Appreciate the feedback. In response to some of the q's raised:
The missing left fender - truth be told, I just wanted some way of a) showing off the top of the sagged tracks, and b) emphasizing that the KV hull is a long oblong box. I always get fooled by the illusion of solidity that the complete fenders give, and think that the KV has a much bigger hull than it really does. Also, I wanted to put some visual interest into a very "boxy" tank. And, as a final justification, I felt that the kit built soooo easily that I had to do a little something to make it a bit different. My cock-and-bull story about how it happened is that the tank turned into a wall at some point, and that the left fender got mangled to hell and fouled the tracks, so that at the first opportunity they just unbolted the first couple of fenders, leaving the battered brackets in place.
The chipping was done with some acrylic German Grey, followed up by some burnt umber oil paint. The tow cables were sprayed brown, given a black oil wash, then dabbed with mig pigment standard rust which was then gradually brushed off until only a hint remained, and finally finished with a few spots of drybrushed silver. The shackles were just painted a darker version of the hull colour, and then heavily chippied and drybrushed.
Whilst we're swapping techniques,
Joe 
, i;d be obliged if you'd let me know how you got the dusty windows effect on your M-923A2; i was just looking at it in your gallery and I really like the clean spots where the wipers go. How do you calculate the arc shape to mask off?
