Light multi-purpose armored personnel carrier. Reconnaissance armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Armored personnel carrier M3 Scout technological map
This light armored all-terrain vehicle represented an important historical step in the transition from armored cars to armored personnel carriers. It was intended primarily for military reconnaissance, and that is why it was called Scout - reconnaissance officer.
Armored vehicles, popular during the First World War, were independent combat units, similar to tanks, only on a car chassis. Intelligence units tried to use them for their own purposes, but the experience was not the most successful - after all, the armored car was developed to solve completely different problems. Its cramped armored hull was poorly suited for transporting a reconnaissance group and its weapons. It was no coincidence that the project to create a special car for a front-line reconnaissance group first appeared in the United States, a country where in the first decades of the twentieth century a powerful industry for the mass production of inexpensive cars and trucks was rapidly developing. The US Military Department was the first in the world to formulate technical specifications for the development of an armored vehicle specifically designed for the delivery and evacuation of a reconnaissance group and its weapons, while also having the ability to cover the reconnaissance officers with fire.
Not surprisingly, the main requirement was to make the chassis with all-wheel drive. Since the Second World War, this sounds obvious, but in the early 30s, when the first technical specifications were developed, all-wheel drive was still considered exotic, expensive and difficult to master. At that time, the industry for mass production of constant velocity joints (CV joints), necessary for transmitting torque to the driving and simultaneously steered wheels, had not yet found its feet. Therefore, many automakers were reluctant to introduce all-wheel drive. The White Motor Company from Cleveland was the first to improve its financial situation through a new military order. The White brothers company, from the very beginning of the twentieth century, specialized in the production of trucks, and in 1932-1933, due to a sharp drop in sales caused by the Great Depression, it was actively looking for new customers and partners. The solvency of the military department could not raise any doubts among the White leadership. Just at that time, White absorbed the Indiana company, and they owned the all-wheel drive chassis of the light 1.5-ton White-Indiana 4x4 truck, on which the first prototype of the M7 reconnaissance armored car was built.
Based on the test results, the military ordered a small batch of new cars, designated Scout Car M1. In 1934, 76 M1 vehicles entered service with the 1st and 13th Armored Cavalry Battalions stationed at Fort Knox (Kentucky). The car was distinguished by a carburetor 6-cylinder Hercules L engine with a displacement of 4.6 liters and a power of 75 hp. and was armed with four powerful machine guns: two 12.7 mm Browning M2 heavy machine guns in the front of the hull and two 7.62 mm Browning M1919A4 on the sides.
Following the White Motor Company, in an effort to receive the same military order, its competitors began to create cars with similar characteristics. First, in 1935, an armored car with the military designation M2 appeared, proposed by another automobile manufacturer, Corbitt & Co from North Carolina, with an 8-cylinder Lycoming New Corbitt Eight engine producing 95 hp. and two M1919A4 machine guns located on the sides of the hull. This model was followed by a modification of the M2A1 with a fundamental innovation - a rail-tire covering the perimeter of the open part of the armored body. On this rail, with the help of special movable grips, machine guns were installed and could be moved, which sharply increased the efficiency of firing compared to rotating machine guns on fixed turrets. Another version of the M2 was the T5E1 self-propelled mortar. A 4.2-inch mortar was transported in the back of the armored car in a horizontal position. To fire, it was placed on the ground behind the armored personnel carrier using a special folding mechanism.
In the same 1935, another company, Marmon-Herrington from Indianapolis, presented a similar armored car. It specialized in converting Ford trucks, pickups and passenger cars into four-wheel drive and military vehicles. Marmon-Herrington proposed the A7SCA armored reconnaissance personnel carrier, similar in its characteristics to the M2. The engine, of course, was from Ford - a V-shaped, 8-cylinder with a power of 85 hp, which allowed it to reach speeds of up to 120 km/h. But this car failed to win orders from White and Corbitt. Marmon-Herrington tried their luck again by developing the T13 armored car on an all-wheel drive Ford-Marmon-Herrington truck chassis. But they only managed to get a small order for 38 vehicles for the National Guard.
Meanwhile, White Motor Company, taking into account its experience and the developments of competitors, is creating the next M3 model with a new 5-liter Hercules JXD carburetor “six” with a power of 110 hp. The armor plate of the body in front of the radiator of that car was installed at an angle, which allowed bullets to ricochet. In 1938, this particular vehicle was adopted by the US War Department. But it also sold a small edition of only 64 copies. And in 1941, the final version of the White company with the M3A1 index went into mass production.
From its immediate predecessor, the M3, the modernized M3A1 was distinguished by an increased width of the armored hull with an elongated rear section. The configuration of the side doors and the design of the frontal sheet of the body have changed, and the door in the rear wall has been eliminated. A rotating buffer drum appeared on the front bumper, which became a characteristic feature of American armored personnel carriers during the Second World War. The armor thickness of the frontal plate of the M3A1 body was 12.7 mm, and that of all other sheets was 6.35 mm. In terms of the design of the chassis units, it was a typical all-wheel drive (4x4) light truck of the 40s with a transfer case installed separately from the gearbox and connected to it by an intermediate shaft.
A tire rail borrowed from the Corbitt M2A1 armored car was laid along the perimeter of the open body. Along it, with the help of movable M22 machines, the machine guns that were part of the standard armament moved - they could easily be directed forward, backward, right, left, simply by rolling along the rail. The standard machine guns were 12.7 mm M2 and 7.62 mm M1919A4. The ammunition consisted of 8,000 rounds of 7.62 mm caliber and 600-750 12.7 mm rounds. Boxes with machine gun belts were placed in two boxes located on the sides of the body. Instead of the M1919A4 machine gun, a 7.62 mm water-cooled Browning M1917A1 machine gun could be used. In the Red Army, the M22 machine was sometimes equipped with a Maxim.
The American army attempted to convert combat vehicles from gasoline engines to diesel engines. This is how the M3A2 modification appeared, on which the Buda-Lanova (81 hp) and Hercules (103 hp) diesel engines were tested. But no more than 100 of these vehicles were built. The carburetor armored car remained the main one. "Scouts" entered service with reconnaissance battalions and armored cavalry squadrons of tank and then infantry divisions of the US Army. In addition, they were used as tractors for 37 mm anti-tank guns, medical vehicles and staff vehicles. The ambulance armored car could transport two lying and three sitting wounded. General George S. Paton did not ride a Willys, but a staff Scout. Vehicles of this family were supplied to almost all of the US allies in the Anti-Hitler coalition. They were in service with the British, Canadian and Australian armies, Free French troops, Polish armed forces in the West, Belgian and Czechoslovak units.
They began supplying Scouts to the Red Army in 1942. In Soviet documents from the time of the Great Patriotic War, these hitherto unprecedented vehicles were called armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles and even semi-armored vehicles. The training of crews for them was entrusted to the 20th Tank Regiment, stationed in Uryupinsk, and then in Ryazan, transferring it from March 1, 1942 to the staff of a training tank regiment. Command and technical personnel for units equipped with Scouts were trained at the 3rd Saratov School of Armored Vehicles and Armored Personnel Carriers.
In total, 3034 MZA1 arrived in the USSR under Lend-Lease. It would seem that the number is not very large. However, it was the Scouts that became the most widespread and most popular armored personnel carriers in the Red Army. The Soviet military simply did not have a more common vehicle of this type during the Great Patriotic War, and the Scouts made their contribution to our Victory.
As an example illustrating the use of American armored cars by reconnaissance units of the Red Army, one can cite the actions of the head marching outpost of the 7th Guards Mechanized Brigade of the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps during the offensive in early September 1943 in Ukraine. The forward detachments of the corps brigades were tasked with seizing the crossing over the Psell River, cutting off roads east of Gadyach, as well as in the area of the village of Velbovka. The head marching outpost of the 7th mechanized brigade, consisting of 30 people on three MZA1 armored personnel carriers, cut the enemy’s retreat route at the southern outskirts of Velbovka. The Germans did not expect an attack from this side and, met by machine-gun fire from armored personnel carriers, were confused. The battle that broke out ended in the defeat of the enemy: the approaching units of the 7th and 9th Guards Mechanized Brigades captured Velbovka.
Sometimes Scout armored cars allowed Soviet reconnaissance officers to carry out active maneuvering operations, as happened in the battle of the 28th Guards Mechanized Brigade of the 8th Guards Tank Corps during the liberation of Poland in August 1944. To the south of the village of Lenchna, the Germans set up an ambush in a gully. Having been drawn into the beam, the column of control vehicles of the 28th Guards Mechanized Brigade was unexpectedly fired upon from the left flank and frontally from the Lenczna factory buildings. Moving to the left, two reconnaissance squads under the command of Lieutenant Alekseychuk attracted the attention of an enemy ambush. Meanwhile, four MZA1 armored personnel carriers of a separate reconnaissance company under the command of the deputy chief of staff of the guard reconnaissance brigade, Major Tifonov, opened heavy fire on the enemy from machine guns and machine guns. As a result, 30 Germans, realizing the hopelessness of the situation, threw down their weapons and surrendered, and the remaining approximately 60 soldiers and officers who were in the beam were destroyed. And only 30 Germans, holed up in the buildings of the village of Leczna, continued to conduct strong automatic and machine-gun fire, shooting through the road along which the convoy of cars was supposed to move. Two MZA1 armored personnel carriers sent forward under the command of Senior Sergeant Starostin and Sergeant Lieberman came close to the plant building and opened heavy fire on the windows, forcing the enemy to stop resisting. Two anti-tank guns of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion arrived in time and completed the defeat of the German ambush.
Powerful weapons, maneuverability and good visibility made it possible to effectively use armored personnel carriers in street battles. On April 25, 1945, the first to break into the eastern outskirts of the Czech city of Brno were soldiers of the reconnaissance company of Senior Lieutenant I. Matushkin from the 4th Guards Mechanized Brigade of the 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps. Overcoming obstacles and strong enemy machine-gun and machine gun fire, they boldly and decisively moved forward. Sergeant B. Bayaziev's MZA1 armored personnel carrier was far ahead of the rest. The driver noticed that the German artillerymen were hastily deploying the cannon to destroy the armored personnel carrier, but they did not have time to do this. Bayaziev increased his speed. And the machine gunner, Private S. Ivanov, shot the crew of the German gun with a well-aimed burst from a large-caliber machine gun. Following the scouts, soldiers of the motorized rifle units of the 4th Guards Mechanized Brigade entered Brno.
By the end of the war, 20,918 Scout M3A1 armored cars rolled off the assembly line in the United States. In the armies of many countries, these combat vehicles were used until the end of the 70s and even later. In 1996, the Dominican Republic still had 35 M3A1s in service.
Technical specifications
Scout Car M3
Armored personnel carrier developed in 1939 on the basis of a standard truck and was intended for transporting infantry on the battlefield, conducting reconnaissance and combat security, as well as for towing artillery systems, transporting ammunition and other cargo. He had completely armored The hull was open at the top, in the front of which was the engine, and behind it were located the control compartment and the landing compartment.
Armored personnel carrier, as a rule, was armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun mounted above the control compartment, as well as 2-3 7.62 mm machine guns mounted on the sides. To ensure self-pulling, some of the machines were equipped with a winch mounted in front of the engine. To increase the reliability of the chassis, wheels with reinforced multi-layer tires with bulletproof filler were used. "Scout Cars" had very high speed on the road (up to 90 km/h), but limited mobility on rough terrain and could not provide adequate mobility to motorized infantry. For this reason, they were not widely used in the US Army, but were supplied in large quantities to the armies of England and Canada. In total, about 21 thousand of these machines were manufactured.
During the period between the two world wars, in all countries that had armored forces, reconnaissance in the interests of these forces was entrusted to the light armored cars . However, actually accomplishing this task was not easy. The crew of the armored car consisted of 2 - 3 people, each of whom had their own functional responsibilities inside the vehicle, so conduct reconnaissance in isolation from armored car it was almost impossible. The latter circumstance made the success of the entire enterprise close to zero.
The Americans were the first to come to the understanding that an armored vehicle should only be a means of delivery and evacuation of a reconnaissance group and at the same time be able to cover it with fire if necessary. The US War Department had very strict requirements for such a vehicle, by the standards of the early 1930s, which included, among other things, all-wheel drive. In the documentation, the armored car was called a Scout Car, but in everyday life, both then and subsequently, it was called simply “scout”, often omitting the official alphanumeric index of the United States Army.
The Scout's debut took place in 1933, when the White Motor Company produced a prototype of the T7 armored reconnaissance vehicle (essentially a light armored personnel carrier) using the chassis of a 1.5-ton White Indiana 4x4 commercial truck. After testing, it was decided to produce a small batch of new vehicles, designated Scout Cars in 1934; 76 M1 units entered service with the 1st and 13th Armored Cavalry Battalions stationed at Fort Knox (Kentucky). The M1 was equipped with a carburetor 6-cylinder Hercules I engine with a displacement of 4.6 liters and a power of 75 hp. The vehicle's hull, open at the top, had 12.7 mm frontal, 7.62 mm rear and 6.35 mm side armor, which provided protection from bullets and small shell fragments. The scout's armament was very powerful: two 12.7 mm Browning M2 heavy machine guns in the front of the hull and two 7.62 mm Browning M1919A4 on its sides.
The next modification of the “scout”, adopted, like the previous one, in limited quantities into service with the US Army, was the M2. The prototype of this T9 machine was developed in 1935 by Corbitt & Co, which tried to supplant White. The base was still a commercial truck chassis, but it was powered by a 95 hp Lycoming New Corbitt Eight engine. The layout of the vehicle has not undergone any significant changes, but the armament has been reduced to two M1919A4 machine guns located on the sides. The main difference between the M2A1 variant was the tire rail, which covered the entire armored body along the perimeter. On this rail, with the help of special movable grips, machine guns were installed and could be moved.
Another version of the M2 “scout” was the T5E1 self-propelled mortar. A 4.2-inch mortar was transported in the back of the vehicle in a horizontal position. To fire, the latter was placed on the ground behind the armored personnel carrier using a special folding mechanism.
In 1935, the Marmon Herrington company from Indiana Policy also began designing “scouts”. The A75SCA armored reconnaissance personnel carrier, similar in its characteristics to the M2, was presented to the military. It was equipped with an 8-cylinder Ford V8 engine producing 85 hp. and reached speeds of up to 120 km/h, but the American army was not interested. Another car was a little more lucky - the T13, created on the chassis of a commercial Ford-Marmon-Herrington truck: 38 units were ordered by the National Guard in 1937.
While these two companies competed with each other, White continued to modernize the M2A1. The armored personnel carrier received a new 5-liter Hercules JXD engine with a power of 110 hp. The shape of the hull has also undergone changes. In particular, the armor plate in front of the radiator was placed at an angle, which increased its bullet resistance. In 1938, this vehicle was standardized by the US Military Department under the designation MZ, but again it was produced in small quantities - in two years only 64 units left the factory floors. All of them entered service with the 13th Cavalry Regiment of the 7th Mechanized Cavalry Brigade. Based on the positive experience of their operation, the US Army command decided to equip all cavalry units with vehicles of this type. Soon the White company offered the military an improved version of this armored personnel carrier - MZA1. It was launched into a large series.
Compared to the M3, the new vehicle had an elongated hull at the rear. The width of the body was increased, it exceeded the outer dimensions of the rear wheels. The configuration of the side doors and the design of the frontal sheet of the body have changed, and the door in its rear wall has been eliminated. In the front part of the hull, or rather in front of it, a rotating buffer drum appeared, which became a characteristic detail of American armored personnel carriers during the Second World War.
Like the M3, the M3A1 was equipped with a carburetor 110-horsepower Hercules JXD engine, which allowed a combat vehicle weighing 5,624 tons to accelerate on the highway to a maximum speed of 88 km/h. The fuel range (two tanks of 57 liters each under the driver's and commander's seats) was 360 km.
Attempts were made to use another type of engine on the M3A1: in particular, the installation of Buda-Lanova and Hercules diesel engines with a power of 81 and 103 hp. respectively. The diesel version was designated M3A2. The thickness of the M3A1 body armor ranged from 12.7 mm (frontal body sheet) to 6.35 mm (all other sheets).
Two machine guns - 12.7 mm M2 and 7.62 mm M1919A4 - were mounted on a special rail using movable M22 machines, which made it possible to move the machine guns along the entire perimeter of the body. The ammunition consisted of 8,000 rounds of 7.62 mm caliber and 600 - 750 12.7 mm rounds. Boxes with machine gun belts were placed in two boxes located on the sides of the body. Instead of the M1919A4 machine gun, a 7.62-mm water-cooled Brawning M1917A1 machine gun could be installed. In the USSR, a Maxim machine gun was sometimes mounted on the M22 machine gun. In 1941, the first M3A1s left the White factory floors, and by the end of 1944, when their production ceased, 20,918 units were produced.
Since 1942, "scouts" have become standard weapons armored cavalry squadrons of tanks, and then infantry divisions of the US Army. Since March 1943, each armored cavalry platoon had 13 armored personnel carriers: three in the command group (these vehicles were also tractors for 37-mm anti-tank guns), one in the reconnaissance group and nine “scouts” in three reconnaissance sections. In addition, they were used as ambulances and staff vehicles. The ambulance scout carried two lying and three sitting wounded.
"Scouts" were supplied to almost all of the US allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. They were in service with the Free French troops, the Polish armed forces in the West, and Belgian and Czechoslovak units. As for the British Commonwealth of Nations, Canadian and Australian units were the first to receive the M3A1; the British army accepted them only in May 1941. M3A1s were used in the headquarters units of regiments and brigades. Soon they began to be used as ambulances and artillery observer vehicles. In tank and armored vehicle units, “scouts” served for quite a long time as command and communication vehicles equipped with a powerful radio station. However, soon each squadron in the armored car regiments received a platoon of riflemen and four “scouts” to transport them.
And finally, starting in the second half of 1944, a large number of M3A1s were used in motorized infantry battalions of the British Army. The USSR received (deliveries began in 1942) 3034 М3А1, which in Soviet documents of those years were referred to as armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles or semi-armored vehicles . The training of crews for them was entrusted to the 20th Tank Regiment, stationed in Uryupinsk, and then in Ryazan, transferring it from March 1, 1942 to the staff of a training tank regiment. Command and technical personnel for units equipped with “scouts” were trained at the 3rd Saratov School of Armored Vehicles and Armored Personnel Carriers.
"Scouts" became the most widespread and most popular armored personnel carriers in the Red Army. They were used in the same way as in the Allied forces, mainly as reconnaissance and headquarters vehicles. A reconnaissance unit of a tank or mechanized brigade had 3-4 M3A1s, a corps reconnaissance battalion had 6-8, and an army motorcycle regiment had 13-16. Perhaps their only drawback, mentioned in reports on combat use, can be called an unreliable towing device (in reconnaissance units, “scouts” served as tractors for a battery of 76-mm ZIS-3 guns), as well as a decrease in dynamic characteristics when towing artillery systems.
As an example illustrating the combat work of the reconnaissance units of the Red Army, we can cite a description of the actions of the 28th Guards Mechanized Brigade of the 8th Guards Tank Corps during the liberation of Poland in August 1944. South of the village of Lenin, the enemy set up an ambush in a ravine. Having been drawn into the ravine, a column of control vehicles of the 28th Guards Mechanized Brigade was unexpectedly fired upon from the left flank and frontally from the factory buildings of the village. Two reconnaissance squads under the command of Lieutenant Alekseychuk, moving to the left, attracted the attention of the enemy ambush. Meanwhile, four M3A1 armored personnel carriers of a separate reconnaissance company under the command of the deputy chief of staff of the guard reconnaissance brigade, Major Tifonov, opened heavy machine-gun fire on the enemy. As a result, 30 Nazis, seeing a hopeless situation, threw down their weapons and surrendered, the rest, who were in the beam (up to 60 soldiers and officers), were destroyed.
Only individual Nazis, numbering up to 30 people, holed up in the building, continued to conduct strong automatic and machine-gun fire, shooting at the road along which the column of vehicles was supposed to move. Two M3A1 armored personnel carriers sent forward under the command of Senior Sergeant Starostin and Sergeant Lieberman came close to the plant building and opened heavy fire on the windows, forcing the enemy to stop resistance. Two anti-tank guns of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion arrived in time and completed the defeat of the enemy ambush.
The M3A1 was in service with the Soviet Army at least until 1947. Without any doubt, this vehicle served as a direct prototype for the creation of the Soviet light armored personnel carrier BTR-40.
In the USA, “scouts” were withdrawn from service in October 1947, after which their delivery began abroad, mainly to Latin America. After the war, a significant number of M3A1s arrived in France, which actively used them during combat operations in Indochina and Algeria. Some of the vehicles were converted into armored tires and used to protect railways. Subsequently, the French transferred the “scouts” to South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and a number of African countries.
In 1947 - 1948, during the War of Independence in Israel, several M3A1 armored personnel carriers purchased in Europe were converted into armored vehicles. In the Jerusalem workshops, their hulls were completely covered on top with armor plates and a rotating turret with a German MG 34 machine gun was mounted. The second MG 34 was installed in the front hull plate to the right of the driver. In this form, “scouts” took an active part in hostilities.
In the next month or two, I’m expecting some fabulous events, and I don’t know how life will turn out next. We only know that there will be a lot of hemorrhoids, little free time, and all this will last for a long time. As usual, there is a lull before such a large-scale event. Everything that could be done has already been done, most of the processes go by themselves and require almost no intervention on my part, but what remains to be done - the time has not yet come for this. There is no point in starting anything serious. Sitting completely idle is also boring.
To keep your head from getting clogged with all sorts of useless worries about the future, you need to constantly distract it with something. In this situation, I couldn’t find anything better than going to the nearest “Children’s World” and buying a couple of sets with models. American armored car and Soviet ZIS. Well, since such a model binge has begun. When else will I have a chance to collect models? It is unknown whether I will ever return to this topic again - at least I’ll hang on while I can...
I'll try to create some kind of another guide. For the little ones. Although the process of assembling a plastic model is trivial and does not contain any sacred knowledge, there is something to talk about. In case anyone reading this has a child whose beloved aunt gave him a glue machine for his birthday. Let him read this, maybe it will come in handy :-)
Even here’s how I’ll do it: I’ll assemble the model not as usual, but according to the instructions! It's no secret that factory kits have to be seriously modified by hand during assembly in order for something good to come out. At least that's how it used to be.
Soviet-made sets were of very low quality. Many parts did not fit together, half of the parts did not exist at all, some parts were depicted so conventionally that they had to be cut off from the plastic and made their own... But times, it seems, have changed. When I was collecting SDKfz 251, then out of habit I read the instructions sideways, just to know which parts go where, so I can’t assess its adequacy in terms of the assembly sequence. But now you can try to assemble the model “honestly” and see what happens.
This is what the set looks like:
I already wrote somewhere, but I’ll note again that you don’t need to use black for rubber. Rubber is never completely black. Look at any car in the yard. Dark gray color will look much more natural on tires.
3. Now, using a thin brush and a magnifying glass, paint the disc:
4. Well, the final trick is applied (very thinly diluted “dirty” paint + swab + air stream from an airbrush):
Unfortunately, the parts were cast in such a way that rotating wheels could not be made. After the wheel is put on the axle, such a tiny stump remains sticking out from it that the “plug” that secures the wheel does not cling to it:
And you won’t be able to undermine anything anywhere – there is simply nothing to undermine there. It’s the other way around – you need to increase it. Those. In fact, you need to cut off these axles and make them yourself from scratch to the required length. This is an obvious and gross fault of the set manufacturer. He will burn in Hell for an extra day for this!
At this stage, it would seem that everything is quite trivial. But there were some adventures.
First of all, the same incredible amount of burnt on small parts. But that’s okay – it’s already commonplace. What’s worse is that the winch brackets (parts 75 and 77), when installed on the frame, have a distance between them that exceeds the length of the winch shaft (parts 78 and 79). Moreover, it’s good that it exceeds. About two or two and a half millimeters. Those. making this shaft rotate - no chance. I had to glue the winch shaft tightly to the brackets in order to attract them to each other. Any such violence of detail is bad. Either in plastic models, or in paper models, or in any other kind.
If, for example, the frame was assembled from several parts, then this could be attributed to one’s own crookedness. Well, no! The frame is immediately given ready-made. It is she who sets the distance between the brackets. And it’s the manufacturer’s fault that the width of the frame (or the length of the winch shaft) is such a lie. There was simply nowhere to mess up in this part. There are obvious errors in relative sizes. It is unpleasant.
It also turned out that no decals are offered for the instrument panel. So I had to take a needle and paint the devices myself. They are, of course, too small to see any details, and it’s almost invisible, but at least conditionally the markings had to be applied:
Like, it’s clear that this is a kit for modelers - so model it yourself. But on the other hand, a ready-made kit is offered, which implies that the modeler must have all the necessary parts available. Otherwise, man will not need the whale. Since you have to do something yourself from scratch, then why bother with some kits? Therefore, the lack of a decal for the instrument panel in this case is a gross mistake by the kit manufacturer.
Moreover, for the model of a German transporter from the same “Zvezda” there was such a decal. It turns out that there is some kind of inconsistent approach to packaging different models from the same manufacturer. If suddenly, quite by chance, a representative of “Zvezda” reads this article, then let him answer in the comments: what for, how long, who is to blame and where to run?!
From a series of practical tips on this stage:
- As you can see from the photos, I first assembled the entire front box with the hood, side trim and radiator trim. And only after that I installed it on the chassis. Instead of glueing each part separately directly onto the chassis. Besides the fact that this is simply correct, it also does not violate the numbering order in the instructions. I recommend that you always do this in such cases. Firstly, by assembling many separate parts on the chassis at once, you can get inconsistencies in the most visible places without a chance to take them somewhere where they will not be visible. Secondly, it is more convenient to paint this box like this, and not when it is tightly attached to the chassis. Thirdly, it is also convenient to glue any small details when the box still exists separately.
- Despite the fact that they suggest installing the windshield at this stage, I do not recommend doing this. From my own experience, I know that you will still have to paint/glue a lot of things and you can easily stain the glass or fill it with glue (the latter is fatal). Of course, you always have to proceed from the specific situation, but for this model, absolutely nothing can stop you from installing the windshield as a last resort. It will be more whole...
Any small body kit on the muzzle/stern. Along the way, weathering continues to be applied to the model. Dirt, soot, scuffs, etc. For those who don’t like the “fresh from the ditch” style, it’s a little easier – just be careful to evenly color the parts.
At this stage, everything seemed to fall into place. Although the seats for the hooks near the winch turned out to be somewhat uncertain. I had to use a lot of glue and then dry it for a long time.
The headlights had to be painted. After all, it is clear that making glass for headlights from transparent plastic is the unattainable pinnacle of the technological process of manufacturing model kits. Nobody even dreams about this. Absolutely flat, straight, transparent windshields are the maximum that the production of transparent plastics is capable of. I’ll keep quiet about the separate red glass pieces for the taillights. After all, this would make the set more expensive by ten, or even, scary to think... maybe even TWENTY rubles! The consumer would never be able to bear this difference in the price of the box.
By the way, this is not an exclusive insanity of the domestic “Star”. I thought something had changed in that regard over the years. Nevermind! Having scoured the Internet, I became convinced that even the vaunted Tamiya is guilty of this cretinism...
Historical and technical digression...
Along the way I was surprised by the design of the original. It turns out that people could only get into the back by jumping over the side. For some reason, it seems to me that in combat this method of getting into or leaving a car is not very healthy. Either I don’t see some kind of trick (built-in teleport, for example), or this is some kind of very short-sighted move by the engineers. Well, that is. if something happens, you have to climb out at full height over the edge of the perfectly shootable side. Moreover, the car is not so small. Climbing into/out of a high body is not like jumping over a fence up to your waist. Here, jump like this under bullets to almost the height of a man:
For example, the same German SdKfz. In terms of dimensions they are almost the same. In terms of the height of the sides, certainly:
But the Germans did this:
Those. Not only did they have the back door open, but it also happened in such a way that those getting out/getting in received additional protection on the sides... Why the Americans didn’t like their soldiers so much is unclear. I have no doubt that there were reasons for this and, perhaps, everything was not as bad as it seems at first glance, but I can’t immediately grasp the essence of the trick.
These M3s were supplied to us in large quantities under lend-lease during the war. If anyone still has a grandfather who could deal with these cars, don’t consider it difficult to ask how they got out of getting into the body? I asked my friend, but he spent the entire war in a Dodge 3/4 in field reconnaissance. “Three Quarters” is smaller in size and is a regular “jeep” like our “goat” GAZ. There was no such problem there in principle.
But the Americans had soft assholes in the back, while the Germans had simple wooden hard benches. There is no perfection in the world.
The end of the historical and technical retreat...
Continuation of the body kit:
With various small parts hanging on the sides, adventures rarely arise. It has not arisen even now.
As a practical piece of advice, I can only say that don’t be lazy about painting your straps. Those. in this case, for example, at a canister. I used five colors for them:
- base color for pallets
- khaki color for the canisters themselves
- dark gray color for the straps that secure the canisters to the pallets
- silver for metallization
- a little rust
Further, in addition to the remaining body kit, it is proposed to choose an option: with an open radiator protection or with a closed one. I decided to do it with open protection. And here you need to be careful and look at the progress ahead. The fact is that a decal is placed on the protective blinds. With the closed version, everything is simple - the protection is one continuous piece that could be installed immediately and then a decal applied to it. The option with open blinds is made up of four separate parts. And the decal is solid. Those. It is impossible to accurately apply one continuous decal to four different parts. The decal will have to be cut. And it’s most convenient to do this when the radiator protection parts have not yet been installed in the case. therefore, I will do them last, no matter what the order of numbering of parts in the instructions prescribes:
I put off installing the windshield up there. Now that everything is mostly finished it can be installed in place. However, before that you need to abuse him a little. Since I stick to the “fresh from the gutter” paint style, it would be strange to see completely clean glass on a model, like it came straight out of the car wash. Therefore, it will have to be slightly dirty.
First, let's mask off the areas that should remain clean:
We spray it a little with an airbrush, remove the masks, tint the wipers... Well, at least somehow. It is clear that windshield wipers are usually stamped so poorly that they are more than conventional. But - for the sake of formality:
You can install it in place (yes, in a complete assembly you still have to try to look so that you can see them):
Let's return to protecting the radiator, which was put aside contrary to the instructions. First, we assemble it with tape and paint it:
Translating the decal:
Now, after this, carefully use a scalpel to separate the decal at the seams and install the protection parts in the required order on the face of the radiator face:
This is a particular example, but similar situations arise quite often when assembling models. Always think a little ahead in the course of the plot - it will save you from a lot of unnecessary hassle.
Often decals are also given with options. For example, for this M3 it was proposed:
Please consider this carefully. There is no need to sculpt all the available decals as you personally like. Use only the necessary symbols and only in the necessary places. If the kit does not come with a similar diagram, then look at the photos on the Internet. The order and composition of identification marks applied is very important. To sculpt them anyhow is a sign of extreme unprofessionalism.
In this case, I chose the second option for the model. Carefully save the remaining unclaimed decals. Perhaps someday they will come in handy. For example, you yourself will make some kind of model from scratch where you can use them.
To my surprise, I discovered the remaining unused parts in the set. Two boxes of ammunition, a machine gun, a machine gun and some strange part No. 127:
Well, okay, there is no such thing as extra cartridges - I put a couple of these extra boxes in the back. But what to do with the hefty heavy machine gun is unclear. I already installed one exactly the same on my car. I doubt that things were going so smoothly in the army at that time that the vehicles were equipped with a spare machine gun for free. I put it in my stash, maybe it will come in handy someday. Like the machine gun, which is also unclear where to attach it. What part No. 127 is and what it is needed for is completely unclear. According to the diagram, part No. 126 is the last one. There are no No. 127 in the instructions...
The result is this aggressive-looking jalopy:
As a conclusion, the general impressions of the set: so crazy. A C grade. A huge (unrealistically huge) amount of flash and, in places, crooked casting of the blanks. No matter how hard I tried with a scalpel and sandpaper, in many places I could not completely get rid of this disgrace. There is a problem in the wheel parts which means they cannot be made to rotate. No dashboard decals. Some design inaccuracies of the model. The seams are in the most inappropriate places, where you can hardly disguise them. And so on.
Next time I'll try to assemble the ZIS-151 model - let's see what's going on with the kit and how meaningful it is. And with this, I guess I’ll wrap up with the model topic for a long time...
“Scouts” mainly entered reconnaissance units. Perhaps this was the only Allied vehicle that was unequivocally positively assessed in the reports of units and formations on its combat use. The only drawback of the Scout was considered to be an unreliable towing device (in reconnaissance units, a battery of 76-mm ZIS-3 guns was towed by an MZA1 armored personnel carrier), as well as a decrease in speed characteristics when towing artillery systems. Therefore, by the end of the war, some batteries of reconnaissance units began to use Studebaker 113-6 trucks to tow 76-mm guns.
Armored personnel carriers MZA1 "Scout car". On the right is an M2 towing a ZiS-3 cannon from a separate reconnaissance battalion of the Southwestern Front, summer 1943.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car" of General P. Rotmistrov, commander of the 5th Guards Tank Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, winter 1945.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car" of the Guard Lieutenant Colonel I. I. Gusakovsky (left), commander of the 44th Tank Brigade of the 1st Tank Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front, January 1944.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car", 11th Tank Corps of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Chernivtsi, Romania, January 30, 1944.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car" of the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps of the 1st Baltic Front, Mitava, 1944.
M3A1 Scout Car armored personnel carriers and BA-64 armored car of Captain K.K. Kotov, 13th Mechanized Corps of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, August 1944.
MZA1 "Scout Car" of the Guard Lieutenant Kirilov, Germany, spring 1945.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car" of the reconnaissance detachment commander Captain Utkin, 11th Guards Cavalry Division of the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, Hungary, December 1944.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car" and two armored vehicles BA-64, 4th motorcycle regiment of the 6th Tank Army, Romania, September-October 1944.
MZA1 "Scout Car", unidentified reconnaissance unit, Austria, April 1945.
M3AI "Scout Car", 3rd Tank Corps of the 2nd Belorussian Front, April 1945.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car", 1st mechanized corps of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Vienna, April 1945.
MZA1 "Scout Car", 1st Mechanized Corps of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Vienna, April 1945.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car", 1st Ukrainian Front, Germany, April 1945.
Top photo - MZA1 "Scout Car", 13th Mechanized Corps of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Hungary, November 1944.
Bottom photo - Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car", 1st mechanized corps of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Vienna, April 1945.
MZA1 “Scout Car” of the 1st Belorussian Front, Berlin, atypical two-color camouflage. An additional Maxim machine gun has been installed.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car", 5th Tank Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Tolkmik, February 22, 1945.
Armored personnel carrier MZA1 "Scout Car", 10th Guards Mechanized Brigade, 5th Guards Mechanized Corps, 4th Guards Tank Army, 1st Ukrainian Front, Germany, April 1945.
M3A1 Scout Car armored personnel carriers, parade on Red Square in Moscow, November 7, 1945.
In order for the brigade to truly become mechanized, at least 30 Scout Car armored personnel carriers were required per unit, however, until the very end of the war, M3AI, due to the relative small number of supplies (3034 vehicles) and the lack of production of such vehicles in our country, were distributed only to reconnaissance units: the brigade's reconnaissance company had 3–4 vehicles, the corps' reconnaissance battalion had 6–8 armored personnel carriers, and the army's motorcycle regiment had 13–16 MZA1s. At the headquarters of large formations (company, guard battalion) there were also American and British armored cars and armored personnel carriers.
Soviet reconnaissance units were, without a doubt, the best motorized infantry of the Red Army. True professionals, sometimes with very small forces they took populated areas, skillfully captured “tongues” and prisoners. As an example, we give the actions of reconnaissance units of the 28th Guards Mechanized Brigade of the 8th Guards Tank during the liberation of Poland in August 1944.
When approaching the village. In Leczna, in a gully 500 m to the south, her enemy set up an ambush consisting of a company of selected Nazi submachine gunners. Pulling into the beam, a column of vehicles from the command of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion and the command of the 28th Guards. The IRB with a reserve of 40 vehicles were unexpectedly fired upon to the left of the road and frontally from the factory buildings of the village. Lenczna.
Two squads of scouts thrown to the left under the command of Lieutenant Alekseichuk attracted the attention of the enemy ambush. The forward columns of 4 armored personnel carriers MZA1 "Scout Car" of a separate reconnaissance company under the leadership of the deputy chief of staff of the 28th Guards. The IRB for reconnaissance - the guard of Major Tifonov - opened heavy machine-gun fire on the enemy. As a result, 30 Nazis, seeing a hopeless situation, threw down their weapons, raised their hands up and surrendered, the rest, who were in the beam (up to 60 enemy soldiers and officers), were destroyed.
Only individual Nazis, numbering up to 30 people, settled in the building of the village. Lenczna, continued to conduct strong machine-gun and machine gun fire, shooting through the road along which the column of vehicles was supposed to move.
Two M3A14 armored personnel carriers sent forward under the command of Senior Sergeant Starostin and Sergeant Lieberman came close to the plant building and opened heavy fire on the windows of the factory buildings, forcing the “Hitler bandits” to stop their fire resistance.
Two anti-tank guns of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion, which arrived from the reserve, completed the defeat of the organized enemy ambush. The column, which was subjected to enemy fire for half an hour, had no casualties.
