"What is the difference for the M3 Halftrack..." Topic

…if it has the push bumper or the winch on the front of the vehicle? Is having one an earlier version, were only the command vehicle equipped with the winch, does it matter? I am assembling a lot of plastic M3 Halftracks and the models comes with both options. Or does having the winch mean that the model is now a M5 instead?

Heck. I can't tell the difference between that and an M2.

Its not a winch, its a roller. Keeps the "nose" of the 'track from digging into the ground when on a down slope.

Earlier models had the ditch roller, later ones began to be fitted with winches.

I don't believe there were any specific regulations on how many vehicles within a platoon were to have winches vs. rollers.

It's possible that the HQ vehicle in a platoon would have a winch with the rest of the vehicles having the roller, for example.

You can also see the same kind of ditch rollers on other vehicles such as the White Scout Car.

As KeithRK stated, early production vehicles had the roller while later vehicles could have either the roller or the winch. M3s were built by White while M5s were built by International Harvester.

The proportion of later vehicles built with winch and precisely how these were allocated is a little unclear. Some previous discussion here:

TMP link

Heck. I can't tell the difference between that and an M2.

M3s were built by White while M5s were built by International Harvester.

M2 was a smaller vehicle, intended as a prime mover for guns. Close up details on the M2 would include panels on each side that can be opened from outside of the vehicle, to access the ammo stowage under the bench seats. Perhaps more visible on scale models is that the M2 did not have a door at the rear of the crew/cargo compartment, while M3 did.

M5 was the equivalent of the M3 (ie: personnel carrier), made by International Harvester. M9 was the IH equivalent of M2. In both cases the parts were not interchangeable, even though the vehicles looked similar and fit the same roles. The easiest visual identifier is the corners of the hull armor. The White models had two separate side plates and a rear plate that were welded together, giving typical right-angle joints at the rear corners. The IH models had a single plate which was bent around the rear corners, leading to visibly rounded corners in the rear.

For ease of supply, the US Army stuck with the M2 and M3. Most (though not all) lend-lease halftracks were M5 and M9.

And as a (perhaps) interesting aside, most Israeli halftracks (at least all that I have managed to get a close look at!) were M5s, not M3s. This is not too much of a surprise, as most of the equipment Israel got in the early years (up to about 1967) was stuff that had been surplussed-off by European countries, rather than MilAid directly from the U.S.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

It's probably worth noting that the Israelis refer to all of their halftracks as "M3s", regardless of their original American designations.

Okay so I would be fine then with having a mix of rollers and winches among the M3s I am currently assembling it would seem. Great discussion and as always I find out interesting things here on TMP.

Winches were on command halftracks roller on the others

a mix would be fine

Good post and discussion. Mark 1, like that photo.

Winches were on command halftracks roller on the others

Not sure if you read the older thread I linked, but I very much doubt that only command halftracks were winches.

certainly std apc had winches as well as command ones.