In this part of the tutorial I start the building of the model.

Here are the parts that come in the box.

Optionally you can gently wash all the sprues in soapy water. Don't hand dry them. Just lay them on paper towels and let them air dry. You air dry them so you don't knock any pieces off the sprues.

An interesting thing about this build is the metal under chassis. It adds weight and heft to the model. Not a lot of models have something like this. But it does mean that you will need some kind of super glue to attach plastic parts to it.

The first step of the assembly is to do a zimmerit coating to some of the parts. Let's have some fun. I will show you how to do it.

The process is extremely easy but I recommend you practice. I used this old plastic sprue with parts to practice on. You spread a thin layer of the plastic wood onto the part. The thinner the better.

Then use a sharp tool to scratch out this kind of pattern.

You do a series of parallel lines first then you draw a whole series of short lines between each parallel line.

So then I went ahead and did this process on the parts on the sprue as the directions recommend them.

Note about the pink color. This particular type of plastic wood that I use is designed to start out pink, while it is wet. And as it dries it turns to a wood color.

This first sub assembly is all about attaching a variety of parts to the chassis. There are a few parts miscellaneous parts and a whole lot of wheel parts.

Here is the under chassis assembly almost complete. It just needs a few more wheels and the tracks.

And another big thing about this assembly is that is has the older style track system. Some tracked models have a rubber track that is all one piece and you attach it around all the wheels just like these tracks on the Walker Bulldog

And you can see the way this tank track is assembled in the next two pictures. It is like I had previously pointed out. These tracks are different. Maybe a little bit old school? You glue three small track segments onto the drive wheels.

Then glue on more of the track pieces until the set is complete all the way around.

The drawback about this type of track is that it doesn't spin once it is complete like the rubber ones do.

Ok, that underchassis assembly was a lot of fun and it looks great. And because the body of it is metal it has quite a nice heavy feel to it.

Let's continue

The Amphibious Truck (Duckboat)

The duck boat (DUKW) was a multi purpose vehicle that was effective on land as a truck and in water as a boat. You can check it out here: The Duckboat model

Make a P51 Mustang

This is a great little plastic model kit. It is very inexpensive, easy to build and looks great. If you have never built a plastic model this one is a great first project. I have a complete tutorial and a video right here: Make a P51 Mustang