M3 Stuart

Rob Haelterman Hi Ole, I have this set and am willing to part with it. Kind regards, Rob.

Ole Østergaard Hi Rob. Thank you for reaching out. What is on your wish list? Where are you located? BR Ole

JCME Great!!!

Dave Morris Please visit the associated album for comments, updates & pictures for this project.

Mike K Great kit.

Kevin Taylor That is a great kit. You can see my build of it in my Albums. Look forward to seeing what you're going to do. The addition of metal tracks will be great.

Ron Garcia Easy build. Went with the vinyl tracks to save time. That was the only problem area. There are only two extremely long and thin connecting pins that must be melted to hold the tracks together. The strength of the connection was not nearly enough and both sides came apart with just a small amount of stretching. I ended up stapling them together and hid them under the side skirts. Masking the paint job wasn't as complicated as the Tamiya Matilda I finished at the same time but it still required a bit of finesse. Recommended for any skill level.

43 Rascarcapaco I like the inside of your tank more then mine...u have the correct colors for the seat,fire Extinguisher.
The outside is a only DESERT DUST...

Urban Gardini Thanks mate! It was my first ever 1:35 build n' also my return to the hobby back in '05 n' I didn't even know anything about chippin' when I built it.

43 Rascarcapaco did u glue the tank on the hull?(i never close my tanks complety) My tanks are never finishd.There is Always something missing around

Urban Gardini Yes, I glued it so the only way to see the interior is through the hatches n' by removin' the turret.

Wilfried Bogaerts Me like, Urban !

Urban Gardini Thanks mate!

Rui S So this is the one you build 10 years ago? Congratulations.
It's nice to see the evolution since those times hehehe

Urban Gardini Yes, it's the kit that started it all ten years ago! Thanks mate!

Henry Milton Thanks for the compliments. I put a great deal of work into this vignette. I am getting better with faces and building bases. MY next project is a Cromwell. It will be set in a town. I am waiting for some items from Reality in Scale to create a street scene.

Kerry COX I just had to be the Devil in all this Henry, and say that the two men holding their comms devices look like they have mobile phones. :-/
Just brilliant work on all fronts mate, but I just have a twisted mind and I ask your forgivness.

John Van Kooten @Kerry: the guy sitting on the turret is holding and talking into the microphone, which is part of the radio set, including the headphones. The guy standing in front of the tank is holding a compass (not a communication device) and reading a map. No link to modern mobile devices as far as I'm concerned. It all makes perfect sense in this setting

Kerry COX Oh, I do know what they are 'doing' but like I said, to a twisted individual like me, I just saw it from an other angle.

Henry Milton No worries guys, I am glad you enjoy the work no matter how you look at it, maybe they are talking on communicators and Scotty is going to beam them up to the Enterprise.

Kerry COX LOL, Stranger things happened during the WW2 mate, and "FOO fighters" comes to mind. :-O

No, not the band.

Henry Milton There is a potential diorama in there somewhere I am sure. Tractor beam pulling the crew and all up into space?????? Could be interesting..

Rui S Excellent work.

43 Rascarcapaco Well i painted blue if u wanna see it link here =>>> [img1]
More photo's on rascarcapaco.blogspot.be/

I like the Diorama!!

John Gowans Very nice, the weathering looks very good from the picture.

Dave Flitton I'll be interested in watching this

Henry Milton Just kicked this one off. I will post photos soon. This part of a much larger project centered around the the action at Villers Bocage in June, 1944.

Rui S Maybe, I will post a basic insight in the "Military Thinking" thread, about Michael Wittmann... ?

Urban Gardini Congrats mate! It's a great kit but with bad decals. I loved every moment when I built mine nine years ago, well except the matter of decaling.

klauskmk US Version

klauskmk GB Version

John Van Kooten Thanks Fabian!!

I want to go with "I got it" that is, if you meant that figuratively speaking, as in nobody intends to shut other people out of their lives if not, I'm intrigued and want to know what you meant haha!

Fabian D. not quite... but to be fair, a tricky one
It´s a quote from Walther Ulbricht, East-Germans head of state (in June 1961): "Nobody has the intention to erect a wall"
Construction of "The Wall" began on in August 1961. So if you say in his strange pronuciation "Nobody has the intention to... " you pretty much say you have the intention to do exactly so.
Qute starts at 0:44:
Youtube Video

Alan Rush Looks great John. Thanks for writing the step-by-step description. Looking forward to more.

Mike K Looking good John. I like Academy's Stuarts. I'll be watching.

Dave Flitton Looking good

John Van Kooten @Fabian: Aaaah! That really WAS a tricky one but a good one nonetheless! Nice reference you made!

@Alan: Thanks Alan! I will try to add more specific information on each step as I go along this write-up was somewhat condensed because I had already done quite a bit before I started documenting this project

@Mike: Thanks Mike! I too like Academy's Stuarts very much. They are really nice kits! Detail level is good and they build really easy into a very nice looking Stuart

John Van Kooten @Dave: Thanks Dave!

H K Fabian, thanks for the link

Hunter Cummins Where did you get yours and how much??

Wayne Hale E-BAY bryan_ych $62.50 + $23.00 shipping from ROC

Hunter Cummins Damn is that expensive lol

Dave Flitton A project I have been working from scrap M3 and M5 kits.

Dave Flitton Anyone know of the markings used in the Philippines in 1942?

George Bacon A resurrection project? . Don't know much about the Pacific theater, but have seen some pictures on the internet over the years... . Did the Marines use the M3?

Dave Flitton Yes they did. It was the diesel version of the M3 and M3A1

Dave Flitton Added pictures. Close to finishing

George Bacon Looking good !

Hunter Cummins I like it

Dave Flitton Thanks

Dave Flitton Finished. If I touch it again I will break something else. I have dropped it more than once.

Hunter Cummins Top job mate
its looks stunning

Mark Swift Nice work, I really enjoyed this kit when I made it, Which colour scheme are you going for?

Martin Spriggs Not sure at the moment either Desert sand or might try a Caunter.

Urban Gardini May i suggest that you put some after market tracks for this one on your wishlist as well. You should see the kits tracks as they're magical indeed considerin' the fact that the end connectors is level with the track pads thus malin' it look like the tracks are held together by pure magic. The same problem with the Tamiya M8 HMC n' their M3 Lee/Grant.

Frank Krause @Urban: Tamiya's way of MAGIC TRACKS...

Urban Gardini Oh yeah!

JOHN THOMAS That one honey of a tank, nice

Es-haq Khosravi Excellent job!

Mark Swift Thanks!!!

Holger Kranich Really a yummie work on this Stuart!

Mike K Thank you very much. It was fun. Bad decals though....BAD!

Holger Kranich Absolute convincing! Have you created the chips on the interior with a sponge or hairspray?

Albi Hitz Wow! A real gem this one!
Congratulations.

Mike K Thanks Albi.
Thanks again Holger.
Interior chipping was done with an old paint brush, by stippling lightly. Also dry brushing edges and corners with the same color.

Roland Sachsenhofer Wow! I admire your skills, what a inspiring and wonderful work you did!

Wim van der Luijt oh man...that looks so lifelike....kudos to you!

Markus Kutsch The Plastic Bench Great work.!!
Sad that most of the wonderfull work inside will be hidden.

james johnson real nice, like the chipping!

Mike K Thanks again to everyone.
Markus-It can be seen fairly well through the hatches and I can always pop the turret off for a good look inside! It's not glued of course.

Markus Kutsch The Plastic Bench @Mike

But even if it cant be seen,its good to know the great work is inside!

Es-haq Khosravi Excellent job! What a realistic weathering!

Urban Gardini Congrats on a sweet little kit!

james johnson cool looking kit, should paint up real nice!

Acki I´m in!

Mike K A gift from my girl. Going to give it my best shot.

Acki Gave my girl also my best shots. Got 2 daughters.

Mike K Ha! Good one! Got one boy myself. Has no interest in modelling though. Thats life I guess.

Markus Kutsch The Plastic Bench I stay tuned!

Roy McKenzie Cool project. I have that kit and keep putting it off. You plan to use the kit markings? They are not the best Academy has to offer.

Mike K I will use the kits decals. I have bad luck with decals. So no point buying more if I'm gonna screw them up.

Urban Gardini It's a great kit n' the kit that was my return to the hobby eight years ago. It was also the kit that made me hate Academy's decals with a passion from then on...

Roy McKenzie Academy are good kits for the price. Some of the decals have a lot to be desired. Yet some of their kits have Cartograf decals. Some have told me that some of the new Academy decals are OK.

Mike K Academys kits are basically a crap shoot. But the prices are right.

Hauke Krapf This 36 year old Tamiya is one of Tamiya's WORST!!!
In paricularly the tracks are terrible, as the so-called end connector are molded in the middle of the track link. End connectors are designed to CONNECT the track links!!! What did Tamiya guess, that the track links are connected; - via SIEMENS Air hooks?

bob the builder No by Tamiya ultra thin glue

Urban Gardini Well, the kit is good to make stretched sprues n' styrene filler of.

ACADEMY's Stuart (both of 'em is good) n' AFV Club's Stuart is by far better choices.

bob the builder I build the AFV' s Stuart a couple of years ago and it was a real pleasure. (fotoalbum)
engineering was straight forward with no problems .
Beautiful details on it . A beauty

Hauke Krapf Tony, Urban, even the Academy kit has some tweaks!

The AFV Club M3A3/Stuart V and the M5A1, both early and late version are nice kits and I wondered why Tamiya re-re-re-iussed their terrible M2/M5/M8 kits last autumn! Does Mr Tamiya believe that the serious modeller will purchase this scrap? Only modellers not familiar with the defaults of these kits would buy them.

For example the M3 TANK, LIGHT, 37-MM GUN with the octogonal turret didn't use an integrated fighting compartment with a turret basket, as compared to the M3A1, TANK, LIGHT, 37-MM GUN.
The M3A1 had a gyrostabilizer and an Oilgear hydraulic power traversing mechanism that required the installation of an integrated fighting compartment with turret basket!
But the Academy kit of the M3 has the turret basket! This is not correct!

For the M3A1 TANK, LIGHT, 37-MM Gun, Academy neglected the correction of the upper hull, as the M3A1 has a welded hull and the rear engine plate shows a slight curve, as the armor plate was bend to shape and doesn't show an ankle, as the rivetted rear engine plate on the M3.

Correcting this default requires a certain amount of surgery. As cuttinng off the rivets will not solve this default!

The bogeys have wrong dimensions and are best replaced with AFV Club ones!

Years ago, Formations had a correction set for the M3A1 upper hull with the correct bended curved rear engine plate for the M3A1, TANK, LIGHT, 37-MM. And for pleasing modellers of US tanks, the produced a lower hull, designed to use the AFV Club bogeys. The problem, we face nowadays is that Rob closed Formations end of 2011! It's a shame! Rob made excellent resin kits!
Luckily I had ordered the Formation correction kits years ago!

bob the builder Hauke, i thought that someone has taken over formations. I once saw an article in a modelling
Magazine about it. But the compagnie who did it.... the name i can t remember. But maybe its on the internet?
Grtz tony

Hauke Krapf
Tony,
you are right indeed!
JTR Hobby from Canada took over Formations Models from Rob Ervin and started already under the old website!

Last year Rob hadn't the update kits for the M3A1 on his product list.

The new Formations Model website doesn't offer too many update kits yet. I assume the new owner has to start to produce (form) new kits! Let's keep the fingers crossed that the new owner will issue all of Rob's update kits!

Fact is, if one's interested in building an M3 TANK, LIGHT, GUN 37-MM as a British one for the Normandy, it is considered, that it HAS TO BE a Stuart III = M3A1, a Stuart V = M3A3, or a Stuart VI