I am posting this to try and head-off the posts which will inevitably appear here....

There has been a rumor circulating on both Missing Lynx and Track-Link about the SUPPOSED cancellation of the ACADEMY M3 Lee series...

Just having spent an hour or so, trawling the posts on both sites, I have come to a conclusion - it's a rumor. There is no substantive evidence whatsoever to suggest that Academy has cancelled the series.

It is also worth pointing out, that on NEITHER of these sites, was the rumor published 'officially' the rumor started on one and spread to the other. What surprises me is that is hasn't reached us yet

There is a truly wonderful rebuttal by David Harper of VLS, which is worth the time reading. It can be found:
HERE

...Jim]

I didn't even knew they were working on M3's haha

Well I would be great if they released them with a interior just like the M10's, Tigers etc..

Grt

Although I would be first in line to buy anyone of the M3s they have put in their catalog I'm not holding my breath. Academy is famous or is that infamous for putting teasers in their catalog only to disappoint. I.e. M728, Centurion, etc. how many years did these lye around teasing us would be buyers only to brake our hearts in the waiting. I'm still hopeful here as they do have parts of other kits they can utilize in the making of these. But once again I point to their history i.e. M728 they have about 85% of the thing in their M60A1 with plow. They had rekindled that spark in my eye when they released that kit only to dash my hopes when they yanked it out of the catalog. I'm sure they'll come out with it when I part with the bucks for the resin versions.

As far as the M3 I personally think it is time some one came out with all three of the proposed versions as all three played a very important roll in the early stages of the North Africa campaign. Besides it would be really cool to have a descent M3 suspension in plastic to backdate the DML M4A1 kit. Why were at it how many more of the old Tamiya releases can we update to modern standards, I can come up with at least half a dozen.

I've been waiting for a new M3 Lee for a while. I hope they do at least a couple of different variants, much like the M3 Stuart and M3A1 Stuart. I was extremely grateful when the Braille scale community got a new series of M3 kits by Mirage.

I tought the Academy Stuart comes with an interior??

Cheers
Henk

Yes, but it's the wrong one. M3A1 interior inside an M3 hull.

I want a CEV, the ugliest thing to ever have tracks

I too would like to see Academy come out with a M3 Lee/Grant series. But, I won't believe it until I see it.

Quite frankly I'd rather not have a Lee from Academy if they do it like they did their Stuarts. B*stardized examples of the pantographer's art, all three of them. Academy fixed a couple of the most visible flaws and still left us with kits that are fundamentally inaccurate. That their copied components are significantly less detailed than the Tamiya originals is only salt in the wounds.

No, if an Academy Lee is a copy of the Tamiya dog with a fixed rear hull and changed turret contours without addressing the fact that the basic hull is almost 1/8" too wide or that the basic shapes of the hull plates are off, then I don't want it and won't pay a nickle for it.

Once burned, twice shy.

Paul

I hope Academy will actually release the M551 they promised for late '04...only 1.5 month left to fulfil their promise and still the chance that they used Tamiya's obsolete molds for their Sheridan is looming above this release.

I noticed that Tamiya re-releases their M3 Lee.
Just like they did with their Stuarts right before the Academy Stuart release.

Is that an indication, Id like to think so but that could be wishful thinking on my behalf.