M16 GMC Part 1

Sprucing up the quad .50

Now there are those who consider me, or those like myself to be 'rivet counters'. Usually this term is used in a derogatory manner and to be perfectly frank, it straight up old hat, boring and tiresome to put up with. I'm not sure why those people who choose to research and correct kits and those who choose to build strictly out of the box cannot both exist simultaneously in the same place, at the same time, doing what each individual enjoys without pointing fingers and calling each other names.

Enough of the soapbox rants, lets get back to modeling.

I almost never build in the order of the instructions, especially when it's a kit I'm familiar with. In this instance I've chosen to begin with the gun assembly. Using the TM 9-223 and the Hunnicutt book, I've added many of the small missing details to the assembly. The last of the three photos shows the addition of the missing welds on the gunners shield, made with stretched sprue and the tip of a broken exacto blade.


Moving on to the crew compartment itself using the same reference materials, I've added the various missing details to the gun pedestal and the grenade boxes. I've also separated the fuel tank armor from the tanks themselves and rounded off the edges of the tanks to show the gap which does not appear on the kits as it does on the real vehicle. Lastly, I've had to scribe the joint between the two folding side panels as Dragon omitted this small detail in their molds.


The layout above, with four tombstone ammo cans and the small radio shelf has been chosen purposely by me, even though there are those more knowledgeable that recommend otherwise. I have based my choice upon a wartime photo of a specific M16 called 'Hitlers Hearse', showing this exact layout. Notice in the cropping below that there is also no aerial mounted on the vehicle.


My next entry will start on the cab and get the three main sub assemblies together to prepare for the paint. You wont find too much on the frame and suspension as this is common to all of the half track kits and will be covered in greater detail in other blogs.