Lee Tank Parts and Sorting

The Germans captured several Lee tanks, from the US Army and Russia, mostly.  My plan is to field one as the Kummersdorf Army testing tank, captured by the Germans in North Africa from North Africa.  The other one I intend to use a a captured tank from Russia and I am going to paint it as a George Washington Legion tank.  It probably did not exist, or if it did exist is was a propaganda rather than actual combat unit.  I am building a small, platoon size unit with a couple tanks and a few other vehicles.  The troops will fight on the Russian front and are equipped with a variety of US and German weapons and equipment.

Grant tanks, the main difference is the turret, sand skirts, and the storage boxes from American Lee tanks.

I have been inspecting and sorting my Lee tanks and putting them into boxes once they are complete as North African Lee tanks.

Part of my plan is to build a battalion of Lee tanks for North African, US Army use.  I am still doing some of the research.

I got some small boxes to hold my Lee / CDL turrets in when they are not in use on the tanks.

Extra parts.  As I build the Lees I choose from two different 37mm guns, three different 75mm guns.
 three sets of side hatches or not side hatches, different storage boxes and other bits and bobs.

Lee Construction

These are the Lee tanks I am building in addition to the ones for Makin Island.

I made a chart showing all the versions that I could find in looking through my books and on line.  Lots of variation in guns and hulls, and other details.

I am making Canal Defense Lights for many of my Lee tanks.  So they will act as a regular tank in some games and later in the war they will swap out their gun turret for a light turret.

The US Army deployed a small unit of American troops with the British Army in North Africa early in the war so they US could get some experience with the Grant, they used Grant tanks.  These are two white primer painted Grants and a box of Canal Defense Lights.

In going through my 90+ Lee / Grant tanks I ended up with one defective track section, and including that one, for right side tracks without a left side partner!  I sent a message to Reviresco and they made it good right away at no charge!

Here is one of the boxes I am using to hold tank parts for a few tanks that will be built later.

 

Building Lee Tanks

I have built several of these tanks and so I have a good idea on how to build them efficiently. 

My Makin Island tank company plan requires 19 tank models.  I opened the packages of the tanks and inspected and sorted all the parts.  They will use the short barrel 75mm cannon with the counter-weight on the end.  Reviresco includes three choices for main guns, including the short barrel without the counter-weight and long barrel gun.  The 37mm gun has the counterweight, and Reviresco kit includes the 37mm with and without the counter-weight.  Each of the tanks have three ventilators, and two tank track boxes; these are optional parts in the kits. 

Each tank had two identical but mirror image storage boxes mounted on the left and right rear corners.  Reviresco gives several different storage boxes and it took a while to sort them.

I purchased these models over a period of perhaps 20 years, and some degradation of the mold has taken place over that time, but overall the model parts are very clean.  What flash there was mostly was on the tracks.  It was easily cleaned off.  I save old, dull, X-Acto #11 blades in a special "Used" storage box.  While they are too dull to cleanly cut plastic, they work just fine to cut soft metal.  I used the used blades to cut only a few pieces and then they go into the trash.

I put two Lee tanks in each of my little plastic trays to keep the parts straight.  I mostly sorted them, trimmed the flash from parts, and then glued them together sequentially.  That way I gained experience on each part as I did the work, so that by the last tank I was really good at trimming the flash or placing the glue.

The models were built mostly according to the instructions with no significant variation. 
 

WWII Soviet Tanks

Most of my collection is stored in underbed plastic storage boxes and is labeled with the contents.

These are Mir HO scale tanks, WWII Soviet Union.

T-34/76 and T-34/85 mostly.

Most are painted Rust-Oleum Army Green, but some are painted in a darker green.

I tend to paint them by companies and store them by battalions.

The boxes on the left of the photo are pontoons for a pontoon bridge that I converted from Imex Conestoga Wagons and sheet plastic.

Mir tanks were made in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.  I got them from people in Czechoslovakia who traded plastic model kits from Japan for them.

Simple durable models the company folded when the Soviet Union fell apart.

This is another box with JS-II heavy tanks, also in HO scale.
 

Tank Crew and Lee

Tank from Reviersco and troops by Orion.

The make a good 1943 tank crew I think.

Use the tank for cover.

Lean over the fender and fire.

Lurking at the rear.
 

Lee Tanks

HO scale M3 Lee medium tank.

Reviersco makes the whole series of Lee tanks.

They are soft metal and take a little time but are not too hard to assemble.

I use the old Model Master Olive Drab paint on them.

After primer by Rust-Oleum.  This image is a little washed out so the color looks lighter than the tank.

 This and the other images are more accurate.  The US Army used the Lee in combat in North Africa and once the Germans surrendered the Lee tanks were given to the Free French and were replaced in American service by the Sherman.  As Lee tanks had been destroyed in combat in North Africa they were also replaced by Sherman tanks.

Grant the Tank, Not the General

The British were in desperate need for tanks.

The British sent men to the USA to buy tanks.

They wanted to buy Lee tanks but the turret was too tall and they wanted to put a radio in the turret.

So they redesigned the turret to remove the cupola and added a bustle.

Made a few minor other changes and purchased all they could get.

They purchased Lee tanks until the Grant was ready.

The US Army sent three tank crews to serve with the British in North Africa to gain combat experience, they crewed Grant tanks!  HO scale model in soft metal by Reviersco.
 

Tank Conversions

The WWII German Army used specially modified halftracks to monitor the launch of V-2 missiles.

There is no reason that specially modified Tiger II tanks could not have been used for monitoring even more advanced missiles.

These "roof parts" from Reviersco make good alternate turrets for the Roco Tiger II.

Radar monitoring and direction, telemetry, fire control are all potential uses for these roof parts. Old tank models like this are cheap and easy to get both new and used. I have a bunch of them in my collection and a few of them will end up with these new turrets. Thanks to my friend at Reviresco for providing these bits free of charge.

Roof Bits

Reviresco makes a new line of products designed to be used as roof accessories.

These are for science fiction, but could work for other eras too.

These three are pretty nice, soft metal, no flash, small casting tab.

I have other plans for them...