RFM Puma Tracks & Side Armour

Yesterday was a track day and it took a good afternoon's work to assemble the tracks. Most of that time was spent on cleanup but the finished tracks look very good and are workable. I drilled out the last link and used some brass wire which makes life easier when painting & fitting them.

Next I tackled the side armour and skirts assemblies as I wanted to check if these could be left off until the lower hull, wheels & tracks had been painted. Here the fit is good but the front sections around the sprocket are made up of a couple of sections that need careful line up. The other option here is to add the wheels and side armour then paint. 

With the final look I have in mind and the fact almost bugger all can be seen I'm leaning towards this choice. With a good coat of black primer and NATO green sprayed on the wheel, sprocket & idler faces followed by some detail painting this should save a bit of faffing about. The tracks can be cut to two half lengths and then fitted to the sprocket and idler wheels at the end of the build.