The hull is complete (Patreon)

My friends, now the real fun begins - the photo-etched fenders! 

So I finished the running gear where I used the original Tamiya wheels although I considered swapping them for the more detailed Bronco ones, but that, again, would require some modifying, and after all, every road wheel will be packed with mud just like in the historical photographs. Interestingly, even the original wheels had extremely loose fit (no poly caps inside) and they kept falling off all the time. Because they don't hide the lower hull behind them and don't stand in the way of any weathering, I decided to glue them in place. 

Another dilemma was the tracks. Tamiya has one of the most beautiful link and length tracks, while Bronco comes with more detailed, working, click-together version. Well, I went with Bronco here because I'd like to articulate the suspension at least a little in the diorama. I just hope they won't start falling apart halfway towards the finish line, and their weathering will be... tricky, to say the least! 

After that, it was "only" about adding the remaining details to the hull. Hatches, vision slot, etc. As usual with British armor, their grab handles are extremely complex. Initially I swapped the thick Tamiya handles with Bronco, but after some clean-up, I noticed they're still too out of scale as well. So it was going to be the hard way... I bent all of them from 0.5mm copper wire, first in a Pantera grab handle bending tool (https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1161016131/grab-handler-bending-tool), then bent 90 degrees in a photoetch tool, cut down to length, the ends were flattened with pliers, and finally I added small rivets punched from tin foil. Not all of them are perfect, but they were not perfect on the real tanks either, and they just look more authentic than the plastic ones! :) 

Alright, and now it seems the real deal is about to start. I skimmed through the Voyager instructions and while the fenders are complex, their assembly shouldn't be as hard as I thought. On the other hand, the basic detail set for this model is truly extensive! But hey, if the fenders are a success, everything else should be just adding cherries on the cake. Wish me luck!