Rare Medium Tank M3 variant, from a MiniArt kit

[Jakko]

No, it definitely had a crew, according to my reference.

 

[Jakko]

The building part of this model is now done All that was left was to add the remaining details from the kit, like head- and taillights, tool brackets and that kind of stuff, plus scratchbuilt tie-downs (see my previous M3 for the reason not to use the kit parts) and a plastic strip handle for the rear two doors of the superstructure.

 

[Jack L]

The building part of this model is now done All that was left was to add the remaining details from the kit, like head- and taillights, tool brackets and that kind of stuff, plus scratchbuilt tie-downs (see my previous M3 for the reason not to use the kit parts) and a plastic strip handle for the rear two doors of the superstructure.

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Looking good. As I'm guessing there are no further 'clues' to add, any danger of telling us it's use?

 

[Jakko]

There will be more clues in the paintwork, so I hope you’ll excuse me if I don’t tell just yet

 

[Tim Marlow]

Still don’t know, but I’m thinking perhaps Davros was a factory employee?

 

[Jakko]

 

[Neil Merryweather]

it's a smoke generating tank!

 

[Steve Jones]

Its an M3 modified by the US army for trainees to get used to the look of an enemy tank. Here is a link for more information Crack That Tank



I must say Jakko from a modelling prospective this is a wonderful choice of subject to build. Also you have done an exceptional job with the transformation. Its been a real joy to watch it come together. Good luck with the wet stuff

 

[Mark1]

Well it looks like super sleuth has cracked the case here.

 

[Jakko]

Its an M3 modified by the US army for trainees to get used to the look of an enemy tank.

That’s exactly what it is — and good to see someone finally got it Bonus point to Steve!

Like I said earlier: it’s definitely a real tank, but it was very rare — I highly doubt more than one was modified. It dawned on me a while after I started building that it is probably meant to look like this:



The so-called Neubaufahrzeug (literally “New-Construction Vehicle”) that the Germans built about half a dozen of, but paraded around Norway in the spring of 1940 so it looked like they had large numbers of them.

It is puzzling why the Americans would go to all that trouble to make one of their own tanks resemble a real German one as closely as they reasonably could, when just painting crosses on a standard American tank would work fine too — as they did for other training films.

I must say Jakko from a modelling prospective this is a wonderful choice of subject to build. Also you have done an exceptional job with the transformation. Its been a real joy to watch it come together.

Thanks I like somewhat oddball subjects, and this is certainly one of them.

 

[Mark1]

Thanks Steve,I can now stop spending hours trawling the Internet for pictures

 

[JR]

Great work there Jakko, bet Steve was drooling over the rivets, very neat by the way. Personally I was just waiting for Steve to find it, out very own Wikipedia.

At least we can now relax and as Mark has said and stop trawling the internet.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Interesting, glad to know what it is at last. As to what it represents, maybe the Americans thought they were fighting the french? It looks quite like a Somua S35!

 

[adt70hk]

Its an M3 modified by the US army for trainees to get used to the look of an enemy tank. Here is a link for more information Crack That Tank

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I must say Jakko from a modelling prospective this is a wonderful choice of subject to build. Also you have done an exceptional job with the transformation. Its been a real joy to watch it come together. Good luck with the wet stuff

Well done Steve!!

 

[Jakko]

Interesting, glad to know what it is at last. As to what it represents, maybe the Americans thought they were fighting the french? It looks quite like a Somua S35!
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If you watch Crack That Tank, it does give that impression at one point, yes:



The film includes a good amount of footage of other countries’ tanks intercut with the American mock-up. Much of it is from German propaganda films, of early models of Panzer IV etc. driving around, and also KVs and other tanks knocked out, including the Somua above.

Of course, the real reason is that a tank is a tank to almost anyone, including the soldiers supposed to be trained by this film.

By the way, here’s a direct embed of that film, but without the annoying and distracting time bar at the bottom that Periscope Films insists on adding:

 

[Isitme]

Jakko,
Great work, but very disapointed that my guess of an Italian war front ice cream van was a little out.....
Top notch modelling, looking forward to seeing the final vehicle.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
That is superb modelling. Exceptionally well done.
Congratulations to Steve for figuring out what it was and also to you for "entertainment thread of the year"
Jim

 

[Jakko]

very disapointed that my guess of an Italian war front ice cream van was a little out.....

Maybe an idea for a future model: leaf through Frituur Zorro looking for Italian lorries converted into ice cream vans …

Top notch modelling, looking forward to seeing the final vehicle.

Thanks I’m still debating whether to paint it OD or panzer grey — I suppose OD would be the more likely colour of the real thing, but panzer grey more in keeping with what it’s intended to be. So probably the latter.

That is superb modelling. Exceptionally well done.
Congratulations to Steve for figuring out what it was and also to you for "entertainment thread of the year"

Thanks I must say I was quite amused by a lot of the suggestions, serious and not-so-much both

 

[Jakko]

The other day, I gave the whole model a coat of Vallejo grey primer, from an aerosol. I then sprayed the areas where the crosses are to go with white and once it had dried, masked off the crosses themselves with tape. After measuring stills from the film, I estimate their size in 1:35 scale to be 14 mm large with 6 mm wide legs, so 6 mm Tamiya tape cut to 14 mm lengths worked quite well.



Then I just sprayed Tamiya XF-63 German Grey over everything, including the tracks:



My normal method for painting rubber is to give it a coat of dark grey and then add a black wash, so rather than use a different dark grey I thought I might as well do everything with the paint I had in my airbrush anyway

 

[Jakko]

Got round to doing some more painting, using Tamiya Neutral Grey to highlight the panels:



That didn’t go as well as intended because somehow, I kept turning the air valve (in the air line, just below the airbrush) the wrong way when trying to give it more air so it would spray better … I only noticed my mistake when I went on to spray something else with my other airbrush that didn’t want to spray at all, and I took a good look at the valve. Not sure what went on there in my head

Anyway, after it had dried, I added an overall wash of old Games Workshop Devlan Mud to shade the model: