I'm going to do this one as a Work In Progress.
First job around lunchtime today was to clear some space on the workbench and lay out all the sprues for easy access while I'm putting this thing together. It's difficult to see, but I gave all the sprues, (apart from the clear one and the polycaps of course), a light coat of basic olive drab a few days ago, and also began pre-painting several of the parts, including the turret interior and the tracks, before beginning the assembly procedure.
Basic tools and other stuff -- with new blades installed in both knives -- were laid out on the cheap plastic tray I use when putting kits together -- saves me hunting on the floor when I drop the tinier parts. A sheet of white paper helps me to actually see those tinier parts.
As this photo shows, there was a certain amount of construction done already earlier this morning -- which is out of sequence with the supplied instructions. I tend not to follow the instructions in a linear fashion anyway, cos I'd rather get the boring stuff done first. You can just about make out the wet dark grey paint, in the photo after this one, where I've patched up the rubber tires on those bogie's after cutting them from their sprues and putting them together.
The hull on this particular kit isn't the usual tub that you normally get with scale model AFV's. You have to construct it from several separate parts. So this is where I left it late afternoon after running an additional bead of glue on all internal joints. By the time that glue sets, the hull ought to be a real strong structure which will easily support the subsequent handling when I get back to the assembly work.
Meanwhile, I started putting the Tank Riders together. And I'll tell you what guys, I'm really impressed with these particular injection molded figures. The detail is so sharp you could shave with it, and they're easily the equivalent of much more expensive resin figures.
Sure, I'll likely have to remove the arms again, (that's why they're only attached by a smear of glue), but I've noticed that WW2 Airborne uniforms exhibit a significant touch of grey in the basic olive drab, so I'll be mixing this as almost a one-off color and attaching the arms at this stage ensures they'll be the same color as the rest of the uniform after I put the airbrush to the figures.
To be continued as and when....
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