FINISHED! Page 7-the doog's BEST? Sdkfz 251/17 Ausf. D w/2cm Schwebelafette

Hi Guys--

Hey dooooods---Well, not slowing down here a bit; got a new one up on the workbench--the DML Sd.Kfz. 251/17 Ausf. D w/2cm Schwebelafette--try saying that three times fast!

First of all, here's step 1--totally, completely unnecessary! LOL!  In this photo you can see that there's some transmission parts and gas tank that are to be put in; trouble is, they're COMPLETELY hidden in a later step--so just ignore this step! For the life of me though, I cannot figure out why they would waste the money to put in parts that cannot possibly be seen?!

Here's a good lesson for noobs--the importance of planning your model by looking at the build sequence and part placement. I smelled this one; dont ask me how, but I was right, and I'm glad I caught itin time!

Step one also tells you to add these PE parts---moulding for the lower hull.

When you square up the front of the PE part, see how the remainder of the PE sits against the locating holes or the suspension parts? I had a sneaky suspicion that i they weren't perectly "square", that I would never get the parts #25 (12 of them!) to glue in correctly--I was right. The problem is that the PE part is too long by about 1-1.5mm! 

The trouble is, you don't find that out until step three!

When you it the parts, you then have to cut the PE nearer to the edge to have the edges "square" up against the hulll edge. I indicated where I cut it here--this cut can then be filled in with superglue, and sanded smooth; plus, it gets nicely hidden by the part that attaches to those two pins there.

The damned suspension arms are floppy as all heck--I resorted to sitting the hull on two lids/palettes here to hopefully level them. I'm not sure how good this is going to work. I hope I don't have to break some of these off i they don't sit right?

I'm working away again as you read this, but I've got a couple of busy next few days starting Monday, so BE PATIENT! (Tony! LOL!)

P.S.--this IS, by the way, the FIRST halftrack I've done!

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