Over the weekend I gave the lower hull, running gear, and roadwheels a base coast of Tamiya Dark Yellow XF-60. I painted the wheels while they were still on the sprues as they are easier to spray. I shot the lower hull and suspension because it's much harder to get the backsides of the wheel coated once the tracks are on and the model complete.

I am at a crossroads at the moment deciding which will be easier: the kit's glueable vinyl tracks or the link and length. I've glued the vinyl tracks together but the detail isn't as strong as the plastic length and link tracks so I will use the latter and attach them in the next chapter, as well as perform some PE work. The roadwheels and drive sprockets are wonderfully detailed and were a pure joy to assemble and detail. I removed the mold seam around each rim then dinged up the "rubber" portion of most of the wheels by gouging and denting them for that extra spot of detail.

I also scraped up and gouged the edge of the mantlet and the gun cowling since many of them were fairly roughly cast. After searching the net and finding many museum pieces (admittedly most of these are G-13's) they exhibit some of these characteristics. Once I get a coat of paint on I'll snap some closeup pictures.

The metal barrel you see in the picture is a Lion Marc brand made just for this kit. It's not the same length as the Tamiya plastic barrel but after inspecting pictures of museum pieces, the Lion Marc barrel looks like it has better thickness of the barrel sleeve and is also rifled. It was too snug however and several passes with a nice thick round file to Tamiya kit part E1 (the mantlet) allowed the metal barrel to fit perfectly snug. I added some CA just to be on the safe side. Even though Tamiya's plastic barrel is very nice looking and requires very little seam cleanup, I still prefered the looks of Lion Marc's barrel. The barrel is stock number LM10019 and is specifically for the 1/35th Tamiya Hetzer.

There isn't much to update in this chapter since much of the main assembly work of the major pieces is now finished. The upper and lower hulls are still dry fitted at this point but once glued, the seam at the front (visible in the photo) should dissapear. Now it's time to concentrate on the PE bits and the other assorted minor bits that go around the hull and on the fenders. This kit has been trouble free up to this point and so far has been a very relaxing build. I'm quite pleased with it so far. More soon, so stay tuned!