint so are not a problem.

As we know the Tamiya kit is the M3A2 version which didn’t go into production and some surgery will be needed to bring it back to the M3 version, basically by removing the side moulded ladders and eliminating the top MG pedestal and the rear mounted equipment racks were also a feature of the A2 version. Any interior alterations aren’t really an issue when using the canvas cover as it can’t be seen anyway unless you show the windscreen and door armoured covers in the open position.

The fit of the resin cover to the kit was basically very good with only some minor trimming on the inside of the lower cover edges to fit over the rear hull while the fit of the windscreen was very good. As usual some test fitting will determine the amount of trimming if any needed to fit your cover.

Conclusion:
A nicely detailed and quite realistic looking cover with the thin resin adding to this feel as well as the small pour points making cleanup a breeze and will give a different look to the finished model.
And of course the cover can also be used with the Tamiya M21 81mm Mortar Carrier (Kit #35083)

Highly recommended.

Resin parts

Page created 21 November 2004