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stuzzar · Posted: Thu 23 Oct 2008 12:35 pm Post subject: Stuzzar's build

My build will be placed here and it will probably be the 1/76th scale kit built as a Lee in British Army service in the Far East.

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Tue 11 Nov 2008 23:08 pm Post subject:

After much rummaging through the various piles of kits stashed about the place I finally found my hoard of Lee/Grants burried under a pile of books, the boxes were a little bit squashed to say the least but the kits look undamaged, I hope to start on three of them tomorrow, unlike the ongoing Sherman build these will be more or less out of the box.

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Fri 14 Nov 2008 13:08 pm Post subject:

I finally got underway last night and started with one of my favourite jobs, cleaning up and assembling Sherman type wheels and bogies

That operation took up the best part of last evening. I then turned my attentions to assembling the body. There seemed to be quite a lot of flash on some of the lower hull sections and a lot of injector pin marks which were an awkward job to remove.

Assembly of the upper hull elements was fairly straight forward although once again there was a fair bit of flash around the engine deck. The starboard side of each tank is leaning out at a very odd angle, I cannot remember this happening on earlier efforts at this kit, hopefully they will pull back to position when the fighting compartment roof is fitted

Cheers

Stu

Edited by stuzzar - pictures added, 14th November 2008 20:12

stuzzar · Posted: Fri 14 Nov 2008 20:18 pm Post subject:

The job for tonight will be to get the main gun in place and the fighting compartment roof, this will be followed by quite a bit of filling. There is a fairly large gap down at the front

Cheers

Stu

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Mon 17 Nov 2008 02:25 am Post subject:

I know how you feel about the running gear, the only constructive thing I've got done in the last week or so was eighteen more Sherman bogies.....God what a snore!

All the best
Sgt.S
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Brews · Posted: Mon 17 Nov 2008 05:52 am Post subject:

I didn't have so much trouble with fit the last time I made a Grant, and that was from a Heller-moulded kit.
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stuzzar · Posted: Mon 17 Nov 2008 13:42 pm Post subject:

I was quite surprised too Brews, I guess that these kits would have been made at the Heller factory as I have had them for a few years.

When they were produced by Airfix in the dark green plastic I remember making loads of these as a kid without any problem. It will be interesting to see how Andy's kits go together as they are presumably the old Airfix type as they are in the bubble packs.

Somewhere I believe that I still have one of my old childhood Lee/Grants, I may have to have a dig around to see what it looks like, perhaps when I was a lad I didn't bother to much about fit

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Thu 20 Nov 2008 23:06 pm Post subject:

Just to follow on from the previous post here are a couple of shots of what remains of one of my childhood Lee/Grants, you can see that the large gap on the transmission cover is not there and the roof fits much more snuggly into the side walls. Didn't use filler in those days

On a different note, I think that the H30 has aged quite well, it looks quite good under about 40 years of dust

Below are a couple of pictures showing the roof and main armament in position, the first is before any filler was added.

Unlike the old 1960s kit quite a bit of filler was needed around the roof joints, part of the roof on one of the kits had been miss cast but thankfully it was still usable. With the roof in place the wonky side wall was pulled back to it's correct position.

Next I turned my attention to the turrets, these have always caused a little concern among modellers, the Grant turret being the wrong shape etc. For this build I will be using the Lee turret but it will be without the commander's cupola. As you can see from the picture above there is also a fit issue with the mantlet, more filler required

Here is one of the tanks with the beginings of the new hatch underway and some filler around the gun mantlet.

And the same shot pulled back to show the other tanks

A little further down the line, the wheels/bogies and return rollers have been added

You may notice in the next two pictures that the turrets seem to have sprouted ears

These infact will form the bases of smoke launchers, two on each side of the turret. You can also see the stage of the Commander's hatch taking shape, a bit more work to do on these as yet but I am getting there.

More updates tomorrow

Cheers

Stu

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Fri 21 Nov 2008 05:44 am Post subject:

Looking very good indeed Stu.....I've got some catching up to do!

You know, between us, we could model all six of the tanks involved in the infamous assault on 'Nunshigum Hill'.....It might even make for a nice ATF skirmish demo-game one day!

Just a thought, all the best
Sgt.S
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Hawk · Posted: Fri 21 Nov 2008 11:11 am Post subject:

They look great Stu, an improvement on the Grant and original Lee turrets.

I have been reading up on these and the British would remove these cupola turrets as they created a choke point for escaping the tank if it was hit

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stuzzar · Posted: Wed 26 Nov 2008 19:16 pm Post subject:

Cracking on quite well with these at moment.

Did some more work on the turrets, after a little research I noticed that the Lee turret had a small pistol port in the rear starboard quarter. To make these I cut some of the pistol ports from the spare Grant turrets, stuck them onto small squares of plastic card, sanded the edges a little and made a small hinge from thin plastic rod and then stuck the resulting piece on the rear of the turret. This was then blended in a little with filler.

Here are the initial stages of the process mentioned above, the pistol ports from the Grant turrets stuck onto plastic card

Here is the new pistol port attached to the turret and filler added, just awaiting a little sanding

You will notice in the picture above that the commander's hatch has had a little detail added, I based this on the Grant hatch that I had taken a picture of at the Imperiall War Museum, the picture can be sen in the reference section.

A further picture showing all three turrets, the pistol ports have now been sanded and notches have been made in the support brackets for the smoke dischargers

Next up I made up some smoke discharger units using various grades of plastic rod. These were then attached to the brackets on either side of each turret.

Once again all three tanks now with the smoke dischargers fitted, I just have to trim the 'tails' on them.

A close up of one of the turrets prior to having it's 'tails' trimmed.

I now need to add a small vent to the top of each turret just to the right of the Commander's hatch and to put the guns in place I can then start work on a little bit of extra detail on the hulls, not going to do too much here, perhaps just replace the grab handles above the side hatches with thin wire, that sort of thing

Cheers

Stu

James Russell · Posted: Thu 04 Dec 2008 02:35 am Post subject:

Thanks for showing your impressive and beautiful work. It is particularly informative to read your appreciation of the differences between the old 1970s manufactured kit and the contemporary ones.

I'm a little nervous about the gaps that appear as I start putting my hull together. Yours are shaping up nicely, but obviously there is a need for filler. Amazing how those old kits went together!

Great way to make smoke discharger racks! With the piece firmly cemented in place it would certainly be easier to carve out the cradles.

Best of luck with your project.

stuzzar · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 15:11 pm Post subject:

As mentioned over in the Sherman GB thread, I have finally managed to get the modelling table out once again after the Christmas break.

Carried out quite a bit of work on these (along with the Shermans) last night and they are now ready to receive some paint

.

I will put up a more detailed report later coupled with some further pictures.

Cheers

Stu

daniel7891 · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 15:35 pm Post subject:

Looking great Stu
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Cheers

Daniel

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 17:07 pm Post subject:

Great work on the turret details.....It certainly helps to distract from the many faults of the basic piece. The turrets really are the weakest parts of the entire kit; the mantlets are way too small making them both inaccurate and a very poor fit.

All the best
Sgt.
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stuzzar · Posted: Tue 20 Jan 2009 21:40 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the kind comments chaps

As promised here is a small update (finally not only got the modelling area back but also managed a few moments on the home PC to upload some picures)

First up, I have had a bit of a cross-over moment between this and the Sherman build, the plan was to get some detail on the drive sprocket for the Sherman so I have combined the front and back of the Lee Grant drive sprocket with that of the Sherman.

Here is the combination in place

I then added the side doors and the small vent thingy on top of the turret which basically finishes the tanks off other than the tracks.

You will probably have noticed that I have left off the headlights, this is because the part representing the port side light in each of my kits had been miss-cast or short shot (I think the term is

).

They are now ready for a coat of paint and I will then have to face up to the track problems that everyone else has suffered.

A small note on the smoke dischargers, it seems that the part behind the 'tubes' was actually a breech from a Lee-Enfield rifle

I had assumed that they were fired by some sort of electric wire attachment but did not realise that these wires were connected to a rifle mechanism. It is possibly too late for me to change these now although we shall see.

Cheers

Stu

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Tue 20 Jan 2009 21:48 pm Post subject:

Very nice work as always Stu.

The headlight parts are pretty pants in my old kits too.....I'm going to use styrene rod and sprue once again.

Well spotted on the turret ventilator.....I missed that completely.

I think there should be another ventilator and a periscope on the hull deck in front of the turret too.....The more you look at the M3, the more odd bits you find!

http://data3.primeportal.net/tank...m3_lee/images/m3_lee_48_of_86.jpg

HTH & All the best
Sgt.S
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stuzzar · Posted: Tue 20 Jan 2009 22:15 pm Post subject:

Thanks Andy

I noticed that other ventilator last night while browsing the walk around pictures that you posted earlier, may well add it along with something to represent the other periscope that you have pointed out...it is certainly a 'busy' vehicle

Cheers

Stu

TimJ · Posted: Wed 21 Jan 2009 16:02 pm Post subject:

Looking good.
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stuzzar · Posted: Thu 29 Jan 2009 22:07 pm Post subject:

A small update, spent last evening giving the 3 tanks a couple of base coats of paint, tonight I am starting to work on painting the wheels.

Cheers

Stu