The M3 Lee has been one
of my favourite AFVs ever since I built the Hasegawa 1/72
kit as a wee 'un. By today's standards the Hasegawa kit
holds up fairly okay, considering its age, but this offering
from Mirage blows it out of the water in terms of fit,
accuracy and detail.
The Olive Drab paint is
from the now defunct Colourcoats range from White Ensign
Models which I've been carting around for years. It went
on well with an airbrush, but not so much with a paint
brush. Whether that's because it's a good many years old
or just the nature of the beast I'm not sure.
I built mine as a Canadian
M3 from the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade, though I must
confess the markings are largely conjectural. I based
them mainly on this
Getty Images photo, plus various other profiles and
photos. It seems the wartime censors were pretty keen
to cover up the Canadian use of these machines as pretty
much every photo I found of Canadian M3s had the unit
markings covered up with mud, therefore I can't be sure
the markings depicted are accurate. Also, the Getty image
isn't clear enough to confirm the serial number. I enlarged
it and sharpened it up as best I could and I think
it's correct, but I can't guarantee it.
The serial number is cobbled together from a Microscale
British & Australian Armour Division sheet (No. 13-3),
and I created the unit markings and printed them out with
a laser printer on white decal paper.
I picked this particular
tank because it was one of the few Canadian M3s that had
the machine gun in the cupola, most of them seem to have
been removed. Unusually, it also appears to have the two
bow-mounted machine guns which were very rarely installed.
I replaced the kit gun barrels with some superb turned
brass and aluminium ones from Master.
The Mirage kit includes a small brass etched fret which
covers the light guards, intake mesh, door interiors,
and a few other bits and pieces. My kit was actually missing
the etched fret, but Mirage was kind enough to send me
a replacement when I emailed them. I didn't utilize the
intake mesh as it wasn't enough of an improvement on the
moulded one to warrant the extra work required to use
it. Nor did I use the door interior parts since I wasn't
opening the doors.
Humbrol Dark Earth weathering
powder was used for mud along with an oil wash of Burnt
Umber. I also used Humbrol's Sand wash for a dusty look
on the upper surfaces.
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