Day Two

Wheels. The Fruilmodel sprockets are much nicer than the kit parts. I have a choice with the rear idler between the early version with eight lightening holes, the later version with six, or the final and post-war four-hole. Tempted to use, along with the six-hole-, an early eight-hole idler to suggest some idler mishap has been remedied by salvaging from an earlier vehicle. It's a little implausible, but this replacement wheel could be painted differently and look fabulous.

The tyre on the left has edges a little too sharp so I stick the wheels on a drill bit in my Dremel and soften the edges a little. Not that this picture really shows that in the example on the right. 

This is how the suspension goes. 

Just balanced together, I see the return roller got away. But the suspension has quite a lot of play in it and I can and really should plan to take advantage of this by placing the vehicle on uneven terrain, eventually. This will all be going with individual articulate metal track links. But I don't have to make this decision any time in the near future, so the wheels and suspension come back off and they go in the box now, as a finished sub-assembly.  

 

This photo from the book tells me that the muffler's going to need work. The three kit parts are there and I can work with them or use them as a reference, along with these photos, to build something better. If I'm making this muffler from scratch I want a dent in it, and that's better modelled with sheet metal than by carving into plastic parts. The lead off champagne bottles is perfect if it's a regular shaped muffler, but this one is not, it's got a bend in it.


Lucky I went crazy that day at the tube vendor, and bought all those tubes and other handy sections too.












This tube matches almost perfectly. I'll have to ream out a bit of each end. Saw it at the right angle and join and probably fill the two sections. Put tasteful dent in before fitting so it doesn't come apart from the stress. Make the internal bracing we can see in the photograph. Drill out the exhaust itself. Sounds doable. But not right now; when I've got more of the 'infrastructure' in hand. 






The upper hull is beautifully moulded. Those front trackguards are going to have to be cut away and I have been worrying about that every night as I go to sleep. We are getting nearer and nearer to photo-etched brass territory and I feel some trepidation. I have filled the depression on the front glacis that would ordinarily receive an ordinary kit part, as per Eduard instruction. A brass fitting is going there.

I'm still at this stage most definitely steering around any troublesome decision-making or commitments. I feel I can safely assail the rear deck without falling foul of the brass tyrant.

I did not assemble this perfectly. I should have sanded the hatches in a few places so the gaps were all regular. It's only two places. I glued them lightly. Maybe I can go in and do *corrective surgery*.

Before I start with these brass parts I want of the kit in place. Once I have a conservative plastic foundation the brass parts will be constructed but not attached until they are all ready. If prematurely attached, I'm only going to knock them off no matter how hard I try to be careful.





These straps are about a centimeter long.

Yes, those are wing nuts and those are millimeters on my ruler below. But they are the limit with this medium; they are flat, two-dimensional representations. Maybe they can be fleshed out a little, somehow. I don't know where they go at this stage.