I agree and a few Officers and SNCOs that were ok with it. Even if only for a few days.
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Fantastic!
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You can just make out a little part of it to the upper left of the hat of the second man from right.
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Agreed about that being something there just over the side of his cap
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A bit more progress on this one over the past week. I painted the road wheel tires and worn bare metal areas on the sprocket & idler wheels, as well as getting a flat coat on over the decals and adding the driver and bow gunner hatches. I also added some support hold open struts for the hatches that Academy neglected to include…
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I started on the weathering today…
Tamiya panel line wash around the raised details… which this thing has a LOT of…
and then I started applying some AK Interactive dry mud around the suspension and adjacent hull areas…
more to come in the next day or two… 
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Yesterday I added a coat of more dried looking mud all along the remains of the hull sides, then today I added a bit more of the darker mud over that to give a more of that stuff… then I did a test fit of the belt tracks… they were super tight at first, but I let them sit in the Arizona summer sun for about 5-10 minutes and that allowed them to stretch and fit just right…
The tracks are not linked and still need to be painted, but they are looking proper now…
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More progress from over the last few days… today I finished painting up the tracks
Then this evening I installed the tracks… plus painted up the headlights and tail lights. I also added some Micro Scale Krystal Kleer over the headlights to replicate the lenses
I just need to add a few more small bits and do some final weathering to tie it all together…
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I was able to install the last small bits today… pioneer tools, antenna, tow cable & shackles, along with the commander’s pintle mounted .30 cal. M1919 & tripod…
Then I did the final bit of weathering….
I’m calling this one finished…. I’ll get the multi angle glamour shots up in a day or two
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Outstanding!
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Almost can’t believe it’s 1/35 
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M70 and KO, thank you for looking in and commenting guys! I do appreciate it!
Here it is finally finished, my build of the Academy M3A1 Stuart Light Tank, in the markings of the USMC 3rd Tank Battalion on Bougainville in late 1943. The kit comes with a fairly comprehensive interior, but I added some missing details in there, as well as some on the external extra fuel tanks and some reinforcement iron bars on the rear fenders that photos showed. I replaced the kit headlight brush guards with some 3D printed ones and an engine exhaust screen that I printed up from files that I bought off of Cults3D. Paints are primarily AK Real Colors, along with AK, Vallejo, and Humbrol acrylics. I used the kit decals, and surprisingly they did not cause any problems as Academy decals often are reputed to do.
And just for some size comparisons, this thing is pretty small…
Bigger than a jeep
Much smaller than an Easy 8 Sherman
and pretty close in size to WC-51 3/4 ton truck…
Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome…
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It looks great ad I like the comparison’s.
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Great job! Especially with all that interior work showing through the hatches.
The size comparison with all the other vehicles is neat.
After seeing your finished pictures I pulled three old, half completed M3 / M5 tanks out of the dungeon, including my attempt at the same vehicle. No idea if they will bubble to the top but it was fun to look through the boxes.
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Thanks guys! I think in this case with the size of the M3, a size comparison was a “must do”. There is so much crammed into this little project.
@Damraska, I still have the M3 Honey sister kit by Academy in my stash to build, but that one is gonna need some more substantial interior work due to Academy taking a short cut and using the same interior for both kits, when the early M3s had quite a few internal differences in arrangement. But I have some pretty solid references on that now after this project. Perhaps next year.
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Great job 
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Great job Carlos. Love the build.
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Thanks guys for looking in and your kind comments!
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