Hello,

I plan to use this as inspiration for an upcoming build. I am unsure whether this would have been re-painted in dunkelgrau or had the original color retained:



Thoughts, inputs greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Tat

It still has the Russian-applied turret number, so I'd say no to the repaint.

It's an M3 Lee, not a Grant. Despite the Soviet preference for diesel engines, the M3 tanks sent to the Soviets were the basic gasoline-engined M3. The later Sherman deliveries were of the M4A2 diesel variety.
Best 1/35th scale Lee kit currently available is the Academy version, though it would benefit from photoetch, new tracks, and revised exhausts. The tank in the photo was probably US No.9 Olive Drab.

Other photos of captured M3 "135" exist and you see faint US registration numbers. Thus, clearly it's in factory OD

Thanks all for the responses. Good to hear that it is leaning towards OD as I've been doing too much dunkelgrau of late.




That was my first thought Russel. However I recall seeing an Eastern Front StuG (I think) with numbers similar to a Russian script, thus had second thoughts on #135




Not sure why I typed in Grant there Gerald. Actually it's an M3 Lee that I have, the old Tamiya release which I plan to use to clear the stash so I hope it somehow looks the part. How close is Tamiya OD to US No 9 OD -- should it be darker or lighter?




Roy, the pics of #135 that I've seen are not that clear on the registration number. There are other pics however -- #147 which show the numbers quite clearly.

Cheers,

Tat

Tamiya Olive Drab is a very good match for N0. 9 OD in full-scale. For scale effect, add a bit of German Dark Yellow.

Tamiya's M3 Lee kit has problems--it's poorly proportioned, and has the engine deck of an M3, but the upper tail plate of an M3A5 diesel version (oddly, Tamiya's Grant kit is correct, though). The tracks have end connectors that are centered on the track blocks instead of being in between them, so they don't connect anything. The turret gun sight is aimed halfway to the sky, so the gun would have to be posed at a 45 degree angle to match.

Thanks for the inputs Gerald -- much appreciated. Will check on whatever improvements may be made, but I will have to live with this one as the intent is to reduce the stash. Cheers, Tat

In addition to Gerald's comments:

- the road wheels have 6 spokes instead of 5 and _really_ need to be replaced.

- The radius of the turret walls to the roof is waaaay too large and need to be reduced significantly. It can be done easily with epoxy putty but it makes the Tamiya Lee turret look significantly different than the real thing.

- the rear idler mounds are totally fictitious and look nothing like the real thing. Steal some from the spares box.

One of the big problems with the Tamiya Lee and Grant is that they are about .100" (2.5mm) too wide. It not only throws off the proportions of the hull superstructure, but means that things like aftermarket differential housings and rear hull plates simply do not fit.

There's nothing you can do about it, but beware thinking you can use aftermarket parts for things on the lower hull as they won't generally fit. I had to scratch build a bunch of that stuff years ago when I did mine.

Here is my Tamiya Lee done up as a Canadian Lee during training in the UK, 1942. I added a bunch of things on top of the major items Gerald and I have noted.



The old bird can be made to look good, but it will never be accurate.

Paul

Paul,

A fine looking Lee. Tamiya - the original? Did you use any aftermarket?

Greatly appreciate your inputs Paul. For this one, I'd be more than happy to finish it with not much build issues, and I guess for it to just look the part.

Cheers,

Tat