I bought this item from ADV directly mainly to find out how good their products and service are. As far as I know, the CDL M3 turret which I bought looks okay, but now I need to know about this item. This is not a standard M3 Lee turret, so was it for the British tank forces? Would it go directly on Tamiya's Matilda tank? If so, what about the Matilda tank itself, what errors are in it? Thanks.

Hi Tom: The CDL program was fitted on Matilda II chasses for experimentation only. It was then used for M3 Lees which had an advantage in that their 75mm sponson cannon could be used. According to Hunnicutt, 1850 British M3s were converted to be used by the British while the US converted 497 M3s and cast hulled M3A1s into CDLs. The turrets were similar btn the US and British with only a few minor fittings being different.

Steve Zaloga built one up in Milmod within the last few years and there is accompanying info in his write up. He used the M3A1 cast hull version.

I can't tell you about the accuracy/inaccuracy of the Tamiya Matilda II kit however.

I'd start from the newer Academy Lee, if'n I was you. Much, much better than the old Tamiya dogs. If you want real accuracy, buy the Formations replacement suspensions to fix a bogey housing problem.



The Tamiya Matildas are OK, but only just,. The front hull is off dimensionally with the shapes of the casting and the fender profiles being off significantly. There is an Osprey book on modelling the Matilda and it goes through the details piece by piece.
HTH

Paul