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Contents
Mirage announced an M31 kit around 20 years ago, around the time they released their Lee/Grant family. After a very long wait
we finally got the kit in 2023, but not in the form many expected - Mirage added 3D printed parts for the M31 to their existing
M3 Lee kit. I was somewhat hesitant to buy the kit - while I'm quite familiar with doing my own 3D printing, I find the quality
of commercially available 3D part varies greatly. I finally decided to pull the trigger and order this kit and the similarly
realized M8 75 mm HMC kit (to be reviewed shortly). I ordered the kit from Super-Hobby.com in November of 2024, just in time
for a Canada Post strike. The kits finally arrived in January, and I was disappointed to discover my M31 kit was missing all
the 3D printed parts! I contacted Super-Hobby in January, and they received replacement parts from Mirage in early February,
which finally arrived in Canada on February 26, just over 3 months after I ordered the kit! So what do we find inside the box?
About the M31
M31s were built on multiple M3 versions - gasoline engined, riveted hull (M3), as well as diesel, welded (M3A3) and diesel,
riveted (M3A5). The Mirage kit depicts a basic M3. The most obvious difference between the gasoline and diesel powered Lees
is the height of the rear hull panel. The Mirage kit correctly depicts the shorter panel and exhaust arrangement of the gasoline
engined M3. To model a diesel version would require replacing this panel and modifying the exhausts, as well as optionally
removing the rivets. The bulk (509 out of 805) of M31s were converted from M3s, so the kit represents the most common version.
Contents
The kit includes all the sprues for the M3 Lee. The suspension is unmodified from the M3 kit, with 'fancy' sprockets and spoked
wheels. This likely is correct for the M31 as issued, however in-service vehicles often show the 'plain' sprockets and various
combinations of spoked and solid wheels. Some vehicles show some or all of the original M3 bogies replaced with M4 bogies with
trailing return rollers. The spare sprocket outer plates stowed on the boom are also the 'fancy' type, it would have been nice
to have an alternative for these. The original Lee kit provides plane rubber block T41/T51 tracks in black vinyl, while a set
of 3D printed rubber chevron T48 tracks are provided as an alternative. Both types are seen in contemporary photos of the M31,
which could also be fitted with pretty much any other Sherman VVSS track type.
The 3D printed parts look very good. The printed parts are provided in a small cardboard box. I think some additional packing
could have helped prevent breakage. Some small fragments of the broken print supports had fallen out of the small box, so
perhaps bagging this should help ensure no small parts go missing. Fortunately the missing parts should be relatively easy to
replace with homemade parts.
The majority of parts are printed in a single group, with some protective framing around the corners. Unfortunately this did not
prevent several pieces from breaking free, most of which were still present and intact.
The photo above shows the area where the boom struts had broken free. The parts in the top right corner were all missing or had broken free.
The parts that had broken free, aside from those that were missing completely. The circled parts are track end connectors. At
least four were missing from the track, but I only found two in the box.
- parts PR29 (extended boom struts) and PR17 (dummy main gun) were broken loose from the printing supports but undamaged
- parts PR19 (horn) and PR20 (grab handle) were still on their supports, but had broken away from the main print
- parts PR18 (dummy turret gun) and PR9 (part of the boom adjustment mechanism) were both missing from the kit
There is some mild layering visible on a couple of parts (e.g. the sloped face of the turret), but mostly in areas where it
could easily be sanded and filled. The M31 was provided with stowage for 3 spare road wheels on the glacis. Strangely, Mirage
provide M3/M5 light tank road wheels rather than M4 Sherman road wheels. Conceivably, the M31 could have been supporting a unit
operating the M3 or M5, but photos normally show M4 wheels or empty mounts. A nice touch is that two different styles of light
tank road wheels are provided. The circled part at the lower right is the hull door, which replaced the sponson gun . This is
printed to maximize the inside detail, however this may adversely affect the print quality of the outer face - I haven't removed
the part to check.
A separate print provides the rubber chevron track assemblies. These are printed as full tracks, with none of the wheels in place.
The instructions note "We made the tracks movable, but the scale does not allow us to strain them!" In my kits, several end
connectors had broken loose. Where these had separated, I could see the track blocks had holes inside for the track pins.
So presumably Mirage have designed the tracks to articulate. I'm not sure how successfully this will be, but given that the
tracks have to somehow fit around the sprockets, idlers and road wheels, flexibility would definitely be helpful.
The kit also provides 3 printed figures, which is a welcome touch. Two of the three had separated from the printing supports in my kit.
Figure 1, depicted lying on top of the boom with a wrench, was missing the wrench.
Figure 3 is supposed to be holding a German helmet (with tiny decals provided), however the helmet is literally embedded in
the figure's printing supports, and would require a lot of effort to remove and clean up. That's a shame, as the printed
helmet has some nice detail for the liner inside the helmet. This figure was also missing part of his left hand.
Figure 2 is well printed and still attached to his supports, though I'm not sure about his hairstyle.
Also included in the kit is a length of 'polyester' thread for the crane rigging, and a length of chain for the legs of
the deployed boom struts. The chain looks a little over scale to me.
The kit provides decals for a choice of three versions:
1. 629th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Ruhr Pocket, April 1945
2. 1st Maintenance Section, 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, Palensburg, German October 1944
3. Unidentified unit, France, summer 1944
All three are in overall olive drab. Another nice touch is that tiny colour photos of each vehicle is provided.
Printing these a bit bigger would have been helpful, but even at the small size it is evident that vehicles 1 and 3
have plain rubber block tracks, with extended end connectors in the case of vehicle 1. Interestingly all three are
depicted with blue registration numbers. Blue drab numbers were mandated in 1942, and the regulations were amended
to require white numbers in 1943. Photos do show blue numbers on some early M31s, but whether all these vehicles
would have kept blue numbers late into the war.
Conclusion
Overall this is a really complete and well executed kit. I recall the basic M3 kit was well received when it appeared,
and Mirage have effectively used 3D printing to offer a unique variant.
Preview sample purchased by the author.
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