A few days ago I glued the top and bottom halves together and had a big gap to fill. Without the ability to use styrene strips, I used one of the Tamiya sprue logo pieces:

Before and after:

The Fourmost Miter Sander is one of my favorite scratch-building tools:

Could be better, but it's ok for what I have to work with:

What an interesting concept. sounds like it'll stretch your imagination a little. i'll be interested to see what you can come up with.

Very curious to see it finished!!

I'll follow

Thanks guys. By the way, nice avatar OctaneOrange.

So, I worked on the rear turbines today. I had to chop away the rear armor, and in it's place, I glued together 2 of the included figure stands. Then I Dremeled some holes for the actual turbines:

Before and after...sort of:

I liked the look of the idlers, so i used them, but opened the center up for turbine cones. The cones I used were thick sprue pieces shaped with a Dremel into the best cone I could get freehand:

Glued and puttied:

I'm still not sure what I'll do with the flaps on either side of the turbines. If I leave them, I'll need to reshape them...maybe add some kind of air brake.

That's one cool looking build Looking forward to seeing it finished.

Cool idea cant wait to see the finished product

Well, I've added a bit more over the past few days. I keep banging my head in the wall just wishing I could open my spares boxes. But I'm committed....for now.

I needed to cover up the large opening on the left side, so I took the underside of the turret (the part the allows it to rotate) and saved the angular part off. With a little work and sawing, I cut out the circular inner lining and then glued it to the side.

After a long deliberation with me and myself, I decided to add a dust vent for whatever small particles were sucked into the engines. This consists of a one-piece box that I cut out the inner bits, as well as 4 canteens that will act as dust spouts....sort of.

The box was also given angled cuts on one side of the 3 slats to help with the fit.

I had a fun time trying to drill a hole centered on the top of each canteen when the mold doesn't even seem to be centered.

It's a little rough, but I'm thinking some Mig pigments will enhance the believability.

Next up will probably be the turret. Oh joy...

Gee, when I think of kit-bashing it's of adding extra stuff to the kit not using what's in the box. Very cool idea!

Please keep up the updates I wanna see how she comes out.

yes, I'm watching this build 

Not much new lately, just filling, sanding, smoothing, wash, rinse, repeat. I have started a few smaller assemblies that I will attach later.

First, I've made 2 air brake steering flaps. I cut the top lid of the storage bin in half and fit some leftover turret bits on the opposite sides. I then recut the edges of the lid into a more angular shape:

As part of the covering the center up, I made a dust filtration system (the dust exits through the side ports I already made). I cut one side of the spare track link piece off and then glued several running gear bits to it. These bits were originally molded on:

Finally, I added a scanner/antenna assembly to the front. It is made of the antenna holder with the sledgehammer tool set glued underneath (hammer head removed).

Thanks again for the comments guys. This is a fun little build.

I decided to add tinted windows to the cockpit and turret area using the clear bag the parts came in. To do this I mixed future and Polly Scale RLM 83 Light Green and airbrushed it on a large section of the bag. It didn't adhere well, but I covered such a large area that i could cut out the best sections. Then I glued it in place with Future, and later I added some white glue to fully hold it in.

This is a pic of the finished dust filtration system. I still need to do more filling and sanding:

Here's a pic showing off the air flaps. The actuators were made from MP40s.

Finally, I changed the cupola by routering a roadwheel and fitting the hatch to it. I'll glue it later:

I like your resourcefulness and on the spot engineering  

Thanks man. I wouldn't call it on-the-spot though. It's more of a blaming-everything-else, then cooling-off-and-working-through-a-solution engineering.

Anyway, in this update, I've modified the road wheel shock absorbers into hovering things (if you're a Star Wars fan, we can call them "repulsorlifts"). Then I attached them facing inward on the underside of the chassis. When I get it assembled, you'll be able to see the results better.

Looking perfect so far....Good luck.....

Alright, so I've been hitting it hard lately trying desperately to hit the painting stage (not yet though). I did finish making the barrel out of a sprue. It's certainly not turned aluminum, but it will work:

And I made an ammo feed belt by splitting the tank tracks and CAing the German ammo drums in between:

Here it is sitting in the feed roller/drum thing (made out of the exhaust and stowage bin):

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great looking

actually it seems like.. it 

Well, I have about 5 days until the contest, but it's going good so far. I just primed it with my cheapo rattle can grey. Here's a pic moments before. I added a rail and two grab handles out of the 2 staples in the box, and I added a bit more detail bits around the model....nothing that big.

Painting is next!

Well, the first bit of painting is finished. I opted for a unique "tetris" looking camo pattern, which required a lot of tape. There was a little bleed through in a few areas, but I can easily fix that. I'll probably paint the turret and details tomorrow.

Finished the painting today.

I also used part of the cardboard box to create strips to hold on the extra fuel cells. It's not photo-etch, but it works just fine.

Everything painted:

Amazing!

Wow. That's really cool. 

Can't wait to see the finish!

Well, I almost didn't finish. My area got hit hard by tornadoes last week and it's taken quite awhile to sit down and actually photograph this thing. Luckily, we're ok, just a few small trees down. As for the tank, I added several filters and weathered it in a "used, but not junked" look.

Enjoy

Glad you're ok......I've seen the reports from down there and it's scary just to look at.

Fantastic build. Love the approach, and love the result.

good to ear all it's ok

tank looks great

Amazing.

Great looking tank. The paint and weathering as well as the mash-up detailing 

also, glad you're ok 

 Thanks guys.

Man, great finish!

I wonder what I've got kicking around the stash that I could turn into something like this. Hmmmmm.