Hi all,

I decided I need to get some more tanks built, and it's been a few years since my last one. When building the Tamiya 1/48 stuff, is it best to follow the construction steps in the instructions, or is there a different order or technique when it comes to the running gear? I've got an Early Tiger on the bench, and I was contemplating actually following the instructions, gluing the whole track/wheel assembly together, and pulling it off for painting. Any hints?

Thanks.

Rich

That seems ill-advised. The wheels and tracks were different colours, therefore to avoid accidental overpainting I would paint them separately. In fact, I wish the tyres were separate parts.

Usually what I do is paint the road wheels, track, and hull separately and then glue them all together. The link and length track complicates this a bit, but I've had decent success with taking each run of track and gluing half of it together (but being careful not to glue it to the wheels yet) so that the track run comes off in two halves that can be painted off the tank, then put back together and touched up as needed.

Well I almost always agree with David Byrden, and there is no right or wrong answer, but in 1/48 I have found it is easier to paint the whole model and then go back and paint the details and tires later by hand. Your experience may vary. BTW I almost always use metal tracks if I can so this has to factor into this.

HTH
Scott Gentry