Track guards are on the bench with many other parts.
FWIW the AK primer had issues covering the Meng tracks. I guess I should jave given them a good wash first.lesson #23445 !
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Just a pointer for those considering this kit.
I assembled the radiators doors as per the kit. I thought I was being careful. I primed the parts seperately and because there is no interior detail I decided to glue in the radiator doors. To paint the cammo. (Red arrows first image). But try as I could they simply never fitted. They have nice hinges and will swing open. But there are parts of the molds that simply get in the way of closing and having a good fit.
First image green arrows, These two edges need to be carefully trimmed and sanded back. As well as some ridges under/behind the surface.
The second image, red arrows, show where there needs to be some trimming. Now it is possible I made a mistake somewhere when assembling the radiators. BUT would I do that? Of course not. 
Because there is no interior detail I’m gluing them shut. The bottom image shows some gaps but I will glue them tight.
Just double check your fit if you want to leave them off to paint them. Because they wont fit back in without some trimming.
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First colour on. I’m impressed with the AK paint. Unless I just had a good day!! The paint is a wee bit coarse but I may have sprayed it on too dry. We have had about 90 inches of rain in the last few weeks and 15 inches over the last 48 hours. So maybe it is a humidity issue.
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Inches? 90 inches? As in… (hamster starts running faster) 7.5 feet? You’ve had 7.5 feet of water land on the ground in the last few weeks?
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Yup. 1770mm plus about 400mm. Give or take. We are between two weather stations so I divide the difference. Note we are in the sub tropics. It’s our wet season. Not a record but getting close. Mind you climate folks are ignoring the records and calling it climate change.
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Is that the Lusterless OD color going on? It looks almost sand on my screen, but I know it is not.
AKs Auscam set. Camouflage brown. It looks “wrong” but im reserving judgment until the green an black go on.
It is very flat but i can fix that later with a clear coat.
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I hope I didn’t screw your up with those paints Bruce, but your build is looking stellar anyway.
Yes Don, heavy flooding over here in the last few weeks due to rain. Lots of homes inundated and farmers lost crops again.
My wife is a mad keen cyclist and is training for a 9 hour endurance race she is competing in in 2 months. Her favourite Mountain climb route got washed away last night.
As Bruce says, it is our wet season.
I’d seen some of it on the news, but I don’t think I’d really registered just how bad it was. Glad you guys are all ok at least.
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Ok I’ve done the colour work. I struggled between hand spraying the edges and masking off edges. Masking off gives a clean line. But too clean. My air brush skills are way short of doing them with the air brush. I’m still in the beginners class when it comes to air brushing. 
Anyway it’s early days. By the time all the goodies go on and a good coating of dirt and dust go on who will know? I’ll give it a clear coat before weathering. That may darken up the colours a bit.
I had about 8 images/tanks to go by. Not one paint scheme was the same. So I just freelanced it. But I think it needs more black. I’m impressed with AK paints. One stuff up on my part by thinning too much but apart from that it sprayed fine.
Next?
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Nice Bruce.
The AK Tan doesn’t seem to have the Orange-Pink undertones of Auscam in your pic though.
Looks great, and you really shouldn’t worry about that cam, It is looking great as is ! And I am a huge fan of AK paints now, They give a great finish, and a really hard shell that takes a lot of handling with no issues. I reckon once you have a few washes or filters on it that will bring it all together … great work 
I’m painting wheels. Exciting. But here’s two images to add to the confusion. Not the centre colour. Also the centre wheel on the second image.
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That weird color pattern on the road wheels is caused by dirt/dust/mud swirling around as the vehicle moves.
Here’s the full image. Every wheel is the same. No dirt. Tank is relatively clean. So why would every wheel be the same? If is was dirt/dust/mud swirling around around then it would be more random! See around the nuts are all exactly the same.
The rims themself are clean suggesting the tank had recently been cleaned.
Sure looks like different coloured paint to me …
Parts from different paint shops??
These are single colour
so it doesn’t seem to be universal
This one is really peculiar
From the firing line photo:
Robin I have a large number of Australian m1a1 images. There seems to be a mix of examples. Your second image is an example where the third from the back wheel is the original colour.
I’m just throwing this colour issue out there as an example of how there is no one right answer.
FWIW I’ve painted all my wheels the same colour. I was tempted to have a mix but chickened out.
It can be tricky to explain odd paint jobs
Robin I have it from a good source that all road wheels are painted the same “complete set of LOD road wheels, idlers and sprockets.” But with some “There are also images of tanks that have random replacement roadwheels finished in the original delivery CARC Tan.” Quoting Rod Cairns on the PARATUS Facebook page.
Mine are all CARC Tan so I’m wrong. But they are now painted and the ADF has to come and help me repaint them if they aren’t happy!!
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