Out of the woods?

My friends, after three days of suffering I'm back on my feet. Covid hit me hard during the first night, feelings of extreme cold and heat, shivers all over my body, sweating, everyone who went through it knows the drill! Then headaches, runny nose, wet and dry coughing, the whole nine. Yesterday I felt pretty good but still exhausted, and today everything feels pretty much normal except the runny nose and a bit of coughing every now and then. Energy levels feel back to normal as well! 

So I celebrated this speedy recovery by spending over an hour on a stupid hatch! I knew the Dragon part was awful but was willing to leave it like that, with some texture, of course. But hey, why not make it look at least slightly more authentic and gnarly? Yeah, the casting numbers from Archer are random, but that's not the point :D 

In other news, the driver's periscope is molded as a single part with its armored cover. This is sweet for an operational tank, but range targets don't have periscopes. So I 3D modeled the armored cover and carved out the periscope opening. Small, but satisfying detail! 

I also added most of the welding detail over the entire hull, the missing bolts on the fenders were also added, as well as some photoetch. The hull "cheeks" around the turret ring had to be slightly reshaped as well, but nothing major. 

The entire armor plate around the driver's hatch is completely inaccurate, and the front plate is also pure fantasy from Dragon, especially the non-existent cross section where it meets the side plates. I would address this if I were to build the kit again, but with the running gear glued in place, I had to leave it as is. 

Hopefully the next update will conclude the hull. I need to add details to the engine deck and rear plate and then move onto the turret!