Here are a few pics of my latest build. As usual, comments and suggestions are more than welcome.
This is an M3A1 (Late) Stuart Light Tank named “The Pay-Off”, assigned to the 3rd Marine Battalion, Bouganville, The Solomans, March 1943.
This build was done using the Academy M3A1 kit with numerous modifications.
Hope you enjoyed it,
Robert
Hey… that’s very good. I like the color of the tank. Good work.
Very nice. What kind of modifications did you do?
Nice build , thanks for posting it. I noticed you had the same problem witht he tracks I had on mine. I filled the gap in the guide horns with a piece from the indis and seemed to work great.
Looks really good Robert. I like the netting.
Very nice Robert … I hear the Academy kit is a gem.
What other modifications did you do ???
Inquiring minds want to know !!!
Great job, thanks for the look.
WOW! looks really great! I will ask something different; What did you use for the tarp in the back? looks really great!
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Dwight Ta-ala: Gotta love OD!!!
RAF120: The front fender flanges were removed and reinforced, a gazillion molded on rivets were removed, and the rear was converted from the two plate angled design provided, to a rounded cast plate typical of late models.
lizardqing2: That d%^ track really makes me mad. I may end up taking the rubber bands off and the indys on after the model show this weekend.
Tigerman: I knew the back deck needed something and a camo net seemed like the simplest thing I could wip out in a couple of hours.
shermanfreak: It is an exceptionally nice kit and would have been really nice right OOTB. In addition to the mods above, I also added quite a bit to the interior that wasn’t supplied with the kit.
Dave: Thank you!
scubaboy99: Gauze, soaked in 50-50 white glue-water, painted brown, given a wash, and dry brushed with a lighter brown.
Thanks again everyone,
Robert
Now thats sweet. Great work.
Real nice.
Well done! I’m a BIG Stuart fan myself (as everybody knows by now), love to model 'em, drive 'em, climb alllll over 'em! I’m glad to see you curved the back plate, it’s a late Stuart trade mark!
Again, Nice Job!
Ron
That is a great build. I really like the Stuart. Thanx for showing us.
Keep well.
Foster7155,
Super work… I like the little stuarts very much…
OK Robert, here goes:
Comments: Very impressive build!
Suggestions: Build my Academy M3A1![swg]
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Stuart, and your build really does it justice. I only wish I could build mine as well as you did yours.
Mark
Very nice, certainly very ‘clean’ build. I was wondering about the camo net as well, so since you answered that, thanks for sharing [:)]
Thanks to thundergod, claymore68, Poniatowski, Artorius, Kennethc, Mark, and zokissima! I really appreciate the very generous comments.
As my own worst critic, there are several things I would have done differently (re: better) and your words are a great incentive to continue to improve with my next project. Even though it’s less than 24 hours since I finished up this one, I’m already spending time in front of the stash pile, picking out the next “guinea pig”. I think the next build will have to be an OOTB (or close to it) model. The PE on this one started to drive me a little nuts.
Thank you all very much!
RLF
Excellent looking tank, beautiful work. [:)]
WOW looks great!
Yeah, that’s how it starts. A little PE hear, a resin piece there, some scratchbuild for nostalgia. Once you’ve done something to that level Robert, you can never go back. You’re hooked and have an OD monkey on your back now. You can never look at a kit again and not see where you can improve it out of the box…[}:)]
Great job on the build. Working on a project now that involves an early version of this cub. I like the finish you put on it and the whole thing just looks like you did a great job. Thanks for sharing.
Mike