First serious mistake: It turned out that I assembled both driving sprockets incorrectly when I was putting the kit together all those years back! The outer halves were meant to be installed facing the other way. It is now hard to imagine that I didn’t even bother to dry fit the tracks back then, and only now tried to do so! I am only glad that I found out this now, before the tank has been nearly finished or even glued together.

Luckily, I didn’t glue the sprocket halves together back then, but now both wheel shafts are ruined. They are both 1.5 mm in diameter. The styrene rods that I have laying around are way too soft to be used as the new shafts, so I will have to come up with something else. Technically, the sprockets do not have be movable, so I have some flexibility in that area.

Is this the version with an interior? I know Fujimi also too over Nitto molds and with their full interiors. Many times the interiors would not fit inside the kit with the hull attached. It usually required some trimming of the bulkhead walls.

A lot of time these older kits' vinyl tracks will not fit along the suspension. They could be too tight or too loose. You've often got to adjust the sprocket or idler wheel to add slack or tighten the tracks. Do this by relocating the idler or sprocket inwards or outwards depending on whether you need to loosen or tighten.

There is no interior; this is a rather basic kit.

Thank you for the warning. I am not sure how much room I have to adjust the sprockets or idler wheels. From what I can tell, the tracks are going to be pretty tight, with no slack at the top.

The paint looks good. As you say just cementing the drive spockets in place should care of the problem. If nothing else the skirts will cover a lot of problems here. 

Sorry, I had to put this activity on hold, but now I got back to it.

Both sprockects have been repaired. I used pieces of styrene tubing to reinforce the joins, and I saved the wheel hubs:

I then painted the camouflage. Not sure whether I like the colors, they seem a bit too dark; I used the Normandy front paint scheme suggested by Fujimi: Gunze H17 Cocoa Brown and H73 Dark Green, which cross reference to Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown and XF-61 Dark Green. I used a thin paintbrush, and it took me quite a while. I did not apply camouflage to the wheels, though:

Now I would like to ask for some advice on how to proceed. I plan to apply Testors Glosscote finish first and then do the decals and weathering (dry-brushing, chipping, pigments...). Then apply Dullcote. Yet I would like to get some input first. Is that a feasible approach?

Thank you!

Sounds like a solid plan.

The subtle modulation is perfect. Everyone has their own prefernces for how light or heavy that effect is. I prefer light modulation to help trick the eyes into seeing the curves and angles better while keeping the overall tone.

You can use that effect best on solid paint schemes. 

I've got an old fujimi 1/76 "Battle Set" with a Matilda, an 88, and some little figures. I'm still working on the Matilda.

These Fujimi kits are neat, but I'm not digging the tracks.

Update:

- Applied a bit of sand-colored mist from the top

- Airbrushed Pledge/Future

- Applied decals. The yellow regiment and tactical marks on the front panel are barely visible. Should have used dark background for those 

- Sealed decals with Future

- Washed the whole thing, using Winsor & Newton 'Winton' oils and mineral spirit. (Ivory Black/Burnt Umber/Raw Sienna). A bit too heavy for my taste, but the coarse pigments in these oils helped add a little grime:

Next: add chipping, weather tracks.

Any feedback would be welcome. This is my first attempt at building a model "a proper way."  Thanks!

You are doing a great job on this little fellow.

The good thing about using oils is that you can come back and adjust things here and there. You can drag a flat brush mointened in thinner and drag it down to reproduce rain and streak marks. You want to get a subtle effect and nothing stark. The brush needs to be damp to get tonal effects.   

As for track sag, you can drill into the the side hull and strategically place pins to produce the slack on the rubber band tracks. The pins will hold the rubber tracks down and will be hidden with some weathering pigments.

The camo does look really good! 

I agree with PJ here, probably the easiest and best way to keep the rubber tracks down is simply to drill a couple of holes in the side of the tank and stick wire in there to hold them down. Straightened paper clips are cheap and easy to find.

plasticjunkie

As for track sag, you can drill into the the side hull and strategically place pins to produce the slack on the rubber band tracks. The pins will hold the rubber tracks down and will be hidden with some weathering pigments.

That's a great idea, although I am worried that the idler wheels are way too fragile to withstand any additional tension. They will have to be removed and reinforced, similarly to what I've done to the sprockets. The tracks are pretty tight already, to the point that it is pretty hard to put them on.

Added chipping using Tamiya XF-63 German Grey and a bit of red pigment:

Added streaks using Burnt Umber oil and mineral spirit:

Next: weather the tracks, wheels and hull/turret with pigments.

Not sure what to set the pigments with, though. I tried mineral spirit, but that doesn't seem to hold. Any suggestions?

scaler

Added chipping using Tamiya XF-63 German Grey and a bit of red pigment:

 

Added streaks using Burnt Umber oil and mineral spirit:

 

Next: weather the tracks, wheels and hull/turret with pigments.

Not sure what to set the pigments with, though. I tried mineral spirit, but that doesn't seem to hold. Any suggestions?

 

Diluted Elmer's white glue will bind the pigments. Just make a wash with it.