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M48 - Loaded For Bear!

Construction on the turret is the next step. The turret is comprised of two pieces-top and sides and a bottom. They fit together well despite a small cross-section to glue. Adding pad eyes, hatches, storage racks and the commander's cupola finish the turret. The storage rack on the back of the turret can be a little frustrating because the pieces are small and rely on each other for support so take your time. With a little patience it'll go together ok.

It's at this point you come to what I consider the crux of the kit. After inserting the barrel assembly into its hole in the turret you are left with a huge gap between the plastic mantlet and the turret. Some people may be able to live with this but I tell you, it just glared at me to fix it. After looking at some reference pictures and checking out the box art, I noticed the mantlet looked to be made of a canvas material connecting the base of the gun with the turret. To simulate this I used four pieces of Kleenex soaked in a water/white glue mixture. After soaking the Kleenex I applied it to the turret and barrel, shaping it with the back of an x-acto knife to make sure it made nice clean contact with the molded retaining straps on the turret. After the Kleenex had dried, I painted it khaki as designated in the instructions. I actually think this piece turned out nice.

The kit tracks are vinyl and were fitted together by melting the pegs with a hot screwdriver. After they were connected I heavily dry brushed them with flat earth. After dusting with the airbrush the tracks were lightly touched up with the silver pencil to simulate wear.

Decals were then added according the instruction sheet.

Last, but not least, antennas were added by cutting stiff wire to length and then heating the ends with a lighter. Once the ends glowed red-hot they were stuck into the antenna mounts on the turret.