I have decided to embark on an old tride and true kit that we all know and love.
As we all know this kit has a few short comings ....
Such as Pin Marks on the "Visable" surfaces here and there.


And parts that are just Horrific as far as deatail is concerned.


Aside from that, let's not dwell on the walls being too thick and things like that.
Well I decided the the skate rail was all wrong and want a new one.
Unfortunately I did not take a pic first before I butchered the one from the kit....
But...I did take these pic's of the walls.






I then assembled the basic structure of the vehicle and started to make a new Skate rail from .080" (2mm) channel.




Now the gun mounts were molded "on to" the skate rail,
so I cut them off and modified one for my purposes.


Well remember the horrific .30 cal I showed you above....
Well I sized up a Roco one and found it to be "in scale".
So I modified it for my purposes.




Now the .50 cal was void of detail on the rt. side
so I added the detail as best as I could and removed a coule items as well.


I will add a Dragon ammo can and spade grips.

I have since molded the .30 cal and here are the results of that.




Now I have "test-fitted" the whole thing.








Well thats all for now....all this small work make me tired.
Please tell me what you think.

Here are a couple more things that I have done.
No dought that everyone has noticed that the Head-lamps are just "bumps" on the fenders, yes?




Well with a #15 scaple I have cured that.




Then I drilled out the mounting holes for "My" head-lamps.




My next step was to equip this baby with radios.
Thanks to Roco I have them.






well I off to make other pieces now ....more later.

Great to see this classic in the making

superb job of detailing.

This is some really nice detail and correction work, showing how to improve an older kit.

Please keep it up.

Well done- as someone who struggles to add detail in 1/35 I admire what you have achieved so far

I don't know if I mentioned it,
but the set will come with 2 sets of .30 cal
this is what the second set will look like.


Now I had to to do some micro scratch building to make the "correct" tripod for the .30 cal.
this is the "Proper" stowage for the tripods on the M3 scout Car.


also I took my .50 cal and did some micro surgery and redid it as a new master.
so here are some shots of it.






here it is with a little paint to help show the details.






and here it is "side by side" with the first incarnation to show a small difference.


well that was want kept me busy since my last post.

@CPL-Overby – Kenneth,

Excellent scratch made and modified parts you are making for this vehicle. I have this kit in the stash and was thinking of building it someday. How close would an IDF version be to make with using your resin parts? Keep up the hard work, it’s good to see you giving this antique kit a facelift.

BTW Kenneth, what method did you use for bending the corners on the skate rail without cracking or deforming the styrene channel?

~ Eddy

I am presently researching the IDF M3....so I do not have an answer for you at this time.
As for the bending of the channel.....as a jeweler I have certain tools that are very helpful.....
one being the round nose pliers.

they were quite helpful in the bending.

@CPL-Overby – Kenneth,

Thanks a bunch for the reply and for sharing how you went about bending the channel. I happen to have several sized round nose pliers in my hobby toolbox and would have never given a thought to using them for achieving the nicely curved bends you’ve made on the styrene channel. I’ll have to give this method a try.

As far as the IDF vehicle is concerned, I would be very interested in building my only ESCI M3 kit as an IDF vehicle. I’ll await your research.

~ Eddy

This is a perfect example of the old saying "Turning a Sow's ear into a silk purse". Well done so far!

Oh God...it seems it's been days since I've been here......
Wait! It HAS been days.....
I have been hard at work here, and it seems that I am burning out?
I hope not!
Lets "recap" (on a small part of this)
One of the big bones of contention in this kit, is the "skate rail",
for one thing, it is Not an "I" beam or a piece of "channel" as it should be.
And, it only has two (2) gun mounts on it when it should have three (3).
Yes I finally got a pic of one before modification (thanks Charlie).


Here is the one I made.


Here is the first cast of it in resin (yes I finally molded it)




And here are two showing the casting mounted to the M3 (with guns) next to a fresh cast.


Another BIG short-coming is the level of deatil and quality of the Machine Guns offered with the kit.
The .50 cal and .30 cal are just Horrible.


So I took what I had and made attempts at making the best MG's I could.






Now I an tackling the Gas Cans.


I did one, and then decide to Document the conversion of the second.


Here is where I cut away the "gas can"


Then with a "denatal burr" I hollowed out the mount portion.


I then placed the "chosen" gas can with in it.
I had to keep test fitting over and over again till it got where "I" wanted it




I thought I was almost done, then I remembered that many, many pic's show,
that troops carried the cavas bucket strapped to one gas can.....so I tried my hand at that as well.










Now I am trying to tackle the "brush guards" for the head lamps.....
We'll see how that goes.

Man am I tired....gonna take a break.
Tomorroow will be a day off from this.
Today I got some major construction done.....
First was this PIA that I will call the Brush Guard.
First thing "I" noticed was that it was too short.
So I made one......
but I am not sure if it's worth the effort.
"I" think it's to fragile for molding.


The next thing I did was to build the new windshiels armor.
Those Knock out marks were just driving me crazy.
Don't let the pic fool you....the new piece just "looks" bigger because it's closer to the camera.


AS I said tomorrow will be a day off from working on this......
I have to help my Girlfriend rip the carpet out of her G'mas Bedroom. (joy)

yes you are right ,it is an old kit.but you have done wonerds for the kit
l like all that you have ,great job,i will follow the build,nice work.

OK...now I am startin on the doors.....
Here is the driver's door from the "Out-Side".


Here it is from the "In-Side".


Here it is "in place" with the armor flap in the "up" possistion.


Here it is with the flap folded "down".


This was an "all day" project, so to morrow I'll tackle the other door.

Excellent work.
You should place the door next to a coin to show the size .

P.A.

As you wish.

OK......I was s'posed to work on the other door.....
but then something shinny distracted me.....
and I chose to do this.
The Tow Hooks are represented by just "bumps" on the plate.




So I took tow hooks from Paul Heiser's 1/87 detail set and did this.

Alright......Today has been a busy one for me......
I tried and it worked the brush guards survived the molding proccess.






I even went as far as doing the "wooden" ammo box for the .30 cal






I am done for the day......

That's some SERIOUSLY great detail work, CPL Overby.

Keep it coming, sir.

Really an excelent work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi All,
I want to say "Thank You" to those who are offering words of incouragement,
If I do not reply directly to you, and this hurts your feelings .... I apologise.
I suffer from an Attention Disorder, and I often go on thinking that I did something ,
when the case is that I did not.
So if anyone feels "slighted" agin ...I apologise.
Right now I am behind on this and am trying to get back on it.
I am trying to get back into the groove on this....
I stopped two days ago to work on other things, and dredd doing the other door.
I just have to pull myself up by my Boot Straps.....I just can't reach them...lol

OK!
I am getting closer to getting this off the ground.
I thought that I'd give you all a "sneak peak".















I think once I finish the other door it will be ready for production. :scratch:

That's looking really really sweet. So will it be a conversion set Ken or end up a complete vehicle?

Ken,

Your M3 looks like it's larger than 1:72 scale now with your excellent changes and additions. Well done, Sir!