"It looked like a bloody cathedral !"

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

So quoted one of the British officers when he first saw the new replacement tanks coming down the road in the Western Desert. The M3 Grant was designed as a s top gap until the M4 Sherman came on stream. It was built in a hurry in the USA after Britain urgently requested a new medium tank to take on the German Panzer IIIs and IVs. The result was an odd looking beast with it's main 75mm Gun housed in a sponson on it's right side and a smaller 37mm gun in the top turret. Although ungainly and too high to conceal easily the Grant turned the tide in the desert war and enabled the allies to drive the German Army out of Africa. The Grant and its cousin the Lee were in service until around 1943 but by then were very much obsolete. 

This model is in 1/35 scale and is a Grant Mk1 of the British 7th armoured brigade, the famous Desert Rats. This one has been in a scrape at some time and has a replacement door on it's left side, plus the remnants of some scorch marks around the edges! Hope you like the result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for viewing

 

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Interesting effects there Alan - well done!

[allardjd 1,853]

Great model, Alan. It admirably exceeded the government specified level of both "ugly" and "impractical" in the original design specification. It's primary contribution was to make the mediocre Sherman look pretty darned good when it finally arrived.

There is a very similar M3 Lee tank in the 1943 film "Sahara" with Humphery Bogart. It's a pretty good movie.

John

[brett 2,315]

I like the textures you have added to give the tanks a more realistic appearance. You have the talent.