Who makes the best M3 Lee in 1/35 ??

Academy does both the M3 Grant and Lee in 1/35. Although they have issues as well, they are currently the best M3 Mediums on the market today. Dragon does have a 1/35 kit announced, but so far no sign of it being released anytime soon.

There is a Dragon 1/35 Full Upgrade Set For M3 Lee Tank with Metal Barrel for Academy kit, do you think this will correct the flaws with the kit or it just a rivet counting issue ??

On a side note (and I really don't want to threadcrap in MIC's thread), I saw the Academy M3 Grant at a very nice price. But after reading some online reviews, the kit gets average to bad score mostly for accuracy reasons.

Ok so besides the rivet counting issue (like another poster said), what about the general fit ? Does it have major glaring concerns when building it ?

From what I've seen, it builds just fine. It just has some accuracy issues that bother some modelers. In 1/35, the only choices are the old Tamiya Grant/Lee kits and the Academy Grant/Lee kits. In 1/32 scale, Airfix did a nice Grant and Lee but they are long out of production and the molding is not as fine as modern tooled kits.

The Griffon full detail set just adds photo etch details and a metal barrel. It does nothing for the shape and suspension issues of the original kit.

The Academy M3 comes in three versions; kit #13206 M3 Lee, #13212 M3 Grant, and #13228 M3 Grant 'El Alamein 1942' the last of which includes the retooled suspension parts and Miniart tank figure set.

Some later releases of the first two versions supposedly include the retooled suspension, but I do not know for sure nor do I know how to determine which ones include them.

The whole issue of the bogies revolves around 2mm of height. On the original issue, the kit parts are 2mm too tall in the housing assembly. On the later kits it was corrected. But if you are willing to live with it, and a few other similar niggling things that 99% of folks will never know when they see it unless they have read PMMS or similar reviews, you can get a nice well detailed M3 medium kit today.

Thanks a lot, Rob and Stik

That's what I thought while reading the online reviews (something I really should stop doing)

Online reviews are a very valuable source of information. They can provide you with information that prevents surprises before buying a kit, like finding out it is an ancient kit reboxed by a different company.

They can also help you decide which competing kits to buy; for instance when AFV Club and Skybow both released M41 Walker Bulldogs at the same time, online reviews laid out the kits and allowed for a more informed choice between kits. Same thing when the Panda and Kinetic RG-31s came out. Online reviews made it easier for some modelers to decide which was right for them.

Forewarned is forearmed. Online reviews are helpful for all the reasons above laid out by Rob. PMMS reviews are exceptionally thorough, and while they call out all the small gigs on a kit, he still leaves it up to the readuer/buyer to decide if the gigs that he finds are a deal breaker or not. I personally benefitted from a comparison review of some ship kits a few years back. Both were released at the same time, one for approximately a 1/3 higher price than the other, and both had flaws. Then I knew what I was getting in to, what I would need to correct, and what I could live with not correcting, and the price for all that.

Again thanks to you both for your answers and you are completely right.

I can understand that reading some reviews can give you an a pretty good knowledge on what to expect when purchasing a kit. I bought too many kits without checking them first, and it felt like the lottery.

But sometimes one has to stop reading those reviews and maybe starts building the kit ...   (which, in my case, happens more often than not).

I was asking for your opinions because at the same LHS, the M3 Lee from Academy is easily 20$ more expensive than the Grant (for no apparent reason), and was simply wondering if for 30$ the Grant is worth getting.

That being said, I really enjoy the FSM monthly reviews !

I'm holding out for the Dragon kit

That kit's been rumored for over 4 years. Who knows when or if Dragon will ever release it.

Yes,I know,but I think my stash can tide me over.

I want an M3 Grant kit now simply because I bought the Tamiya Char Bis kit and having the two side by side would be interesting.

Very interesting video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODIgpdsIL-I

That is one very tall tank.

Can't help but think of the Bogart and Belushi movies named "Sahara"... Bob

r13b20

Can't help but think of the Bogart and Belushi movies named "Sahara"... Bob

and that just makes this figure set come to mind....

stikpusher

r13b20

Can't help but think of the Bogart and Belushi movies named "Sahara"... Bob

and that just makes this figure set come to mind....

stikpusher

r13b20

Can't help but think of the Bogart and Belushi movies named "Sahara"... Bob

and that just makes this figure set come to mind....

stikpusher

r13b20

Can't help but think of the Bogart and Belushi movies named "Sahara"... Bob

and that just makes this figure set come to mind....

That's exactly what I'm waiting for Stik,when the right kit comes along

Stik, The guy in the middle looks like Jim to me. That's great, thanks! Bob :)

All the figs in that set are very good likenesses for the characters in the "Sahara" re-make. I kind of laughed when it was released, somebody else liked that movie too. They also did a good job with Lulu Belle. In fact, after I saw the Belishi re-make, I pulled one of my old Tamiya M3's out of the stash and built it.

The remake Sahara M3 Lee isn't a straight US version of the Lee. It had the commander's .30 cal machine gun cupola removed and replaced with the plain split hatch similar to the one found on the Grant turret.

The original Bogart version was my inspiration to become a US Army tank commander over 30 years ago.

I never noticed that about the remake M3 when I watched the movie. I wonder if it was one of the later Lend Lease M3s like was used in Burma with that sort of set up?

Most likely; it was filmed in Australia so they probably used a Lee from that theater of war that they brought home.

I sure built my share of those, too.

The Monogram Grant hasn't been issued in decades... Of course the Lee was reissued not too long ago. That was one of the first armor kits that I ever built.

First, sorry about the thread "take-over". Tried for tanks when I joined, but ended up in m-109's. Don't know who made out better, Rob or me. Bob