The kit received much critics because of its inaccuracies (mainly because of its running gear). I have to admit I have not much deep knowledge about the Stuart but this small and somehow ugly vehicle always fascinated me. I wanted to depict a vehicle which will be as much as possible accurate. Thats why I started to collect some upgrade sets which I thought will be helpful. Lets see what we also have here aside from the bare kit:
The disgraced kit´s running gear will be substituted by AFV-Club´s correct new vertical volute spring suspension
I also own an incredibly well casted resin interior kit from the sadly now defunct company Tiger Model Design. Therefore I will depict presumably an abandoned vehicle with all hatches open for a better view inside
A tad loose but not overly so. How tight they are on the Academy Stuart will depend on how the suspension spacings are located on the Academy hull. You may want to leave the rear idler assembly off until you can see where it needs to be to tighten the track.
Hello Mitchell, I have no “fixed” store. The Tiger Model set I remember bought directly from them, Regularly I buy from the german DER SOCKELSHOP store, from MODELLBAU KÖNIG and sometimes from HOBBYEASY in Hong Kong
I’ll be following this one as I am on a quest of building and repairing 5 Stuarts myself!
That interior that comes with the kit is indeed useless for this version.
The kit does have single link tracks which are not too bad, but the suspension addition will make a difference too. They “ride” too high OOTB. @petbat Wish someone told me that before I had built mine…
Hey Thomas,
This certainly looks like the start of an epic build! You’ve got quite the collection of “bling” for the kit and it all looks great. Will be outstanding when it all comes together. Good luck and have fun! Will be following and giving advice when I can.
The build is going straightforward, I was able to finish already the alternative suspension and wheels. It is necessary to shave off some knobs off the kit´s lower hull where the suspensions have to be added but so far no problems
Same way when Tamiya modeled the M48A3. I think the designers went to a museum and used a display tank for reference. Sadly, that tank had no powerpack, so the tank sat much higher than it should.
Hey there Thomas,
Tiger Model Designs is back in operation. The web shop can be found at https://tigermodeldesigns.com/
I placed a small order with Joe last week and it is already on its way to Oz.
Best wishes for the build. You’ve picked an awesome topic.
You can use the Academy one if you are prepared to cut off the parts and reposition them, but the AFV Club set is a lot better detailed and well worth the cost and time saving.
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