DT-74 Painting Begun (1/35)

Despite my somewhat disappointing mixing up of suspension parts, I have carried on working on the DT-74 tractor.

The usually tedious work of cleaning up individual track links were over faster than anticipated due to good moulding and very little flash. Fitting tracks made from individual links can be a little tricky. The bottom run is the easy part, whereas the upper run, particularly with the track sagging, is more difficult. I kept the upper track run in one piece with a length of masking tape. The masking tape allowed me to position the track links more or less as I wanted them, without them falling apart. The tracks were glued with CA glue. 

Track fitted. Engine and dozer blade test fitted to check fit and clearances to other parts.

Engine and drive train consists of only a few parts. Assembly is easy, but make sure everything lines up correctly. As only one side of the engine will be visible I didn't attatch details to the hidden side of the engine. I don't bother spending time and energy with detail that can't be viewed on a model. I feed the unused parts to my spares box.

Assembly of the dozer blade and its mounting didn't present any challenges except for the repair of a broken beam on the bracket holding the hydraulic cylinder controlling the blade height. In order to assemble the cab in a sequence allowing easy painting and weathering, I decided to finish the cab floor assembly first and paint it. I will then glue the pre-painted cab front to the floor. The rest of the cab is only fitted when finishing the kit.

As I separated the seat from its moulding block I damaged the front. I had to repair the damage with plasticcard and filler. I added a little wear to the seat now I was working on the part anyway. For the pedals I exhanged some of the etched parts with brass wire.

Current status is that I have primed chassis and tracks, cab floor, and engine parts. Several of the parts are also now covered with their main colour. Next up is detail painting and weathering. I'm painting the model in 5-6 sub assemblies to make it easier to fit and paint interior detail and to apply a prototypical weathering of all the 'hard to get to places' there is on the model. I expect some touch ups of both paint and weathering after I have brought all assemblies together.

First paint on the tractor. All of it put on with air brush.

Basic weathering applied to the inside of the chassis and on the cab's and engine's underside. The three parts are now ready to be glued together.

Engine, cab floor and radiator fitted to the chassis. The dark grey piece of solder wire is the hydraulic hose supplying oil to the dozer blade lifting mechanism. As this side of the engine will be hidden there is no detail fitted.