When I first saw the name of this release, my brain instantly said “I did not know they had dual fuel tanks in World War II”, and beyond the German electrically driven tanks with fuel engines producing electricity I never thought that the Allies ever used that method of propulsion. So I had to do some reading, in order to broaden my knowledge. What the M3 Hybrid actually is, is an M3 hull with an M3/A1 turret. The tank itself had both a diesel and petrol engine variant, and these vehicles were issued to Britain and South American military units. This variant of the Stuart was produced in low numbers and today there is only 1 surviving vehicle which is housed at the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset and this vehicle is a Brazilian tank that was given to the UK in the 1990s. I took a run out to Bovington to get you some images to go along with the review. A quick word on the packaging, and I am unhappy again to see decals, photo etch and clear plastic mouldings in the same bag, then packed inside the main bag with all the other parts due to the high risk in my opinion of damage occurring.
The hull of the vehicle, utilises the Ikea style of flat pack parts coming together to create the hull. Assembly is eased due to the firewall being present, this enabling you to get the side walls correctly angled and then building onto those pieces. Being flat pack design, detail on both the interior and exterior surfaces is of a very high level. The interior detail is due to a large number of offerings with full internal detail. This offering does not have the full internal build up, and so the interior detail is by and large lost. It also means that you have a large amount of hatch detail which needs to be assembled in the closed position. Part of the reason this vehicle was produced in such low numbers, is that it was a very poor design that was really being used to find a new turret for the next tank design.
The upper cupola is omitted, and the detail that made this such a failure is hidden on the inside. This was due to it being a manually traversed turret. The Commander had the sight for finding his targets, but the handle to traverse the turret was on the loaders side. That meant that the loader had to rotate the turret and stop at the exact point the Commander wanted - which is all but impossible. As a result the main gun was equipped with a 20 degree traverse so that the Commander could hopefully target accurately. This detail has been accurately replicated on the exterior, with the turret itself having the flange around the lower area, which I presume was for protection. Another issues with this vehicle, is that the Commander and the loader had nowhere to sit, and I do not know about you but the idea of driving into combat in a standing position with no where to rest and over all sorts of terrain is not for me and I would imagine that this would make aiming and firing a difficult task unless in a static position.
A nice aspect of the model, is that aerial mounts are provided with MiniArt having providing the correct length for the aerial utilising your preferred material. Going back to the hull, there is a fixed machine gun on the left and there used to be one also on the right. The right side machine gun was removed in order to use the space for communications equipment. Both guns were to be utilised by the driver, which is impractical in my opinion. A more conventional bow machine gun was present for the radio operator, this vehicle has the machine guns fitted on both the left and right sides and so I would suggest when installing the radio equipment you remove the right side machine gun and I will endeavour to obtain pictures to show show the correct detail for this location. unless building a south American vehicle you will need to remove that machine gun. From memory,
The tow cable is another nice feature in my opinion, as you are supplied with the eyes and photo etched securing bracketry with the cable itself being in a material of your choice. MiniArt has provided the correct length for the cable. The bogeys, idler and drive wheels are nicely detailed, and from what I can see are accurate. They do not articulate, which is not important as MiniArt has provided link and length track. This gives the modeller the superior detail of moulded link, but reduces the part count meaning that fans of rubber band tracks are not so put off.
A large diesel fuel tank is provided to be mounted on the left and right side of the vehicle, which means that your fuel supply is open to enemy fire and also prevents the turret from traversing more than 90 degrees left and right. The version at Bovington does not have these fuel tanks fitted, but It is unclear to me if that is just a case of they were removed or and internal fuel load has been added. I do know that one of the weaknesses of the tank, as in the Stuart as a whole was its range, and so I wonder if the mounted exterior fuel tanks were utilised to get to the battle and then an internal fuel load utilised from then on.
Returning to the turret, internal detail although minimal is provided. This includes internal shims for a good amount of the interior detail. The various vision housings present both on the top and around the sides of the turret, plus the breach detail of both the main gun and the supporting machine gun. If you are wondering why the Americans call these vehicles Stuarts and the British call them Honeys comes down purely to their reliability with the British really appreciating the reliability of the mechanical aspects of the vehicle.
MiniArt has provided 4 finishing options for this release and they are:
1st Armoured Regiment, 1st Armoured Division, Tunisia, Battle of Kasserine Pass, February 1943
1st Armoured Regiment, 1st Armoured Division, Tunisia, Battle of Kasserine Pass, February 1943
A Squadron, 2nd Queen Alexander’s Mounted Rifles (Armoured), New Zealand Division, New Zealand, Winter 1943
2.Beute-Panzer-Kompanie, 198.Panzer-Jaeger-Abteilung, 98. Infantry Division (Wehrmacht), Eastern Front, Early 1943
Walk Around of M3 Stuart Hybrid
These images were at Bovington Tank Museum some weeks ago and of course I am sure it has undergone some work since being given to the museum in 1990. Due to being a museum example and the only survivor don't take all details as gospel due to errors that creep in and changes museums are forced into taking.
Enjoy