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Questions re Acadamy M3 Stuart and M3 Honey
Sabre5Delta
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Arizona, United States
Joined: August 07, 2003
KitMaker: 37 posts
Armorama: 18 posts
Posted: Monday, August 25, 2003 - 02:52 PM UTC
I've read some vague discussions regarding the fact that one of these kits has a diesel engine, and the interior of one isn't accurate or the sponson box is wrong. Nevertheless, I'm considering buying one of them for my next build. I searched the site and didn't come up with any definitive commentary so I'll throw this out there (again?).

Would the standard Acadamy M3 US Army kit be suitable to portray a vehicle participating in the 1941 Louisiana military maneuvers? Is the Acadamy M3 Honey kit so far off the mark as to be useless for an OOTB depiction of a British tank in the North African campaign? I'd consider doing it for the pending "under the sun" campaign if it's okay.

My daughter got me a gift certificate to the local hobby shop and I want to pick out something that will work OOTB if possible and still make a nice build that I can point to and say, "See what you got me?"

Thanks gang.
Kencelot
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Florida, United States
Joined: December 27, 2001
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Posted: Monday, August 25, 2003 - 03:25 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Would the standard Acadamy M3 US Army kit be suitable to portray a vehicle participating in the 1941 Louisiana military maneuvers?

No, the "American" version of the M3 by Academy is an M3A1. This kit has the flat top horseshoe shaped turret. Academy's M3 "Honey" kit would be your best option to depict the '41 Louisiana maneuvers. This kit has the welded octagonal turret that was seen on the tanks from there:




Quoted Text

Is the Acadamy M3 Honey kit so far off the mark as to be useless for an OOTB depiction of a British tank in the North African campaign?


Nope. It's very close in external accuracy for this. I do know that the interior needs a little fixing like the turret basket needs to go and the ammunition stowage is wrong. These can be fairly easily fixed or if you like just simply zip her up.
herberta
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Canada
Joined: March 06, 2002
KitMaker: 939 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - 02:33 AM UTC
Hi

I'll just agree with Kencelot, and add a few comments.

I'm building the Honey now, as a Honey. It's a decent kit. The fit is good, and the exterior is correct for the early Stuart. Frankly, if you put a crew in place, you won't see much of the interior anyway! Of course, I have already modified the interior, and we'll see if any of that shows.

The sand shields are REALLY thick, and mine got in the way of the running gear. Lots of sanding required. I think a better modeller than me would use the shields as a template, and cut them out of thin plastic card. That would do the trick.

There are various accuracy gripes, but it's better than the old Tamiya kit, and it looks like an early M3.

Cheers
Andy
Kencelot
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Florida, United States
Joined: December 27, 2001
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Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - 03:17 AM UTC
Phantom Major sir, you can go to the link below to view some in-progress corrections made to the kit:

M3 Stuart "Honey" by Valentin E. Bueno
AJLaFleche
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Massachusetts, United States
Joined: May 05, 2002
KitMaker: 8,074 posts
Armorama: 3,293 posts
Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - 06:16 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Is the Acadamy M3 Honey kit so far off the mark as to be useless for an OOTB depiction of a British tank in the North African campaign? I'd consider doing it for the pending "under the sun" campaign if it's okay.

My daughter got me a gift certificate to the local hobby shop and I want to pick out something that will work OOTB if possible and still make a nice build that I can point to and say, "See what you got me?"

Thanks gang.


I've seen a couple of these built up. They build up as quite reasonable depictions of the Honey. Perfectionists have picked out a few minor exterior dicrepancies and the significant interior ones, which are completely moot if you button it up. From what I've seen, I'd say go for eaither one (I have bothe waiting to be part of a Stuart collection.
herberta
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Canada
Joined: March 06, 2002
KitMaker: 939 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - 12:58 PM UTC

Quoted Text


can i ask if you have taken any photographs of your work in progress, particularly any shots of the interior of the honey? I would be very interested in viewing teh alterations made to this kit to bring the interior up too scratch .


Hi James

I'll take a couple of pics and post them.
I used those pics I sent you and the drawings from AFV Interiors as a guide. You'll see I goofed in a couple of spots, and just made some stuff up that appeared sensible.

I should have the photos up within a couple of days.

Cheers
Andy
HMX-1
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United States
Joined: August 20, 2003
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Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - 01:50 PM UTC
Hello, I built my Honey pretty much OOTB and was happy with the results. I couldn't resist the caunter camouflage with the sky blue, similar to the box art. Most (if not all) of my references show the plates that blank out the sponson MGs were welded at an angle, not riveted "square." So that was an easy correction. I also added a platform under the left rear stowage box, and scratch built headlight guards out of brass strip (I broke the originals but ended up glad that I did). If you want to see it, it's listed in the England gallery on ww2mm.com. Hope this helps, Matt Hufnal

Matt's "Honey"
herberta
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Canada
Joined: March 06, 2002
KitMaker: 939 posts
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Posted: Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 06:21 AM UTC
Hi

I've added a couple of in progress photos to my web page.
The kit parts were replaced with plastic card and parts from the spares box where necessary.
The paint job is in progress, obviously! I need to do some more sanding of the seat pads among other things.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~andyherbert/Honey.html

And here are two views of the interior as I've done it. I think the figures will hide the glaring errors I've made!



Cheers
Andy
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