ESCI/Italeri M3 Scout Car (1/72)

[Cpl Overby]

I have decided to embark on an old tride and true kit that we all know and love.
As we all know this kit has a few short comings ....
Such as Pin Marks on the "Visable" surfaces here and there.


And parts that are just Horrific as far as deatail is concerned.


Aside from that, let's not dwell on the walls being too thick and things like that.
Well I decided the the skate rail was all wrong and want a new one.
Unfortunately I did not take a pic first before I butchered the one from the kit....
But...I did take these pic's of the walls.






I then assembled the basic structure of the vehicle and started to make a new Skate rail from .080" (2mm) channel.




Now the gun mounts were molded "on to" the skate rail,
so I cut them off and modified one for my purposes.


Well remember the horrific .30 cal I showed you above....
Well I sized up a Roco one and found it to be "in scale".
So I modified it for my purposes.




Now the .50 cal was void of detail on the rt. side
so I added the detail as best as I could and removed a coule items as well.


I will add a Dragon ammo can and spade grips.

I have since molded the .30 cal and here are the results of that.




Now I have "test-fitted" the whole thing.








Well thats all for now....all this small work make me tired.
Please tell me what you think.

[amji]

NICE!!!!!!

and a resin player too !!!

AmJI

[Cpl Overby]

This will be a resin "up grade" for the Scout Car.
I'll posting an Up-Date in a few minutes.

[Minsk94]

Well, you definitely deserve a praise just for working with this kit. I wouldn't touch something like that with a ten-foot pole. But with tiny guns like that I think it is time for a photo-etch.

[Cpl Overby]

Here are a couple more things that I have done.
No dought that everyone has noticed that the Head-lamps are just "bumps" on the fenders, yes?




Well with a #15 scaple I have cured that.




Then I drilled out the mounting holes for "My" head-lamps.




My next step was to equip this baby with radios.
Thanks to Roco I have them.






well I off to make other pieces now ....more later.

[Cpl Overby]

Well, I decided it will come with 2 sets of .30 cal,
this way the builder can decide if they want water-cooled or air-cooled.
This is what the second set will look like.


Now I had to to do some micro scratch building to make the "correct" tripod for the .30 cal.
this is the "Proper" stowage for the tripods on the M3 scout Car.


also I took my .50 cal and did some micro surgery and redid it as a new master.
so here are some shots of it.






here it is with a little paint to help show the details.






and here it is "side by side" with the first incarnation to show a small difference.


well that was want kept me busy since my last post.

[Cpl Overby]

Oh God...it seems it's been days since I've been here......
Wait! It HAS been days.....
I have been hard at work here, and it seems that I am burning out?
I hope not!
Lets "recap" (on a small part of this)
One of the big bones of contention in this kit, is the "skate rail",
for one thing, it is Not an "I" beam or a piece of "channel" as it should be.
And, it only has two (2) gun mounts on it when it should have three (3).
Yes I finally got a pic of one before modification (thanks Charlie).


Here is the one I made.


Here is the first cast of it in resin (yes I finally molded it)




And here are two showing the casting mounted to the M3 (with guns) next to a fresh cast.


Another BIG short-coming is the level of deatil and quality of the Machine Guns offered with the kit.
The .50 cal and .30 cal are just Horrible.


So I took what I had and made attempts at making the best MG's I could.






Now I an tackling the Gas Cans.


I did one, and then decide to Document the conversion of the second.


Here is where I cut away the "gas can"


Then with a "denatal burr" I hollowed out the mount portion.


I then placed the "chosen" gas can with in it.
I had to keep test fitting over and over again till it got where "I" wanted it




I thought I was almost done, then I remembered that many, many pic's show,
that troops carried the cavas bucket strapped to one gas can.....so I tried my hand at that as well.










Now I am trying to tackle the "brush guards" for the head lamps.....
We'll see how that goes.

[Cpl Overby]

Man am I tired....gonna take a break.
Tomorroow will be a day off from this.
Today I got some major construction done.....
First was this PIA that I will call the Brush Guard.
First thing "I" noticed was that it was too short.
So I made one......
but I am not sure if it's worth the effort.
"I" think it's to fragile for molding.


The next thing I did was to build the new windshiels armor.
Those Knock out marks were just driving me crazy.
Don't let the pic fool you....the new piece just "looks" bigger because it's closer to the camera.


AS I said tomorrow will be a day off from working on this......
I have to help my Girlfriend rip the carpet out of her G'mas Bedroom. (joy)

[Minsk94]

but I am not sure if it's worth the effort.
"I" think it's to fragile for molding.

Agree, parts like that in 72nd require lots of patience. That is why I brought up PH earlier. All these thin parts just asking for it.
I guess, sooner or later you will have to look into it

[Cpl Overby]

OK...now I am startin on the doors.....
Here is the driver's door from the "Out-Side".


Here it is from the "In-Side".


Here it is "in place" with the armor flap in the "up" possistion.


Here it is with the flap folded "down".


This was an "all day" project, so to morrow I'll tackle the other door.

[Minsk94]

Door came out pretty good! Are you planning to replace detailing (such as those side locks) on the engine hood also?

[Cpl Overby]

Door came out pretty good! Are you planning to replace detailing (such as those side locks) on the engine hood also?

I'll have to study that idea and get back to you on that.

[Cpl Overby]

OK......I was s'posed to work on the other door.....
but then something shinny distracted me.....
and I chose to do this.
The Tow Hooks are represented by just "bumps" on the plate.




So I took tow hooks from Paul Heiser's 1/87 detail set and did this.

[Cpl Overby]

Alright......Today has been a busy one for me......
I tried and it worked the brush guards survived the molding proccess.






I even went as far as doing the "wooden" ammo box for the .30 cal






I am done for the day......

[Minsk94]

With all the corrections you are doing the whole model could be as well made from scratch.