Armor | How-To

Special Stuart

Ron converted Tamiya’s 1/35 scale M5A1 Stuart to the earlier M5 configura-
tion by modifying kit parts and adding a simple scratchbuilt interior.

Convert Tamiya’s classic M5A1 tank into an M5

Story, photos, and illustrations by Ron Poniatowski

O ver the years, I’ve built several of

Tamiya’s Stuarts. Some were stan-
dard M3s or M5A1s, while others were
armor flush welded to the roof (as
opposed to the early M5’s beveled,
M3A1-like configuration).
commander’s side were filled and sanded.
I scribed a guide line straight up each
side of the turret wall where the curve of
modified. For this project, I decided to To get the proper turret shape, the the turret’s front half meets the bustle, 1.
convert the M5A1 version of the kit into bustle (rear overhang) had to be eliminat- Starting at the rear of the turret, I cut for-
the earlier M5 variant. It’s not a difficult ed. It’s easier to do on an assembled ward between the top of the turret guard
project; fancy conversion kits or advanced turret, so I began by assembling the turret (the angled lip at the base) and the bustle
scratchbuilding skills are not required. sides, main gun, front, forward roof, and base until I reached the two scribed lines.
Shaping the turret. The most back plate. Then I cut down from the top along the
notable difference between the M5A1 I carefully removed the position guides lines to the first cut, 2. The bustle
and the M5 is the shape of the turret. The for the machine gun shield on the turret’s dropped away neatly, and I cleaned up the
M5’s turret is similar to that of the M3A1 right side and for the grousers on the left, freshly cut edge with a file.
Stuart, but there are early and late styles as well as the details for the roof-mount- The new rear turret wall was formed
of M5 turrets. I wanted to build one with ed searchlight. The holes for the from a strip of .030" styrene the same
the late style, which had the upper side searchlight and grab handles on the tank height as the turret’s side armor. I careful-

50 FineScale Modeler October 2003

 1/35 Scale
1 3 New rear turret roof

Pistol ports from

spares box

Reworked hatch open-

ings/ventilator area

Ron used the back edge of a hobby knife

to scribe the line where the bustle would
be cut from the turret.

Replacement
Hull detail plates fenders

Using a razor saw, Ron cut away the bus- Made mostly from sheet styrene, Ron’s modifications stand out well before being hidden
tle and prepared the turret for the new by paint. This view illustrates the new turret rear, which is the most distinctive feature of
rear wall. the M5 variant of the Stuart.

ly bent it over the edge of my work table 4

to give it the necessary curvature. After
trimming and adjusting it to fit the turret,
I cemented it in place.
The M5A1’s 37mm gun used the later
M44 gun mount, so I pulled an earlier,
correct M22 mount from an M3 tank kit
and installed it on the front of the turret.
Exterior turret detail. The new rear
turret roof was cut from a semicircle of
.020" sheet styrene. I used an architect’s
circle template to scribe an accurate Grousers Radio mount
Centerline
radius. Panel lines representing closed Machine-gun mount
hatches could have been scribed into the
plastic, but I chose to cut mine open
because I intended to give my M5 simple
interior detail.
The roof was glued into place and
allowed to set, then filled, filed, and sand-
ed. The gunner’s hatch opening on the
left side had to be extended into the por- Port Port Port
tion of the roof from the kit, 3.
The early M5 turret had three M3- A profile of the turret (top) and a placement guide for the details (not to scale).
style pistol ports, though on later vehicles
they were often welded shut. On previous old hobby knife tip was just the tool for (many M5s didn’t even have antennas!).
M3/M5 projects, I had scratchbuilt them, the texturing. I scratchbuilt the external .30-caliber
but this time I just used M3 ports from The rear of the turret received an antiaircraft machine gun’s mount from
my spares box. antenna platform made from the top por- .010" sheet styrene and sprue. The kit’s
The splash guards around the ports, tion of the M5A1 mount (kit part C35) lifting eyes are fine, so I used them but
which also helped deflect bullets and and two .010" styrene sheet “fillets.” corrected the rear eye’s shape by filing the
shrapnel from the seam between the port Stretched sprue formed the connecting ends flat.
covers and the turret wall, are strips of cables under the mount, but I didn’t When the M3’s fender boxes were
styrene with textured putty “welds.” An install the antenna until after painting eliminated from the M5 hull, to be occu-
October 2003 www.finescale.com 51
5 Sponson bottom plate 7 TEMPLATES (ACTUAL SIZE)
Sponson bottom plate
(make two)
Front fender (make two)
Rear

Repositioned
trailing idler
locating pin

Floor plates

New floor plates and sponson bottom plates were added, all Turret roof
from .030 styrene. The locator pin for the trailing idler was
moved rearward two scale inches.
Pistol
6 port

Front
.030" styrene blank

Front
Hatch openings Front

Ventilator dome Front plate

removed ventilator plug

The ventilator dome and surrounding armor were removed and These templates may be copied for your own use only. To convert
replaced with a blank of .030" styrene. The roughed-in hatch them to other modeling scales, make copies at the following per-
openings are also visible here. centages: 1/48 – 73%, 1/72 – 49%, 1/76 – 46%.

pied by sponson fuel tanks, the grousers rior detail, 5. Bogie assembly mounts run than half-inch-thick welded armor plate
were relocated to the turret’s exterior. across the floor, so I had to cut out and assemblies, so there’s no recessed “rabbet”
Grousers are track shoe extensions that replace three separate floor sections. detail on the edges of the hull openings as
improve the track’s ability to grip on wet When I was done, the new floor was in the kit. I marked the correct contour of
or soft ground. When not in use, grousers smooth and ready for detailing. the hatch openings, then cut and filed
were often mounted around the exterior Hull details. The shapes of the driv- them into shape. Sheet styrene and putty
of the turret or hull where they could er and co-driver/bow gunner hatch represent the padding around the interior
serve as additional armor. openings should be more squared off than of the openings that kept the driver and
The M5A1 kit comes with more than they are on the kit. I blocked them into his assistant from getting their teeth
enough grousers for the M5, though the basic shape using .030" sheet styrene knocked out during rough maneuvers.
some need to be cut to length. The place- and finished shaping them after I Tamiya’s hatch doors are OK but can
ment guide, 4, indicates the correct removed the ventilator dome between the be made better. I removed the inside
location of each grouser. driver’s and bow gunner’s hatches. periscope detail with a saw, then filed the
Hull modifications. Like many Early M5s didn’t have a ventilator hatches to the correct thickness. I added
older Tamiya kits, the M5A1 has “motor- between the driver and co-driver/bow locking pins and triangular closing han-
ization” holes and battery mounts in the gunner hatches, so I left off part C17 and dles made of .010" styrene rod. The inner
hull. Plugging the holes would be easy, removed the ventilator detail by cutting contour of the reshaped openings was
but cutting away the extras inside the hull along the hatches’ splash guards with a traced onto the doors and stretched sprue
was a problem. Cutting would leave jeweler’s saw, 6. I cleaned up the saw was used to represent the rubber seal.
marks from the saw or motor tool that marks with a needle file, and then filled To finish the upper hull, I blanked in
would have to be cleaned up before I the void with .030" sheet styrene cut to the sponson bottom plates with .020"
could add the interior. shape following a template, 7. I punched sheet, 5 and 7, adding fuel tank drain
I decided to cut out the kit floor and out a circle of styrene for the small plate covers and air filter access plates. I cut off
replace it with new floor plates made outboard of the co-driver’s hatch, 3. the kit’s front fender sand shields and
from .030" sheet styrene to hold the inte- Stuart hatches were nothing more replaced them with .020" sheet styrene

52 FineScale Modeler October 2003

8 9 Co-driver/bow
gunner’s position
Drive shaft housing Simplified
ammo racks

Stowage
boxes

Driver’s position Radio

Here are the kit’s M3-style idler (top) and

Ron’s modified idler.

10

Ron wanted a quick and simple hull interior rather than a superdetailed one.

Stuart stor y: M3 vs. M5

A decal star protected the gloss insignia The M5 was an improved variant of the M3A1, the standard U.S. light
yellow paint from the olive drab top coat. tank at the beginning of World War II. The Stuart name was originally given
It was a simple matter to peel off the by the British to their Lend Lease M3s, and the name eventually stuck to the
decal with masking tape to reveal a crisp entire M3/M5 family.
yellow star underneath. M5 development began in October 1941, and the prototype was finished
by the following April. The first production M5s started rolling off the line in
blanks, 3 and 7. The strengthening “lip” December 1942. A total of 2,074 were built. Later, the M3A3 turret (with a
downturn on the fenders was replicated rear extension added to accommodate radio gear) was mated to the M5 chassis
with .010" strip styrene. and hull to create the M5A1, the final variant of the Stuart line.
The small round plate on the upper The M5 had a fully-welded homogenous hull and turret, thought to be
hull’s right rear had to be cut off and safer for the crew than the M3’s riveted armor plates. Two Cadillac auto
replaced with a square M5-type plate, 3. engines replaced the M3’s Continental radial aircraft engine, necessitating a
The left side received a stretched-sprue hump on rear deck to accommodate the taller but shorter new engines. A ben-
antenna with a mount fashioned from the efit of this arrangement was more room in the fighting compartment. The
kit’s antenna base (parts C26 and C35). Cadillac powerplant proved extremely reliable, which led British tank crews to
I thinned Tamiya’s heavily molded nickname their Stuarts “Honeys.”
headlight brush guards with a hobby Like the M3A1, the M5 carried a crew of four: gunner, tank commander,
knife and needle files. The best way to do driver, and assistant driver/bow gunner. It was armed with a 37mm M6 anti-
this delicate work is to leave the guards tank gun and three .30-caliber machine guns.
on the sprue and thin them little by little. After the Stuart’s first combat, crews called for a more powerful gun. The
Suspension. The kit’s suspension is attempts to mount a larger 75mm gun showed the Stuart was too small to
fine for an early M5 in almost every hold anything larger than the original 37mm weapon. It was no match for
respect. Did you notice I said, “almost?” German tanks and was generally relegated to infantry support and patrol
The M5’s twin Cadillac engines gave the duties. Many were supplied to French, British Commonwealth, Chinese,
M5 more power and more speed, but they Russian, and Polish forces through the lend-lease program.
also gave it additional weight. To counter In the Pacific, M5s and M5A1s served on the front lines until the end of
this, the trailing idler was moved back the war. In Europe, the M24 Chaffee (using the same Cadillac engines and
two inches in order to accommodate a transmissions) started taking over the Stuart’s front-line duties in late 1944.
larger spring and spring housing. This is – Lawrence Hansen
noticeable as a “bump” on the front of the
idler’s spring housing.
October 2003 www.finescale.com 53
11

I used an engineer’s scale to determine After the interior was painted, I glued Ron’s M5 has been painted and weath-
that 2" in 1/35 scale is .057" and moved the upper and lower hull halves together ered, and the distinctive markings of the
the trailing idler’s mounting pin back and filled the seams with putty. A big gap 70th Tank Battalion in North Africa in
accordingly, 8. I punched out .040" and between the front plate and lower hull 1943 have been applied. All that remains
.020" styrene discs for the idler spring had to be bridged with strips of styrene to be added is the antenna.
housings (close enough to .057") and before applying putty.
cemented them to the front of each hous- Paint and markings. I painted my ward side plates, so I guessed. The U.S.
ing. They were then filled and filed to the M5 with Testor Model Master olive drab flags on the hull sides are from an M3
correct contour. straight from the bottle. Selecting mark- Lee kit’s decal sheet.
I also added a skid to the top of the ings was easy. I’m an associate member of After the markings were applied, the
idler spring housing; this wasn’t always the 70th Tank Battalion Association, so I tank was sprayed with clear flat and
installed on M5s, but I saw it on an M5 wanted to depict one of the battalion’s weathered, 11. I went easy on the weath-
preserved in Colorado. The skid is noth- M5s used in North Africa in late 1942 ering because I didn’t want my Stuart to
ing more than a strip of .020" styrene and early ’43. I chose vehicle C-17 of look overly worn and grungy. After all, it
bent to shape and cemented into place on Charlie Company, based on a photo represents a vehicle that had been thor-
each housing. It gives the model’s suspen- taken when the unit passed in review for oughly spiffed up to look its best for the
sion system an extra touch of authenticity. President Roosevelt in January 1943. president! FSM
Interior detail. Working mostly with The huge white recognition star on
.010" and .020" sheet and spares-box bits, the front plate came from my spares box
I detailed the interior, 9. I added an and helps make the model distinctive. REFERENCES
engine compartment bulkhead, drive The yellow stars were produced by first Stuart: A History of the American Light
shaft housings, driver’s and bow gunner’s painting the area yellow and placing a Tank, Volume I Richard P. Hunnicutt,
positions, seats, simplified ammo racks, a decal over it before applying the main Presidio Press, Novato, California, 1992
radio, and some small electrical equip- hull color, 10. When the main color was Stuart: U.S. Light Tanks in Action Steven J.
ment. I just wanted to create the dry, the decal was removed with masking Zaloga, Squadron/Signal Publications,
impression of an interior glimpsed tape, leaving the star in yellow. Carrollton, Texas, 1981
through the hatches, so I didn’t get car- My reference photo of C-17 wasn’t
ried away. clear as to the yellow numbers on the for-

54 FineScale Modeler October 2003