01. US M3A1 Stuart

John Van Kooten
I started working on this kit on October, 3rd. It is a great kit that has presented no problems during the build, aside from a little fitting issue on the front of the tank, near the edge between the glacis and the driver's hatch's vertical plating. There's a gap between them. I have to say that I actually think this is my own fault for not properly aligning certain parts! I noticed this issue too late in the process, so I wasn't able to correct it anymore. Good lesson for my next Academy Stuart kit😉 and the problem isn't that serious anyway, so I'll just ignore it 🙂

Aside from replacing the M1919 machine gun barrels with the RB-Model barrels and mounting them on the tank, it is a complete OOB build.

Building the kit was easy and fast. There are not a lot of parts. There is some flash to deal with but even that isn't all that bad, actually.

I have numbered my images (and will do so from now on whenever I post projects / albums) because that makes it MUCH easier to reference them in consecutive posts.

Images 2 - 6:
Once built, I went ahead and primed the lower hull with Vallejo Black Primer. I then airbrushed Ammo of Mig Olive Drab Base ( A.MIG-0926 ), while keeping the layer fairly transparent, to be able to benefit from the "natural shading" of the black primer layer.

Image 7
The lower hull has received its first two layers of filter.

Images 8 - 10:
The lower hull has received more filter layers and some initial layers of black wash, as did the bogies, which also received a tiny bit of dry-brushing with a lighter tone of Olive Drab.

Images 11 - 14:
Constructed the turret and main gun assembly. Replaced the barrel of the M1919 machine gun with an RB Model one.

Images 15 - 18:
Finished construction of the turret and upper hull, including the M1919 machine gun on top of the turret.

Images 19 - 21:
Added some missing parts on the front end of the lower hull ( forgot to add them earlier😉 ) and continued to prime the upper hull (plus the added parts on the front end of the lower hull) in Vallejo Black Primer.

H K
See! Nobody likes your allied stuff 😛 Come back, it`s not too late 😄
( I like your Stuart. Can`t wait to see it with the Black Dog stowage)

John Van Kooten
Hahaha! 😛 Yeah, I think I need to reconsider this whole allied stuff business 😄 😉 lol

( Thanks Herb! 👍 🙂 The Black Dog stowage set looks really good! Very finely detailed and well worth the money. I am definitely going to be getting more of them! )

Gábor Bélik
I don't like allied stuff but I will follow. 🙂

John Van Kooten
LOL!😉 Thanks Gábor 😄

Gábor Bélik
I'm not going to miss a good painting because I don't like the canvas 😄

Es-haq Khosravi
Great!

John Van Kooten
Those are very inspiring words, Gábor! 👍 👍 🙂

And thank you, Es-haq! 👍

Fabian D.
"Nobody likes your allied stuff", just like "Nobody has the intention to erect a wall" 😄 (who got it?😉😢
great photos btw. 👍

John Van Kooten
Thanks Fabian!! 🙂

I want to go with "I got it" 😛 that is, if you meant that figuratively speaking, as in nobody intends to shut other people out of their lives 😉 if not, I'm intrigued and want to know what you meant 😛 haha!

Fabian D.
not quite... but to be fair, a tricky one 😉
It´s a quote from Walther Ulbricht, East-Germans head of state (in June 1961): "Nobody has the intention to erect a wall"
Construction of "The Wall" began on in August 1961. So if you say in his strange pronuciation "Nobody has the intention to... " you pretty much say you have the intention to do exactly so. 😄
Qute starts at 0:44:
Youtube Video

Alan Rush
Looks great John. Thanks for writing the step-by-step description. Looking forward to more. 👍 🙂

Mike K
Looking good John. I like Academy's Stuarts. I'll be watching.

Dave Flitton
Looking good

John Van Kooten
@Fabian: Aaaah! That really WAS a tricky one😉 but a good one nonetheless! Nice reference you made! 👍 🙂

@Alan: Thanks Alan! I will try to add more specific information on each step as I go along 🙂 this write-up was somewhat condensed because I had already done quite a bit before I started documenting this project😉

@Mike: Thanks Mike! 👍 I too like Academy's Stuarts very much. They are really nice kits! Detail level is good and they build really easy into a very nice looking Stuart 🙂

John Van Kooten
@Dave: Thanks Dave! 🙂 👍

H K
Fabian, thanks for the link 🙂