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All Righty ... What's on the bench today?
- Thread starter panzerace007
- Start date
BANANA!!!Great looking sculpt! No bench time for me this weekend. Had a busy Friday and then a blah Saturday and Sunday. I did take the family to go see the the new Minions movie.
Jeeves
Well-known member
Good day to be dabbling in the Sheep's Pen...couple projects got worked on-- the one my son started...
Sadly he does not seem to be catching the model bug-- hope to work on him more this summer...I plan on putting this one completed in his room...along with this Walker-
Think he'll notice?? This was the old MPC kit I decided to put together on a whim while waiting for the Bandai kits to come out...
And lastly--- the Revell 1:48 Camel...just again-- something to play around with while I make slow progress on the WNW DVII...
Sadly he does not seem to be catching the model bug-- hope to work on him more this summer...I plan on putting this one completed in his room...along with this Walker-
Think he'll notice?? This was the old MPC kit I decided to put together on a whim while waiting for the Bandai kits to come out...
And lastly--- the Revell 1:48 Camel...just again-- something to play around with while I make slow progress on the WNW DVII...
Tankbuilder
Active member
Jeeves, is that a day fighter or a night fighter Camel/
Cheers from Peter
Cheers from Peter
I got my Physical therapy today & then gotta start gettin' ready for a weekend in Reno,NV 
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
I'm back from my anniversary trip and relaxing right now. The only thing on my bench is a couple models I'm repairing for my trip to the IPMS Nationals this weekend. It was nice to catch up on everything everyone's doing though.
Tankbuilder
Active member
What's on my bench today.
I need a break so I took the day off from working on the German 8 ton halftrack.
I decided to do a bit of work on my M3 Lee/Grant assembly line. Many years ago I got a bunch of 1/35 scale Tamiya M3 Lee and M3 Grant kits for around $20.00 each. It would have been a good price had there not been so many glaring errors in the kits.
Here's an image of the collection.
The worst error and shared with the Tamiya M3 Stuart and the M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage is that the track connecters do NOT straddle the track links! The other biggest problem with these M3 Lee/Grant kits is that Tamiya for some unknown reason elected to have 6 spoke open wheels instead of 5 spoke open wheels for the bogies. Fortunately I was able to buy Italeri Sherman 5 spoke bogie wheels and assorted Italeri and Tamiya Sherman tracks.
Here're a couple of images showing the Italeri 5 spoke bogie wheels on the Tamiya bogies.
I bought so many kits because I wanted to do a number of M3 Lee variants. Besides the regular M3 I decided to build a M3A2 with the welded hull, an M3A3 with 2 diesel truck engines, an M3A4 with lengthened hull to accommodate the Chrysler 5 six cylinder engines mounted in a star pattern, and an M3A5 also with two diesel engines like the M3A3 but on the normal riveted hull. There's also a Canal Defense Light (variant there. I have one more hull built that'll be an M31 recovery vehicle when I get the conversion set for it.
Here are two images of two of the models with one being the longer hull M3A4.
Sometimes solid steel wheels were mixed with the open 5 spoke bogie wheels. I decided to do that on a couple of the models to make them more interesting. Here's an image of the mixed bogie wheels.
Here's an image of the M3A3 with 2 engines.
Another difference between some of the variants was the different types of tracks used. Great because I was able to get some Italeri proper rubber block type tracks with the end connectors connecting the track links as well as some extra Tamiya Sherman duckbill tracks and also some Tamiya Sherman chevron tracks to add even more variety. I had to use 3 tracks on that M3A4 because I had to lengthen the tracks on each side. I bought the tracks and bogie wheels from the eastern Ontario, Canada distributor.
So that is what's on the bench today. I mixed the tan colour parts and the green parts to make it easier to see where the parts were on the model when cementing them in place.
After taking the images and looking at them I noticed a boo-boo on the M3A4. I put the forward most bogie wheel on backwards! I'll have to drill out the axle and switch it around.
Btw, if i was buying an M3 Lee or Grant kit today I'd stick to the Academy kits as they
re about the same price, have the proper bogie wheels and correct tracks plus they come with a complete interior and are just slightly more than those ancient Tamiya kits.
Also, the resin 'S' Models Canadian Ram tank model I bought uses clones of the Tamiya M3 bogie assemblies as they are interchangeable and both have the incorrect 6 spoke open wheels.
Cheers from Peter
I need a break so I took the day off from working on the German 8 ton halftrack.
I decided to do a bit of work on my M3 Lee/Grant assembly line. Many years ago I got a bunch of 1/35 scale Tamiya M3 Lee and M3 Grant kits for around $20.00 each. It would have been a good price had there not been so many glaring errors in the kits.
Here's an image of the collection.
The worst error and shared with the Tamiya M3 Stuart and the M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage is that the track connecters do NOT straddle the track links! The other biggest problem with these M3 Lee/Grant kits is that Tamiya for some unknown reason elected to have 6 spoke open wheels instead of 5 spoke open wheels for the bogies. Fortunately I was able to buy Italeri Sherman 5 spoke bogie wheels and assorted Italeri and Tamiya Sherman tracks.
Here're a couple of images showing the Italeri 5 spoke bogie wheels on the Tamiya bogies.
I bought so many kits because I wanted to do a number of M3 Lee variants. Besides the regular M3 I decided to build a M3A2 with the welded hull, an M3A3 with 2 diesel truck engines, an M3A4 with lengthened hull to accommodate the Chrysler 5 six cylinder engines mounted in a star pattern, and an M3A5 also with two diesel engines like the M3A3 but on the normal riveted hull. There's also a Canal Defense Light (variant there. I have one more hull built that'll be an M31 recovery vehicle when I get the conversion set for it.
Here are two images of two of the models with one being the longer hull M3A4.
Sometimes solid steel wheels were mixed with the open 5 spoke bogie wheels. I decided to do that on a couple of the models to make them more interesting. Here's an image of the mixed bogie wheels.
Here's an image of the M3A3 with 2 engines.
Another difference between some of the variants was the different types of tracks used. Great because I was able to get some Italeri proper rubber block type tracks with the end connectors connecting the track links as well as some extra Tamiya Sherman duckbill tracks and also some Tamiya Sherman chevron tracks to add even more variety. I had to use 3 tracks on that M3A4 because I had to lengthen the tracks on each side. I bought the tracks and bogie wheels from the eastern Ontario, Canada distributor.
So that is what's on the bench today. I mixed the tan colour parts and the green parts to make it easier to see where the parts were on the model when cementing them in place.
After taking the images and looking at them I noticed a boo-boo on the M3A4. I put the forward most bogie wheel on backwards! I'll have to drill out the axle and switch it around.
Btw, if i was buying an M3 Lee or Grant kit today I'd stick to the Academy kits as they
re about the same price, have the proper bogie wheels and correct tracks plus they come with a complete interior and are just slightly more than those ancient Tamiya kits.
Also, the resin 'S' Models Canadian Ram tank model I bought uses clones of the Tamiya M3 bogie assemblies as they are interchangeable and both have the incorrect 6 spoke open wheels.
Cheers from Peter
Gator
Well-known member
Ahh, the benefits of living in south Louisiana Barney. I got the weedeating done this morning when it was cooler.
Gator
Well-known member
Rain finally stopped, waited a bit and got the yard cut. Barney, it cooled down, 86 degrees with a heat index of 97. But when you are on a riding mower, that doesn't matter much.
I did get a dark gray sprayed on the Starfleet fighter and another coat of Hot Rod Gray on the Nomad interior.
I did get a dark gray sprayed on the Starfleet fighter and another coat of Hot Rod Gray on the Nomad interior.
One of the few benefits of recovering from being fileted like a fish is I've been fired from yard duties (at a cost every two weeks!) but I do miss it being able to get out and work up good sweat.
Barney we wonder how y'all survive winter for 9 months a year.
