Finally finished the Stuart. I added some things to the 1/35 Academy kit. MV lenses, chain to the oil barrels, ruck sacks and bed roll from another Academy kit. I might enter this in a show but not really sure. Honest opinions.
Joe
Hey Joe,
That’s a nice looking M-3 for sure. I really like the dust weathering, particularly on the hull around the suspension. You have the tow cable nicely sitting, rather than floating up. All in all it looks really good.
The critiques are overall pretty minor. The wash on the upper hull and turret strikes me as a bit heavy, in that the rivets and other detail seem over accentuated. The rubber on the tracks and the tires seems a bit dark as well. Since the tank is used, but not muddy, I think that the tires and treads would get quite dusty, and thus be more tannish.
The rope looped around the stowage on the rear deck seems a bit heavy. I think a smaller diameter thread with a tighter wind would look better.
Stealing from Spector’s comment in the Tiger thread, some crew members could really bring it to life.
Those points aside, that is very nice looking build. I have a Tamiya M-3 Stuart in my stash and would not be disappointed if it turned out as nice as yours.[tup][tup][tup]
Andy
Great job Joe! She’s a beauty!
Very nice Joe.Great work.
Looks pretty good. Only thing I will add is that the flag is incorrect for a WWII vehicle. You have a 50-star flag, during WWII, US flag was only 48-stars. It looked like this.
50-star flag wasn’t used till 1959 when Alaska and Hawaii were added to the Union.
I think it looks great. One honest opinion i just have to state cuz it will bug me for the rest of the time is that… your flag had WAY too many stars on it. 52 states!!! i believe the WWII era flag would be the 48 star one.
darn it GINO!! you beat me by 3 minutes
Hi Joe,
The rope and the flag, then pack her up and go to the show[:D].
And, have fun there too![;)]
Bill
Wow -good eye Gino. That will sure help Joe .
CFR [oX)]
Very nicely done. I like the weathering, especially along the lower suspension. Good luck in the contest.
[:D] great job on your m3, i like the way you finished it up.[:D]
looks amazing man… wow!!
Great job! The weathering looks very good.
I agree that this is a nice build. I have the AFV M3A3 in the stash and doubt I’ll be able to do nearly as well.
I agree that the rope on the back is too large and too coarse. Also, unless the angle of the pictures is misleading, I don’t see how the turret is going to be able to turn past those two barrels on the deck. The gun barrel looks like it would hit them, and I doubt a crew would want that. Also, I’d be reluctant to have 110 gallons of gasoline right above the crew compartment, but that’s just me. Of course, if this is based on photographs of an actual Stuart you should feel free to ignore any and all of these comments.
Joe
Are the yellow and blue decals supplied in the kit?
Thanks for the helpful and positive feedback!!! Sure makes me fell better about entering the show. Either way I’ll have a good time.
I have to admit I knew about the flag from a review I read about the kit and I think someone posted something about it too but I decieded to just use the kit decals.
Gino, thanks for the picture. I should be able to print that out on blank decal sheet and use it. I’ll give it a try.
About the rope I placed in next to a 1/35 scale figure and thought it was ok but I do have to agree on the tank next to the tow cable it looks a little large.
About the turret not being able to turn. I didn’t think about the barrels I just put them on as in the instructions. I thought they were for oil. Maybe someone can confrim that. When I put the ruck sack on the turret I had second thoughts about that becuase I saw that it hit the barrel.
Thanks again
Joe
Yup the decals came with the kit. It would of been nice to have some pictures of this tank but I didn’t do much reasearch on it.
Joe
O.K. I have to take issue with the rope comment.My uncle , who was passed on now was with the 3rd Army in the ETO. When I was younger and modeling I asked whim about stowage on vehicles and he stated they used anything they could get their hands on to stow gear. Navy lines,chicken wire, buoy ropes you name it.Now maybe for a show it would be best to put something there that “looks” better, but to just state that this or that is not right needs to be rethought.JMHO.
Now the flag, that’s a diff issue.
Looks great Joe. can you tell me what you used for the pack straps?
good luck in the show!
Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t of overlooked the flag. Interesting story about the flag I met the guy that designed the current 50 stars and stripes through one of my son’s scouting meetings. I think he lives in Lansing MI. He was telling us the story of how he came to design the current one, including when it used. Should of paid better attention.
As for the straps I used blue masking tape I cut to length and width with a xacto.
Joe