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I have jumped a few stages and I am going to get the chassis built as much as possible and then spray in the final colour. each part has been degreased and cleaned up prior to etch primer, and then assembled. The various deck supports are on. They were a tad fiddley, but once I took some meat off of my brand new set of spanners, it was a lot easier.
The swing arms and torsion assembly are not locked in, they will be taken off to get the final colour, and to give me a clear run at the chassis.

I opened the first of the wrapped items today, and started to clean them up. Filed/deburred of the edges in the fenders and radiator surround. The fenders took a bit of fettling to get them to fit well, no problem, be boring otherwise.
Quick question, think it shows up in the photos, but there is a texture to the fenders/radiator surround, my gut is to leave this, or, did they have a smooth finish? prefer the texture finish to be honest.

Now I've got this far the boxes are getting lighter, and the bags are disappearing. Very satisfying.

Colin,
In the book I have on the Sd Kfz 7 the fenders look like they are smooth, stamped steel, the radiator as well. The Amortek parts are cast thus rougher in texture. Go with your preference, it's your build so make it how you want it to be/look like that's all that matters, plus having fun with it as well.

Congratulations on your purchase, hours of fun to follow. I would certainly recommend the purchase of a good tap and die set as You are certainly going to need them at some point and a couple of hours grief from the wife is much better than getting a screw or bolt head stuck and end up having to drill them out! ( bitter experience ) I Always run a tap through every hole first. just to clean the thread out, Only takes a couple of seconds to run through a hole. Enjoy
Regards
Steve

Hi, regarding the castings on the cast parts, if I had thought about it a bit more the answer is obvious. The rest of the make up of the body work is plate/pressed steel(?), therefore a textured area on the odd part would not be in keeping (didn't fancy spraying with textured paint). So I have made a start on smoothing of the texture. Between a electric sander and various bits in my Dremel, it didn't take too long. The photo is halfway through, and before finishing with wet and dry. I didn't do the underside I hasten to to add.

Just the job, the mudguards were a smooth Pressed / Rolled thin steel, much like a car wing or panel, regards simon manning.

I Know these job realy good
If you want the realy good finish, coat it with fine putty and spray putty bevor painting.

I have avoided opening any of the wrapped items, eke out the wow factor, but decided I wanted to get on to some of the more repetitive items. So I opened the road wheel A package. Yup, big wow factor. I have rubbed sandpaper across the rims to roughen that of and run my ever useful Dremel with a wire brush across the face of the wheel, and then dropped the whole lot into degreaser ready for etch priming. Not sure on what my building/final colour spraying sequence is going to be, but at the moment Im thinking, etch spray all parts, assemble all, except for bearings, spray final colour and then loktite in bearings. Then the tyres can be attached. Looks good in my head, but my head is on a different plane to reality, so we will see.

May be of use to you Colin. It was sent to me by Kian to clarify idler angle.