I masked off an area under the fenders to show the Tamiya Hull Red I used for the base Panzer primer colour:
I zimm'ed the fenders and they actually turned out ok once I got the hang of the zimm putty. The fenders are held on by blue putty for now so I could easily install the tracks.
Wheels have all been painted and installed:
I left the drive sprockets and idler wheels off to ease in the track installation. The blue tack is just on the sprocket mounting point to keep the sprocket on when I need it:
I constructed a simple guide to ease the process of making straight long track lengths. I glued 2 cocktail sticks the required width apart on a spare piece of acrylic. I then laid the large track prieces in place and started gluing in the smaller bits. I worked in short lengths and spread it over a period of several days so I could keep my sanity.
All the little bits. Hundreds and hundreds of them!
For the sprocket track sections, I just placed a large track piece on the sprocket, and carefully glued a smaller "joining" section to it. I then attached another larger track piece and let this set for a few minutes. When this was dry I added another larger and smaller piece, Continuing around about 1/2 the sprocket. I then went back and added the super-tiny pices, 3 per section. Tedious....
I then made a longer straight section to lay on top and below the wheels closest to the sprocket. From my ref photos, the track section on top doesn't begin to curve up towards the sprocket until it reaches the front of the second road wheel. Make sense?
So far, I have about 1/3 of the track done. I am building each track side in about 5 pieces to ease in painting and installation on the vehicle. I'll make the final joint somewhere under a track fender in case I am slightly off in the length.
