The Atom Furnace: Bolt Action - BlitzKrieg Models - 1/56 scale M3 Lee: March 3

I have loved the iconic M3 Lee ever since seeing the 1943 production of "Sahara" staring Humphrey Bogart. Brother Bob came through for me again enticing me with a website for "Company B" models which advertised a tank commander bust and Lulubelle decal combo. The commander bares a striking resemblance to "Bogie" (as much as possible to do in 1/56 scale pewter). So my journey started on February 13 when the M3 was purchased. However; the company located in Louisiana shipped on Feb. 13 just as the big winter storm hit that area and totally shut down the USPS. By the end of the month the tracking info had not moved off of Feb. 13. Communication with Tina at Blitzkrieg was exceptional and she did everything she could to track down the little M3, with no luck, so she shipped a second one special D on March 1st. On March third the M3s arrived - you notice I said M3ssss! You guessed it, both shipments arrived the same day (Murphy, you DOG). I sent the second one back (return to sender) which Tina appreciated and I got to work.

I knew that the Blitzkrieg models were resin and I was not intimidated by that since I had already completed a Warlord M7 Priest. Here is what arrived..........

........six pieces total.

The underside was a bit rough, but being a single cast it was pretty detailed and I did not spend much time on filing. All I did was smooth out the edges of the tracks. I did not bother with the casting mold connections.

The first thing I did was bore out the sponson and the turret for all three guns - The 75MM, 37MM and 30Cal. Oh, and I had to drill out pewter bores for both the 75 and the 37. Pewter and resin both are soft enough that starting a hole and drilling is fairly easy. A few drops of Loctite gel and the guns are secured.

To the spray booth. I used my light sand and dark sand and olive, in that order. With each succeeding coat I moved further away so that the dark sand was a lighter coat than the light sand, and the olive was an even lighter coat over the dark sand. I was trying to effect a look for the Africa campaign. Sahara was a B&W film but Lulubelle did not look very dark against the sand. FYI, I did brush olive on the 75MM and 37MM. The 30Cal got gun metal.

Here it is out of the sunlight where it looks darker, but later you will see better exposures that show a look that I am satisfied with. The hatch I simply handed painted olive, although also a light coat so that some of the metal shows.

Now I break out the flat black wash and steel paint and work it into the tracks. Silver is also used on all of the view ports. Flat black is stippled into and behind the VVSS. Then I applied Tamiya Weathering Master (soot and rust pallets), which are my "go to" weathering colors for armor and ship models.

Detailing/weathering of the rear deck is a black wash for the grating and some steel. It also shows the incorrect position of the hatch - Oooops - had to break it off and re-attach. Which I did in the correct position, and then, later on forgot to remove the turret when turning the model over. The turret remains separate from the hull and sets in the hull nicely so it can rotate. What one must remember is that it not fixed so don't turn the tank over such that the turret drops out, hits the work bench and breaks off the hatch cover that you had JUST RE-ATTACHED!! Oh, wait, I was talking about you being careful - please learn from my experience😂. My build experiences are always fraught with lessons. I just have to hope I remember them.🙏

Woo Hoo, my Company B stuff has arrived!

I used the yellow instead of white, as Bob advised, for the Africa campaign. The decals went on easily, but I always apply a little Solvaset first before putting the decals down, in order that they are movable at first and later set for good!

The "still" I took from the film showed me three things, (the open position of the turret hatch - "re-attached" as noted above) a track repair "box" on the front of the hull and the pennant (which I found later to be attached to the hull just below the turret).

Here is the "plain" front of the model. What to do? I rummaged through old sprue looking for something I could salvage. I found some bits I thought I might be able to cobble into a reasonable facsimile of the track repair box.. From my 1/350 scale Buckley Class Destroyer Escort I found left over wall pieces with depth charge launchers. I thought that it may look track-like if I cut it down with the nippers. I combined that with a couple of support frame pieces from the 40mm Bofors kit and came up with a four piece construct as follows:

The size is correct, so it became a matter of painting and weathering.

Olive and black to start with, followed by some silver highlighting/dry brushing.

This picture is a bit premature but it does show that the "track box" turned out reasonably well. the other thing to notice is the position of the turret hatch and the fact that I added a couple of "snips" of 26 gauge wire to make hatch (pull) lugs! Now to the pennant.

The sprue has a lot of round nubs protruding from the sprue frame. They protruded far enough to get my pin vise drill to make a hole through the side, which I then snipped off and trimmed.

This is now the pennant mounting lug that I attached to the hull below the turret............

............SEE!

Now I cut off a length of my 26 gauge and glued to the end of it a left over flag decal from the M7 Priest I previously completed.

The "wire" pennant mast is inserted in the hole in the lug and stops against the hull. This works to hold the mast in place plus making it removable for storage. Win-Win! You will notice later on that I painted the lug and the pennant mast.

Last, but not least, is the Commander (Bogie with a Stogie). The painting of figures is always a scary task for me. I mixed up a facial color of tan, beige and white, a dark tan for the helmet, black for the ear phones and straps (facial features) and a tan/green mix for the jacket. The goggles I naturally left alone. I painted the "lit" cigar as best I could and here is the result: