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Time to ditch the wingy things and armour up! First AFV WIP - Academy M3 Grant 1:35


clive_t

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I found today that drawing in my photos and it looks like you do not have to be worry about 75mm. They was 37mm as well.

 

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Also found some info about ammo, maybe it can be useful

 

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More progress today. The parts of the turret basket are nearing the final assembly:

 

34812636080_a815fabffc_b.jpg

 

I just need to finish off the 37mm (as I now understand it :) ) rounds, and then I can fit those before assembling. I'm doing a mix of mostly HE and AP, with a few cannister shot, and a couple of training rounds. I did the same for the rounds on the rear bulkhead rack:

 

35033955542_36e7a2d09c_b.jpg

 

I found that the cartridges were too wide at the base to allow them to fit properly side-by-side, so I tried to stagger them slightly. Not 100% happy with how they've lined up, but you'll be hard-pressed to see that once the hull and the turret are on.

 

I was inspired by @Kris B 's drawing posted above to add the water bottle holders to the outside of the turret basket cradle. Cost - a small amount of thin styrene sheet for the containers, and some sprue offcuts, shaped, for the water bottles - and about 3 hours of my life! They should be visible from the outside through the open hatches, so I figured it was worth the effort:

 

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The structure was too delicate for any of my clamps, so I used a couple of pairs of 'reverse-tweezers' to act as very gentle clamps:

 

35033949052_2ac476632c_b.jpg

 

Thanks for watching, comments as ever most welcome! :)

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I've attempted to build this bottle holders, but haven't got a proper material and gave up. Good to see that you finished it successfully. 

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14 minutes ago, Kris B said:

I've attempted to build this bottle holders, but haven't got a proper material and gave up. Good to see that you finished it successfully. 

Thanks Kris, I just need to trim off some excess styrene from the bottom of the containers and then I'll be able to paint it. I'm leaving it well alone until tomorrow, I want the glue to harden fully so that I don't mess it up.

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More progress today. The water bottle holders were trimmed and painted. I took a bit of a guess and assumed the water bottles were metallic in nature, hence the vague copper-like colour:

 

35177487136_356ef9496f_b.jpg

 

Having painted all the rounds, I was then able to fit them to the ammo racks in the turret basket:

 

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Not entirely sure if my arrangement of the various types of round is in any way realistic, but I've gone with it anyway :)

 

With that, I was then able to assemble the turret basket:

 

35177476226_1412b04040_b.jpg

 

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A quick test fit in the hull, to see how it looks:

 

35217649925_de3b0001a7_b.jpg

 

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I then fitted the rear bulkhead, as well as the turret basket cradle. It needed a bit of persuasion to stay in place while the glue went off, but once again the reverse tweezers came into their own as clamps:

 

35217643615_706081f935_b.jpg

 

The turret basket needs a bit of a clean-up, as there were some minor fit issues. It appeared to be fouling on the rounds stowed on the rear bulkhead. If cleaning up doesn't resolve matters, I think regrettably I will need to remove the rounds from the stowage that are causing the problem. To be honest, it's difficult to see any of them as there isn't much light penetrating to the rear bulkhead.

 

Setting that assembly aside for the day, I had a look at the turret. A quick dry-fit:

 

35217640685_cc0bcf20d2_b.jpg

 

I have an idea to try and show the RT set at the back of the turret, which would theoretically be at least partly visible through the open hatch at the top. To make it even more visible, I am looking at modelling at least one of the pistol ports in the open position. That's for another time though!

 

Thanks for watching! :)

 

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6 minutes ago, Kris B said:

Nice as usually. Do you have a radio set for the turret? 

Thanks Kris - no, but I'm going to have a good look at yours on your other forum and try to make a copy from styrene, Milliput and thin wire ;)

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Bronco making a set with radio and Thompson gun and other useful stuff if you want to spend few quid. 

 

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I've used this set and that how it's look:

 

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Hope you do not mind me messing in your thread. 

Edited by Kris B
Add some more text
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From £4 is worth to get it. And save some time of scratch build for something else. 

By the way the ammo 75mm is make by RB models 35B20 if you interested. 

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2 hours ago, Kris B said:

 

Hope you do not mind me messing in your thread. 

No, not at all, I am keen to hear contributions, suggestions etc from anyone!

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On 10/06/2017 at 11:17 PM, Murdo said:

The detail here is superb!

Thanks Murdo, however some of it has had to be sacrificed in the name of actually getting the turret basket to fit properly :(

 

On 11/06/2017 at 0:17 PM, Blaubar said:

Quite a lot of ammo to be painted there^^. Keep the spirits up:thumbsup:

Thanks, ammo all painted, including several rounds which will not now be used:

 

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The paint was then scraped from the contact surfaces of the turret ring and the basket, so they fitted together:

 

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Finally, the turret was able to fit properly, and turn without fouling the rear bulkhead. I also took the opportunity to glue the PE fender on the left side. Suddenly, it's starting to look suspiciously like a Grant:

 

35228266416_58098119ca_b.jpg

 

On 11/06/2017 at 6:44 PM, FrancisGL said:

What little you see in the basket, you're doing very well, the radio is a very good detail ...:popcorn:

Cheers Clive :D

 

Cheers, Francis :)

 

Radio set has been ordered, along with a few other things which fell into my online shopping cart ;) - well it's Father's Day on Sunday, so there!

 

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2 hours ago, clive_t said:

 

Radio set has been ordered, along with a few other things which fell into my online shopping cart ;) - well it's Father's Day on Sunday, so there!

 

 

Ooooh! Is it?  

 

<Starts smirking and plotting about "bits needed cos it's father's day">               :D

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More progress today. The turret basket has been stippled with white as per the rest of the interior, and the turret underside has been fixed to the turret ring:

 

35290199535_b7aa4578b6_b.jpg

 

I also decided to relocate the ammunition removed from the rear bulkhead, to the left side of the hull interior, as per the diagram provided by Kris:

 

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The good thing is that the rounds will be at least partly visible through the open side door.

 

I took a cast of the interior of the pistol port on the rear bulkhead, using a small amount of 2-part rubber mould medium:

 

34902834070_61defdaf0a_b.jpg

 

With this, I hope to cast some new pistol port interiors for the two ports on the turret.

 

Thanks for watching! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK so about 2 weeks has elapsed since my last progress on here - nothing I could do about that, just 'real life' getting in the way as it will.

 

I made a bit of progress on the pistol ports. Firstly, I made 3 castings from Milliput. One spare, just in case I mess something up:

 

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I then tidied the castings up a bit, and made ready to cut an aperture in the turret where the pistol port door was supposed to be glued:

 

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Then I cut the aperture out and cleaned it up so that the pistol port interior fitted into it:

 

35511924686_d7f5ee94c5_b.jpg

 

I still need to do the one on the opposite side of the turret, but at least I've proved the idea so it's just a simple case of 'rinse and repeat'! I won't be fitting the ports on to the turret until nearer the end of the build, as I rather fancy these could be easily knocked off and lost.

 

I need to start looking at the building of the turret interior. I received the Bronco AVF detail kit through the post, and very nice detail it looks too. Hopefully more on that to follow soon!

 

Thanks for watching :yes:

 

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Good work, but there is bad news. TAKOM spread the news that they are releasing new M3 Grant and Lee. They done exactly the same for me when I was building Whippet from Emhar. But keep going, you doing well.

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That's typical of my luck! Ah well, I shall continue regardless... thanks for the heads up though, I'll be interested to read of any reviews of it when people get around to making them.

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