Here's the 37mm turret ammo from Verlinden. Notice the air bubbles between rounds. Some castings were better than others, but most had air bubbles of one size or another.



Ammo after cleaning up...


Academy turret, unmodified.


Starting to reshape and round off the turret. I've taken awhile quite a bit of material on the bottom piece, but it's not very noticeable. Also, the view ports will be blended into the turret more, but haven't broken out the putty yet.


Here's the previously mentioned Griffon PE set for the Lee


And here's some new parts from the NEW Tiger Design Models. Now I ordered the "American" version, which did NOT have the front pistol grip, as these are what are shown on the British stowage diagrams. I was accidentally sent 1 each of the 2 styles. However, Joe, the NEW owner of TMD, upon a single email asking how I could get another "American" style immediately sent me *4* new American castings free of charge, and apologized profusely. I have nothing but great things to say about the New TMD's service, not to mention the product is pretty nice.


Here's where I had to remove some previously installed PE to be replaced by the Griffon version...


And the built, but not attached Griffon version...


And here's some more new PE added, including the ammo can holders by the front hull Browning .30 cals, and the First Aid kit on the right by the gunner's knee.


Turret basket progress, with the floor details added, and the small hand wheel added in PE.


Here are the Griffon versions of the turret seats in PE. The seat cushions are from the Verlinden set.


And here's some more detail for the 75mm position. Newly added are the hand wheels, and site mechanism. I also detached and then reattached the gunner's seat, as it was previously positioned too far away, interfered with the turret basket guard, and didn't line up with the periscope site.


And here's some minor body work on the outside. Academy would have you install the cast radio aerial antenna here, but that wasn't used on the Grant, as the radio was in the turret. 2 rivets will also have to be added on the right side once that's cleaned up.

Hey Jesse, this is and epic build fella. Your doin' a magnificent job on the interior...impressive my fiend.

Gary

So... been making a "lot" of progress. But it doesn't look like much. The single rear storage bin on the left side of the hull is made up of 25 pieces. That said, I finally pulled out my makeshift photo booth and took some good (for me anyway) photos...

I'm really close to hitting the interior with it's first coat of paint. I need to do that before I add much more, like the ammo and more wiring that will need detail painting.






















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Fantastic work Jesse! The Academy kit needs quite a bit of TLC but you've definitely outdone yourself! It's almost a shame to cover it all with paint now...

Thanks Stefan! Finally getting around to the exterior has been a nice change of pace. Feels like I'm making some real progress.

Beautiful Jesse! That view of all the interior rivets gave me flashbacks of a Lee I built a while ago. How did you score the seam on the flanges on the transmission cover? they look great.

Terry

Hey Terry!

Its a lot of rivets. And there's more to come once the 'tub' is painted and glued securely.

The Formations transmission had that seam on there. I just carefully scribed over and over again.

Hi Jesse
Superb work my friend, this is mighty fine building.
I really like your texturing, what is your technique?
Phil.

Hey Phil!

The Academy turret needs some reshaping. I showed the 1st step in the previous post full of pictures. I did some more reshaping with files after that. Then I smoothed some of the transitions where the turret morphs into the area outlining the small hatches with Tamiya putty. I also had to lower the left side hatch down about ~1mm because it sits too high. After that, I stippled Mr. Surfacer 500 on with a stiff brush pretty heavily. The pictures I have of Grant turrets show a pretty rough casting, and a prominent area where they ground the weld between the top and bottom castings. Once the turret is joined, I'll go back and finish up.

Jesse:
I LOVE IT. !!!! Give us more. I will deffinately use your Blog for my build. ...When the time permits. Lovely

Jesse, your level of craftsmanship and attention to detail is just outstanding to say the least. I'm really looking forward to your next update.
Joel

I just ordered the same kit, as part of a package. Comes with some pe and a metal barrel. I will be using your blog, soon.

Todd, Joel... thanks for the comments guys!

Matt, I know you just bought a package, because you bought it from ME earlier today. That said, there is no PE in the package you're buying. A fair bit of resin though.

Make me feel stupid. Its been a very hectic week, with my grandfathers health deteriating. Guess ill put it off until i buy a fret or two.

I spent last night researching potential paint schemes and markings.

So far, I like the tank named "Battleaxe", which was a B squadron tank, Staffordshire Yeomanry. Supposedly, this unit was temporarily attached to the 7th Armored Division in late 1942. These tanks appear to have a dark disruptor color over light stone, but it's badly beaten up, very dusty, etc. Should be a cool finish.

Here's my issue... I've got a side photo of Battleaxe, from page 44 of "British Tank Markings and Names" by BT White, originally published in 1978. In reality, I only have a scan of the photo, and it's not great. The caption says it's from the IWM, but I haven't had any luck finding it online. That said, I'm terrible at searching that site.

That said, I found another tank, named "Defiance III" in a video here: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/british-tanks-in-tunisia-aka-final-scenes-before/query/232918 (45 seconds in)

It's from the same unit, and you can clearly make out the markings on the front fenders.



So the big question is.... would BattleAxe have the same front markings as Defiance III? If not, what would be different?

Thanks Jesse! I definitly need to get some mr sufacer 500, I`ve used liquid cement previously but I`m not a big fan of the technique, I`m always affraid of some detail melting...
Thanks again!
Phil.

Haha, yeah, no worries about having anything melt with Mr. Surfacer. That said, it doesn't smell much better!

Jesse
you have realy out done you'r self this time i hope to see this in april
dave

What, you don't think it'll be done in the next 10 days?

Outstanding build so far Jesse.

Hmmm... pin marks? Errr... no.

Jesse
are you going to show it at your show this mouth ??????

Good thing those indentations get so filled up with dust as to be obscured from view...

Thanks for showing me that.

Not a chance. Just joking around. April's International AMPS show will be it's first show, and even then, probably not fully complete, as I wanted it to be on a base with a few crew members.

I do have a new one that will be there in February that I haven't posted online yet.

From watching your build, it looks like I really have my work cut out for me. The interior must be a labor of love! Can you tell me if the photo etch for the Lee would accurately represent a Grant in North Africa?