Now another new one, I think some are going to like this one ?

As always I start with the lower hull. This one is made up from separate panels , the fit is pretty good except for some areas
along the edges where the Torsion Bars mount.

This is what I was talking about, you could try trimming the edge of the bottom panel but you could make it even worse.


Better a little fill and sanding.

Finished for today
Donald

I have this kit in the stash. I'll follow your build. Good start so far.

Olivier

This is a great kit, it goes together very well and minimal issues,I enjoyed the build so much I got have a second one with a few extras in my stash. The only concerns I recall were the rear basket around the conning tower, lack of cable supports on the turret side and rear basket but an easy fix with 1mm aluminium strip cut to size and the M2 and magazine box a bit soft on detail which I exchanged for one from the AFV club M2HB .50cal set AF35246. Look forward to your build.

I do not have this kit but intend to have it in the future so as with other, I will follow this with great interest!

Here are the Road Wheel Arms.


The lower hull is complete.

I replaced the molded on handles with some from the spare parts box

Fresh out of the paint shop.

Unfortunatly most of this can't be seen after it's finished.

Painted the Wheels.


Finished for today.
Donald

Now I install the Sprockets, you might think it would be difficult with the mud scraper in place but it was fairly easy. Here is how I did it.




Of course you could always save the Drama and glue the scraper in after the sprocket is installed. But where would be the fun in that.

Now the wheels.
It's a very tight fit.

If you trim the edge as shown it will go together easier.

Partially fit it together apply some liquid glue to the joint and quickly press together.

The Track will be next, Millions of itty bitty pieces.
Finished for a while.
Donald

Nice job and thank you for the tips.

Olivier

It took quite a while, but I finally have all the parts for the tracks cleaned up, painted and ready for assembly.


I left the track in its natural dark metalic gray.
I only painted the rubber parts.
Now to assemble it.
Donald

When gluing the pads to the shoes I applied liquid glue only to the ends, this gave it a cleaner look.




Finished here, now to assemble the Track Run
Donald

I'm starting off this section with how to build a assembly jig out of 1/4" Brass tubing.
This will make assembling the track very easy.
If you'r not interested just skip this section.



It's a rather simple jig, but if you would rather do it the hard way that is fine by me.
Donald

I started the track assembly by placing 2 track shoes with their guide horns on the jig as shown. then place single end parts as shown. The fit is very tight so trying more than 1 at a time could result in broken pins.

I then used clippers to press the end parts all the way down, and then clip off the sprue part.

I worked in groups of 10, that is placing 10 track shoes with their guides, then 10 pair of ends clipping off the sprue at the end.

You could do each one separtly.
What ever floats your boat.

The instructions call for 78 Track Shoes, I found that is too much.
A total of 75 fits just right.
you have to fit them over the Sprocket, they do fit just very tightly so don't play with them too much.




This finishes the Track Install.
Next is the upper hull.
Regards.
Donald

The Upper Hull
I replaced the molded on handles on the right rear side.

The 2 front side markers can be placed either way, this with the lense to the front is how they should go.


I have the drivers hatch taped from the inside for painting.


Now to paint the base coat.

Donald

Painted the upper hull & installed it.
The lower supports for the side skirts were trouble to get them to fit right. It's hard to see in there.

I installed the turret basket mesh before the end panel, a lot easier to get close with the super glue.

I glued the turret side boxes on from the inside, it's easier this way.

The turret mostly completed.

The kit gun is quite nice but the DEF Models is more detailed, & I only paid about $10 U.S. for it




Now to paint it all.
Donald

Looking good. Your method of installing the turret basket mesh is interesting. I built mine up first, but found that the fit of the PE was so good it sort of snapped right into place with no CA.

The turret is where most of the disappoint comes in. The K2 seems like a step backward compared to their K1A1 kit. That kit has the separate handles for the turret bins. I had to bogart several from a few Legend M60 upgrade sets. All of the molded on grab handles on the snorkel tower were a disappointment as well and had to be replaced.

And while I don't exactly expect any manufacturer to include them in a kit, I replaced the signal flag holders with lengths of hypodermic needle.

One note on the reactive armor: The kit is based on a demonstration prototype. While it is accurate, the demonstrator had fake wooden ERA blocks on it, hence the off color of green. It looks to me as if the paint sort of soaked into the wood. For an operational variant I just painted the ERA the same color as the base green.

still working on it.

I put Bare Metal Foil on the glass area of the periscopes, they are solid color plastic.

I'm not to crazy about the lense stickers the kit supplies

Maby I'll peal them off and use the ones from AFV Club.
Donald

The stickers didn't work too well, they tended to peal appart and off when installing the parts.

I removed all of them and painted the periscopes with Testors Chrome silver.

OK I've had enough of this kit.
Here's the finish, go ahead and laugh if you want to.
This started as fun but ended not so much fun.
Donald

Some close ups