The sponsons have also been to the paint shop and are ready for the suspension.
With the upper and lower track runs dry fitted I can measure for the remaining track lengths. After adding the bogies and mud scrapers(?) to the sponsons, its time to build the two sets of tracks. The individual sections are glued together making a continuous length. They will be painted off the model, then slipped over the suspension since the sprocket, idler, and roller wheels have not been glued in place.
It also helps that I have made the bogies movable. Here are the sponsons with the tracks after painting.
I have glued the upper and lower hull pieces together at this point and added some of the detail parts prior to painting. I left off the hatches, machine gun mount, and suspension till later. A note about the main gun: the barrel must be inserted from the rear as it is too big to fit the way the instructions indicate. Dry fit these parts first and you’ll see the problem. Here is the basic hull assembly after painting.
After installing the bogies and other wheels it’s time to do the tracks – again. These will be done the same as on the sponsons: continuous runs, painted off the model, and installed over the suspension with the sprocket, idler, and rollers loose.
With the hardest part over, I can think back on the track building process a bit. It took about 16 manhours to build each of the four track runs using the Bronco ‘movable’ link sets. IMHO these tracks can not be built movable without extreme care in cleaning and assembling the pieces and, even then, the run would be so fragile that the slightest stress could break them. I am also building the RFM M1A2 TUSK II right now and those links are very similar to the Bronco ones. However, they give you a jig to help assembly, the ‘connectors’ are stronger and require less cleanup, and once assembled are quite strong and movable. Just my $.02 worth. Your mileage may vary.
Final assembly of the sponsons includes pioneer tools, spare tracks, and a few other miscellaneous parts. Here are the completed sponsons.
The finished model is next