1:18 Stuart

[grunt1]

Just curious which version people would be most interested in having?

M3 (Stuart I). 5,811 vehicles were produced.





M3A1 (Stuart III).
- 4,621 were produced from May 1942 to February 1943. 1834 went to the British army who deployed the little tank mostly in Africa as the Honey. The Soviet Union's Red Army got 1336.
- Featured new turret with no cupola, bullet splash guard added at turret base. Gun vertical stabilizer installed. Sponson machine guns were removed.



M3A3 (Stuart V)
- 3,427 produced. British army received 2045 of them and the rest except for a handful went to Russia China.
- Featured turret with rear overhang to house radio. Welded hull with sloped frontal armor, 20° in from the vertical, on front and sides.



M5 (Stuart VI). 2,075 produced.
- Featured Twin Cadillac engines (raised rear deck). Sloped frontal armor. Turret as for M3A1 (no radio bustle).

M5A1 (Stuart VI).
- 6,810 produced. (1,650 Lend Lease). Used on D-Day to end of war.
- Featured Twin Cadillac engines (raised rear deck). Sloped frontal armor. Turret as for M3A3 (radio bustle).

[Threetoughtrucks]

The M5A1 to match up with it's big brother, the 1/6 M5A1.

TTT

[pickelhaube]

I went with the M-3A1 I have always loved the Honey.

The Stuart lost out to the T-34 when I ran that poll way back when.

[tmanthegreat]

Like TTT said, M5A1. We have the 21c 1:6 and 32x versions as well as the nice little Hobbymaster 1:72 scale variant. It would fit in well with most of the existing 1:18 armor. Frankly, I'm surprised 21c never made the M5 in 1:18 given the two they did in other scales...

[CW4USARMY]

I'd be in for an M5A1. If it ever happened.

[Jesse James]

M5A1 woudl be my first choice... Original M3 would be my 2nd choice. The two that seemed to get the most use, and I'm a little biased too since I'd prefer some for US guys rather than allies. I don't have allied guys to put around it/in it.

[AJWW2]

I like to vote in these poles but I don't think I'll be able to afford a kit for a LONG, LONG, time.

[Jay]

Original M3 Stuart like the old Tamiya kit.
I'm not at all proficient with the small details, but could it be possible to have say a base chassis/running gear and then different turrets/rear deck etc to make the different models.
So all kits have basic/common parts, with separate pieces making up the rest of the kit (did that make sense?). It would mean lots of measuring and modelling though.

[grunt1]

Yes that would be the plan. The primary versions people are interested in were essentially identical in terms of main chassis and running gear, with different upper decks and turrets. The key would be to get one out the door, like the M5A1, to establish price etc. Then the optional ones would be pretty straightforward.

This would also allow the M1 and M2 series of combat cars to be produced, not that anyone really would want one of those. The M8 HMC though would be interesting.