A long time ago, in a childhood far, far away...
In 1976 I got my first Tamiya kit as a Christmas present from one of my dad's friends. Being a little kid busy with Revell, Aurora, and Monogram kits, I had never heard of Tamiya. When I opened the box, I knew this was not an ordinary kit. The instructions were unlike those of any other manufacturer, and the whole package felt very "grown up". The MRC gatefold flyer in the box was pretty cool as well.
The tank itself was kind of ugly in my eyes, and my dad explained the reasoning for the triple stacked armament. He also pointed out the riveted construction and compared the design to its successor the M4 Sherman.
But being a little kid, I didn't care about how good (or otherwise) the M3 Lee was in real life. I just tore into the kit to have some fun. Now, there were two things that needed to be done that I had never attempted in a kit. Using a heated screwdriver to secure the track pins required an open flame, which my mom would have never approved of - so lucky I was building it under dad's supervision! The second thing was stretching sprue for the radio antenna - another activity requiring an open flame! I cannot believe we did it in the living room on an end table, but both the tracks and antenna came out fine in one go. And the furniture survived un-scorched, thank God. Sprue stretching seems to be regarded as a black art by some, but this experience made it seem natural for me.
Fast forward 44 years.
A friend had "rescued" one of these kits from an estate sale and knew of the above story, so at our monthly get together he presented me with it. By the condition of the box, the kit must have been purchased around the same time as I got mine!
The instructions had yellowed and was brittle, and the decal sheet was nowhere to be found. The rubber bands holding the belt type tracks had solidified into a clear dark brown substance that crumbled away when touched. But the plastic parts were fine, as were the tracks.
I decided I would try to build this kit OOTB as much as possible (including using those inaccurate tracks with the end pin connectors in the wrong place). The only modifications I will allow myself will be simple things like closing off the open sponsons, making an antenna, and sourcing fresh decals. I also want to try to modify the commander figure to resemble the box art, with him deep inside the cupola. No aftermarket PE, resin etc. will be allowed. Pinkie promise.
So here is where I am at after a couple of hours work:
As I get older, I have to accept that my modeling horsepower is declining, so I need to practice dialing things back to keep on enjoying building. This will be a good exercise to that end.