After a hiatus; back to the project. (I felt compelled to finish SOMETHING, so I pulled out the 1/35 Dragon T-34 1941, and the Dragon King Tiger with Zimmerit that have been on the shelf)
Early on, I had removed the fenders on both sides, and filled and sanded the holes for the mounting pins. The fenders are actually four separate pieces, but Tamiya molds these as a single unit. I cut mine at the panel lines between, and thinned out the edges for better scale thickness. Also, there is a triangle-shaped fillet at each end of the single molded fender that shouldn’t be there. My guess is that this helps in the molding process. Take this out, too.
I mounted the fenders back in their original position, and to help things out, I mounted a strip of .010” x .030” plastic along what will be the bottom of the fender mount where it meets the hull. This won’t be seen, and it will help keep the fenders in position as the glue dries.
The prominent feature on the left of the hull is a thin steel cable that was used to pull tracks together, and to change tracks. Tamiya, in the original kit, supplied the wire, but it is stiff. I substituted .020 lead solder. Be careful, though, as this stuff is easily torn, and wash your hands when you are done.
Check your references for this cable, too. There were a number of different placements of the clips and how the cable was mounted. For our Tiger, the Tamiya instructions are fairly accurate, with one exception: I needed one more mounting pin to the upper right side, where the eyelet mounts. I strung the cable, then super glued as I went. For the ends and eyes, I used a short section of plastic rod, and the eye was made of thin-sliced plastic tube. When this is all glued together, I am pleased with the visual representation. Lastly, the eyes of the cable have a clamp that holds it in place, so to simulate that, I used a thin, narrow piece of excess brass, and bent it into a J-shape. The small part of the J goes through the eye, and the brass is mounted to the top of the pin. Yeah, confusing, but the picture should help. Is it 100% accurate? Not really, but I think it is a good visual simulation.
Also on the Tamiya mold, the very significant wells seam at the front and side plates is missing. I scribed this using a sharp blade and guide to the appropriate size, then used glue to soften the plastic. After waiting a few minutes, I hit it with the blade again. After it dried, a quick sanding took the high points off, and left me with a decent-looking weld seam.
