LOL, I've already built 3 of these from past kits so with this one I'm well on my way to building all 24!

Well, this is at least the third reincarnation of this vehicle since the ancient Imperial Dragon series. Seems like every time Dragon releases a 'new-tooled' or 'corrected' version of a pre=released vehicle, they follow up a year or two later with a 'new newly-tooled and corrected-corrected' version. I'm not exaggerating; Dragon's done this several times. Maybe I should just wait, say twenty years, for Dragon to make their best kit, then buy it.

Hi, All! I agree with Biggles2 and Grindcore! Just look at how many different Tiger I and Panther kits DRAGON has released- At least they're making an effort by starting to release less common Japanese stuff like their HA-GO and KA-MI, both with and without floatation gear, plus a "Peleliu" Japanese Infantry set. I, for one, am getting sick and tired of the deluge of WWII German stuff, "Paper-Panzers", and "Versuchs" vehicles, of which there were only one or two actually built. I've been banging the drum for a really good M8 HMC for quite a while... Where IS that AFV CLUB M8??? And what happened to that M3 Lee that DRAGON promised a couple of years ago? I've got a GREAT M3 Lee that I built up from a LEGEND Resin Conversion kit, but what about the guys out there that look upon such a conversion as a really daunting task? Not all of us have the experience for such an undertaking. I think that manufacturers such as DRAGON, TRUMPETER, BRONCO, etc are missing the boat in not "picking it up and laying it down" with an entirely new M3 Grant/Lee kit- DRAGON and TASCA already have a leg up on that one, what with all the M4-based Hulls and VVSS Suspensions... While I'm at it, we could stand a new M3 Stuart-series as well. That ACADEMY Stuart leaves A LOT TO BE DESIRED! I was fortunate in that I was able to pick up a bunch of TIGER MODELS and FORMATIONS Update kits for ACADEMY's M3 and AFV CLUB's M5A1-series. I was also able to pick up a TIGER MODELS M8 HMC Conversion as well, but I KNOW that a lot of us missed out on those great conversion sets. It's high time for the kit manufacturers to get off their big, fat rear ends and give us some real meat instead of all that warmed-over "ersatz" crap that they've been feeding us all these years. The preponderance of WWII German stuff over Allied equipment is mind-numbing. In DRAGON's "latest releases", we have TEN German Vehicles which are just re-heated leftovers versus the single new US M48...

With all those M4 chassis floating around by Dragon and Tasca, I'm still waiting for a better M10!

Hi, All! Once again, I agree with Biggles2!!! A STATE-OF-THE-ART M10 AND M18 would suit me WONDERFULLY!!!

First off, Dragon never 'promised' a M3. They showed a black and white photo of one. No box art, no CAD images, nothing. At least with the Jumbo, they paid Ron to do some box art before never releasing that. Secondly, the Legend M3 isn't "GREAT". It doesn't fix a number of the Academy issues that would have been easy enough to fix if they took the time to pay attention. It also requires you use some of the Academy 'detail' pieces, which are not that great. And they continue to seemingly not think through their mold attachment points. One thing I will say is that I like how they did the final drive cover where you use the Academy bolted covers and axles for the drive sprockets.

Mea culpa... OK, so why did DRAGON choose to repeatedly print this black and white photo of that M3 month after month for a couple of years? Just to tease us into buying their other stuff? As to my ACADEMY M3/LEGEND Conversion, the only part I used from the ACADEMY kit was the bottom hull, since I didn't have anything else laying around at the time, not that I need to explain myself. Besides the ACADEMY lower hull and some of the big parts of the LEGEND Conversion, (top hull, etc.) I used A LOT of CYBERHOBBY/DRAGON, TASCA and SCRATCHBUILT PARTS, and even a couple of pieces out of the "ancient" TAMIYA M3 to build this thing. I remember a time back in the "Dark Ages" when that old TAMIYA M3 was received with open arms by the modelling community. Now, having said that, IF one of the kit manufacturers EVER do decide to produce a "State of the Art" M3 Lee/Grant, (or an M10, or an M18) then I will buy one or two of each and go from there. My kit-bashed M3 effort will probably find itself somewhere towards the back of one of my display cases... I haven't built anything "straight out of the box" since I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I'm pushing 61. If I want something bad enough and I haven't got much to work with, I "ADAPT, OVERCOME AND IMPROVISE"... Try building HO brass steam locomotives from scratch if you want a REAL CHALLENGE... We forget how EASY we have it today- Slide-molding, CAD design work, mountains of photo-etch, along with specialized brass bending tools, thousands of different resin updates, a plethora of rub-on transfers and decals, I could go on and on. I get completely sick and tired of reading kit reviews that niggle over "one bolt missing on the transfer case of the latest Sd.Kfz.900342/53 Ausf.Z SCHEISSWERFER. Can't we just enjoy this hobby without being Anally OCD over it?

Ok. I was just saying that the Legend kit isn't great IMO. And it still comes with a hefty price tag, more than the retail of the kit. Then why are you complaining about how awful all of these existing kits are??? If you don't want to be anal and OCD, then a Tamiya M3 Lee "looks like" a M3 Lee. The Academy or AFVclub Hellcats "look like" M18's.

OK- I didn't mean for this to turn into a p*****g-contest. I was just trying to say that we've gotten very spoiled. I'm VERY HAPPY with all the great stuff out there! But don't you think that even though the AFV CLUB and ACADEMY M18s LOOK like an M18, it doesn't mean that BRONCO or DRAGON or any of the the other manufacturers couldn't improve on the breed? Let me put it this way, as I did in my first post regarding DRAGON's "new" German Assault Gun w/sIG.33- I stated that DRAGON released TEN German vehicles, as opposed to just ONE US M48 MBT... The manufacturers (read: DRAGON, AMUSING HOBBY, etc) come out with all kinds of oddball German stuff that didn't change the outcome of WWII by one iota, and they choose to push even the most common US and ALLIED stuff into the corner. How many Tiger Is alone has DRAGON released in the last 5 years or so? If DRAGON is so hell-bent on "improving" their Tiger Is, etc, why can't we get the same kind of attention paid to the various US Half Tracks that DRAGON has released in the last few years? I've read articles that damn these kits to perdition because they have "weighted" tires and the rivets on the body panels are supposed to be slotted counter-sunk screws. I've seen more than a few REAL-LIVE WWII US Half Tracks at various re-enactments, parked on concrete, and YES, there IS some slight distortion to the tires because of the vehicles' weights, even when they are inflated to the proper tire pressure. Can't live with the rivets? Cut 'em off and use an old hypo-needle to make your own counter-sunk screws and then cut some slots into the screw heads. Personally, I'll take the rivets... So, OK- the various manufacturers release and sell us these oddball German machines that some of us would never have imagined could ever make it onto hobby shop shelves, and then there are complaints about little details that no one in their right mind would ever have noticed, if attention hadn't been brought upon them. If that little bolt that I joked about on the SCHEISSWERFER's transfer case is missing, JUST ADD ONE, for Pete's sake!!! THAT'S all I'm saying! THAT'S what I'm calling Anally OCD, no personal insult intended to anyone in particular... Twenty years ago, who would have ever guessed that we would EVEN GET INTERIORS INCLUDED in a lot of today's kits? Examples are the various German, US and British SPGs that DRAGON's been releasing of late. Today we see "Lows" in kit reviews that I would have given my eye teeth for way back when... Thankfully, some manufacturers, such as MIRROR, BRONCO, RIICH and a few others are suddenly beginning to "see the light" as regards to WWII US and ALLIED equipment. KUDOS to BRONCO for correcting the Turret Roof on their M24, for example. I'm just put-off by all the "warmed over" German stuff that's being re-released time and again with "new" improvements. "OOOOOOH! Two more bolts added to the belly of the latest Tiger I reincarnation!!!" Give us a BREAK, will ya?!? Read some of my other posts- I'm damned glad to be able to get hold of more 1/35 JAPANESE WWII stuff than we had back in the Dark Ages, for instance. Yeah, I know, a lot of guys don't much like the WWII US and ALLIED Equipment and Vehicles because "they don't look interesting enough"... DON'T get me going on WWII US OLIVE DRAB- It WASN'T all TAMIYA XF-62... Pete Harlem did an EXCELLENT article regarding US Olive Drab in the first AMPERSAND Sherman book. I'm anxious to get copies of the upcoming AMPERSAND "SON OF SHERMAN" books, Volumes 1, 2 and 3... Volume 2 especially, which will deal with building the US M4-series in its various permutations... DON'T get me going on all of those "sexy" German Tri-color Camo Schemes, either- My Mom's Uncle Ludwig served with 1st SS Panzer and he told me personally that A LOT of those German war-time photos were shot by REICHSPROPAGANDA Units, and they HAND-PICKED what and where they were going to shoot on any given day. See some of my posts regarding German Camo; it might change some thinking out there... Anyway, thanks for hearing me out! It's nice to have sites like this one where you can ALWAYS learn something, even if you're an old "Ancient" like me... Regards to ALL!!!