Soon I had a completed lower hull and running gear. Next came the tracks and my first go at link & length. I found with my dodgy eyesight that the individual tracks were a little fiddly but with careful handling I was able to progress. By taking it slow I was able to complete both tracks. I used Tamiya extra thin which provided enough time for the tracks to conform to the wheels. My only mistake was removing two locating tabs whilst cleaning mould lines from the wheels. The tabs were to aid in locating the tracks and my mistake wasn’t noticed until I came to mount the tracks. I used a red sharpie to mark the position of the missing tabs. Must pay closer attention to the instructions!
The rest of the build was straightforward and progressed quickly. Fit of parts being excellent as expected. My only deviations from the instructions being keeping the gun, shield and chassis as separate sub assemblies to ease painting. I also added the exhaust cover using white glue to enable me to remove it and add the separately painted exhaust on completion of the painting process.
Painting…
For this I planned to use one of the Ammo Mig late war German paint sets starting with the lighter colour first, some tonal variation then the green and brown. Painting started with a clean of the parts using alcohol based glasses cleaning cloth. This was to remove my greasy finger prints and any other residue on the parts. I then gave the whole model a coat of NATO Black as a primer. This I left overnight to dry fully.
Satisfied that everything was in good order next came a light highlight coat of white. This helped to provide shadow, depth and highlight to the model. It also provided a good indication of what a winter finish would look like. For the main camouflage colours I used my H&S with .2 needle. Painting freehand, I followed as best I could the fantastic Tamiya colour guide. As I believe the vehicle crews would have carried out camouflage painting in the field, I wasn’t to worried if my freehand attempt wasn’t a 100% copy of the painting guide.
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