Did not do the research part 94...

The ongoing saga of the Rubicon M5A1 has hit a snag, due to my research failure.

When I initially assembled the kit, I was not going to add the sand shields, because none of the pictures I could find of Guards Tank Division Stuarts had sand shields. Unfortunately I had not removed the pieces that were attached to the hull, so decided to fit the shields.

Below is a detail shot of the glacis. What is noticeable is the gap between the bottom of the glacis plate and the support for the mudguard/sand shield. You might be able to see that the top of the glacis projects above the deck (covering a gap).

I decided that the support should be in contact with the glacis, and the glacis more or less flush with the top of the deck - the distance being about the same.

So with a bit of trepidation I used a scalpel to remove the glacis plate, cleaned up and re-fixed the glacis in the new position. This left a gap (between the hatches) where the deck met the glacis. I used some micro strip to fill the gap (the white line in the picture below).

Ignorance can be bliss. I was looking for some pictures of the track of the M5 series light tanks when I found a picture of one with the sand shields. There is a gap between the glacis and the support, so the upper shot is correct.

Unfortunately, as you can see above I have inserted pegs to support the stowage I will be adding.

Ho hum.

Oh, and here is a detail shot of the track.