British Medium Tank M3 Grant

Ron Garcia
I've been wanting to build this kit for a long time. The ancient 1/32 Monogram Grant was one of the first models I ever built. After building this version, I have mixed feelings about this kit.

The construction was tougher than I felt it should have been. With all the slab sides that needed to be joined over nine steps in addition to several sub assemblies, I knew everything wouldn't line up in the end. Putty fixed several gaps. The worst one was part E35 to part F6. While they touched at the top, there was at least a 2mm gap by the time the two parts "met" at the bottom. Fitting the sponson assembly to parts E37, E30, D19 and F5 took a lot of work as well to get them to sit properly with minimal gaps.

I followed the instructions but found the tracks were a few links short on both sides. Luckily, there are a few extra on sprue D.

The PE was reasonable and nothing someone who has built a few kits with this medium couldn't handle.

I wanted to like this kit more than I did. The fiddly body construction was a let down. It wasn't hard by any means, but I expected it to fall together easier than it did. The finished model looks great, but it took more work than I expected it to. Having build this kit, there is no way I'll get the M3 Lee version to replace my ancient Tamiya one. Once is enough for me.

Stuart Massey
built 6/2019