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size matters

after months of tamis and dragons, i started the academy stuart. wow, those parts are tiny. i've been using my big magnalight to see some of the parts. and the track! it fits inside of a pzk 1's track. bet that summabitch got stuck in the mud and slid on the ice. we've all seen the bulge footage of the sherman sliding down the icy street. i can only imagine what the stuarts did. whats's the verdict on the academy kit? it looks like pictures, but i don't know enough to tell if it's an accurate kit.it's an m3a1, and opinions would be appreciated.

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someone
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It sits too high, like the suspension is unloaded during a crane lift-- the large rear idler should actually ride on the ground with the road wheels, but it sits higher (burying the lower run of the track in scale "dirt" on you base can disguise this). Virtually all M3A1 tanks had a curved, single piece upper tail plate, rather than the two part flat panels in the kit, which were characteristic of the earlier M3 series. True M3A1's had welded rather than riveted hull sides, and fewer rivets on the drivers' armor panel. Lots of other minor accuracy issues, but it builds easily, and looks fine when built. For detailed reviews, check sites like Armorama and Missing Lynx, or check their discussion board archives. Academy has a current reputation of releasing beautifully engineered but poorly researched kits. AFV Club's M5A1 and M3A3 kits are generally more accurate Stuarts, but they are more fiddly to build. Gerald Owens

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Gerald Owens

tanks.

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someone

and what about the old Tamiya Stuart. A quick weekend build....

Craig

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crw59

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