That kit does have some nice detail! Looking forward to seeing more of this soon. No advice needed as far as I'm concerned.

A small update: Step two is all the suspension, the detail carries on here, though as parts get smaller, the necessary cleanup gets longer. The instructions have a revision to them at this point which is notated on a seperate piece of paper (seen to the left).

As seen above, detail is top notch still. I'm trying to find some reference photos for this area of the tank, however, I'm fairly certain most of this is going to be hard to see once everything is together anyways.

Thanks for looking in Mike! Hopefully it'll look halfway as decent as your M-41 when it's all done 

I started on step three tonight, which consists of putting together all the roadwheels--10 in total. The problem is the tires have some sort of pattern on them seen below.

All of the reference photos that I have looked at for Syrian (or middle eastern/african/central asian) tanks have either really beat up tires or beat up enough so that they don't have this pattern.

So I decided I couldn't live life the easy way and started sanding away. I have 5 wheels completely sanded out of 20, so I know what I will be doing the rest of the week. I'll have to make a decision whether I want to go the heavy beating route like the first picture, or be a bit more mild like the second. I think I'm leaning towards the second, but I'll have to scour many more photos.

Well progress has been slow, but I'm ok with taking my time on this. Modeling has become less of hurry up and get it done for me and more of a enjoy the journey sort of experience as I'm transitioning into a typical adulthood lifestyle. I almost have all the roadwheels good to go and decided to get the ERA racks done on the turret. I'm going to paint everything without the ERA blocks and then put them seperatly as thats what most of the references look like.

I found the best way to put these together is the top and bottom piece together first. Hit it with the touch n flow applicator let it dry real quick, but then while its a little soft, glue it to the turret. Below I tried to mock up how it's supposed to fit together.

Now it took me a bit to figure out, but below you can see the slots where the top piece goes in. And if you look close enough you can see a line below and a little to the left of every slot, that's where the bottom piece of the rack goes. NOT TO THE RIGHT, but to the line to the left of the top piece's "hole". This was figured out after a bit of trial and counting and figuring out, "oops, if I put the on the lines to the right I'm going to run out of lines to put them on." 

After all was said and done, I was a little concerned they didn't end up all that even. But after looking at pictures of Syrian tanks, I'm ok with that. They're all beat up and crooked, and heck, even missing blocks anyways.

And with that my update is over. Might hit the bench over the weekend, then again might not. Thanks for looking in, until next time!

                                     

Dang
 That's a nice looking kit. I'll keep an eye out here.
I'd go with the first wheel option... 
but of course, (you know me) I like to tear 'em up.
                                    

Yes, very good looking texture and details. What is a good technique for achieving the damaged wheels in the first picture?  

Hello all, last time I was at the bench was about the time I posted last...July. Now that hunting season is definitely over I have more time for various activities. Ive got a couple projects Id like to finish up before the wedding in September and this is one of them. Didn't do a whole lot tonight but got some tidbits and the starboard side of the ERA racks put on. 

Glad to see you back to work with this one, I'd completely forgotten about it. 

And good job on the supports for the ERA bricks, they can be a pain to keep straight. 

Thanks guys, I've made some more progress, nothing picture worthy. More bits and pieces put together on the turret and I found my dremel and finished sanding the tires (wish I tried to find it when I started on this kit), what would've taken a couple hours took about 15/20 minutes.

So I've got numerous questions regarding various items on the turret, I found this pretty good photo above for reference, however, I'm going to be modeling my tank as if it is in combat during the day. I took various pictures of the instructions seen below:

I'm assuming I should make this as the second option, open, since it'll be in simulated combat? This is a type of viewing periscope for the commander? Second and third questions are below:

These are...IR spotlights? As seen in the red box, theres two options, I'm not really sure which one is which, one option has line down the middle so I'm guessing that is uncovered since the pictures have no lines and they are covered? Would they be covered in combat during the day and then uncovered at night?

Then there's this little fella on the back...what is that a normal light? The S part is a clear part, should it be painted like a light, or as it is covered like the other spotlights?

The lights on the TC hatch and next to the main gun are IR projector lamps for an active IR night vision system. The light on the back of the turret is a low power white light lamp that can have number cut outs inserted for ID purposes in low light conditions.

the IR projector lamps have a black lens to project light on the infrared wavelengths that can be seen using night vision devices. When not in use they have a metal cover bolted in place to protect them.

Here is the rear turret ID light. This one has a red lens. The numeral cut outs are mounted inside the framework

Where I'm at so far with everything mocked up, won't have another update til sometime next week. I attached wires to the lamps next to the turret. I tried to connect wires to the launcher system but that did not work out as anticipated. I may try again now that it's connected to the turret, or I may just scratch a part seen below (from primeportal), however, some pictures of syrian tanks I see don't have that part. Seeing how this is eventually going to go in a fictional scenario diorama I guess it doesn't matter too much in the end.

Coming right along.