M2A1 "Hell Hound" project

[67tank]

Coming together nicely Pat. 

Can you post up a pic of the stenciling on the battery cover?

What is the marking on the driver's side fender in that last vintage (Combat Reels) pic?

-Tom

Tom
As requested - Photo of battery box with shipping stencil.  (stencil from Rick Larsen)
I wish I knew what those small markings were on the fender from that photo.  I am still confused on what exactly the board over the that light is supposed to signify?? 

[steve1973]

I wish I knew what those small markings were on the fender from that photo.  I am still confused on what exactly the board over the that light is supposed to signify??

Pat,
On the right fender next to the headlight could be the yellow bridge plate marking with number 9 in black in it. Looking at the board over the headlight, it has 3 rows of info. The center row says LCT 67. LCT is short for landing craft tank which is most likely how the halftrack came ashore. Just my thought. the rest can mean order of placement and/or unit number or something I guess. I did a quick search for LCT-67 and believe it or not I got something. Here is a link to the site: http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/18/180067.htm.


Steve A.

[67tank]

Steve
I know that is the  bridge marking on the passenger side fender.  I think is an eight - not a nine??

What I think Tom was talking about is the markings in the driver's side fender just to the left of the light guard....I have no idea. 

as for the three rows of info on the light cover itself, it just doesn't make sense. 

1.  I cannot make out what the top row is at all
2.  The second row makes sense as a Landing Craft Tank but not LCT 67 (that LCT was in the pacific according to your link)  Additionally if you google LST 1030 or LST 1003 (from another halftrack's bumper at Normandy) both of those ships come back to the Pacific Theater so I am even more confused.....
3.  Lastly.  I thought maybe the bottom row was the date of June 14th but 2nd Armored Division came ashore on June 9th at Omaha Beach (according to Wikipedia which is never wrong....)so that makes no sense. 

Thankfully I am not marking mine as a second battalion vehicle

[col.halftrack]

Not much extra to add but.
 Left fender three colored bars are tactical bars that specify unit/loading order etc. Someone has published an article or two on this topic. Not sure what the white marks/letters are above the bars.
 I would have to look for other photos but most half-tracs were marked either 9 or 9/10 if assigned a trailer.
 

[67tank]

Thanks Kevin - Do you have that article somewhere?  I'd like to read it and see if I need to add the colored tactical marks for what I am trying to achieve. 
I normally don't disagree with you (because that would be foolish) but most war time photos I have seen of M2/M2A1's are with the a Number 8 not a 9.  I have even seen one track with a 10 ("Avenger", the one damaged going ashore with the weird 'amoeba' camo paint job)

[Tapper02]

Left fender three colored bars are tactical bars that specify unit/loading order etc. Someone has published an article or two on this topic. Not sure what the white marks/letters are above the bars.

No kidding!  I thought about that but since the track has all it's unit markings on it, it didn't make sense.  But if you think about it, they could have applied the markings after embarking...or after hitting the shore.

Pat, there's a book that has all the markings collated.  The article Kevin is talking about was discussed on the G.

-Tom

[67tank]

I think I found the article you referenced on the G
Invasion or Unit Bar Codes on 2nd Armored Vehicles
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?uid=57260&f=24&t=65402&start=0

Stripes to be stenciled horizontally, approximately 1” by 4” in size, in the colors allocated to the number as follows:

1 Buff
2 Olive Drab
3 Yellow, bright
4 Green, bright
5 Gray
6 Blue, dark
7 Maroon
8 Red, bright
9 White, lead
0 Brown, dark
Found this GREAT site on WW2 Prep for Overseas Movement POM that has multiple units for 2AD including 66th AR Regimental HQ, 1st, 2nd, 3rd BN, G and H Company's marking system as well as 41st Infantry 1st Bn but nothing yet for 67th unit's 

http://www.med-dept.com/pom/index.php?currentpage=1&pagecount=50&sortorder=`unit` ASC

So the marks above the colored strips are numbers indicating the Unit's assigned serial number -  possible 44473???  Now I need to do some research and figure out what 3-67th unit serial number was and what colored bars they used.  Great, another rabbit hole to go climbing into.  Stand by.

[Tapper02]

This is the thread I was referring to…should have put it in my original post but I didn't have great connectivity where I was (shhhh).

http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=273823

I recently ordered the book so when it comes in I might be able to help.

Very similar to the thread you posted, which is interesting in itself.  Yep…rabbit holes are fun…sometimes!

-Tom

[67tank]

I bought the damn book.  Thanks to my credit card, Amazon and UPS it arrived today.  The 2nd Battalion vehicle in question would be 43918 Buff - red - buff.  3rd Bn, 67th is 44460 Dark Blue - dark brown - dark blue.  Ordering the stencil tomorrow. 

If anyone needs to know what Unit serial number/color code would be assigned to a specific company coming ashore D+1 thru D+14, send me a PM.  Book has markings for all the units assigned to the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions, 4th and 102nd Cav groups, various independent tank battalions that were attached to the Infantry divisions, etc.....

[Tapper02]

Didn't see those on Rick's website…are you ordering it as a specialty stencil?

-Tom

[67tank]

Yes - told him to make up a stencil with three 1" x 4" horizontal lines spaced 1/2" apart.  And then a separate 5 digit stencil of 1" numbers a little longer than 4 in to match up the 2nd Bn photo.  Easy.  Also, he has a lot of stuff that isn't listed like the M1A1 Anti tank mine stencils. 

[Darth_Kitten]

That looks incredible!

[67tank]

More Stencil work.  Front POM and side Speed Numbers in place. 
Now that I know to look, I see a few photos of the POM markings on various half tracks front fenders at Normandy.  Seen nothing on the rear of HT as of yet - anyone? 

[R.E.Co.]

If this is an M2A1, why didnt you mount the headlights on the sides of the radiator armor rather than the fender?

[67tank]

If this is an M2A1, why didnt you mount the headlights on the sides of the radiator armor rather than the fender?

I like the look of the fender mounted lights. And not all M2A1 conversions switched over to the later style lights. I've seen photos of M2A1s in the 50's still sporting the fender headlights.  Since the halftrack was originally built in 41 I figured I had some leeway.
The 2nd battalion track that I used as a reference was a M2A1 with fender mounted lights.