my LAST START for 2016. Academy M-3 Stuart with Big Ed PE.

[fhvn4d]

My last official START of 2016 will be this Academy Stuart M-3 with Big Ed PE. I am still very new to PE but I am confident it will be a fun learning experience!







Thats my Pinky finger.......thank god for needle sharp tweezers and +4.00 magnifiers!

[Tojo72]

Looks like a great project,but that tiny PE is just too much for me.

[Leon]

Nice start Brian! Your PE work looks good.

[joelsmith]

Looks like your "learning experience" is turning out very well!

[Tobi]

Once you got addicted to you will hardly want to live without PE!

If you're concerned about realism, my advice for you regarding this kit is to turn it into a M3A1, because for a M3 the interior provided by Academy is utterly wrong! 

The Osprey book by Steve Zaloga about the M3 offers a good overview about version differences.

[dierk]

Nice start mate! The other thing to be aware of is that, even with all the hatches wide open, most of the interior will vanish, never to be seen again.

[fhvn4d]

Tobi, while looking through reference pictures, and two books on the M-3 series, I totally agree with you about the interior being mediocre at best.... after installing the boxes in the turret ring I cant even find them in referenec pictures but im not taking them out now... worked too hard to get them in.... I am thinkin of scratch building my own ammo racks for the fighting compartment because they just look too unrealistic, and the oil cooler will also likely be scratched out... the exterior...... probably just gonna put the PE bits on and call it a day.... Im also probably going to blank off the left and right 30 cals, they are in place and one of them is in the way of the radio, as well as the one reference picture i have of "painintheass" which is what i am going for, shows the cheek guns not mounted...... any other thoughts would be very welcome... or if you have some reference sites or photos pack em up here!

[deafpanzer]

Count me in... bringing beer for everybody!

[Tobi]

Not much more to contribute from my side, I'm afraid.
I haven't built the kit myself yet, but always had a British Stuart Honey in Caunter scheme on my wishlist. When I found out about the flaws I decided to purchase a TMD interior set for a USMC M3 machine and leave out the sponson MG's.

Fellow modeler fightnjoe did an interior from scratch on this forum, but the pictures are no longer in the thread. Maybe you can PM him for references.

A walkaround found at Primeportal.com

[fhvn4d]

You know when you start doing something intricate, with a sharp brand new blade, and you think to yourself, "this is probably going to go badly"...... and then it does? Thank god for thin superglue and tissue paper... Ran this blade through the side of my finger and up under my nail...... shoulda come up with some other way to remove the details I was trying to remove......

[Leon]

OUCH!!!!! Been there done that. Hope your doing ok Brian.

[fhvn4d]

Good news is I still managed to make some progress. Gotta say... smallest damn pieces of PE I have used and it actually stayed in place when I airbrushed the base coat... thats a first ! LOL

[Leon]

Paint looks good Brian!

[M1Carbine]

Watching this one Brian and dont cut your finger again......lol

Bob

[chromdome35]

Dec 31, 2016 13:58:59 GMT -5 fhvn4d said:

You know when you start doing something intricate, with a sharp brand new blade, and you think to yourself, "this is probably going to go badly"...... and then it does? Thank god for thin superglue and tissue paper... Ran this blade through the side of my finger and up under my nail...... shoulda come up with some other way to remove the details I was trying to remove......

owwwww, be safe out there!!!

[TRM]

Nice job getting a base on the interior Brian! Nice fix on the finger too! Guessing you will keep your fingers out of the way next time?

[deafpanzer]

How your thumb? Interior looking good!

[fhvn4d]

Did some ripping up the interior a little bit and added some scratch built bits... no more bleeding from the finger but it did open up again LOL....

[fhvn4d]

Been a little while since I updated this post and there has been a little progress to speak of.. I have pretty much finished scratching out the interior and weathering it to my satisfaction (trying to remember just how much of this will be seen). A few wires to simulate commo gear, and some interior stowage and im gonna button it up.

[joelsmith]

Nicely done Sir! Keep up the good work, looks like you finger is healing nicely also.

[deafpanzer]

Looking real good!!! Take a good care of your finger too!

[Wes]

I like where this is going. The model that is, not your finger. HAHA

[jpc1968]

Nice work. Try wearing a thimble?

[fhvn4d]

DARN close to calling the interior done..... find a few pieces of war items to put inside and im closing it up!@

[deafpanzer]

Looking real good!!! How's your finger now? LOL

[fhvn4d]

Feb 20, 2017 15:06:00 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Looking real good!!! How's your finger now? LOL

Didja know that you can cut yourself very well with those really neat thin razor saw thingys? yeah... same finger.... Someone suggested a thimble and I am starting to think it might be worthwhile.... LOL... BTW.. you will be happy to hear I have been sidelining with a 7.5CM Pak 40 (the kit is older than I am).

[fhvn4d]

Seems to me that the 20th works well for updates LOL.... 30 days on the button from last post.... anyway, I could not resist putting some paint on, so the turret outside was painted. The hull is recieving its fair share of PE bits and my blood pressure is thanking me for it. I actually find those small little ass pieces calming when I get them ON... we will see how calm I am when I start to shoot primer at them and watch them fly off into the abyss... The scratchbuilding and decorating of the interior is done to my statisfaction and I am READY to close this thing up at least !

[jpc1968]

I see the thimble is working. LOL

[deafpanzer]

Lovely work on the PE!

[fhvn4d]

Mar 24, 2017 10:49:08 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Lovely work on the PE!

Andy with the exception of those tie downs on the back deck its been fun... Those things are just TOO SMALL. As you can see the top row is not at all lined up, but I have set them down with 5 minute epoxy because I want to TRY and actually wrap some cargo ropes around em... so we shall see... plus, lots of glue Shmutz in a few places close to the fronts... but ... we shall see... hoping judicious paint weathering and other methods will hide the imperfections


Thank you!