6x 1/72 PSC M5A1 (aka Stuart VI) - Primer on

[adt70hk]

Morning all

Yes that's right - one thread 6 builds.  How's that for value?!?!

As with most PSC kits you get three kits and the ability to make different variants of said tank - in this case early, mid and late versions.  However, you are left with two spare hulls and a spare set of tracks.

So some enterprising chap over on the Britmodeller site came up with the idea of making a 3D printed spare hull to go with the early spare tracks and hull tops to make the 'jalopied' turretless versions used by a number of British units - so I thought it would have been rude not to have get some!

Also, as it says above - this is a father and son duel build.

Although I'm really enjoying playing around with stupidly small bits of styrene, it does exclude my son.  Therefore, so I can inlcude him as much as possible the turreted versions will be made largely OOB plus a bit of stowage - I cut, he glues and assembles - whilst the jalopied versions will give me the chance to continue improve my skills.

I did order some metal barrels though, not so much for the improved look but more because they don't break as easily as plastic.

The original plan had been to do do two turreted versions and four jalopies but my son had other ideas, so there is now a 50/50 split - meaning I'm one metal barrel short (no big deal) and a fairly expensive spare hull - such is the life of a parent! 

Anyway below are some pics of where we're at so far - which isn't that far to be honest!

Please feel free to comment as always.

Andrew

PS I'm aware that most British units were using M3 variants of one type or another in Normandy but a few were using the M5A1s as per this link, which works with my the units my other tanks are 'from' www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=399

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The obligatory box shot




RB Barrel - this is ithe first time I've used them and have been very impressed




I stupidly forgot to take shot of the full sprue - doh!  Below is what's left after making the late version




As you'll see, the 3d printing is a bit ridged on the sides so I'll have to smooth it down a bit.







As well as replacing the main gun on the turretted versions with a metal barrel I also replaced the bow mgs with some styrene as they are very over scale

[dierk]

Lots of little Stewies - could be a weird episode of Family Guy
Well done for getting your son involved!

[Leon]

Nicely done andrew and son!

[adt70hk]

Feb 18, 2017 5:58:11 GMT -5 dierk said:

Lots of little Stewies - could be a weird episode of Family Guy
Well done for getting your son involved!

True I never thought of it like that!!

To be honest I also like doing them OOB - 15 minutes and you have a reasonably respectable looking kit - at least for our needs!

Feb 18, 2017 6:11:25 GMT -5 Leon said:

Nicely done andrew and son!

Thanks Leon.  I'l let him know you approve.

To be honest I'm quite happy for him to do the cutting too - under surpervision of course.**

But he doesn't want to - not because he's worried about cutting himself but because he doesn't want to damage the plastic!!


Thanks to both of you for stopping by.

Andrew


**Even now you can see a faint scar on the inside of my left thumb where I was about his age and tried to do some unsupervised cutting.  It went very deep and there was lot of blood.....

[deafpanzer]

Looks like fun build... I didn't even know that RB makes barrels for 1/72 too. LOL

[adt70hk]

Feb 23, 2017 12:15:25 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Looks like fun build... I didn't even know that RB makes barrels for 1/72 too. LOL

Thanks Andy, we're enjoying it.

Put one of these next to one of my Panthers and you see just how small they are. The thought of being in one of these, coming round the corner and running into one of the big German tanks doesn't bear thinking about..😨


I've not made a great study of which ones RB do but I seem to recall it's the main ones you'd expect to see e.g. pz iv, panther, sherman, firefly, plus quite a few of the more obscure ones. This is the first time using metal barrels and so far I've been impressed with RB.

[deafpanzer]

No kidding... I love RB and nearly all builds have their barrels even the machine guns too. Great stuff and dirty cheap!

Keep it coming...

[robbo]

Nice little kits you have found here

[jsteinman]

Fun.

[adt70hk]

Feb 23, 2017 14:37:41 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

No kidding... I love RB and nearly all builds have their barrels even the machine guns too. Great stuff and dirty cheap!

Keep it coming...

Andy

I'll do my best not to try and let you down!

Feb 23, 2017 14:40:41 GMT -5 robbo said:

Nice little kits you have found here

Thanks Robbo.

I'm a real fan of PSC kits.  They're war-gaming kits, which is what my son and I use them for.

They don't claim to be anything other than war-gaming kits but are still nicely done and offer several different versions in a kit but only cost £15 for the three kits - what's not too like!  

Feb 23, 2017 15:31:29 GMT -5 jsteinman said:

Fun.

Indeed John.  They are fun, which is what it's all about - my son and I just having some fun!!

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So Junior and I dediced to pick this one again after they were languishing in a box for 18 months.  External building is pretty much finished, other than one small correction that I'm still working on.

Most of what's below is inspired by various pictures I've seen during my research, albeit most won't be exact copies.  That said I do intend one of them to be a close copy of a Stuart in British service as its from the same formation as Junior's Churchill's.  Unfortunately I came across the picture after I'd finished the main construction so it won't be a perfect recreation.

All we've done is add some stowage plus some sandbags. These were the first sandbags first junior had done so the first set were a bit too big and pushed down too flat - but he's still learning.  Also, as these were field coversions and I have seen lots of adaptations, add-ons, extras etc., I decided to let my imagination run free - besides if nothing else it's good practice!  You'll therefore see a lot of extra's added that might upset some rivet counters out there......

As you may have seen from the above pictures of the 3D printed hulls the interior is not perfect.  Fortunately, in the hunt for more info yesterday I came across a build that makes use of Verlinden's 1/35 detailing set so I now have an idea of how to approach things.

Needless to say any ideas, thoughts, comments and suggestions are welcome.

ATB

Andrew 

PS unfortnatey the scaling of the .50 MGs is off but I had them in stash and at least the thicker barrells hopefully last longer with all the handling they get.....

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A couple of shots of one I am going to try and recreate (reference purposes only)

Work up to date (sorry for some being a bit blurry but trying to get all three in focus was tricky)

As you can see the interior still needs work...

[Leon]

Nice progress Andrew! These are looking good.

[adt70hk]

Jul 22, 2018 5:47:04 GMT -5 Leon said:

Nice progress Andrew! These are looking good.

Thanks Leon much appreciated.  They're a fun little build!

ATB.

Andrew

[wbill76]

Headless Stuarts, pretty cool work there Andrew!

[dupes]

INTERIORS? Dang. Glad you guys got back on this!

[adt70hk]

Jul 22, 2018 9:39:27 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Headless Stuarts, pretty cool work there Andrew!

Thanks Bill.  The first time I heard of the concept I thought "I want some of those!!".

After all, when you think of ways to improve the performance and usability of a tank, removing the turret is probably not often first on the list - yet more inspired British lateral thinking!  Not that I'm biased!!

Apparently it was relatively straightforward to remove the turret, so it could be done in the field, although it appears that there different standards and methods applied e.g. using mlutiple 0.30 cal MGs rather than one .50 cal as I've done.  It actually started in N. Africa with M3 Stuarts and the practice continued from there on albeit not all units did it.

The US Army actually did it deliberately, albeit on a small scale.  This is a typical example of what I've come across:

"On 21 December 1943, the Army Ground Forces requested an armored recce tracked vehicle. On 17 February 1944, the Ordnance department ordered two M5A1s to be modified to test an open fighting compartment version. The T8 was a turretless version, fitted with a 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Browning M1920A4 heavy MG on a ring mount, protected by a bathtub like shield. The T8 had its machine gun fitted on the right-rear of the fighting compartment, whereas the T8E1 saw its cal.50 nearer the turret ring. The latter also used new 16 in (40 cm) metal tracks. In addition, both vehicles could carry ten antitank mines on the outside of the right sponson. Both were tested at Fort Knox, the T8E1 being judged superior and retained for production. However, the Armored Force Board wanted to use the M24 light tank chassis instead for the intended role, and only a limited numbers of T8s were accepted as “limited standard” service vehicle, used in Europe in 1944-45."

Jul 22, 2018 16:31:13 GMT -5 dupes said:

INTERIORS? Dang. Glad you guys got back on this!

Marc

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't expect too much on the interiors- this will be the first time I've even tried doing one and there are limited changes I can make because of the way the hull has been 3d printed.

ATB to you both.

Andrew

[adt70hk]

Hi all

Firstly apologies for not being around much over the summer. 

Anyway a couple of Frriday's ago SWMBO went round a friend's for the evening.  This left me with dilemma.....do I continue on the interiors of the jalopy versions?  Or do I get the AB out for only the second time since it arrived...

Anyway the AB won and Junior even helped me get it set up.  To her credit my wife has been very tolerant when I fire it up and shut the kitchen door.

Anyway the three turreted ones now have a coat of primer on.

Thanks for stopping by.

Andrew

[rbaer]

And I thought I had a lot of stuff going on at once..... Nice work, too!

[adt70hk]

Oct 17, 2018 19:44:44 GMT -5 rbaer said:

And I thought I had a lot of stuff going on at once..... Nice work, too!

You have no idea How much I have on the go for one reason or another!!!     I could list them all but it would a while......

[afvfan]

Don't know how I missed these, Andrew. You look like you guys are doing a bang-up job on the little munchkins.

[adt70hk]

Oct 19, 2018 4:51:21 GMT -5 afvfan said:

Don't know how I missed these, Andrew. You look like you guys are doing a bang-up job on the little munchkins.

Bob

No problem, I know how easy it is to miss things. The munchkins are coming on nicely and I'm working on the paint at the moment, so expect some pics soon!!

ATB

Andrew

[Leon]

Nice work on the primer Andrew!

[adt70hk]

Oct 22, 2018 4:49:23 GMT -5 Leon said:

Nice work on the primer Andrew!

Thanks Leon

Much appreciated as always.