Ever since the release of Bolt Action 3rd Edition we have been getting a continuous stream of new plastic kits, many of which are replacing older metal/resin kits. One such case is the M3 Medium tank, the iconic temporary solution to the Allies’ demand for a medium tank. Since it was employed relatively equally between British forces and US forces, two variations of turrets were in production; the original slim ‘Lee’ pattern turret and the much bulkier ‘Grant’ pattern turret.
When Armies Of The United States was released we got the new plastic M3 Lee medium tank; since the next book would be Armies Of Great Britain, it was an almost foregone conclusion that it would come with the M3 Grant. Now with the release of Armies Of Great Britain it is here and it felt fitting to review these as a pair.
What’s In The Box?
Each box comes with three sprues, two of which are identical across both the Lee and Grant box containing all the parts to build the chassis of the tank minus the tracks; those are found on the third sprue alongside pieces to build the respective turret and a selection of appropriate tank commanders. The Lee sprue comes with one British tank commander to put in the M3 Lee – Burma variant, two American commanders and one Soviet Commander to field the tank as a Lend-and-Lease vehicle.
The Grant sprue has only three commanders, two British officers and one Sikh commander. Beyond the different pieces that you get from either the Grant or Lee, there are some options to choose from. You have a full set of track guards to put on your tank, what I presume to be mud guards at the back of the tracks, a canvas covering for the main gun, and two barrels for the main cannon(with or without muzzle brake).
The rest of the box contents are your standard vehicle accessories, a bag of damage markers (the little coloured wool bases), a stat card for the tank, and a decal sheet with decals for Soviet, British, and American tanks. I would like to draw attention to the new design of the boxes; it used to be that only some rare boxes and mostly resin tanks had an actual photo of the miniature on the front, off the top of my head I can only think of one of the plastic Hanomags having a photo of the model on the front. Now we have photos of the studio painted models set in scene, which is better.
Assembly
For the most part this kit goes together smooth and easy with most gaps being in sensible places that will not look too weird when fused with glue. Sadly the stowage details(rope and tools) are molded onto the back of the tank, but you do get to choose whether to include the tool boxes or not. As is standard you obviously get a choice of whether you want to have the commander’s hatch open or closed even including a clever folded design on the Lee. Despite an overall great experience when assembling the tanks, there were a handful of issues I encountered:
First, and a very small point, are the instructions. It makes sense that there would be a universal set of instructions since the main difference between the tanks are the turrets and tracks. What did initially confuse me when assembling my Grant is that the Lee tracks are assembled in the sections that is labelled as universal (although with a little disclaimer that they are the Lee tracks) and only later in the assembly guide do you get shown the Grant tracks. It is nothing major, but it did throw me off since I expected the sections to be more clearly separated.
Next thing that frustrated me a little are the mold lines running across the tracks’ connector pins. While the mold lines on this kit are relatively few and far between, they were very pronounced on the tracks. Thus it took a good half hour to clean off the mold lines just for the tracks.
My major issue with the assembly of these two tanks: the turrets. I do not know what to call it, but the way the turrets are constructed is a bottom bowl part with a mantle like top piece. When putting both pieces together you get a seam running around the entire turret. Normally this would not be such a huge issue, but for some reason the pieces did not fit flush; This lead to a relatively unseemly gap that would have needed some green stuff or miliput to fill it.
Old vs. New
So how do these hold up to the old M3s? Luckily I had an old resin M3 Lee on hand to compare these to.
I did not expect these to hold up so well. While on further inspection you can make out small differences, overall these are almost identical in scale and sculpting which I welcome. Remember when they started replacing the old resin Sd. Kfz. 250s and 251s with newer plastic kits, and the old ones looked so much out of place compared to the newer kits? Safe to say no US or British players will have to worry about these new tanks making their old ones look weird.
Painting
When I received these two tanks I knew I wanted to paint them up as Soviet Lend-Lease tanks for my wife’s Soviet army. While the Grant was historically only used by the British, I figured it would be fun to paint it up as the platoon commander with the bulkier turret containing the little radio equipment available.
While I was worried about the gaps on the turrets showing very prominently when painted, I am relieved to see it is not as noticeable as I had feared. I still think should I ever paint a third Lee tank I will just go with epoxy putty right away to fill the gaps.
I also want to praise the selection of decals; you have a good amount of markings and insignia for both the US and Great Britain, and while the Soviet markings are limited to stars and red stripe markings there are two charming graffiti which I will not try and translate.
If you want to learn how I painted the Soviet Armour Green, then stay tuned until this Thursday where I will give you an in-depth look on how I painted this duo!
Final Thoughts
I think these new plastic tanks are a damn good replacement for the old resin kit; they offer a cheaper kit to include in your armies and are obviously easier for new players to pick up. The small variety of choices presented are also a nice improvement, given how little choice you usually get with resin vehicle kits.
One minor thought I had that holds true for most of the plastic Warlord vehicles: I do not care for the plastic tank commanders. They have definitely improved over the years, but to this day they still look distinctly too different from the plastic infantry. They also tend to have incredibly simple posing unlike the metal/resin tank commanders who get to be a bit more alive. Since I decided to paint the two M3s as Lend-and-Lease Soviet tanks for my wife’s army I stole two of her resin tank commanders. I do appreciate the inclusion of a Sikh tank commander for the Grant though.
Despite my issues with this kits, my overall experience was very positive and I got motivated to try and improve my tank painting skills. If you would ask me, this kit is a great addition to anyone’s Soviet, British or US forces.
As always thank you for taking the time and reading through my review, I hope you found it insightful or at the very least entertaining.
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