I am a die hard German armor builder, but for some reason I just had to have the new Academy M3A1. My wife got me one for Christmas. I really want to do a lend lease version because I think that red star will look cool on this little tank. Anyway, I have no reference for anything other than German. Is the kit good as is? (:-)

Patrick

I believe the second version released is good to go as is. Purist will say thin out the headlight guards, etc., but it looks to be a good OOB M3A1.

Here's some links to lend-lease M3A1s. Not the best of pics but, it's something.

Lend Lease
Soviet Lend Lease
Russian Stuart
M3A1 Review
M3 "General Stuart" ...nice color plates here.

As far as I know the Russians only got the diesel engine version The Tamiya M3 Stuart is that version I have a book that lists all the lend lease stuff given to the Russians I'll let you know in a day or two if the Russians got the gasoline version
Chad

Hi,

I found a color plate of Soviet M3A1 (Diesel version) in Polish book about Stuart. This is a tank (No. W307216) with big "Kujbyszew" name on its side.
If you want- I can send you scan of it.

Regards,

Michal

I just got the same model and had a similar question. So you say that building the soviet version would require some changes? Hmmm. my conversion skills are still minimal and I wouldn't want to mess this little gem up. So my question is, how common were the large drums on the hull that the American versions have? I don't really like the way they look and was wondering if anyone has photos of "Tiger" (The cover model) w/o the drums?

Ralph

Welcome to ArmoramA, Ralph. Those drums on back were simply to increase range. They were held in place by a cable which allowed them to be ditched from inside the vehicle. I would suspect that with or without the drums would be fine.

Patrick

Welcome to ArmoramA.com BTD!

The Auxilary Fuel Tanks were common on the early M3 Stuarts to bolster their range, however, most crews disdained their use for obvious reasons in combat situations. You don't have to worry if you opt not to model them.

Academy's earlier M3 Stuart release is a good place to start in modeling a Lend-Lease machine - without a great deal of conversion work called for. Both this model kit, and the Tamiya M3, make good base kits for this subject - either making a suitable effort worthwhile.

Gunnie's M3 Stuart In-Progress

Gunnie

Thanks for the help. I have a week's vacation, so I'll go put it to good use. Wish me luck.
BTW, great models on your page gunnie


Ralph