In regards to the U.S. M3 Tank
The M3 light tank was built with four VVSS bogies, two per side, a front side mounted sprocket and a backside, trailing idler wheel. The trailing increased ground pressure, therefore allowing a modest armor enhance. Front armor ended up being 38mm, while part armor ended up being 25mm. It was in no way adequate, but it was all chassis could handle. Armament consisted of a bow mounted .30, two sponson mounted .30 MGs, a 37mm M5 main weapon with a coaxial .30 MG, and a .30 MG on an anti-aircraft mounting at the turret part.
Unfortunately, the M3 was an outdated design by European terms right away. The classes through the Spanish war had been interpreted differently in Europe. This resulted in vehicles like French Char B1, the German PzKpfw III and IV, as well as the Russian T34. All of these had far better protection and armament than the M3.
Stuart Versions
There were several variations of the M3 light tanks. First, there have been four types of turrets. The original turret ended up being the D37182 turret. This is a slab-sided, hexagonal turret. It utilized riveted construction and had an octagonal cupola with eyesight slits. It had been discovered that dedicated MG fire from the turret caused the rivets to split and travel around in the turret. So that the exact same turret design was taken and welded together. This became the D38976 turret. This turret is available in the Academy M3 'Honey' kit.
a 3rd turret type, known as the D39273, ended up being introduced in November 1941, and was easily distinguished from earlier turrets by its curved, horseshoe shape and a commander cupola. The original design needed a rotating periscope but this was not fitted. Vision slits around the cupola supplied restricted vision. This turret is supplied into the Tamiya M3 kit.
The 4th turret type, D58101, resembled the D39273 though minus the cupola, and ended up being introduced in early 1942. It had two roof hatches and a pericopic sight the commander. This turret is within the Academy 'M3A1' kit.
The M3 was powered by the Continental W-670 radial motor. But this engine had been additionally needed for aircraft, so other energy sources had been sought. In September 1940, the utilization of the Guiberson T-1020 diesel engine had been authorized. This motor had a slightly different motor deck layout, with all the pipes for the atmosphere filters running to the engine grill, instead of entering the hull close to the air filters. Tamiya supplies the Guiberson layout on their tank. The diesel engined automobiles are not popular inside military, as a result of dependability and logistic problems of operating gasoline and diesel driven vehicles together. The Marines had less dilemmas, as diesel gas had been useful for their landing art.
