Great work on theat interior Jesse! I always admire interiors but seldom have the patience to make them myself as I feel too little of the work is seen after you finish...

Cheers!
Stefan

Thanks Jesse!
Phil

interior is brilliant. your Grant is shaping up quite well.

@Stefan,

I hear you. The Grant is nice in that there are a decent number of hatches and doors. Plus, the entire turret will just lift out easily enough.


@Jim,

Thanks! I dunno how brilliant it is, but hopefully it'll look the part.

Jesse-- Great buid. Superb workmanship especially interior work. Have a few questions: where did you get the Cyber Hobby WE 210 track? Can you send me the stock number since I cannot find it?
thanks
DJ

DJ, I traded with someone for some other tracks I had.

I know that Chris Hughes, (of Toadman's Tank pictures) has a few sets of WE-210 from Panda for cheap.

http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/kit_list_7apr11.htm

Jesse-- many thanks!
DJ

Glad to help out.

I'm still really enjoying this build.

Of course, while looking at all of these M3 photos, now I really want to build a M3 Lee late production with the ventilators, M3 gun, no side doors, etc.

And maybe do a M3A1 with the Formations hull...

So many models.... focus focus...

Most ca companies do produce their own debonder.
However, not all ca debonders work with multiple brands. Zap-a-Gap debonder is made for "Zap-a-Gap" glues. It will not work on the ones relabeled by vendors. It turns it into a sticky, gooey mess.

Ok, more updates. I've been jumping all around, so let me see if I can organize these...


First off, I test fitted the 75mm gun rotor into it's swivel housing... Not great. I figured I could do better, so I roughly cut a rectangule and then used a bunch of putty to smooth it all out. Should be a bit better contour now, but we'll see when it gets a primer coat if I need to do any more work...





And here's the back of the 75mm



Next I wanted to assemble the upper hull, so I could start adding the various interior bits that have to attach to the upper hull. I knew it was going to take some work to get everything lined up, square, and yet keep the seams as clean as possible since the hull was riveted and not welded.







Academy actually has the rear little corner plates attach wrong. Basically the rear vertical plate shouldn't sit under the upper engine deck plate, but it should be flush with it. Hopefully that makes a little sense. So I filled and sanded that, but again, until it gets primer, no idea if that area is 'finished' or not.

While assembling the upper hull, I continually dry fit it to the lower hull and kept making minor adjustments. Doesn't make for good photos, but sure did take a long time! For one, I glued, and then had to take off the big Formations final drive cover 3 times to get everything lined up right.

Next up, I added a few more details to the lower hull. Namely the vent canisters off the transmission housing, the gear shift lever on the driver's right, and added one of the Thompson magazine ammo racks to the side of the previously scratched 75mm ammo bin. Also finally installed the rear hull plate, and fenders. The interior isn't glued and still slides out which should help for painting. Don't mind the big lumps of putty on the fender/lower hull gap. I was waiting for that to dry when I snapped the photos.





Last, I was looking at the ABM turret I have, and it's a really nice casting. The 'problem' is that it's a bit older technology, so the interior isn't near as hollow as the Academy plastic version, and since the plan was to model this thing completely opened up, that's a problem... So I will have to use the Academy turret. So I at least started by adding a shelf where the radio will eventually sit. The No. 19 radio is actually from the Bronco Chaffee, and it very well molded. Of course, Academy and even the Eduard PE sets don't really add much of anything to the interior of the turret beyond the 37mm breech and co-axial .30 cal, so I'll have some work cut out for me there too.




Still lots more to go, but it's progressing!

Jesse

Looking good I notice we both seem to suffer from the same "I can do it better" bug

Seems we will both have interesting projects for "Show and tell" at next months meeting.

Keep up the good work.

BTW, if you can get ahold of some old carbon paper, you can lightly rub it over the putty on your 75 mm turret, and it will show you if you have any high spots.

Dave

Thanks for the comments Dave! I think you're showing your age with that antiquated carbon paper.

RIVETS!




As you can see, I've been busy on the interior. I tried the photo-etch riveted pieces, but they just don't have enough 3d to them, and I wasn't happy. So I had to venture out to the local hobby shop and picked up some .080x.010 plastic strip, and .035" and .050" tichy rivets. And then the fun began.





I added casting texture to the 75mm gun mount area using Mr. Surfacer 500 stippled on with a brush. I wanted to give it a distinctive texture compared to the smoother armor plates the rest of the tank is made of. I also added a bit to the final drive. Also, with all the dry fitting, here's what the gun rotor will look like. A lot better than it was the first go around.

Last but not least...


Not much change here, except the tiny little strip along the outside of the hull. The upper hull is just ->

Hi Jesse,

Looking fantastic so far!!! Now you can say that you are a true blue rivet counter!! Lol the gun housing looks awesome!!

Cheers Mike

Nah, I didn't go 'too' crazy. I only did single lines of rivets even when it should have been double lines. Shh...Don't tell anyone...

Awesome update Jesse! Looks like you been busy. Really looks killer bro!!! More please.....

Gary

I hear ya on the rivets! I did them all on My Academy Lee, very tedious. Everything looks great!

I second Gary on that! WE WANT MORE!
Nice work Jesse, Did you round off all those rivets when using plastic rod?

Phil.

Hi Phil,

I bought the rivets 'ready-made' at my local hobby shop.

http://tichytraingroup.com/index.php?page=view_category.php&category=NBW+%26+Rivets&offset=0

I was always kinda scare use these, but they're actually easier to use than I imagined.

Starting to believe you are a little mad, with all that rivet detail. I'm in the same boat. Can't stand to leave something out. Excellent job keeping them all in line. Looking at the link you provided, what diameter rivets did you use?

.050 and .035 sizes.

Thanks Jesse! I'll tryto get some of these.
Phil

Jesse ,,So far this is the best looking M3 i have seen in a very long time .. keep it going man ..its looking brilliant
As Phil says ... WE WANT MORE!!!

Phill

Hi Curt,

There is a walkabout of the IWM London Grant -here on site, this is shown as Monty's tank, whether or not it is you'd need to check with IWM.

http://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/3286

Hi Jesse,

Nice progress, I see you got the internal rivet bug .

Looking good. Will you be correcting the 37mm gun error on the kit?

There is a link to the issue on page 2 of my build article.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/2289&page=2

Cheers

Al