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The hull base, the two sides and the cross member were cut from the fret. Care Needs to be taken as the plastic is cut close as one would normally tend to take a piece out of the moulding, so it is better to cut further away and trim with a sharp blade.
Once cleanup is done its time to dry fit the parts and then using tape the components are assembled and a brush of Tamiya extra thin glue is run along the joints. The glacis plate is then fitted and it was noted that some filler would be needed as the fit is not too good. Again tape was used to hold the part in place and the extra thin adhesive used to attach the part. The gaps were filled with Vallejo Masilla Plastica filler Number 401 which I find to be excellent and with the small nozzle, ideal for depositing the small amounts of filler right where you want it. This was allowed to dry then cleaned up with a file and wet and dry paper. This removed some of the rivet detail from the front panel which will be reinstated later in the build using sheet plastic and a punch and die set. To ensure a strong bond is made I run super glue along each joint line and then sprinkle baking powder over it. This forms a hard fillet and is a really strong bond which will hold the hull base in true.
Working a little out of sequence with the kit instructions I decide to make the front set of road wheels which had the spare links box incorporated into the arm. The relevant road wheels were cleaned up as was the arm and all were assembled with the Tamiya glue but leaving the road wheels free to rotate. Once assembled it was noted that the box lid was not well defined, so using 5-thou plasti-card a new lid was fabricated for a flat lid and three strips for the rim. The lock was removed from the front of the bin to be reworked and added to the new parts.
I decided to build the wheel suspension units next and the parts were cut from the frames. Great care is needed as the plastic has a habit of breaking into the moulded part when cut close to it which leave a jagged hole or at worse a broken part. Yes I had both of these but fortunately the problems were minor and easily fixed. Cutting of the parts from the sprues has to be away from the moulding and then cleaned up with a knife blade and sanding sticks.
The leaf springs have four mould release marks which had to be filed off and then a wipe of liquid glue applied to seal the part. Each sub assembly has four parts, excluding the wheels which I decided to fit at a later date, and careful assembly is required to get the parts lined up and cemented together. When they had dried the units were dry fitted to the chassis arms and it was found that the inner arm fouled the chassis arm of the suspension unit. All the units were the same but this was easily fixed by grinding the inner support so it cleared the hull arm. Several dry fittings were done to get this correct then the Sub assemblies were glued to the arms. Filler was then applied to the joint and when dried, sanded to a smooth finish as this was a one piece casting on the real vehicle. Again a wipe of liquid glue was applied to the sanded area. The return rollers were then assembled, positioned in the hull “pegs”, and lined up with the main wheel suspension units glue was applied.
I now attached the back and front plates to the hull assembly using the hull top to line then up and let this dry.
As this stage was being done one of the main wheels on the forward track tensioner idler fell out. See picture. It would not go back in so drastic measures were needed.
When this sort of problem, or any other, arises it’s important not to panic and think the models ruined. Close inspection did not reveal how the wheels fell out. So I decided that the two wheels would be cut apart and the axels removed. Using a point of a scalpel a mark was made in the centre of each hub to act as a starting point for a 1.2mm drill bit. This was used in a pin-vice and bored a hole through the centre whilst ensuring the drill is perpendicular to the wheel hub. The process was repeated for the second wheel and then both were test fitted on a piece of plastic rod to ascertain both wheels were square. The outer support arm was marked and drilled and the drill was allowed to bore a 0.5mm depth (approx) in the hull side arm. This would ensure the new axle would fit correctly. This done the new axle rod was threaded through the outer arm with the two wheels held in place and liquid glue applied. This was then set aside till cured and the excess was cut off the axle, filed flush and polished. A disc of 5-thou. plastic card was punched, with the punch and die set and fixed in position over the axle to reinstate the detail which had been removed in the cleanup operation. It was a bit fiddly getting the components to line up for the repair, so the moral of this is , take care not to damage anything while assembling, but if you do, don’t panic and decide the best way to fix it.
Read on about the wheels and tracks construction
