After a couple nights I put together a few sub assemblies and removed the rest of the parts and prepped them for paint. She is ready for the paint booth.

The kit supplied rubberband style tracks lacked fine detail so I ordered the aftermarket set from AFV club. They recommended the late style tracks for this particular vehicle so I bought those accordingly. They came in two sub assemblies, the stamped metal links and the rubber pads. I had to glue one rubber pad to each link. Sounds like a lot of work but it didn't really take too long. About two beers worth of work! 

This kit has gone together so quick I thought I would take a little time to add a little flavor to the half track prior to painting. I've beat up the front fenders a little bit and added some baking soda to the muffler to get it a light weather affect. Next I'll begin painting and weathering the interior.

I think i might tag along if you don't mind.

Bish it's always great to have you aboard!

I'm on board!

Looks good Chad, love the busted-up fenders and rusty muffler. 

Thanks guys!

Question - the instructions don't give any indication as to what color I use on the inside.  Would late model 251's have a dark yellow interior that matches the exterior?

If I remember correctly late war 251 interiors were painted to match the exterior.

Keyserj

If I remember correctly late war 251 interiors were painted to match the exterior.

 

Thank you John!

Keyserj

If I remember correctly late war 251 interiors were painted to match the exterior.

 

They all were. Right from the start of the war, all open topped vehicles had the inside the same colour as outside.

Finally back on this lovely lady.  Laid down the interior finish and first of a few layers of grime. Next will be a filter of Raw Umber then a final filter of white for highlights. 

Thats coming on nicely there Chad.

The rear seats on the Ausf D were wood, and while the shape in the Tamiya is wrong for wood seats, some dry brushing with a darker brown mght give more of a wood look to it. Just a thought.

Looks like I fell victim to bad moulding!  I'll change out the color for a worn wood look.  Thank you for letting me know. 

Coming along very nicely. 

Thank you. A few layers of grime yet to go!

Dot filter of raw umber and yellow ocher applied to areas of shadow and highlight. This is the second layer of grime and I think it adds a l ot of tonal variation to the side walls. 

The interior looks very good! 

Some nice work on the inside, coming up well

Thank you Bish!

Interior is done.  Streaked, chipped, dusted, and resin dropped into the optics and gauges.  Time to start the exterior.  Yes, that's a cat hair in the first pic!  Second pic without the offending hair.  I need to find some goodies to put in the storage bins.

Thats loking great, love the chipping and the look of the dials and optics with the resin, not seen that before.

All 251's were issued a tarp which could be placed over the top. i usually make one with some tissue soaked in glue and rolled up and placed in one of those side bins. That fills up at least one bin.

Excellent idea! Thank you my friend.

Chad,

Your weather looks incredible. Great job!

Thank you Bruce!

Thank you Joe!