scottie3158
SMF Supporter
Coming on very nicely indeed John. It does indeed look a lot better than the slab sided M3's
Glad I wasn't in one then.at my age it's very dangerous for any one to be near .The M3 mediums had a reputation for being relatively roomy, probably more so in British service than American, though — given the cramped size of British tanks of the period, as well as the fact that the Americans stuffed seven men into an M3 while the British had only six (by relocating the radio from the hull to the turret, which meant there didn’t need to be a radio operator sitting next to the driver). Though I suspect the M3A1’s sleeker looks also means it was more cramped than the other members of the family.
Incidentally, your model is an early M3A1: the loader’s hatch (the big one in the hull roof, to the right of the turret) opens forward. It was found this made it hard to close because it was difficult for the loader to lift it, so they later changed it around to have the hinges at the back instead of the front.
Thanks Paul.Coming on very nicely indeed John. It does indeed look a lot better than the slab sided M3's
Oh, I don’t know, aging Aussies manage it tooGlad I wasn't in one then.at my age it's very dangerous for any one to be near .
They can probably use the front of the tank as a slideThere's only 4.Any more then they might fall off
Its me that's the older one Si. Thanks for looking in.Coming along nicely there John
Seems I missed a few updates…..don’t seem to be getting notifications on threads I’m watching
edit….i didn’t click the email box after all
Hi Jim . Nice to have you pop in.Sorry so late John, looking great as always.
Jim.
Your right there Doug.A positive result then John. Tweezers and Jacko, you need nothing more when putting tracks together!!
Can see your point, but as the track guards would not be on yet wouldn't that be a better to paint the tracks then while they are drying do the lower hull , then assemble?It’s not a bad set as far as workable tracks go, but like most, it would be nice if they would give you a handful more than are actually required. Still, not as bad as AFV Club’s Sherman sets, which are not long enough for a long-hull tank (M4A4) despite giving you more links per side than the real tank had …
As for painting, I would suggest not installing the tracks at all yet. Fitting them now, with the upper hull loose, will not be much easier than with the upper hull in place, so IMHO, you might as well first build the rest of the tank, paint all of it in one go, and only then fit the tracks. This will save masking, at any rate.
Alternatively, since the lower hull and whole suspension of these tanks typically got an all-over covering of mud quite quickly in wet conditions, you could fit the track before painting, build the rest of the model, spray the upper hull olive drab and then the whole lower hull, suspension, tracks, etc. in a mud colour that matches the groundwork in the diorama.
Can you enlighten me which part to remove please .The tracks should just slide under the track guards (assuming you mean the mudguards by that, not sand shields that completely cover the upper run: there should not be sand shields on a Soviet M3 medium, AFAIK) if you start at the back and push them forward over the return rollers. Your method should work just as well, of course — though, as you said, it means you would need to mask the lower hull when painting the upper hull.
Er, no thanks Wibble, but very kind of you to offer.Getting to grips with the tracks now, I have a couple of sets if you want to get your teeth into some more
Those tweezers look like they belong in a medievil tool box, not been down the museum of late have you, liberating items to save returning them to the country we nicked them from...
Missing end connectors, just put them on the inside of the track, the wheels will hide them...
Looking forward to more of the build.
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