Thursday, April 26, 2012 Here’s another oldie but goodie from Airfix – the M3 Lee/Grant tank. I made my first model of this in 1968 and still remember how fun it was to assemble. The photos here are from March 2003, when I had just completed a model which I subsequently mounted on a railroad car and sent my brother for his birthady. The first two photos speak for themselves, the third is looking down on the engine deck at the paint work on the tools. The last photo is of the tank mounted on a 30 foot railroad flat car by IHC (Int’l. Hobby Corp.). The wood supports are matches whose heads I cut off and the cables are of thick gray thread. The one end of each thread is tied around the axel of a sprocket wheel or rear idler while the other is tied around a post holder on the side of the car. The knots were then glued so they would not unravel. The difference in scale is noticeable here – the tank being 1:72 and the flat car 1:87, just wide enough to accommodate the tank! The M3 was designed in 1940 to meet the immediate demands of WW II and was a stop-gap measure until the M4 Sherman could come into production. The original design with turret machine gun cupola was called the M3 Lee by the British. A remodelled turret with radio and without machine gun cupola was named the M3 Grant. Due to its height it was sometimes called "the Cathedral". Produced – August 1941 – December 1942 Number produced – 6,258 Length – 18 feet 6 inches Width – 8 feet 11 inches Height – 10 feet 3 inches Weight – 30 tons Crew – 7 Armour – 51 mm. Armament – M2 75 mm. 31 caliber gun in sponson with 46 rounds Muzzel velocity – 588 m./sec. (1,929 ft./sec.) Penetration – 60 mm. at 457 meters at 90 degrees vertically sloped armour M5 37 mm. gun in turret with 178 rounds Muzzle velocity – 844 m./sec. (2,900 ft./sec.) Penetration – 61 mm. at 457 meters at 90 degrees vertically sloped armour Two or more .30 Browning machine guns with 9,200 rounds Horse power – 400hp Speed – 42 km./hr. on road, 26 km./hr. cross country Suspension – vertical volute spring Ground clearance – 18 inches Fuel – 175 US gallons/662 liters Range – 193 km. ENJOY!