Beautifully done interior! To my eyes, it has just the right amount of wear for that “lived in” look without it looking trashed.
What are those steel tobacco tin-looking things on the right side?? Drums for a Thompson?
Constuctor,
Yeah, I’m worried about the turret basket fitting. I haven’t assembled it yet. I already had to snap off and reglue the ammo basket on the right side. It was getting in the way of the upper hull. I’m beginning to really not like this kit.
Dre,
Thanks. I believe those are for the Thompsons.
-Jesse
Wow, that’s what I thoguht they were, too, that’s 1000 rounds of .45 acp ready to go. Quite the load.
I don’t think they’re Thompson mags, although I could be wrong… But… Why would there be that many drum-mags for Thompsons and no ammo-cans (so far at least) for the 30-cals?
Judging by interior pictures, I believe extra ammo cans would be carried under the bow gunner/radio operator’s seat. Makes sense. The kit area is modeled solid but interior pics show shelves. You can’t see this area on the model once the hull is together. Here’s a pic of the bow gunner/radio operator’s seat. The seat in the middle is the driver’s seat. The shelves would have a seat on top of them for the radio operator: http://data3.primeportal.net/tanks/david_lueck/m3_lee/images/m3_lee_57_of_86.jpg
There are some stowage boxes Academy missed. I didn’t bother scratchbuilding them since most of the interior won’t be visible anyway. For the same reason, I’m not worried about really detailing the interior. I’ll only have two hatches open, one side hatch and the drivers hatch.
-Jesse
Well, that’s where the confusion sets in fer me, pard… There isn’t a bowgunner in a Lee, in the classic sense like a Sherman, meaning a ball-mounted .30 cal, just the coax and commander’s .30s…
Been lookin’ over this build…
http://www.ipmslivonia.org/ipms/Gallery/M3-Lee/KitRM3Lee.htm
And this interior
http://depothobbies.com/Verlinden/VER%201807%20M3%20Lee%20Interior.jpg
For my Tamiya Lees, plus various stuff to do a Lee AVLB scratch-build down the road…
Ok. Maybe where stuck on something here because my references show two forward firing .30 cal machine guns mounted in the hull to left of the driver. My reference is Steve Zaloga’s book on the M3. Here’s the ports welded over:
http://data3.primeportal.net/tanks/david_lueck/m3_lee/images/m3_lee_03_of_86.jpg
There are 3 .30 cals on the Lee. Two in the hull and one in the cupola. In terms of the coxial, there is no .30 cal lined up next to the .37mm. That tube you see in pictures is the stabilization counterweight for the .37mm.
Steve Zaloga also states that the tank carried 1,200 .45 cal rounds. That rack on the model would hold 1,000 rounds in 50 round drums. Remember, the M3 carried a crew of 6-7 men. That’s about 200 rounds a man. Makes sense.
I sent you an email with pictures. Just don’t post them due to copywrite restrictions.
-Jesse
Looks like a coax in this one to me… To the right of the 37mm…
I did see a pic earlier of one crewman dismounting witha Thompson, but another one was totin’ an Ought-3, lol…
At any rate, I ain’t saying you’re wrong bud… I’m just saying that the storage doesn’t make a lot of sense… 9200 rds of 30-cal vs 1200 rds of .45… Lotta 30-cal ammo cans…
Yup, your right. When we started talking about this, I thought I read there was a coaxial .30 cal. But the picture I emailed you didn’t show it. It kind of through me off. Here’s Steve Zaloga’s M3 clearly showing the coaxial .30:
http://www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/usa/images/m3acadsz_c.jpg
But there are 2 .30 cals in the hull. That makes 4 .30 cals carried in the Lee.
In regards to the ammo carried, I think we should remember that the US didn’t know “jack” about mechanzied warfare when the M3 was designed, hence the “more machine guns, the better” concept.
-Jesse
Still… I can’t figure out how they’re even aimed & fired in that kinda mount… Ah well… Gonna build an AVLB anyway…
The two forward firing fixed MGs were literally “point and shoot”. The driver aimed the vehicle and had control of them. Same concept that was in the M3 Stuart before it was dropped. Definitely not a concept that caught on much in actual combat and was dropped in favor of the ball mounts. [(-D]
OMG that looks amasing im so impressed! [:)][bow]
Got some more work done. This time it’s the main 75mm gun and the tracks.
The gun went together well with no problems. I did realize that the gun shield won’t fit into the trunnions at the top and bottom of the hull. The shield is slightly too short. I decided to just glue the gun in place.
The tracks went together fine, just a little time consuming. Each run is in two sections, a top and a bottom. After painting, I’ll just slip them onto the running gear.
I ran into a problem with the turret basket. I was dry fitting it and realized the basket won’t sit all the way down into the hull. The problem was the bottom of basket was hitting the top of the left sponson. The clearance is 26 mm. The basket and ring is 27 mm. I decided to do some sanding. The picture below shows were I removed excess material. Basically, I removed the top lip of the basket and all of the underside of the turret ring. I then glued the ring to the top of the basket and now everything fits fine.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but this kit has some fit issues. I’m still polishing this piece of poo though.
-Jesse
looks great how did u do the weathering? keep us posted!
Thanks. The weathering is just a wash of raw umber and dry brushing with Model Master Steel. I wasn’t going to spend much time on the interior since most of it won’t be seen.
-Jesse
thanks it realy helps alot.[:)] are you going to put any mods into it?
Woo HOO![tup]
No, it’s pretty much straight out of the box except the toolboxes and light guards. This kit requires enough modifications just to get it to fit correctly.
-Jesse
Cool.
Excellent work going on there. looks incredible.
Terry.