For more on stretching sprue, texturing with glue, and other construction tips, don’t miss Part 2 of Scale Modeling Essentials in the April 2012 FineScale Modeler!
Also in the previous picture of the model, near the top and front of the hull on the starboard side is what looks like an ejector-pin mark. Or is it? Pictures of other variants showed an antenna attached at that spot — but the few pictures I could find of the Mk. III show no such feature. So, I sanded it off — but not before making sure I should.
Finally, a section of stretched sprue, softened with Testors liquid styrene cement and textured with the rough end of my trusty dental probe, replicates the rough weld bead in this spot. Additionally, it covers a slight gap.
Few model kits provide an instruction sheet in narrative style, with parts labeled by name and advice on how to assemble the pieces. You may get exquisitely executed exploded-view mechanical drawings and nothing but Chinese text. Or, you may have more basically schematic, step-by-step drawings. Some kit illustrations — such as those with my 1/35 scale Italeri Staghound Mk.III — may mimic photographs.
In those cases where the text or drawings — or both — are unclear, the next best thing is to have photos of the subject for reference. I find them invaluable in determining just how that part of the model should go together. The photos don’t have to be the greatest — just so they show the part of the subject I need to see. That’s why I gather as many pictures as I can — even when they seem to be taken from the same view or the same angle. That’s because you never know for sure which will be the one with that critical detail that only the right photo can reveal.
Sometimes, a multipiece hull can be a little tricky to figure out. Test-fitting the front plates, I wanted to be sure they overlapped or butted correctly. How smooth (or not) was that join at the top front corner? Did the top plate overlap the hull, or did mine just have a bad fit?
This photo shows a different Staghound variant, but it settled my hash. Taken at the Yad la-Shiyon Museum in Latrun, Israel (thanks, Bukvoed!), it clearly shows the Staghound’s rough-cut, slap-dab wartime body styling. So, don’t make that edge too pretty; it never was.
