Airfix M3 Lee - the Canadian Version

[AndrewR]

The Canadian Army used the M3 Lee fairly extensively. The first versions used were transferred directly from the US Army, but later versions had significantly different external stowage added, as well as mud chutes between the bogies.



I'm going to use the Airfix Lee/Grant. The tall turret Lee version is a better OOB representation, because the Grant turret is significantly undersized.



Most of the changes will be additions from plasticard and metal tubing. The only major sawing job is the right hand side stowage box on the rear deck needs removing. It gets replaced with a cylindrical auxiliary fuel tank.



Work so far only on the hull and guns. I replaced the gun barrels with metal tubes. I've lost the taper on the 75 mm barrel, but accuracy, schmacuraccy.

[AndrewR]

Getting the stowage box off was much easier than I expected. It took all of five minutes by drilling out a line of holes.



Love that soft Airfix plastic!



Now I need to fill the hole and put the fuel tank over it.

[AndrewR]

The front stowage box, under the 75 mm gun is done. I've also started drilling out the wheels.

[ShaunW]

Most excellent, it's always good to see another build thread in this section of the forum. This isn't a bad old classic IMHO and you are performing a great bit of conversion work. Interesting stuff, please keep it up

[AndrewR]

Most excellent, it's always good to see another build thread in this section of the forum. This isn't a bad old classic IMHO and you are performing a great bit of conversion work. Interesting stuff, please keep it up

Most people seem to build the Grant, which has the undersized turret. I think Airfix capture the rivetty, bizarre shape of the M3 quite well.

I finished the rather tedious job of drilling the wheels out last night.

cheers

Andrew

[lancfan]

Will watch with interest Andrew, I like the M3 Lee/Grant and have built a number using this very kit. I don't have any in the stash ATM but this kit is on the wants list, didn't know about this version-will build one at some point this year.


David.

[AndrewR]

I now have the superstructure built up. It didn't fit that well, I had to add a shim of plastic card at the back, and there are some little gaps on the deck.




I also added the launch tubes for the smoke grenades on the turret. the back ends of the tubes need squaring off and filling. Milliput session is coming up soon, as I also want to fill the hole in the rear deck and plug the ends of the auxiliary fuel tank. The tube is just visible in the bottom-left corner of the first photograph.



You can see the general gappiness in the lower photo. Fortunately, some of the extra stowage gets built there, so it will be easier to disguise.

I also have the bogey assemblies all ready to go. As I have a terrible cold, working on bogies was a little ironic.
I haven't glued them yet, because the mud chute plates are a snug fit, and I want to get everything fitting properly before gluing. And I haven't made the chutes yet

[Stuart]

Very nice Andrew! A great bit of conversion work!

[splash]

Great work Andrew.

I was thinking of doing the Grant ARV conversion, the one with the crane and the dummy guns. Part of it would be changing the boxes on the rear end, now I know how to remove them the task looks less daunting. Its just the scratch building the crane will be the fun part

Regards Splash

[AndrewR]

Great work Andrew.

I was thinking of doing the Grant ARV conversion, the one with the crane and the dummy guns. Part of it would be changing the boxes on the rear end, now I know how to remove them the task looks less daunting. Its just the scratch building the crane will be the fun part

Regards Splash

That would be an interesting conversion, for sure. I was very relieved when taking off that stowage box turned out to be quick and easy with the drill. I was imagining all sorts of difficult saw cuts!

You should be able to find some I-beams from Plastruct, which would help with the crane - I used some on the Lunar Lander.

[AndrewR]

Milliput applied to plug some holes and to provide shapes which will get skinned to represent the new stowage.

[ntrocket88]

Excellent precision work. Looking forward to seeing this progress.

[AndrewR]

Last night I finished off the Lunar Lander, so I thought that I would get some work done on the Lee tonight.
So far I have managed to stick two triangles of plastic card on the stowage boxes behind the turret.
Younger son keeps sleepwalking, so bench time is a bit sporadic
If I'm lucky I might get a couple more bits done!

Edit:

A few more pieces added!

[ShaunW]

This is great, I really love what you're doing with this golden oldie

[AndrewR]

This is great, I really love what you're doing with this golden oldie

Did you mean "I love what the golden oldie is doing with the kit"?