E-75 Tank Destroyer

The Hobbyboss tracks finally arrived the other day so I spent a few hours removing the links from the sprues and cleaning them up before fitting them to the model. This was trickier that normal as the axles are very short on the kit and the Paper Panzer Productions resin wheels are a loose fit as well as the sprockets and idlers so fun times all around. 

The Hobbyboss tracks are not that bad although purists might dismiss them but for my purposes (and substantially cheaper than Fruil, Spade Ace and Modelkasten) they will do.
The links are actually handed although no mention is made about this plus on every sprue there are two triangular parts of which I have absolutely no idea what they are for.
After cleaning up the links I glued a load together (one side at a time) and left them to set for about 30-40 minutes, the track was then wrapped around the drive sprocket and rear idler. There were a few more links needed to join the track and using super glue and in some cases wire to hold a couple of links together the right side was left to set while I proceeded to stick all the links together for the opposite side. Again after being left to set the process described above was repeated and left to set.

Looking at it now I may have set the height of the axles too low so the model is sitting a bit high but fuck it, it's a what-if so who cares? The wheels and tracks are now off the model and set aside as sub-assemblies which makes painting easier.

 To update a couple of other models I have on the go, the Hurricane needs the upper wing roundels spraying as I needed to cut the decals to get them to bed down around a raised detail on each wing. This will be done using masking film and in hindsight it would have been easier to have painted them in the first place; the Leopard needs the on-vehicle equipment painting before moving onto the weathering and the ZiL-131 needs spraying in the base colour.

Also I managed to cut my finger quite badly when removing some detail on the back of the E-75 while using a chisel blade;

 I was thinking at the time that I should really move my finger while cutting the part off but left it a micro-second too late and ended up running the blade up my finger. Idiot!
Don't try this at home kidz! 

E-75 'Eber' tank destroyer

Some good progress has been made on this so far but rather boringly I have to stop as I'm working this weekend. The wheels are just fitted for show as the tracks will be glue onto them and when set the whole lot will be taken off as sub assemblies.
I masked off the engine deck and roof today and sprayed the interior black, which is something I really should have done BEFORE I glued the superstructure to the hull.

It's worth pointing out on the Trumpeter kit the slight sink mark either side of the rear hull that needs filling, I did this after filling all the location holes for the tools;

This is where I am so far;

I do like these 'what-ifs' as they give you freedom from historical accuracy which I need from time to time as I can get bogged down in research.