A first for me, I'm keeping sort of a photographic diary of one of my commissioned projects. Here, I'm working on Tamiya's venerable M3 Light Tank, converting the basic model into the early M3 with some minor updates to model a vehicle in 1942 Stateside service - prior to US entry into WW II . I'll be scratchbuilding the interior and portions of the engine, as well as the early riveted turret and interior components. Above is a great section view of what I'll be following during this effort. Alot will change and be deleted during the project, and it's fun to keep a record of these as you progress to the finished product.

The basic Tamiya model kit is pretty nice, and acceptable miniatures have been built by competent modelers for a long time. There are basic details and omissions in a kit of this vintage, and I won't go into beating up the model here. I'm only illustrating a bit of what I did to remodel the kit into a representation of the early M3 Light Tank. Below, three-quarters of the basic assembly has been done on the model - including the interior shell I would build upon. I left the panels and floor removable until just before painting, as I would be moving and adjusting subassemblies throughout. Necessary to this backdating would be to cut away the engine cooling trunking on the engine deck and revise the air cleaner assembly and ducting. I opted to use the Verlinden M3 Stuart Detail Set at the outset of this project, seen mounted here below. I would remove this entire assembly later on...

Verlinden's resin replacement part for the Driver's Compartment front panel is mounted here too. I wouldn't be using the hatches Verlinden provides, as these are the later style with Protectoscopes fitted. This miniature would have the early hatches, scratchbuilt out of sheet styrene. Also seen in the photo are the nubbins Tamiya provides to mount their air cleaners. I glued them here, only to use them to plug the holes. I'd wind up using the Tamiya air cleaner parts as mufflers in the later assemblies, opting to go with better detailed Verlinden resin items. Later on I'd cut away the mounting stubs on the rear fenders for the Grouser Storage Boxes - as they weren't fitted to the early M3 I'd be modeling.

Above is a shot of the basic interior walls in place. I wouldn't be modeling a full engine, so I placed a bulkhead there on which to mount the engine cooling shroud, and to mount two surrogate posts for the mufflers. Verlinden's M5 Stuart Detail Set provided the differential assembly I'd use for this project. I left the M5 transmission in place with a basic drive tunnel to help me gauge clearances and dimensions in the interior. The final transmission and drive tunnel assemblies appear in later photos.

The basic under-hull view shows some of the added access panels and stiffeners added. No rivet detail appears here yet. More to come later. The purpose of this view was to fit the mufflers and the grill for the engine breather area at the rear hull overhang. Tamiya's photoetched screen for the Cromwell is used here because of the the clipped corners. It looks like the grills used on the M3 Light Tanks. I sliced away the center portion of the Tamiya grill to get the proper width, and added the central brace made from styrene strip like seen on the real vehicle. This was a simple detail to add to the basic kit. If you look closely, you can see the Tamiya air cleaners, now doubling as mufflers behind the grill in their appropriate positions. This is all one can see from this angle on the real M3 Light Tank. Below are the mufflers on their plugs, prior to cleanup. Since I would not be opening the rear access doors, there was no need to model portions of the engine that would have been visible in the area. Grab Handles are .010" brass wire.

Rivets, rivets, and more rivets. Above is the beginning of the process to place hundreds of rivets to the hull interior. These are Grandt Line #152 .032" conical head rivets. (Grandt Line also has #153 round head rivets in .032" size. #152 conical head rivets appear smaller than the #153 round head rivets. These rivets are pretty small, but for exterior portions of the model #152 looks better than the #153. Just a quick swipe of the sanding stick rounds the little conical head.) Shown here is another revised drive tunnel / instrument hump. I like to make plastic maquettes to help me visualize the final interior component placements. The M5 differential's transmission has been cut away in this photo. Below is a close up of the soon to be deleted Verlinden grill and engine breather trunking. I discarded this because of the unevenness and thickness of the Verlinden photoetch - nothing could be seen behind it. Aber, Eduard, and Ordnance Models produces photoetching with markedly finer grill work. I'd replace this entire assembly with one from Ordnance Models. Top and bottom on this photo are air cleaner hose holes. All the molded in tie-downs have been removed for eventual replacement with photoetched versions.

Here is the new engine deck trunking, made from Ordnance Models' photoetehed parts and Grandt Line rivets for detail. Verlinden foil makes the handle for the sponson storage box at photo center left. Ordnance Models' antenna mounts are in place here too. The antenna mount is missing a base bracket in the rear. I sliced away an appropriate section from an Eduard photoetch detail set to add the missing detail. Visible beneath the grill are the engine components that would be seen from this angle on the real M3 Light Tank. To either side, the Tamiya air cleaner lugs have been trimmed away, and the area cleaned up for later detailing. Seen in the photo below, the right side of the engine hull has been detailed with Grandt Line .032" rivets. Many, many, more would come later on. The mounting tab for the Grouser Storage Boxes on the rear fenders has been trimmed away in this photo. Bottom center left are three GL rivets added to the side of the M3 - missing detail on the Tamiya model kit.

Above and below show views of the first engine deck area changes. Two additional holes for air cleaner hoses are present in the sheet styrene bulkheads added to this area. The bit of Eduard photoetch added to the Ordnance Model antenna mount is better seen here. The two triangular shaped nubs on either side of the engine deck and axe head bracket would be removed later on. Grandt Line Lift Rings would be added here, and a foil axe head bracket will join photoetch tie downs. The bolts removed from the upper engine deck during cleanup would be replaced with Grandt Line rivets. At this point, I was still debating cutting away the armored gas caps and modeling the early unarmored versions.

Above and below two photos are interior shots of the final differential, transmission, and drive tunnel assemblies before finer detailing. The seats come from Verlinden's LVT-4 Detail Set - as these are narrow and fits inside the M3 hull closer to the actual parts. The three pieces of the engine are seated in the engine compartment. I wanted to use the engine Verlinden provides in the LVT-4 - as this is the same used in the M3 Light Tank, but there's a little detail problem. The gasoline radial engine in both the M3 and LVT-4 are 7-cylinder engines, where the Verlinden part is a 9-cylinder assembly. If this doesn't bother you, then you can use it with little modification. I made my own and cast it in resin.

Below are three views of the mating of the Verlinden M5 Stuart differential with the Verlinden LVT-4 transmission. From here I would base my modeling efforts for the M3 Light Tank. Naturally, finer details will change over the course of the model project before painting.