Monday 6 March 2023

Airfix Lee/Grant scrapped together from a Donation and bits from the Scrap Box.

The different coloured pieces of plastic tells the sorry tale in itself. This "baby" Grant Tank on the right comes from multiple parents .. at least one brown/orange, one yellow and one green Airfix Lee/Grant kit (plus some hobby store plastic-card, a curved front from what I think was a M36 Jackson, "Sherman(?)" rollers and a PSC storage box to cover a bodged hull to chassis seam). A Frankenstein of sorts or patchwork quilt, but rather than a sad model discarded to the bin, it has a new least of life. I also loved the "edge of your seat" challenge in the making of it (see below, in its front facing Grant guise):  


The rear shot shows the white plastic-card surfaces where the composite spare parts-did not quite stretch or cover enough (see below, though it has to be said working with "old brittle plastic" from the 1970's or 1980's is a curse as it had a tendency to crumble or splinter under pressure - this was a peculiar challenge for me as I had to first disassemble the previous attempt at building it [basically a carcass] and reassemble it [from a haphazard trapezoid to a more regular rectangular cross section]): 


The Lee part of the tale is just a turret swap as it shares the hull, so with a newly completed Lee turret you have the option of two types of tank (see below, the Lee turret was taken from the "original" orange/brown plastic kit - where the majority of the pieces for this kit came from - again care being taken with its brittleness as the Lee turret has some fiddly MG parts): 


Just remembered: The final note is that the "green" track came from the "spare" (as in the more detailed track option) in the new Airfix Sherman Firefly kit I have already made. There you go, I have one more tank to fight the Axis with. It also just shows you the usefulness of keeping a spares box (or two).  

5 comments:

Martin Rapier said...

What a delightful bit of bodger. The Airfix Lee was always very popular at the school Wargames club due to its plethora of machineguns.

A J said...

Nicely done, and good for you refurbishing that sad little kit into a new lease of life.

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

It’s great to see how you’ve turned a pile of bits and pieces that would normally have been discarded into something that is not only useful but also unique. Hopefully this ‘bitsa’ tank will prove to be a ‘lucky’ one.

All the best,

Bob

JohnM said...

Hoho - these are the kind of bodges I like. Superb, look forward to seeing it painted.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Thanks Martin, Bob, A J and John
I like we are all of similar minds on this one
The scrap heap tank, written off that heads into the heart of battle
Commando Pocket Book Comic stuff