Ohhhhhhhhh cool!!!

Somehow the M3 Lee looks funny to me in olive drab though, I'm just so used to seeing them in desert sand.

I had lunch with my friend that ordered the decals today, so they are now in my grubby mitts.

They are from DEF Models, and represent the M3 Lee Lulubelle from the two versions of "Sahara".  The choice is obvious - the 1943 Humphrey Bogart version.

Now to hurry up and get those puttied areas sanded away.

Aaargh, I wish I had seen that tutorial before gluing stuff together!  So simple, yet so effective.  I will definitely do that on my Stuarts and M10.

Man, I wish the forum allowed hot linking to other threads; I would have looked at the tutorial and saved myself some work.  But thank you DM, it will improve my future builds.

And so the return rollers are metal?  I think the M3 Lee instructions would have you paint them black.  Another good to know thing.  And knowing is half the battle.   

Gamera

DM: I really like the idea of cutting the axles off to allow you to attach the road wheels later. And your idea on getting texture for the rollers- again great idea- I'm gong to file that away for my next non-E8 M4 build.

Just the fruits of a simple mind.

                             Thanks Gamera....

G: She's coming along great! 

DM: I really like the idea of cutting the axles off to allow you to attach the road wheels later. And your idea on getting texture for the rollers- again great idea- I'm gong to file that away for my next non-E8 M4 build.

Real G

One thing I am wondering about is the painting of the bogeys.  If I do it my old way, it would mean painting everything separately, assembling, filling/sanding, repainting, then weathering.  I see many guys just assemble everything, then paint/weather.  I'd like to give that a try.  Does anyone have pointers?  Prepaint the insides of the bogeys and the wheel hubs?  Not necessary?

Check in below to see    

.............  how to do it

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/134935.aspx?page=5

Go wayyyy down to the 28th response.

The key pics are there but photobucket otherwise butchered this post.

Yup, crack that kit!

When an older kit is found, you must whip it.

Before a new one comes around, you must whip it.

When something’s fitting wrong, you must whip it.

I say whip it.

Whip it good.

I say whip it.

Whip it good!

That is looking fine G. Nothing like whipping one of these ancient mummies into shape!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM

Gamera,

Yeah, I bit the bullet and pre-painted the insides of the bogeys flat black, then glued them together.  Once the ugly mismatched seams are made less ugly and less mismatched, I'll douse everything with flat black before starting the actual painting process.

After all the bogeys were assembled, I dry fit them on the hull to check to see how tight the kit "rubber band" tracks were.

They are a tight fit, but not "rip the idler wheels off their axle mounts" tight.  I had a M4 Sherman and a Leopard from Italeri that did just that.  

And now the tedious filling of all the sloppy workmanship begins.

The transmisison bolt strip is actually part of the nose casting, but there was a step the way I glued it on.  It's too late to fix this, so I'll just fill in the gaps and let the step go.

The headlight guards turned out a lot better and required only minor filling.  I added the headlight assemblies, but not before drilling out the solid lenses.  I have some old Grief lenses that are turning yellow so what the heck I'll use them.  They will be oversprayed with a dust coat anyway.

That looks good. If you can attach the wheels separtly I paint them so. With bogies like this I'd just go ahead and put the wheels in there and then paint them with a brush after spraying the whole tank with olive drab.

RBaer

I guess you know the turret vision port surround needs to be faired into the turret casting itself, must be the reason you mentioned the use of primer.....

Yes!  And I just learned that the transmission bolt strip is part of the overall casting, not a separate part!  All easy to work out, so not feeling too much stress.

One thing I am wondering about is the painting of the bogeys.  If I do it my old way, it would mean painting everything separately, assembling, filling/sanding, repainting, then weathering.  I see many guys just assemble everything, then paint/weather.  I'd like to give that a try.  Does anyone have pointers?  Prepaint the insides of the bogeys and the wheel hubs?  Not necessary?

I agree, the later 30 cal barrels look good. I guess you know the turret vision port surround needs to be faired into the turret casting itself, must be the reason you mentioned the use of primer.....

Hey guys, I got some primer on to see how things looked.

Now and then a thread pops up questioning the use of primer, and here is my answer.

The Tamiya Stuart 30 Cals look outstanding!

Lots of little stuff to fix/adjust, but all easy enough.

Some of the holes for the tool locating pins were off.  I'll just elongate select holes to allow the pins to drop in.  I plugged the holes for the tow rope, since I am planning to replace it with some leftover nylon string and tow eyes.

I used my home brew putty to texture the mufflers in preparation for weathering them.

A friend got me some decals for Lulubelle from the movie Sahara, so I'll be using them for the kit.  It offers markings from both movies, so I just gotta go watch the movies to decide which one to go with.

   Hang in there G, the end is in sight.....then some other cool hunk of iron will grab your eye and.....BOOM your a treadhead LOL. Enjoying your build.

PlasticJunkie, Brandon, Gamera,

Thanks guys!  It feels weird hammering away on a subject that I have no interest in save for the nostalgia.  It is fun though.    I'd better finish up so I can get back to work on the stuff I do care about!

Your improvements look great G.  

Neat, she's lookin' good G! 

Your extra efforts are paying off, this is gonna be a sweet looking little tank.

BK

Unless I have a problem of the kit tracks snapping off, I'll keep them warts and all.  And that's the plan Ripley.  No take-backs, no studying aftermarket sets...

I got the Tamiya Stuart 30 Cal barrels fitted to the turret.  They look a heckuva lot better than the pencil thin kit parts.

Starting to patch that pesky gap in the hull.

And here is the complete exhaust system, removable for easy painting.

Now for the boring part of slogging through the sand-fill-sand process for the hull plating and the ill fitting suspension.

I've got an old salvaged Grant hull that I'm letting rest on my shelf of shamelessness, and for kicks I fitted a set of Academy Sherman tracks, the old melty-pin style, and they fit nicely. They're actually well detailed, just a bit stiff. I also tried some Tasca tracks on it, and they also fit, so there's a couple of alternatives. Tasca tracks are really nice and should be available through their website.

Gamera,

I had a second look at the cast texture, and decided it did look OK.  So I will leave it alone until the primer goes on, then decide if any sanding will be needed.

Cool the armour texture looks good! And the sponsons look so much better blocked off. 

Looking 

Thanks Disastermaster, I don't think I would have scribed those lines had you not chimed in.

Richs26, that film is neat!  I'll have to watch the full thing when I get home tonight!

So I plated over the open sponsons last night using 0.040 sheet plastic.  I just cut a piece to fit right across the hull, making cuts to fit around things.

The rear where the exhaust system is looks sufficiently busy, so I didn't bother detailing it further.  BTW, I was able to glue all the pipes and mufflers together, so they can be painted as a unit then installed.

I also test fit the Tamiya M3 Stuart 30 Cal gun into the commander's cupola.

I might knock down the cast texture on the turret and other areas a bit to look more realistic.

Excellent work.  Here is something for your M-3 viewing pleasure from 1941:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Bs29vsZ1c

Real G

Looks great.

While faffing around last night, I decided to add cast texture to the turret, main gun casemate, and the transmission case.  Mr. Cement Deluxe is relatively thick, so I mopped some on a bit at a time, and while still wet stippled it with an old stiff brush.

I used a smaller brush to mop and stipple around details and along edges to keep things neat.

After a light sanding, I brushed on a coat of Testors liquid cement to even things out.

I figured I'd better get on with scribing the split lines on the transmission cover, so I used a Hasegawa PE scribing temlplate along with a Tamiya scriber.  The template bridged the two flanges, so it was easy to keep it straight.

Any goofs were entirely due to my carelessness.

Time to blank off the open sponsons.

Real G

I learned that if you remove the guards first, it is nigh impossible to thin the parts while trying not to crush them.  It took me several hours to thin the Stuart's brush guards doing it this way, but only about 20 minutes to do the Lee's while still attached to the sprue.  Lesson learned.

If you can do "that", you're going to do very well with this hobby.

Nice build, G!

Real G

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"...

Yeah, that takes me back!  I had a similar experience.  I had built Monogram's tank kits before that, and never paid attention the Tamiya (or Hasegawa) stacks at the LHS.  My first Tamiya kit was the Tiger I, and I was amazed at the detail.  It was also an illustration of the difference between 1/32 and 1/35 scales.  I liked the Tamiya armor kits, but I was disappointed that I couldn't mix Monogram and Tamiya in a diorama.