This one will be "almost" OOB, and I mean, no PE, and no tracks... but with Bison decals

and Blast stowage set.
This set includes several crew stowage items and the rear stowage box.

The quality of this set is up to the usual Blast Models quality. Absolutely flawless.
Here are the photos of the M5A1 after a mere 4-5 hours work

The hull ready for paint. The turret is still missing some interior detailing.



The only thing I guess I should have changed is the headlight guards. Although very delicate for plastic, PE would do a better job.
Anyway, I decided OOB and I'll stick to it. With the exception of the headlight lenses that are going to be replaced by a pair of Resicast lenses. I hollowed the original ones and I'm going to use 2.5mm lenses in this kit.

Paint is on, using Lifecolor (I really recommend their paints, especially the olive drab set) with pre shading in black. The final effect will not be as dramatic as you can see here, but pre shading worked perfectly.

Step by step towards the end :thumb:

Now that the model looks clean and new, let's make it look dirty and old... but not like it was buried for 40 years
A coat of satin (Xtracrylics) over the decals and it's ready for the final phase.
Making paint adhere to vinyl tracks is a mess. Even after priming them with Tamiya primer it just peels off.

Update

Wow! Superb work.

Really nice work!

Lars

The Stuart is a great little kit. Yours is very nicely done!

-YL

Thx guys

I loved every minute of this build. The kit is a pleasure to build. And the Bison decals are excellent (as usual)

Hi Antonio, I like your M5. I want to build this one in a near future too (Dead Man's Corner, Normandy diorama). I love the subtle weathering. Will it figure in a diorama ? Figures involved ? Or on a display without all this ? I'm busy now building an M3A1, a very nice Academy kit. I recommend it to you. G.

I would love to do a diorama for it. But I have to practice doing dioramas because I have zero experience. Usually I just add a couple of figures, to give the notion of scale between man and machine and put them on a dark wood base.
I tried a base a while back for one of my kits but I failed miserably. The time I put on doing it was huge and the result was bad. On top of that I have some difficulty with space for my models. They compete with 100 other things, so space is a concern. Maybe I'll start to make small bases to display my models, but I need to practice a lot.

Very nice result. That looks like a sweet build Antonio and I'm tempted to go looking for the best price for it on the web but I will remain strong and build what is on my bench before buying any new kits
Why not try one of the new Miniart Diorama bases?

Pat
There's something I've never thought about. My biased vision towards models "only" didn't let me think of that solution

I wholeheartedly recommend this kit to anyone that likes Allied Armor. It's a little jewel, and not very expensive (when compared with those 48-50€ Dragon kits). Even OOB (I just added decals, and stowage to make it more unique) it's a nice addition to any collection.

LOL, you also try that approach hum? Do you succeed? I don't, and they are piling up like crazy. When I think it stopped, it just starts again with new releases sniff sniff

Lovely little build Antonio!
I learnt something from it straight away, namely that Bison have released a set of decals including 'Dagwood' as shown...
I agree that PE headlight guards would have set it off perfect, but you made your rules and stuck by them
I have this kit near ready to start, and also went the way of the Voyager update set for it. It looks like a nice set, and includes a resin hedgerow cutter.
Brad

that's a quick one. very nice work...and neat too. tracks are beautiful. thanks for sharing.

Another great build António !

The Stuart is a good catch when dealing with space problems

The decals look really good and the resin parts too.

Keep them coming !

A small update.

Fantastic addition to the quite uniform OD of the tank. Perfectly painted, well done Antonio.
Nice stuff ! G.

I think your model is very striking too. AFV Club's Stuart is a gem to build and finish.

I'm working on the interior for Formations Model M5A1 Conversion for the AFV Club kit and am have a good time modeling it. I also got AFV Club's M5A1 going on next to it and it is a lot of fun to buildup.

Great work!

Looks great Antonio.
Another great build by you !
I can't wait to see more photos of the finished kit !!
Definately going into my desktop folder !!!
Cheers

jjumbo