| Background
The M3 Stuart played an
important role in WW II, particularly in the Western Desert
campaign where the British could not supply enough
indigenously produced tanks to meet their own needs. The M3
won praise for it’s reliability and speed when introduced
into the 8th army. It was never well protected or well armed
but it was able to take on roles the British considered part
of a “cruiser” tank’s job. Small fuel capacity was also
a limitation of early M3. Derivatives of the M3 series
soldiered on till the end of the war in all major allied
armies, typically in reconnaissance roles.
First
Look
In
the mid 70’s Tamiya gave us the first M3 Stuart kit in 1/35th
scale. This kit was initially well received but over time
it’s vices became well known. The tracks were wrong, the
turret was undersized and the lower hull front was not the
best. To top things off, Tamiya based their kit on a
diesel-engined hull rather than the more typical
petrol-engined type. All
this meant that a lot of work was required to get an accurate
model of an M3. All this has changed now that Academy have
produced the first kit in what would appear to be a series of
M3 and M5 variants.
On
the whole the new kit is a great leap forward from the
venerable Tamiya offering.
The kit represents a welded turret version of the M3.
This was a type that saw most action with the British 8th
Army. The kit can be built as a training vehicle in U.S.
service, a vehicle captured by the Japanese and used in the
Philipines or as one of two 8th Army vehicles with
their distinctive modifications and colourful Caunter camo
schemes.
The
modeller gets a choice of ‘rubber band’ or ‘workable’
individual track links. I really like this idea, particularly
if the individual links are up to scratch. Both types look to
be accurate and well detailed. The individual track pads have
small depressions on one side which require either hiding or
filling. Just how manageable the
‘workable’ tracks will be remains to be seen, but they do
look pretty. The
individual track link sprues are moulded in a charcoal grey
colour.
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The
suspension sprue looks to be generic to the whole M3/M5 family.
It contains spoked M3 and solid M5 type sprockets, road wheels
and idlers. The only M5 suspension components missing from this
sprue are the idler mounts. The sprockets look nice but the jury
is out over the road wheels and idlers. The spoked M3 ones
don’t look 100% right to me. Looking at photos of the real
thing it appears that the cut out areas between the spokes are
too big and the wrong shape.
This is one area where Tamiya takes the honours. The
solid M5 road wheels are even more of a disappointment and are a
step backwards from the high standards set by Academy with their
M12. The M5 road wheels have detail on only the front side and
that looks way off the mark.
The “bumps” around the rim should be rounded while
Academy portrays them with flat tops and vertical sides. No
doubt someone in the aftermarket sector will seize the
opportunity to provide correct substitutes.
Academy’s
trademark interior detail is provided, with the exception of the
engine compartment Enough is given to provide a good impression
but fanatics will want to add more. You get the basic drivers
and fighting compartment provided, complete with partial transmission,
crew seats and ammo stowage. The turret provides a 37mm gun
mount and a turret basket, which is totally inappropriate for an
M3. The turret basket was introduced with the M3A1 and should in
no way be fitted to an M3.
I
compared the hull to the only 1/35th scale plans I have which
were drawn by Kei Endo. There are some differences of a mm here
and a mm there but I do not know how accurate the drawings
are. The lower hull front could do with minor tweaking.
There should be a lip which mates with the upper hull and this
is not present. The transmission bulges could do with a little
reshping judging by the photos I have looked at. These bulges
also beed a row of bolt heads added. The upper hull is designed with a generic shell to
which parts are added to provide the variations for the variant
being modelled. Things like the driver’s plate, sponson fronts
and air intake are examples of this.
The parts supplied with this kit provide the correct
early type of driver’s front plate with simple visors.
The lower section of the driver’s hatch on the glacis
is also provided as a separate part which can help show off more
internal detail if required. The bow MG housing looks a little
squre to me but this can be fixed with a little carving and
sanding. The configuration of the exhausts
looks correct for a petrol powered M3.
The
turret looks quite nice on first impression but he interior
could do with extra detailing work if you want to leave the
hatches open. The gun mount the is only internal detail supplied
with the turret once you remove the spurious turret basket. The anti aircraft machine gun and tools are
supplied on a sprue that will be familiar to those who have
Academy’s M12 and M10 based vehicles.
Stowage
options include the basic U.S. configuration plus a good effort
at representing the much-modified British type. The British
options include stowage boxes, sand shields, turret smoke
dischargers and ‘flimsy’ fuel cans. The flimsies even have
separate handles rather than the traditional moulded on blobs.
I
was quoted a price of around
$NZ 40 when the shipment hits the shelves here, which is
less than $US 20.
At this price I would have to say that the kit represents
fantastic value for money.
From my point of view, the road wheels are the only rain
on an otherwise fine parade. The issues I have identified with
the hull are relatively trvial and can be remedied quickly with
basic modelling skills. The spares box will benefit
whatever version is built. Some parts of the kit could be
improved with the PE sets that will inevitably follow but this
is more a reflection of the limits of injection moulding than of
any fault of Academy. Things
like the light guards and air intake mesh are obvious candidates
for PE treatment. Highly recommended.
The
images below illustrate the differences between Academy's and
Tamiya's road wheels and idlers and give a comparison with the
real thing. For my money the Tamiya parts look better.
The
2 images below are courtesy of Tanks
2 Scale
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on Thumbnails for a larger image
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Academy Road wheel |
Academy Idler |
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Tamiya
Road wheel and Idler
References
Stuart
U.S. Light Tanks in action By Steve Zaloga Published by Squadron
Signal
Military
Modelling Vol 29 No. 6
Ground
Power No 52. Published by Delta Publishing Co Ltd
Ground
Power No 53. Published by Delta Publishing Co Ltd
Tanks
2 scale
Terry
Ashley's review on the PMMS site
Thanks to Shin-Keum Kang of
Kangs
Hobby for the review sample.
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