The M5 Half-track (officially the Carrier, Personnel Half-track M5) was an American armoured personnel carrier in use during World War II. It was developed in 1942 when existing manufacturers of the M2 Half Track Car, and M3 Half-track could not keep up with production demand. The M5 was supplied to Allied nations (the British Commonwealth, France, and the Soviet Union) under the Lend-Lease.
The specifications of the M5 were almost identical to the specifications of the M3 Half-track. It was 20.8 feet (6.3 m) long, 7.3 feet (2.23 m) wide, 9 feet (2.74 m) high, and weighed 21,500 pounds (9.8 t). It had vertical volute springs for the tracks and semi-elliptical longitudinal leaf springs for the wheels. It was powered by a 142 hp (106 kW) White 160AX, 386 cubic inch (6,330 cc), 6-cylinder engine, with a compression ratio of 6.35:1. It had a fuel capacity of 60 US gallons (230 l), a range of 125 miles (201 km), and a speed of 42 miles per hour (68 km/h). It had constant mesh transmission, 6.5–13.5 mm (0.26–0.53 in) of armour, one 0.5 in (12.7 mm) M2 machine gun and two 0.3 in (7.6 mm) M1919 machine guns, and crew of three with up to ten passengers.
I primed the models in black followed by a spray of Army Painter 'British Tank'.
Next was a heavy wash of 60/40 brown /black wash.
I followed up with a dry brush with Russian Uniform and painted the base colours of the other details.
I also painted the crew in GW paints namely Graveyard Earth for the uniform and Russian Uniform for the helmets followed by the wash of brown and black.
Nearly done, so stay tuned.
Vitor