The old saying that the devil's in the details really holds true on this particular build. Today's efforts continued to focus on the remaining details and the time it took to address them turned out to be more than I had anticipated. The goal was to get to the weathering stages this weekend but that's not likely to happen given the cure times needed for the Future and decal stages.
Despite that, a lot did get done today. I assembled all of the road wheels and installed them to both sides of the hull, checking for a level fit, and let that set up. Then the lower hull was pre-weathered by stippling some enamel Burnt Umber with a round 0 sable brush to simulate random scratches and dings due to rocks, dirt, etc. being kicked up by the tracks. I also painted and detailed the vehicle exhausts on either side before installing the return rollers in order to have some room to work with. They were base coated with MM Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal and then given a light wash of Rust to create their look.
The jack block was painted and detailed by hand with the wood portions getting a base coat of a tan "wood" mixture I created a long time ago followed by a wash of thinned MM enamel Leather. Both Black and Burnt Umber artist pastels were added for some variation. I also installed the vehicle's standard antenna mount but modified it by removing the stub post with sprue cutters and drilling out the base with a #72 finger drill to allow for a brass 2m antenna to be installed later. I also detailed the release catch cable for the travel lock with non-buffing metalizer Gunmetal and lightly dry brushed the pulley wheel with Steel.
The rear hull also got some attention with the two spare road wheels added along with their mounts. The gun cleaning rods were detailed the same as the jack block with the threaded end caps detailed using MM enamel Steel. The rear blackout light was painted with Flat Sea Blue as well.
The remaining details for the fighting compartment that I'd left off for easier painting/access were added at this point as well. The instructions tell you to install 3 of the swinging MG mounts but I decided to leave the one they wanted at the rear off. I couldn't find any photographic references that supported a 3rd mount and the surviving vehicle at Aberdeen only has the two on the sides so that's what I went with. The bases are PE and I hadn't realized just how large they were otherwise I would've added them earlier in the build since it was a very tight fit to get them installed properly above the ammo bins due to the height and angle of the side walls. I added the swivel mounts and glued them in place with CA gel.
The two side wall periscopes were also detailed and installed. Since these were Bakelite and held in place with small metal frames, I painted them first with MM enamel Italian Dark Brown and then detailed the frames using the same DY mix as the vehicle base coat. For the plexiglass faces, I used enamel Steel followed by Tamiya acrylic Clear Smoke.
Last but not least, the commander's rabbit-ears scope was added. This is a tricky multi-part assembly that has two parts for the base and another 3 parts for the scope itself, so it had to be assembled in stages to allow the delicate parts to set up properly. The scope was base coated with non-buffing metalizer Gunmetal and lightly dry brushed with Steel and then given a very light black artist pastel treatment. The lens faces were treated the same as the periscopes to complete its look.
I assembled the multi-part jack and painted it a slightly different shade of DY in order to provide some visual variance relative to the rest of the vehicle. Instead of a 50-50 mix of Panzer DY/Light Gray, I used an 80/20 mix.
The hull front also received some details in the form of the spare track run. I used the kit-supplied Magic links for this and selected 14 from the baggie. Each one needed some slight cleanup to remove a small sprue nub on the guide horn and some sanding to remove two small raised ejector marks on the exposed face of each link. The links were glued together with regular glue, base coated with non-buffing metalizer Gunmetal, dry brushed with Steel, and then given a wash of Rust. Once the wash had dried, I dry brushed MM enamel Burnt Umber to round out the look and installed the run in place in the holder.
The final task of the day involved the tracks. I pre-weathered the sprockets and idlers with the same stippling approach used on the lower hull and also added some dry brushed Steel for the sprocket teeth and the contact surfaces on the idler. I added the base of the idler to the actual idler wheels and did a test fit with the MK tracks to see how many links and what position the idler could support. The track runs were extended to the recommended 104 links and the idler is capable of properly tensioning them with anywhere from no sag at all to full sag (if there is such a thing!), so I was happy with that outcome.
Tomorrow the tracks will get painted and installed and then the Future coats will be added along with the markings. At least that's the plan!