cleong

The beauty of the free market capitalist economy is exactly that - the maker probably realized that he had priced his kits lower than what the market was willing to bear; thus he raised his prices. And he can continue raising his prices till people stop buying - then he would know what maximizes his profit for his time. Amid that, he probably realized he had underestimated shipping costs as well. Now, if you had committed to buying his kit at his original low price, and he came back at you asking for more money for the kit and for shipping, then yes, he is being shady about it all.

OR

He is a new player to the market, and was willing to sell at cost to the first few buyers so that positive reviews would start flowing; and then once the market was hooked, he could think about profit - remember, no one else has a Lee, so he effectively has a monopoly.

Perhaps, it would be better to focus on not how much it cost him to make the kit, or what it cost last week, but what you are willing to pay for it? We all judge and cost our time differently.

Max-U52

You're a wise man, Leong. Good advice, and well said.

RichJohnson

I started on the kit. Im not going to chop up this sherman chassis so the transmission cover wont fit yet. I have orderd the reccomended low profile gear boxes and a new donor take to destroy.
There is a lot of flash on this hull. Also, once you cut the flash off the bottom, in the front the hull is a few thousandths thicker then it should be where it sits on the hull, creating a pad of material that will need to be removed. Hard to describe. I know how it happened,mhe had flashing on the bottom of the hull, and upside down while it was poured, the material behind the flash built up. Its a mold making flaw.

The other problem, so far in my mocking up, i have foudn I am missing the htach ring for the turret. The split hatches are there but no ring. I emailed him. His instructions are a step by step numbered photo stream on a cd. Pretty good. He also shows clearly how to trim the gear box frames and front hull for fitting.
Im hoping to have it together and driveable by D-Day, but it wont be battleable yet.

RichJohnson

Are you kdding me! Damn this Ipad and its photos. Sorry guys, but I cant log on with my pc again.

Pcomm1.v2

Rich, Neat project. John

MAUS45

Here ya go Fixed it for you. Does that 75 look a little long for the M3?

Edit: I added some photos of the real thing in color and the black and white photo has a longer gun tube.

Ex_Pat_Tanker

I thought that as well, but flicking thru the Hunnicutt book I see that the later models had a longer gun - perhaps Rich could measure it for us? If push comes to it, there is always the option of shortening it with a razor saw

(The turret also looks a little off - too tall maybe?)

Actually, after a second lookits more like a 76mm ain't it? Could it be that there is a non-tapered portion to the barrel that could be used to slide in a housing to allow working recoil, that is making it look so long?

RichJohnson

The gun barrel is just shoved into the mount, they are not aligned or anything. The gun barrel also has a casting flare of flash at the muzzle.
the turret looks funny because you are used to seeing the rotating cap that was on top of the turret that either had a M2 .50 cal or a sight of some sort. This is a model without that unit. I do not know when that upper rotating unit was installed or removed...

bowlman

Still it's different and very doable now .

Jimmy

Ex_Pat_Tanker

To me it looks like the turret was maybe supposed to be installed upwards from the inside?! - the gap between the gun and the deck looks too big to me...

I guess I'll get to find out first hand in a couple of weeks when mine shows up

Jhdumas

Hi Ex Pat.. I just purchased the last one of those from that guy... he also has a Jagdpanzer IV.. I think he is working on a Russian ??? I don't remember.. I asked if he was planning on making a Grant Turret... unfortunately not... I might be doing it myself one I see the actual kit.

did you notice that the Left side hatch is missing and only the vision slot is there.. plus it has no commanders coupala... from what I can tell this is a Burma Lee or an Indian or maybe Australian M3..... Joe

Ex_Pat_Tanker

Its a late model to be sure - the gun barrel is longer than what you would find in the desert fighting. I'd have to wade thru my copy of Hunnicutt's Sherman book to figure out exactly what to do with it - ideally a Tunisian campaign version to go with my Profiline Sherman.
I must admit that I hadn't gotten very far into mine tho, before it got parked in favour of my pile of Panthers.

I did get the turret rotation sorted out by picking up a second hand Forces of Valor 1/24 Sherman - the turret ring is a perfect match. Unfortunately the elevation was just a little too big to squeeze into the Lee's turret, but I'll probably use a Servo for that anyway.

Jhdumas

I haven't gotten the kit yet, it's apparently being shipped... I think the 75 is an easy fix.. the Left hatch is going to have to be built, the Copola i sthe biggy for me... I am thinking of making a Grant Turret as what I really want is a Grant... and if all fails, I was thinking maybe makinhg a Priest...all just toughts at the moment..
I did see a few photos of the kit for a moment on thi sfourmn then they were gone.. have no idea what happened....

I also have a trio of Panthers I am in the middle of.. just done the basics so far... The mechanics are not mny stroing suite so I am still just concentreating on the exteriors ast this point.. basically identifing the model versions (see pix.. if I can get them tio uplioad) Thnak you again. Joe

Jhdumas

How does one upload images?

Ex_Pat_Tanker

I put mine into photobucket and link to it there. There is an insert image button in the block of 5 icons next to the smiley button, but its not been terribly reliable of late...

Rex Ross

~~~~~
I agree on the turret being too high ---- it is according to all of the Hunnicutt photos I have seen. Here's the turret of a M3 Lee kit I got years ago (2005).

rex

Rex Ross

I was able to zoom in on that hull and I am very impressed with the quality of the casting. Everything is sharp and clean. It's a beauty! I got a different resin M3 Lee kit back in 2005 and had to sand the rivets off down to a bare bones hull and do new rivets ---- about 900. I built it as a Grant and later Scratchbuilt a cast hull Lee to go with it. The Grant is R/C, but the cast hull Lee is static. I would buy that kit if I already didn't have a pair of M3s.
rex

RichJohnson

Here is my build thread so far on mine
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-t...t-hungary.html

I am still waiting for them to replace a missing part. I have emailed them a dozen times and recieved a few photos of a package labeled to me but nothing has arrived. I might wind up scrathing the part, but I a, waiting to see. I am finishing up my Ez8 and some other stuff in the mean time.

Jhdumas

Hi.. I just got my 1/16 Lee / Grant Conversion Kit out of Hungary.... Others have already discussed the kit so I won't go over that again.. I agree the distance between the turret gun an the hull does look to be a bit excessive....

I'm planning on making a Grant... the Classic Shephard Paine Grant... I'll need to make the running gear match an M3... fix the 75 and scratch build the turret ( I'd rather do a Grant turret than a Lee Commanders Cupola believe me I asked them in Hungary .. where the heck is the cupola???) ..

I emailed them in Hungary requesting a second side door to make the Grant a little easier to pull off.. I secured a promise from them of one along with my promise to consider their upcoming SU122 and I will... but I also spent some time trying to convince them of the advantages of making

a Mod for their conversion kit so others could build it as an earlier Lee or Grant... You know you have to ask yourself ... why would anyone choose to make a Burma or an Indian Lee.. because from what I can tell that is what this kit is..

but beggars can't be choosers... so I'm off to see the wizard ... and add another tank to my ever growing 1/16 RC Tanks...

Joe

Jhdumas

Anyone heard from Firenick lately?

Ex_Pat_Tanker

give him a day or 2 to respond, if you still don't hear back I'll fish out his email - I don't like posting peoples email addresses on forums as its an excellent way to guarantee they'll get an avalanche of spam sent to them shortly afterwards.

Jhdumas

I found a photo of an in-theater, early 40's Grant with US markings... and I think the 1/16 Late Lee Conversion Kit was modeled after the one at Samur...it has no Cupola, only one side door and and a longer main gun...

Strato50

I'm trying to find photos and info on late-production Lee's, as it appears this kit is one. Can anyone link or point me where I can find out more? Even google images has failed me! :O

I like the 37mm gun turret lacking that goofy looking MG cupula, the Brits did this one right with the Grant turret. I wonder if a turret conversion would work.

Jhdumas

The 1/16 Lee is a Burmese variant.. It was also used in India... There are a few photos in Google.. you will see it immediately by the long 75mm and the lack of a commanders cupola... when you search search for M3 Lee Burma.. I hope this helps

Strato50

Thank you Jh. I also gathered that some may have made their way into Australia which would be an interesting build. They got all sorts of Grant / Lee tanks from the entire production line.

I was also surprised to see Grants with the CDP (Canadian Dry Pin) sprockets and tracks!