Im moving along even with all the difficulties of this kit. Next will be dirt and a LOT of mud. As tough as its been it is very unique. Decals are not to great..Hey I tried..E for effort. Peanut gallery and all welcome to stone me. Comments, as always, welcome.

As I look I realize - this is the first time I have layed eyes on one of these beasts.
It basically looks good, the finish is nice, I like the back tail gate.

Two things are popping out at me. Would the shovel have been OD - or steel and brown? I don't know so its a bit of a question.
Whats up with the headlights, I can't see any lenses.

How about trying this on those decals......lie the model on its side, slice them vertically at each seam on the door, and apply decal setting solution heavily and let dry while on its side...that will help keep the solution on the decal while it works. I've done this before in similar situations, sometimes with multiple applications, and it worked for me.

I like it. Just a couple of comments. It looks from the head-on view like there might be mold seam running down the middle of the front tires. Could be a camera trick, or could be that it acurately reflects the real tires, though.

The (vinyl?) tracks look a little loose, a little stiff (kind of standing off the drive wheel in the first pic), and could use some paint. Probably not easy/possible to fix the first two.

On the whole, looks great, especially for a "difficult . . . tough" kit. Nice finish, esp. the subdued dryburshing. Intersting subject, too.

it's come out looking good mate. The shovel is the first realisticly painted one I have seen on any model (mine included). just dry brush some wood color over the handle to depict use and put a little blackpaint with orange pastel on the edges of the blade. I too noticed what appears to be a mold seam in the front tyres. Most shovels spades etc in military service here were painted the army colour of choose and badly chipped and worn paintwork appeared after some use.

Strange and verry nice vehicle you have build here, who is the manufactor of this kit?
I have no comments other then mentiond above.

Thanks for comments and tips. Ive still more work to do, so hopefully the next photos I take will show most flaws hidden. Headlight lenses and front guard are next along with mud and a bit more weathering. Ronald, Eastern Express makes it and their quality control seemed to be vacationing the day mine was boxed. The tracks alone came up 1/2 inch short. I wired them and will hide it with mud...I hope!

As a follow up to Griftter's comment on the decals...If they don't settle in with his method, let them dry, add some more solvent and use a Q-tip (cotton swab) of a bit of tissue paper to caoxed them into the creases. What might be even better is to remove theme completely and use matching dry transfers. It seems to me the person applying those codes would have tried to keep each numeral/number on a piece of wood, rather than trying to paint across such large spaces. If you have a much steadier hand than I, you might even paint them free hand.

I like it. I remember what you said earlier about the tracks being short, I can't see that in these pics so you've done well there. I like the facth this isn't your run of the mill panzer or sherman. The seam others have mentioned on the front tires looks so pronounced that I'm wondering if the real tires might have actually had such a seam.

Sergeant PvtParts:
So far GREAT.

I would think they belong only because the best part of the kit was the rubber tires not on a sprue. Sounds good to me....lenses were just set in place..moving along. :-)

Looks very good. Is the cab and body made of wood on this vehicle? Is there a way in which you could simulate the wood underneath the painted surface? Sort of so it looks worn through?