Here's another update. I'll be doing some masking later on today and then getting a coat of primer down.
The hatch issue - too thick and just wrong. The hinge/ spring assembly required to be cut free and rotated 180 degrees on it's horizontal axis, then flipped over into the recess to make it proper for an opened loader's hatch. As for thickness, they are not able to properly sit in the hatch rings properly as they are too big and the thickness of the molding required massive amounts of sanding to make it look proper.
The directions had this hatch on the
commanders side and vice versa. Someone not knowing any better may make that mistake.
Ready for primer. Modifications to the mirrors as we always had them folded up and never used them at all.
Some clearance issues with the turret bustles and the rad intakes. I'll sort that out today with some gentle sanding. The PE in the kit isn't too bad, but I'm glad I made the extra purchases for the replica of my ride.
One thing to note - the turret bustle styrene frames were a bit warped. Gentle heat with hot water sorted them out.
I'm leaving the bird cage and mounts off for now so I can lay down the NATO tri colour and get the fun stuff like weathering underway. Once that's done, I'll mount the slat and do a final weathering/ dusting/ rusting.
TANKS for looking!