Dang, that's a lotta detail. Lookin' sweet!

That's a bit of a tricky question...

First off, I've only looked at the Eduard sets specifically for the M3 Grant, and the Griffon Model set for the M3 Lee.

Just talking about those, there are certainly parts in the M3 Lee PE set that will be useful for a Grant. But much of it isn't applicable.

It really depends on how deep you want to go. None of the PE sets are perfect, nor is the Verlinden Resin interior set perfect. If I were to do it again, I would probably only use the Verlinden interior set combined with the Academy bits in the kit, and then use PE mostly on the exterior.

There are some 'good' places to use PE... like the engine intake at the front of the engine deck, or the light guards. But there's plenty of PE that's just annoying and doesn't really net much benefit.

By the way, a "Grant in North Africa" isn't near as simple as it sounds, and I don't think anyone seems to have a complete understanding. Or if they do, they aren't writing books about it.

Coming from you... that's a heavy compliment! Thanks.

Thanks Russell

A little off topic. From what I have read, the difference between the American M3 Lee and the British M3 Grant was that the crew was reduced to 6 members(gunnerx2, loaderx2, driver, commander) and the radio was moved into the copula.

There's a lot more to it, but the biggest and easiest to see would be that have completely different turrets. Unfortunately, there isn't really a good book that only covers the Grant. They either only cover the Lee, or they cover both Lee and Grant.

Jesse
what are you waiting for post it !!!!!!!!!

dave

Between various forums I posted questions about... I now have a LOT more information about Battleaxe than I did previously. I'm excited to eventually get to the paint and markings on this one.

I want to say thanks to Mike Starmer, Ondra Rott (hopefully that's the correct spelling), and George Bradford among others, who all contacted me with various details about this tank.

As far as building, not a lot in the last few nights. I finished up the right side rear hull storage box. I finally found a decent picture from the left side looking into the open hull door to the ammo bin, so I had to relocate the resin ammo bin a bit. And AMS kicked in, and now I'm replacing all of the exterior mis-shapen rivets on the diagonal 'corners' on the rear of the fighting compartment upper hull.

That AMS stuff will tear you UP.
Gotta say that I am enjoying this one....

How about some new pictures?!

Been waiting to see some paint on it. Should be ready to start mine at the end of next month.

Jesse, your interior is simply amazing.
Joel

Wow Jesse, You are a talented man! The interior is amazing bro.

Gary

Matt, Joel, Gary...

Thanks guys! I'm glad to get it this far. Now it's getting close to a 'regular' build, where all I need to do is paint and weather the exterior.

Hi Jesse,

Made a good job of the interior, nice work. The seat belt is a cool addition.

Al

Hi Jesse This interior is impressive
I second what Allan said about the seat belt it is a pertinent addition.

Phil.

Thanks guys. Of course, 10 mins after those photos were taken, while dry-fitting the turret into the hull, the turret split into 3 pieces! Haha... so I spent the rest of the night putting it back together. So after a few hours, I'm back to where I started with those pictures.

Last big part of the interior is to paint up the 2 TMD Thompson Sub-MG's and install them with their straps. Then it might be a bit of weathering touch up, and maybe the hull can finally get glued up.

Oh, and there's some simple scratch building of some details that sit in the commander's hatch in the turret.

Coming along very nicely, Jesse!

This has turned into quite the epic build. I'm really looking forward to seeing this in person one day.

Hi Mike. I'm still shooting for April.

No pictures right now, but still plugging away...

-Got the wiring done for the radio.
-scratchbuilt details of the commander's hatch and field mod .30 cal mount
-installed the bogies
-more work on getting the turret basket perfect.

Really superb work on that interior buddy. Can't wait for your next update.
J

Jesse, this build is CRAZY good!

Can't wait to see this one done although seems a shame to button it up with all that awesome interior work. But we'll all know it's there!

Keep at it!

Jesse:
It just keeps getting better!!!! It is really coming along
well. Very clean work on the turret interior. Looks great finally with paint. This will set, the standard.....I think
for others to build a Grant. Great Work.
Todd

Jerry, Don, Todd...

Thanks for the comments guys. It's fun to finally see some paint on this thing and see the finish line in site. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about Don!

The Atlanta AMPS guys got a 'sneak preview' of the Ft. Benning trip that's part of the AMPS National show in April today, so I got to see some really cool armor up close today. Some of the highlights are (4) of the American "Heavy" prototypes, the T-28 with it's sides off, the Tiger I with it's turret off, the WWI FT-18 "male", and Cobra King. Relavent to this thread... I saw the old Aberdeen "Grant". I put Grant in quotations because it's cobbled together, and I believe it's actually a Lee with a Grant turret installed after the fact so Aberdeen could have a 'set' of M3's, Lee and Grant. But I digress...

Anyway, going to try and get some bench time tonight, and maybe snap some photos for an update tomorrow. Thanks again for the comments.