Mystery Medium Tank M3

Adrian Forest
An ARV of some kind, I assume?

David Taylor
Looks like an ARV or canal defence.

David Taylor
Although it could be Grant command or a BARV.

Jakko ‌
Stay tuned! 🙂

Ben M
watching... love strange tanks with rivets.

Adrian Forest
So most command, CDL, and ARV variants (i.e. M31) seem to keep the shape of the right-hand sponson with a dummy gun, so it's obviously not one of those common variants. The sole, Australian-converted M3 BARV has a boat-shaped front, not the sloped front you're building here, and the other Australian variant, the Yeramba SPG, has a much blunter nose. Gonna have to keep guessing!

Jakko ‌
You may be right … you may also be wrong … 🙂 I'll have to add a bunch of rivets before continuing with the actual shape of the vehicle, though, so it may be a bit longer before it becomes clear. Perhaps 🙂

Lenny V
That's some nice scratchbuilding, Will be followed with great interest. Also nice to see the Zeeuwse vlag, alsk nie eel verkeerd bin

Jakko ‌
Thanks, though it's not as well-made as it could be. It's rather difficult to find accurate dimensions for this vehicle, however, so it's probably the best I can do with the limited references available.

En jæ, da's de Zêêuwse vlagge 🙂

David Taylor
coming along.

Jakko ‌
Can you guess what it is already?

Robin (WhiteGlint)
No clue yet, but keep up the good work. 👍 Looks really nice so far.

David Taylor
If you are sticking a couple of Bren guns on top it could be an ARV.

Adrian Forest
Wait, this isn't some kind of M2 variant, is it?

Jakko ‌
Good guesses, and though it will have two machine guns, it won't be Brens. (Aside from that, the Grant ARV prototype simply had a flat plate with hatch where the turret was, not a big structure like here 🙂)

@Adrian: It might be an M2 medium tank variant, sure. Is that your final answer? 🙂

David Taylor
Still think it is a command variant.

Jakko ‌
It does look like that, doesn't it?

Jasper Breur
Very impressive progress! I already saw what it is on TWENOT, so I won't spoil it 😉

Adrian Forest
Checked TWENOT. Slightly cheating! 😛

David Taylor
Not checking anywhere.Like a good guessing game.

Jakko ‌
Cool to read that not everyone wants to peek behind the curtain 🙂

Maybe Adrian found his best guess confirmed? Or did it turn out to be something you'd never even thought of?

Adrian Forest
Definitely something I never would have thought of! My imagination isn't so creative as whoever thought that tank looked like... whatever it was supposed to look like! 😄

Jakko ‌
I think that I'll probably have to post some pictures at the end of the build, to prove this really did exist 🙂

David Taylor
Post them now if you want.LOL

Jakko ‌
Nah, that would give away too much — I want to put some paint on it first, see whether that helps or throws people off even more 😛

Adrian Forest
Panzer Grey? Or you reckon that would be more accurate than the creators could manage? 🙂

Jakko ‌
I think it's unlikely the real thing was that colour, yes. But my defence is sticking to the spirit rather than the letter 🙂

Robert Podkoński
What a fantastic beast!

Jakko ‌
Thanks 🙂 Though I assure you there's nothing fictional about it — well, other than some educated guesswork about areas I couldn't make out in the reference material I used.

Adrian Forest
I mean the original physical version is itself a fiction, but this is a recreation of a real fiction. 😄

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Sorry guys, I think I still need an explanation what kind of tank that is.
Is this some kind of movie prop? Or something that has been used for target practice? Or something else entirely?

Jakko ‌
Ooh … you started out well there 🙂

Robert Podkoński
What was this secondary "barrel" located over the main one supposed to be? So, I suppose it was some "movie" tank - like in a propaganda Nazi movie where Slovak Avias doubled as Polish PZL P.11(?)

Jakko ‌
Getting warm …

Robert Podkoński
Is it some kind of so-called Panzeratrappe, then? I own the book on German Panzeratrappen and there is no such a construction, but I suppose it is the one done for some reasons by the Allies...

Jakko ‌
I'd say you're getting a bit cooler again there. Not much, though 🙂

Robert Podkoński
Therefore, it is from a movie - black-and-white I presume, since you've guessed the actual colour 😉

Jakko ‌
You've gotten closer than anyone else so far here, other than the one who cheated of course 🙂 Now all you need to do is find the movie …

Hekimpd
@jakko despite the tracks being short, I absolutely love the color you achieved there. Nice job.

Jakko ‌
Thanks. It was actually really easy: base coat of Tamiya German Grey, then Neutral Grey sprayed in the middle of the various panels, a wash of Games Workshop Devlan Mud (long discontinued, my remaining pot is running low 🙁) and then drybrushed with first Vallejo Dark Bluegrey and finally Vallejo Intermediate Blue.

Or did you mean the tracks? Those I painted the same German Grey followed by thinned-down India ink for the rubber blocks, with the end connectors/guide teeth in Tamiya NATO Brown; after that I just put a wash of Tamiya Flat Earth over the whole thing.

Robert Podkoński
Thanks, Jakko, but I am afraid I do not know many war(time) movies - I grew up in communist times, the only tank from the movie I know is T-34/85 "Rudy 102" ("Redhead 102") from the Polish series "Czterej pancerni i pies" ("Four tankmen and the dog" - one of these tankmen, the driver actually, was from Georgia BTW... the others were Polish 😉 )

Jakko ‌
Stay tuned, then, as I will reveal the source once I think the model is finished 🙂 Shouldn't be more than a few days …

Robert Podkoński
Waiting patiently, Jakko, admiring your work 🙂

Hekimpd
@Jakko yes sir, meant the tracks. Thanks for the info!

Jakko ‌
The Indian ink is something I tried on this model for the first time, BTW. I was in an art supply store earlier this week and decided to buy a bottle to see if it works better than my usual way, which is to use a wash of black paint instead. Altogether, it doesn't really seem to make that great a difference, but the ink seems like it may be a little more consistent in colour than thinned paint.

Hekimpd
@Jakko interesting medium to use, might have to give it a shot, thanks.

Jakko ‌
It's now done! Check the end of the album for proof that this isn't some imaginary tank I decided to build because I wanted to try out a rivet punch and die set 🙂

Olivier
Thanks for that link, Jakko. Very good film...

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Nice result and awesome scratchbuilding! 👍

Robert Podkoński
Therefore, it was a kind of "Panzeratrappe". Germans had build many such contraptions used on military compounds in order to give an infantry a practice on combatting enemy tanks. Is there any consolation prize? 😉

Jakko ‌
It kind of is, but with a very different purpose. The Germans built them to represent their own tanks in exercises, this one is supposed to resemble (as far as I can tell) a SCM Search: Neubaufahrzeug — so, an enemy vehicle. Your consolation prize is the knowledge you got closer than anyone else here 🙂

Mark
A unique and entertaining build. Great final result. 👍

Robert Podkoński
@Jakko: I was kidding about this consolation prize, of course 😉 But with regard to German Panzeratrappen you are right with respect to Weimar Republic times, but during war there were mostly "copies" of Soviet tanks built and used. There is a very good documentary book: tankograd.net/cms/we..cht-Special-4013.htm

Jakko ‌
Oh yeah, they did that too … forgot about that. I mostly had the pre-war types in my mind. This VISMOD M3 is kind of similar to those, except I doubt any soldier who wasn't in the film ever got to practice against it.

And thanks, @WhiteGlint and @Mark 🙂

David Taylor
Very interesting subject,thanks for the ride.

Jakko ‌
And thank you for your comments, and your attempts to work out what it actually was meant to represent 🙂

David Taylor
Looks like one of the British armies inter war attempts.

Jakko ‌
None of those were this ugly 🙂

Dave Flitton
Looks like an M3 covered up with plywood boxes

Michael Osadciw
Thanks for the video link. That was great. I always find the guys they have do those videos amusing; all of the family friendly slang is in evidence with that odd almost-NYC accent.

gorby
Fascinating subject and excellent scratch-building!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Guessing what tank it is was kind of fun, though my knowledge about tanks barely qualifies as superficial.

Jakko ‌
Thanks, all 🙂

@Dave Flitton: I wonder what they made the additional stuff out of. Plywood would be easiest, I would think, but then why add all those rivets? Maybe to blend it in with the real part of the tank, I suppose. Though I have this feeling the whole thing was made of sheet steel. (Which also wouldn't need the rivets, or at least not ones this big …)

@Michael Osadciw: yes, it's definitely one of those typical wartime training videos that really have this very American/Hollywood tone to them. There used to be comments under this video on YouTube, but they were disabled sometime after I started this model; anyway, many of those said pretty much the same you did 🙂 (Oh, and did you know Ronald Reagan used to make films in this genre during the war?)

Rui S
Very well done. Great finish. Had to see the vídeo 👍

Jakko ‌
Thanks. I don't think I'd have believed this tank existed either without some proof to back it up 🙂