Stuart V (M3A3). AFV Club.

[Bullbasket]

So my choice for this GB is the AFV Club, 1/35th scale M4A3, or as it was known in UK service, the Stuart V.

Just a few words about the tank itself. One of the drawbacks of the M3 and the M3A1, was the lack of space in the turret. This was remedied by putting a bustle onto the rear of the turret and putting the radio in it, thus making more space. Other changes were a new hull, similar to the M5, but with sloping sides, and a change of power plant. Not 100% sure of my facts, but I believe the aero engine of the previous M3's was dropped, in favour of a Cadillac V8.

Although an improvement over the previous M3's, it didn't find much favour with the US military. Therefore most of the M3A3's went to the UK and other allies.

As AFV's kits contain most of what you want, the only AM item that I will be using is the etched brass set from Eduard.

So, roll on one weeks time.

 

John.

[Muchmirth]

Nice choice. I’d like to follow this one to see how it builds up. 
Good luck 👍

[modelling minion]

Good choice John, I like the M3A3 and M5 and they don't get enough coverage model wise.

I'm very interested to see how the AFV kits build up.

[Peter Lloyd]

I (90%) built one of these a few years ago, I was very happy with it.

 

It's an important tank and it took a long time for a kit of it to appear.

[Bullbasket]

Right. It's time to get this GB rolling.

So my choice for this GB is the AFV Club, 1/35th scale M4A3, or as it was known in UK service, the Stuart V. Just a few words about the tank itself. One of the drawbacks of the M3 and the M3A1, was the lack of space in the turret. This was remedied by putting a bustle onto the rear of the turret and putting the radio in it, thus making more space. Other changes were a new hull, similar to the M5, but with sloping sides, and a change of power plant. Not 100% sure of my facts, but I believe the aero engine of the previous M3's was dropped, in favour of a Cadillac V8.

Although an improvement over the previous M3's, it didn't find much favour with the US military. Therefore most of the M3A3's went to the UK and other allies.

And so, on with the build.

First thing that I've noticed about this kit is that the plastic seems to be quite soft, but the mouldings are still very crisp. I assembled each VVSS unit, but didn't glue them in place as I wanted to paint them before doing that. It will make painting the tyres easier.

 

Around the front, the curved FDH cover was glued on. On each side of this there are four indentations. In the instructions for the M5A1, it tells you to add bolt heads to these, using the ones moulded onto one of the sprues. For some strange reason, the instructions for the M3A3/Stuart V omit to tell you this. So rather than use the moulded bolt heads from the kit, I punched them out using a hexagonal punch and die set.

 

The rear hull plate was assembled, complete with engine doors. The only item of the running gear that I fixed in place prior to painting was the large trailing idler wheel, as this didn't have any rubber tyres on it to be brush painted.

 

I've built an AFV Club Stuart before, it being the Stuart Vl, and I was pleased with the outcome. Hopefully, this will be the same.

It's up and running, and I hope to bring you another update soon. 

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

[PlaStix]

Hi John. It's great to have you taking part in this GB with what is an excellent choice of kit. I must admit, I've enjoyed making the couple of AFV Club kits I've made before. And it looks like you are off to a great start, so I'm looking forward to following more of your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Stef N.]

And he's off. All the best John. 👍

[modelling minion]

Off to a great start John and a nice concise description of the M3A3/ Stuart V.

[Bullbasket]

16 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. It's great to have you taking part in this GB with what is an excellent choice of kit. I must admit, I've enjoyed making the couple of AFV Club kits I've made before. And it looks like you are off to a great start, so I'm looking forward to following more of your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

14 hours ago, Stef N. said:

And he's off. All the best John. 👍

 

13 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Off to a great start John and a nice concise description of the M3A3/ Stuart V.

Thanks to you all. Hopefully, I'll get to finish a GB build. (Well, there's got to be a first time for everything, hasn't there?)

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

There was one job that I wanted to get out of the way before going any further, and that is to replace all of the tie down loops on the upper hull. I've got the Eduard set for the M3A3 and very comprehensive it is. It includes the tie down loops, and I thought the I would try one out. Well, I've no doubt that there will be others who will make a good job of these, but for me, they involve a hell of a lot of faffing around, and seeing as there are more than two dozen of them, I decided against using them. Instead, I reverted to what I call the Steve Zaloga method. I've used this before and apologies to those who are familiar with this method. After removing all of the moulded on loops down the LHS, and some on the rear with a chisel blade, I then set about replacing them. First, using my punch and die set, I punched out two circles of 10thou plastic and glued them in place. Then I cut 10thou rod into 1.5mm lengths, and glued this on top of the two circles. The photos show the process better. It's not wonderful, but under a coat of paint, it doesn't look half bad. It's a long, tedious procedure, so I decided to only do the necessary ones, ie; if it's covered in stowage, it doesn't get done.

In this first photo, the 10thou rod is yet to be added.

 

I started to add the pioneer tools. On the LHS there is the sledge hammer, a very long crow bar, and a giant spanner. Once these were glued in place, straps were added from an etched set from a Dragon Sherman, and a couple of bits from the Eduard set for the M3A3.

 

Moving around to the engine deck now. I am not the type of model builder who thinks that every piece of etched brass must be used in the build. If what's in the kit suffices, then that's what I'll go with, as I did with the brackets for the shovel and the axe. That said, the etched parts for the shovel, pick axe head and shaft, and the axe, are a mixture of kit, Eduard and Dragon.

 

As can be seen in the photo above, there are loads of the ties downs, and replacing all of them would drive me gaga. So therefore, loads of stowage.

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

[modelling minion]

Great attention to detail John, I wish that I had the patience for such work.

[ColonelKrypton]

21 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

There was one job that I wanted to get out of the way before going any further, and that is to replace all of the tie down loops on the upper hull

 

I have been contemplating the same thing as I start my build of the Tamiya M3. I always like to replace molded on grab handles and tie downs with something a bit more realistic. I have been experimenting with small copper wire and was just about ready to start playing around with styrene.  Gluing 30 gauge copper wire to styrene never left me with much confidence - too little surface area resulting in an easy to knock off fussy little bit.  I had never seen the Steve Zaloga method before and I must give it a try. Plastic to plastic makes for a good join.

 

cheers, Graham

[robw_uk]

Nice... Don't quite get your method for the tie downs tho ...

[Bullbasket]

1 hour ago, ColonelKrypton said:

 

I have been contemplating the same thing as I start my build of the Tamiya M3. I always like to replace molded on grab handles and tie downs with something a bit more realistic. I have been experimenting with small copper wire and was just about ready to start playing around with styrene.  Gluing 30 gauge copper wire to styrene never left me with much confidence - too little surface area resulting in an easy to knock off fussy little bit.  I had never seen the Steve Zaloga method before and I must give it a try. Plastic to plastic makes for a good join.

 

cheers, Graham

I've long been a fan of Steve Zaloga, and used to read all of his articles in Military Modelling. As well as being a military historian, he's a first class model builder.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

29 minutes ago, robw_uk said:

Nice... Don't quite get your method for the tie downs tho ...

Thanks Rob.

What is it that you don't get? Is it how I described it, because I know that I was maybe a bit vague? Or is it the appearance, because once the paint is on, they look just like the real loops?

 

John.

[Muchmirth]

Great start. Really like tie downs they look very neat. Nice method.

   Also Im glad I’m not the only one to leave etch off if not necessary. 
  
Paul

Edited September 18 by Muchmirth

[robw_uk]

4 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Thanks Rob.

What is it that you don't get? Is it how I described it, because I know that I was maybe a bit vague? Or is it the appearance, because once the paint is on, they look just like the real loops?

 

John.

Thanks John,

 

It was.the description.....

[PlaStix]

Your attention to the smaller details never fails to impress!! Lovely work so far!

Kind regards,

Stix

[Bullbasket]

15 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Your attention to the smaller details never fails to impress!! Lovely work so far!

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix. Sometimes though, I tend to bog myself down in detail. I'm trying to avoid that with this one.

 

John.

[ColonelKrypton]

21 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

I've long been a fan of Steve Zaloga, and used to read all of his articles in Military Modelling. As well as being a military historian, he's a first class model builder.

 

Indeed, I as well.

[Bullbasket]

Time for an update.

Other items added, such as the armoured filler caps and the engine intake grill. I used the kit's plastic part for the latter as I couldn't see any benefit that the Eduard etched part had over it.

 

Then it was on to the stowage bin on the back end of the hull. I made up the plastic kit components of the stowage bin, and then added the etched brass basket using the kit parts. Although they are easier to use than the Eduard ones, they are a lot more flimsy. I'm just hoping that my clumsiness won't end up knocking the parts off.

Also added the tie downs along the back of the bin, along with the latches for the lid. This is it before gluing into place.

 

Around the back, there is, what I assume to be the exhaust box. I super glued the etched diamond mesh in place, and then glued it to the overhang of the upper hull.

 

This has got to be one of the weakest joints that I've ever come across. So after knocking it off twice, I made this Heath Robinson contraption to hold it in place. It doesn't look very good, but it won't be seen when everything is in place, and it does the job.

 

Upper and lower halves of the hull joined together.

 

And that's it for this update. It's a long time since I built one of these Stuarts. It'll be interesting to see how the new Miniart ones  stack up against them.

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

[modelling minion]

Thats more good progress John and very neat work on the etched parts. Your mod to improve the sturdiness of the rear overhanging part looks like it is doing it's job well.

[Bullbasket]

14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Thats more good progress John and very neat work on the etched parts. Your mod to improve the sturdiness of the rear overhanging part looks like it is doing it's job well.

Thanks Craig. The only way that it will be visible once it's finished is if you had one of those mirrors that some people have been known to use on the London Underground.

 

John.

[IanC]

Incredible work on those tie-downs, straps, and latches, John! 👍

[PlaStix]

Yet more lovely progress John. Seems to be up to your usual very high standards!

Kind regards,

Stix