The work continued on the interior of the lower hull.
The transmission cover was from the Italeri kit and covered with Vallejo putty, and hull was from Dragon. The transmission bolts were punched from 0.015 styrene.
The early model air cleaners were made from brass shim stock and plastic. The rear hatch handle was added and weld seams were added to the heavy duty the tow hitch. The welds were made from stretch sprue soften with liquid cement.
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Up next was fitting the rear deck to the upper resin hull. It took a lot of trimming and shaping to get it to fit. The rear deck was from the Italeri kit. The additional filler caps from from the spare parts box.
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The direct vision blocks were scratch built from sheet styrene and were fitted to the vision ports.
Additional details were added to the front hull.
Next I worked on the rear deck tool boxes. I didn't like the tops, so I made new ones from shim stock brass cut and folded to fit the top of the box provided in the kit.
Brackets and footman loops were added to the top and rear of the tool box for the pioneer tools.
The brackets for the spare road wheels were make from plastic and aluminum strips. The plastic strips were glued together and attached the the road wheels using liquid cement. The aluminum cross supports were super glued in place. Four were made, 2 for the front of the turret and 2 for the rear fenders.
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Up next was fitting the rear deck to the upper resin hull. It took a lot of trimming and shaping to get it to fit. The rear deck was from the Italeri kit. The additional filler caps from from the spare parts box.
The direct vision blocks were scratch built from sheet styrene and were fitted to the vision ports.
Additional details were added to the upper hull. The mortar bottom plate and the tow port hatch were from the Italeri kit, the lifting lugs were made from paper clips and the fenders are made from plastic. The upper and lower hulls required trimming and a lot Tamiya putty to get a good fit.
Additional details were added to the front hull.
Next I worked on the rear deck tool boxes. I didn't like the tops, so I made new ones from shim stock brass cut and folded to fit the top of the box provided in the kit.
Brackets and footman loops were added to the top and rear of the tool box for the pioneer tools.
The brackets for the spare road wheels were make from plastic and aluminum strips. The plastic strips were glued together and attached the the road wheels using liquid cement. The aluminum cross supports were super glued in place. Four were made, 2 for the front of the turret and 2 for the rear fenders.
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