I never want to see the color orange again.

Just a HAZARD tank update. I've been hammering at these things every day, and have some new progress pics. the bodies, turrets and tow hooks are finished and clear coated.

One of the features for the HAZARD is the use of a third party armored canopy, made by Shapeways (a 3D printing service) designer Yetibrew.

This is my first time working with anything from Shapeways, and I wasn't prepared for the deep print lines on many of the surfaces. For a customizer making one item, they would be an ideal way to get a unique part for your project, but for me, making 20 tanks with a deadline, they were somewhat difficult to work with. I sanded them heavily before painting, then put a coat of primer and a first coat of orange, then sanded them pretty heavily again. After several coats of orange, the lines are still pretty visible.

Another issue was that the canopies were a pretty tight fit to the tanks, and because of the color and type of paint I am using, the paint job is pretty heavy, and there is potential for chipping from repeated movement of the canopy. I tried to offset this by leaving the tank hinge area unpainted, but I think I'll be including a note with each tank to avoid excessive handling of the canopy. That is probably a no-brainer for most people that understand they are getting a custom painted piece, but better safe than sorry.

I have to finish the treads, which have to be masked twice and coated 4 times, and then comes the detail work. I have about a week left to delivery, and I need a working piece for pics for Hisstank.com ASAP.