[rockpaperscissor]

I've got a lot done over the past couple of days. I drew up a black line version of a side sponson and printed it out only to discover that it was too small. I'm not sure what happened, but I suspect I had set the working page to the wrong magnification. No biggie. In the end, I double checked the working page magnification setting, and redrew the part - perfect fit!

Once I had the side sponsons sorted, I started on the texturing process. I adjusted the color/hue/saturation of my generic concrete floor image until I had a khaki shade that I liked. I saved this page as a new texture file. I selected and copied the texture file page, and using the "paste into" function, began to fill the B&W drawing with color. I flattened the image and then added the black rivets using the brush tool. Assuming a light source from above and slightly forward, I added appropriate highlight lines to each panel, and highlighted the tops of each rivet. Finally, I surrounded each hatch with a fuzzy shadow outline.

The hull is pretty big and requires internal support. I glued picture framing mat board sections to the inside of the model. When dry, I glued on all the various hatches, which are double paper thickness. I make it a habit to add these small parts before folding and gluing up the main assembly. Finally, I built the side sponsons and glued them to the hull. I neglected to take a photo of a disassembled sponson, my apologies. It's made up of 6 parts - the main part forms the roof, floor, and front face. Then there are two strips that are glued to the front face, and lastly, a center hatch and two side machine gun ports.

The last photo shows the prepared hull with the front piece that will go on next and start to close things up.