ElCap's Airfix 1/35 M3 Stuart "Honey"

Post by **ElCapitan** » Mon Feb 01, 2021 3:42 pm

Here's my entry into the GB, the Airfix reboxing of the Academy M3 Stuart.

I got this kit from my kids for Xmas, and I've been keen to get started all month.

The box art is pretty cool, with a decent looking paint scheme to try out:

And there's loads inside:

You'll notice I also bought the Eduard PE set for this. It has three frets of nice looking parts.

Post by **digger303** » Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:36 pm

Great minds

and great kit

Ps....I'm staying away from the PE this time

Post by **BigWall** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 12:04 am

Very cool! I'll be watching for sure!

Post by **Tomcat64** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:02 am

As I mentioned on Digger's thread I have the original Academy boxing in my stash heap too so will be paying attention to see how this goes.

It looks like a great kit

Post by **ElCapitan** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 3:55 pm

Time for a history lesson!

The M3 Light Tank was, at first, a simple upgrade of the M2, with a more powerful Continental petrol engine, a new vertical volute spring suspension system and up to four machine guns in addition to a main, quick-firing M5 (and later M6) 37 mm (1.45 in) anti-tank gun, with a new gun recoil system. In fact, the latter gun had a relatively low-velocity and had no armour-piercing ammunition. For a light scouting tank this was a good asset, especially when compared to German Panzer I and II for example, although the M3 was quite heavier and better protected.

The secondary machine-gun armament was impressive, with five manned by the four crew members (driver, co-driver, gunner and commander). One of these was co-axial, another in a ball mount in the right bow, two others were mounted sideways in fixed sponsons and, later, one on an anti-air M20 turret mount. But, in practice, in order to save weight and free space on board, the two sponson machine guns were often removed.

The Rolled face-hardened steel side armour was 1 inch (22 mm) thick. The rear was 1 inch (25 mm) thick. The upper front of the hull was 1 1/2 inch (38 mm) thick. The armour behind the drivers and machine gunners hatches was 1 inch (25 mm) thick but the two front hatches were 40 mm thick. The lower front angled glacis plate was 1 3/4 inch (44 mm) thick. The sides and rear of the turret were 1 inch (22 mm) thick. The front was 1 1/2 inch (38 mm) thick and the gun shield added and additional 1 1/2 inches (38 mm) or armour.

The M3 (Stuart Mk.I and Mk.II – Honey tank)
The M3 was the first production model. Most of these were provided to the British and Commonwealth forces through Lend-Lease. Some were immediately thrown into action in Northern Africa, where they immediately became popular for their speed, sturdiness and reliability. Although the official British designation was “Stuart”, paying homage to Civil War Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, they found themselves affectionately dubbed “Honey”, because of their smooth ride. Some authors say that it was not called the ‘Honey’ during the war but military historian Ed Webster has found official British wartime documents in the archives that use the name ‘Honey’. He also found a number of wartime newspaper entries where the reporters used the name ‘Honey’ when talking about the M3 Stuart:

The Scotsman, Wednesday 26 August 1942: ‘Leaving the desert track he swept over the desert in a Honey tank, with brigade pennant flying…’;

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Wednesday 26 August 1942: Same text ‘Leaving the desert track he swept over the desert in a Honey tank, with brigade pennant flying…’;

Daily Herald, Monday 07 September 1942: ‘Here is a United States built Honey Tank speeding at the foot of this insignificant-looking but coveted hill….’;

Belfast News-Letter, Wednesday 26 August 1942: ‘Mr Churchill swept over the desert in a Honey tank, with brigade pennant flying…’;

Perthshire Advertiser, Wednesday 28 April 1943: ‘I was just wondering what to do with this party when one of our gunner observation posts came up in a Honey Tank….’

The ‘Honey’ nickname never stuck with the US Military. Despite this, all following tanks provided to the British received a Secession War general name and the tradition stuck up to 1945, finally being adopted by the US army itself.

Post by **ElCapitan** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:09 pm

And now the building begins...

Step 1 is to assemble the running gear, which consists of 4 bogies with two wheels on each, 2 drive sprockets and 2 idlers. Nice to get them out the way - removing mould-lines from wheels is my least favourite part of the build usually.

Like I said, good to get those out the way early

The plastic feels nice, and seems to react well to TET. Hardly any clean up required so far either.

Post by **digger303** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:05 pm

I might as well let you post my progress pic's you do it so much nicer

I found that the I could actually construct those wheel sets without cement they where such a neat fit. Course they fell apart as soon as I tried to roll them along the desk.
Bet you can't guess the big boo boo I made on the next stage.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Wed Feb 03, 2021 2:06 pm

Great bit of background info and a nice start to the build too

Post by **ElCapitan** » Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:23 pm

I keep having to remind myself that this isn't a Tamiya kit - it goes together so nicely!

I've attached all the running gear to the lower hull, along with a few other little bits 'n' bobs. @digger303 what was it you did wrong on yours? Was it the parts that go on top of the wheel bogies and need to be the opposite way round from each other?

The nice thing about this kit is that it comes with a pretty well-furnished interior, especially with the optional PE parts that I got. Saying that though, I'm not going to bother much with it, as I don't plan on it being visible. I built it up anyway for fun (without the PE), it'll add a bit of weight to the model too.

I had a chuckle at the instructions for the interior. They show a close up of how the parts should fit together, but it's not even right what's the point in clarifying something that is already so obvious, but then drawing it wrong anyway?!

So that's where I'm at. I don't expect this kit to be sitting around for long, as we've already seen it is a very quick build.

Post by **digger303** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:25 am

ElCapitan wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:23 pm
I keep having to remind myself that this isn't a Tamiya kit - it goes together so nicely!

I've attached all the running gear to the lower hull, along with a few other little bits 'n' bobs. @digger303 what was it you did wrong on yours? Was it the parts that go on top of the wheel bogies and need to be the opposite way round from each other?

The nice thing about this kit is that it comes with a pretty well-furnished interior, especially with the optional PE parts that I got. Saying that though, I'm not going to bother much with it, as I don't plan on it being visible. I built it up anyway for fun (without the PE), it'll add a bit of weight to the model too.

I had a chuckle at the instructions for the interior. They show a close up of how the parts should fit together, but it's not even right what's the point in clarifying something that is already so obvious, but then drawing it wrong anyway?!

So that's where I'm at. I don't expect this kit to be sitting around for long, as we've already seen it is a very quick build.

What I did wrong in my haste and watching telly with the missus ( quality time

) whilst doing it. Was I did the first page of instructions ...wheels.. flipped it over and straight into the hull construction not noticing the step numbers changed from 2 to 5 and I completely missed the interior. However I manged to slip the flooring and fire wall in through the back vent area which didn't have the last plate installed yet and that's how I finished the interior. None of it is going to be seen so I'm not painting any of it.

Post by **Gary30** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 7:33 am

That's cool, I've never really dabbled with Airfix at all, their armour kits never even registered on my radar, but this looks like a nice detailed kit, I'll be following along, good start so far!

Post by **Stokesy44** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 am

Lovely kit and subject.

Can just imagine it clunking and wheezing as it goes by

Post by **ElCapitan** » Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:51 pm

The next steps have me starting on the upper hull.

The Eduard PE instructions tell me I need to remove some moulded metal straps from the fenders, as they'll be replaced. I did that using a nice sharp chisel blade.

Then there was some PE to bend into shape, namely the headlamp guards which were a bit of a pain, but I got there in the end. I could have also added some PE handles on the hatches, but they would have looked worse than the kit parts. I find that PE handles never look as good as they are square and flat.

I also got to try rolling a gun jacket from PE for the first time. I found a video that explained how to do it and it turned out to be easier than I expected, and very satisfying! It's simply a case of placing the flat piece of photo-etch onto something slightly soft - a buffer stick is perfect - then using progressively thinner rods to roll over it again and again (the only thing I had thin enough was a needle - ouch!). It quickly starts to curl into a perfect tube! Some people advise that you anneal it over a flame before doing this to make it more pliable, which I might try another time to see how much of a difference it makes.

Getting there!

Post by **SEBa111** » Fri Feb 05, 2021 5:27 pm

Looking fantastic

Post by **BigWall** » Fri Feb 05, 2021 6:07 pm

It's definitely looking nice!

Post by **digger303** » Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:11 am

You have those light guards perfect and the kit guns fall way behind the pe additions you made. In my kit the cooling jacket is hardly noticeable.
When you get to the turret basket you might find it doesn't fit well onto the bottom of the turret and forcing the issue causes it to splay a little. Then it will need trimming to get it to fit the hull.

Post by **ElCapitan** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 2:47 pm

Sorry for the lack of updates recently - work has taken my attention away from this for the last couple of weeks.

I've made a bit of progress today though with some more PE detail added. Some parts were physically impossible to bend into shape - they would have required precision tools and microscopes to even make a start, so I left them off. They wouldn't have added an awful lot of detail anyway.

The tool straps are a highlight for me so far.

Eduard supply a couple of padlocks for the storage boxes, but they look terrible - too big and flat - so I scratchbuilt one of my own.

Next I'll be attaching the rest of the tools onto the rear of the hull using some more PE bits and pieces, before moving onto the turret.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:59 pm

Nice progress Rob, the PE work is looking really tidy.

Post by **digger303** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:00 pm

Lovely neat work a pleasure to view.

Post by **DBMiller** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:08 pm

That photo etch really sparks it up!

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:50 am

Off to a great start Rob, lovely PE work mate

Post by **Stokesy44** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:57 am

Cracking PE work Sir. All the little bits look good but that PE .30 gun barrel is the nuts!

Post by **ElCapitan** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:18 am

After a couple of weeks of trying to work out why my photos were no longer uploading to Flickr (Android have recently set their default image format to NEIC which isn't supported!) I've finally sorted it and can post this update.

I've pretty much finished all the PE for the hull and turret. The turret required some plastic rods for the machine mount, so I had to scavenge some parts from my spares box to pieces of the correct diameter that I could cut to length - no easy task!

I've left the PE "hatch rest" (?) off for now until just before I prime it - that would be the first piece that gets knocked off!

Post by **digger303** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:54 am

Looking sweet like what you've done with the pe almost a shame to paint over it.

Post by **ElCapitan** » Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:40 pm

Build phase complete, minus tracks which will go on after everything is painted. The mounted machine gun is just stuck on with blu-tac just now, I would definitely knock that off during painting!

Post by **digger303** » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:45 pm

top class , love the MG'S and the side brackets.

Post by **BigWall** » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:04 pm

It looks great! Time for paint!

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:08 am

Looking good

it's paint time

Post by **ElCapitan** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:26 pm

Managed to get some Stynylrez primer on it yesterday. I love how black primer makes everything look so clean

I've ordered Vallejo's Model Air set for the Caunter Scheme colours so I'll be able to get started on the main colours next week if I find the time.

Post by **digger303** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:29 pm

Really looking the business and those pe parts still show through enhancing the build no end.
Love it.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:23 pm

That really is a cracking clean build Rob - lovely work.

Looking forward to seeing how the Caunter scheme goes down

Post by **ElCapitan** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 3:17 pm

The camo scheme is now done. As I said in my last post, I used the Vallejo Model Air set for Caunter schemes. I was wary of the Purple Brown at first because I'd never seen this kind of scheme before and it looks very stark, but I have it on good authority (Mike Starmer, expert in WWII armour colours) that these were most likely the correct colours for this scheme. Weathering will settle everything down a bit. I can just imagine the British commanders saying "I know, let's paint our tanks to look like highly toxic amphibians - that's the last thing old Gerry will expect!".

I tried to airbrush the purple splotches, but having never used Model Air paints, I struggled to control the overspray, so I went over them with a paint brush at the end. I think it looks "field-applied" so I'm happy with it.

Post by **Stokesy44** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:31 pm

Nice paintwork. Good colours and you're right about field applied camo.

Post by **BigWall** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:20 am

Everyone knows to stay away from toxic amphibians so I'm sure it was highly effective. It looks really good!

Post by **Quax** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:32 am

as you say it does look stark but when you've painted the tools and weathered it in then its going to look great!

Paul

Post by **ElCapitan** » Wed May 19, 2021 2:27 pm

Time seems to be running away at the moment, but with a couple of weeks left I should hopefully get this finished.

Today I finally managed to get it ready for weathering, by applying the decals and a coat of Alclad AquaGloss.

Tracks are also painted ready for putting on after weathering.

Post by **digger303** » Thu May 20, 2021 1:30 am

Cracking build and paint. Got to get mine done too. Always seems to be something coming up to either rob me of time or energy lately.

Post by **BigWall** » Thu May 20, 2021 1:37 am

It's really looking nice! I can't wait to see how you weather it.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Fri May 28, 2021 11:21 am

That paint job has gone down really smoothly Rob - lovely work

Post by **ElCapitan** » Mon May 31, 2021 8:21 am

I had hoped to be finishing this today, but a pre-requisite for that was to have flat coated it over the weekend in order to do sand pigments today. Sadly due to it being a sunny weekend in Scotland I've been doing family stuff so didn't get that done. If I get a chance to flat coat today then I'll finish tomorrow. Its literally that close!

Post by **digger303** » Mon May 31, 2021 10:44 am

ElCapitan wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:21 am I had hoped to be finishing this today, but a pre-requisite for that was to have flat coated it over the weekend in order to do sand pigments today. Sadly due to it being a sunny weekend in Scotland I've been doing family stuff so didn't get that done. If I get a chance to flat coat today then I'll finish tomorrow. Its literally that close!

Seems we are neck and neck and so close to calling it done

Post by **Tomcat64** » Mon May 31, 2021 5:16 pm

digger303 wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 10:44 am
ElCapitan wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:21 am I had hoped to be finishing this today, but a pre-requisite for that was to have flat coated it over the weekend in order to do sand pigments today. Sadly due to it being a sunny weekend in Scotland I've been doing family stuff so didn't get that done. If I get a chance to flat coat today then I'll finish tomorrow. Its literally that close!
Seems we are neck and neck and so close to calling it done

Yep - seems like there's a few of us that have take this one right to the end

Looking forward to seeing this one weathered up Rob - but make the most of the warm weather

Stash · Post by **bfrd** » Wed Jun 02, 2021 12:46 pm

Having heard no objections, this build will be extended by 6 weeks. It will now end on 07.12.2021 at Midnight GMT.

Post by **ElCapitan** » Wed Jun 02, 2021 5:52 pm

That's good that it got extended. I've just finished, thankfully.

Final reveal: viewtopic.php?f=724&t=29464