Now that I have shared all of the Vichy French vehicles that I completed on this blog, it is time for me to add the American models. These will also be used in my What a Tanker games for Operation Torch at HISTORICON 2025. I am starting with the American reconnaissance scout car – the M3A1 Scout Car.
It was designed and built by the now-defunct White Motor Company, with the chassis interestingly being a product of the Diebold Lock and Safe Company. It was a 4×4, and could do up to 50 mph on the road (80 kph). Many of you will notice how similar the M3A1 is to the M3 half-track. And for good reason, as the M3 half-track was a development of the M3A1 Scout car.
It typically carried a Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun plus up to two additional Browning M1919 .30 caliber machine guns. It was open-topped with armor on the chassis up to 13mm/.5″ in thickness. It could carry up to 6 soldiers in addition to the driver. A canvas cover was available for protection against the elements. The M3A1 was intended to be a reconnaissance vehicle, but its lack of protection made it less desirable than the M3 half-track in that role. In US use, it was relegated to rear-echelon uses after Operation Torch and Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily). Over 21,000 were made, with over half of that number going as Lend-Lease, mainly to the British Commonwealth and the Soviet Union.
I found David Doyle’s book, M3A1 Scout Car: The US Army’s Early World War II Reconnaissance Vehicle (Legends of Warfare: Ground, 8), very interesting and useful.
For my Operation Torch What a Tanker games, I decided that these would serve as the cavalry scouts that would run into those quirky French armored cars that I’ve been posting about recently.
Sourcing of the M3A1 models came from two different places. I got two Battlefront Flames of War models (SKU US 300) from a flea market at the HAVOC gaming convention in April. These models came with crew and machine guns. As the Battlefront model seems to be out-of-production, I needed to look elsewhere for more models. I went to eBay as a second source.
There from Wolverine3d.com I found models with the tarpaulin covers on. Given that a) these were different from the Battlefront models, b) there would be no crew to paint (saving time), and c) very reasonably-priced, I ordered 5, bringing my total available to 7 M3A1’s. They were not too crisp, and made of PLA plastic, but good enough for tabletop use. I started work on them all on May 23rd, and finished them on June 2nd. As I was hurrying to complete the entire project, photography of in-progress work took a backseat. I did work on multiple types of US vehicles concurrently as well. I judged doing separate posts for each type was better for me and you dear reader!
I cleaned up the models and washed them. For ease of painting I then mounted a small 1/2″ square steel base under each M3A1 model. This would allow me to use magnets to support the vehicles while I painted them. I also drilled out and installed small neodymium magnets (secured with green stuff) so that I would be capable of using my equally-magnetized blast markers on any that got brewed up in a game. As for crew- I used my alligator clip stand and some wood screws on them as supports – in a painful way for them (if they were capable of pain of course).
After painting I added decals and labels. Each M3A1 got a different name. Because in Operation Torch there was a mixed use of gold and white stars on US vehicles, I varied their application as well with some home-made gold star decals. They were ok – but not 100% to my liking, and you will see the different approach that I took on the other US vehicles (in future posts).
Once completed, I took a few photos of them assembled on my tabletop set up.
This wraps up this post on my 7 M3A1’s. Remaining are I have 8 American tanks and 6 tank destroyers to share. Which ones? You can probably guess – rightly or wrongly! What did you think of the M3A1’s? Did you learn anything? Maybe I motivated you to get some for yourself? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section!
Lastly, for all of my posts on WWII games and projects – there is a consolidated list of posts and their links located here.
MATERIALS USED
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS AND FLOCKING USED ON THE TWO BATTLEFRONT/FLAMES OF WAR RESIN M3A1 MODELS AND THE FIVE WOLVERINE3D.COM M3A1 3D-PRINTED MODELS:
- Green Stuff
- War Games Accessories Steel Bases Number 23 (1½” x 2″)
- Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
- War Games Accessories Steel Bases Number 16 (½” x ½”)
- Gorilla Glue
- Alligator clips and stand
- Wooden Blocks, steel bolts, steel washers, magnets, steel screws
- Neodymium magnets (⅛” and ¼”)
- Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
- Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
- Plastic machine guns from Battlefront M5 Stuart Platoon kit
- Vallejo Surface Primer “USA Olive Drab”
- Citadel “Agrellan Earth” (texture)
- Army Painter “Mid Brown” (shade/wash)
- Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
- Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
- Vallejo Model Color “Dark Sea Grey”
- Battlefront “Tommy Green”
- Vallejo Model Air “Ivory”
- Vallejo Model Color “Off White”
- Citadel “Tallarn Sand”
- Reaper MSP “Pure Black”
- Battlefront “European Skin”
- Vallejo Model Air “Black Metallic”
- Vallejo Model Color “Wood Grain”
- Vallejo Model Air “Wood”
- Army Painter “Flesh Wash” (shade/wash)
- Army Painter “Military Shader” (shade/wash)
- Hataka “Vert Fonce”
- Vallejo Model Color “USA Olive Drab”
- Vallejo “Mecha Varnish Gloss”
- Microscale Industries “Micro Set”
- Microscale Industries “Micro Sol”
- Microscale Industries “Liquid Decal Film”
- Expert’s Choice Ink Jet Clear Decal Paper
- Gin Fritter US Army decals
- Battlefront US Army decals
- Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
- Citadel “‘Ardcoat”
- Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
- Vallejo Flow Improver
- Vallejo Thinner
- Vallejo “Matte Polyurethane Varnish”
- Printed labels on card stock
- Gamers Grass “Tiny Beige 2mm Tufts” (flocking)
- PVA Glue
Mark A. Morin 