The British named the M3 "General Stuart" upon receipt of the tank under the Lend-Lease program in June of 1941. The tank's ability to "shoot and scoot" as well as keeping the crew safe from small arms fire, earned it? the affectionate name of "Honey" by its operators. The British cavalry men liked this tank since it can travel 10 to 20 mph faster than their own or enemy tanks, and for its ease of maintenance. The M3 was designed to replace the outdated M2s. The M3 incorporated a thicker armor, lengthened hull, and trailer idler wheel to act as another road wheel to decrease ground pressure and improve weight distribution. The M3 turret has three pistol ports and shortened recoil mechanism. It was also equipped with a 37mm M6 gun, which was adequate early in the war but by 1942, the German counterparts far surpassed the range of the M3. The narrow width of the M3 could not accommodate a larger gun. The M3A1 was fitted with a Westinghouse gyrostabilizer, a turret basket and Oil Gear hydraulic traverse mechanism, but lacked a turret cupola. The earlier version of the M3A1, the Stuart III, was powered by Continental W-970-9A7-cylinder radial gas 250 hp engine but by mid-1941, the Stuart IVs came off the production lines Guiberson T-1020 air coiled radial diesel engine.
Choose to build one of the following accurately reproduced versions:
- United States
- British
- Japanese captured version
- Fully detailed interior and exterior
- Movable gun elevation
- Various accessories
- Flexible continuous tracks
- Individually molded track sections
- "Bellman" 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
- 7th Armored Division, Bir-Hakeim
- Lybia, May 1942
- 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
- 7th Armored Division
- Sidi Rezegh
- Libia, November 1941
- 80th Armored Regiment
- The Armored Force School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, June 1943
- Captured and used by the Imperial Japanese Army, 3rd Chutai
- 7th Sensh Rentai, Manila, Philippines
- May 1943 Illustrated assembly instruct
