M3 Stuart (Initial Production)

[Stef N.]

I'll be doing the following, newish Miniart kit. It has a full interior so I am going to come up with a way of displaying it so the interior won't go to waste.. Maybe a garage scene.....

Edited September 7 by Stef N.
Scene not seen. With not woth too.

[Muchmirth]

Good idea, I’ll be following along with this. 
good luck!

[modelling minion]

Great to see the new Miniart Stuarts making an appearance, I imagine quite a few of us are interested to see how this one goes together and on how you show the interior off.

[Bullbasket]

Yes, I really want to see how this turns out. At some point, I'll probably pick up one of these, though without an interior.

 

John.

[Stef N.]

Cheers Paul, Craig and John. It's going to be a puzzle to see how to show off the interior, especially the great looking engine, but something I'll figure out as I go along.👍

[edjbartos]

Nice one Stef, I’ll be doing the exact same model, but can’t start until I get back from a short break. Mine will be just a straight build, hopefully will finish in time and I’ll do different markings to you….

 

all the best

 

Ed

[Stef N.]

Nice one Ed.I look forward to yours and have a good break. 👍

[Keeff]

Ooh a full interior build!  Let me grab a chair, brew and snacks! 

 

As for how to display, may I refer you to my Sherman build and the use of brass rods? 

 

Keith ☺️ 

[Stef N.]

1 hour ago, Keeff said:

Ooh a full interior build!  Let me grab a chair, brew and snacks! 

 

As for how to display, may I refer you to my Sherman build and the use of brass rods? 

 

Keith ☺️ 

Thanks Keith and welcome along. I had thought of your Sherman as good way of doing it. Definitely on the shortlist. 👍👍

[PlaStix]

Hi Stef. It's great to have you taking part in this GB with what is an excellent choice of kit. I haven't seen this MiniArt kit before, so I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Stef N.]

Now back off my holiday so I can get this started or looked at to be precise.

Here are the box contents for starters. Once unwrapped there are more than I thought. There was a bit of broken plastic in the bag but I won't find out where it came from for a while.

 

The instructions look very nicely printed.

 

 

And I will be keeping the markings very simple, so a British trainer with basic codes will do.

 

 

It says US Olive Drab as the overall colour. Any help if this would be an appropriate colour would be appreciated.

 

Cheers all.👍

[Bullbasket]

1 hour ago, Stef N. said:

It says US Olive Drab as the overall colour. Any help if this would be an appropriate colour would be appreciated.

You're trying to open that can of worms again. I did the same thing with a question here; 

 

I'll definitely be following this one, as I've not built one of these before. Good luck with the build Stef.

 

John.

[Stef N.]

Yes, that is a big can of worms. 😬🤣

A shame that Tamiya OD is way off, I've got pots of that. I will look for the Mr Hobby ones suggested. 

Cheers and thanks for the info. 👍👍

[Troy Smith]

13 minutes ago, Stef N. said:

A shame that Tamiya OD is way off,

As in XF-62?

I don't know that it's 'way off'   @Casey   maybe able to help here,  it's maybe greener than you would want,  but OD did vary.   

 

As do Tamiya paints, IIRC there was wailing and gnashing of teeth when they changed the formula.

 

If you are really bothered about colour,  you need to get some actual samples,  @Mike Starmer  books on British armour colours do have actual paint chips in them, including OD.No9

see also

https://mafva.co.uk/?p=2607

 

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS COLOUR.

No.319/ No 9 Olive Drab

Mix:  7 x Humbrol 46 + 3 x Humbrol 33 + 1 x Humbrol 155.

Alternative;  5 x Revell 46 + 7 x Revell 310 3 x Revell 361

In use: 1942-45 on Lend Lease vehicles on its own or, in Italy with Light Mud or rarely Black.

Description:  Varies with application and fading.  Nearest WW2 match is FS595b 33070.  A very dark drab when new with a green hint, fading brown or grey in use.  When fresh, this is very similar to S.C.C.15 in British colours.  Despite being widely cited as a match, FS595a 34087 is the 1950-70s colour which is too brown and light. 

 

 

 

If you find XF-62 too green, maybe add some XF-10 to brown it a bit.     Just make sure you mix enough for the the entire model ! 

 

I'd suggest  4 parts xf-62 to 1 part XF-10  may get you in the area,  from a look at the FS 33070 chip, and memory of the paint colour....   though my plans for paint this afternoon are large amounts of white for some DIY

 

HTH

 

HTH

 

[Stef N.]

4 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

As in XF-62?

I don't know that it's 'way off'   @Casey   maybe able to help here,  it's maybe greener than you would want,  but OD did vary.   

 

As do Tamiya paints, IIRC there was wailing and gnashing of teeth when they changed the formula.

 

If you are really bothered about colour,  you need to get some actual samples,  @Mike Starmer  books on British armour colours do have actual paint chips in them, including OD.No9

see also

https://mafva.co.uk/?p=2607

 

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS COLOUR.

No.319/ No 9 Olive Drab

Mix:  7 x Humbrol 46 + 3 x Humbrol 33 + 1 x Humbrol 155.

Alternative;  5 x Revell 46 + 7 x Revell 310 3 x Revell 361

In use: 1942-45 on Lend Lease vehicles on its own or, in Italy with Light Mud or rarely Black.

Description:  Varies with application and fading.  Nearest WW2 match is FS595b 33070.  A very dark drab when new with a green hint, fading brown or grey in use.  When fresh, this is very similar to S.C.C.15 in British colours.  Despite being widely cited as a match, FS595a 34087 is the 1950-70s colour which is too brown and light. 

 

 

 

If you find XF-62 too green, maybe add some XF-10 to brown it a bit.     Just make sure you mix enough for the the entire model ! 

 

I'd suggest  4 parts xf-62 to 1 part XF-10  may get you in the area,  from a look at the FS 33070 chip, and memory of the paint colour....   though my plans for paint this afternoon are large amounts of white for some DIY

 

HTH

 

HTH

 

Thanks for that info and the mix. I'm a complete novice when it comes to British/US armour colours so this all helps.👍

[modelling minion]

Thats a very large amount of parts Stef, quite daunting!

 

[Casey]

8 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

I don't know that it's 'way off'   @Casey   maybe able to help here,  it's maybe greener than you would want,  but OD did vary. 

Would be much easier if I had a good real OD.9 paint sample And as you said, there's plenty of OD's.

 

But the one thing is, - those colors are difficult to make without real earth pigments, and this makes a lot of modeler paints inaccurate, which compounds on the problem that those colors are in the most color sensitive spectrum of human vision - we are much more able to see color difference between two OD's than between two Insignia Yellows.

 

Also, I noticed that Tamiya's differ in time. I have bottles across years that have very different colors

[Troy Smith]

11 minutes ago, Casey said:

Would be much easier if I had a good real OD.9 paint sample

@Mike Starmer  says

"Nearest WW2 match is FS595b 33070"

Which is at least a starting point,  I had a look in daylight when I posted,  hence my mental guesstimate of 4 part XF62 to 1 part of XF10...

 I had no time to try this out so may give you a laugh to see how far out I am... 

 

[Stef N.]

22 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Thats a very large amount of parts Stef, quite daunting!

 

It looked sensible when it was wrapped in plastic. I get the feeling it's going to be fiddly. 😂

[Casey]

5 minutes ago, Stef N. said:

I get the feeling it's going to be fiddly.

It looks like a carpet monster next meal!

Edited September 17 by Casey

[PlaStix]

 

WOW! I think you may have more parts there than the rest of us combined!!

I'm looking forward to seeing it all go together.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Stef N.]

1 hour ago, PlaStix said:

 

WOW! I think you may have more parts there than the rest of us combined!!

I'm looking forward to seeing it all go together.

Kind regards,

Stix

Cheers Stix. I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Hopefully 3 months is enough. 🤣👍

[IanC]

Rather you than me, Stef!

 

I shall enjoy following your build from a safe distance.. 😄

[Stef N.]

27 minutes ago, IanC said:

Rather you than me, Stef!

 

I shall enjoy following your build from a safe distance.. 😄

Ear protectors on. 😂

Cheers Ian, I should be cracking on with this by next week. Just finishing up another project which is nearly there. 👍

[Stef N.]

On 17/09/2024 at 21:24, Casey said:

Would be much easier if I had a good real OD.9 paint sample And as you said, there's plenty of OD's.

 

But the one thing is, - those colors are difficult to make without real earth pigments, and this makes a lot of modeler paints inaccurate, which compounds on the problem that those colors are in the most color sensitive spectrum of human vision - we are much more able to see color difference between two OD's than between two Insignia Yellows.

 

Also, I noticed that Tamiya's differ in time. I have bottles across years that have very different colors

Yes, you are right. I have two pots of Tamiya, one new, one over ten years old and they are different colours. I'll try one straight up and one with the mix Troy suggested. 👍👍

 

Anyway I have started the kit. First step nearly done, 128 to go. I'll get some photos up to show you the lovely details. 😲😁