I'd written up a draft for this. Bleedin' thing disappeared. Oh well. Starting from the beginning. I must have been supplied by the US military....
At any rate, the essential details:
Sunday saw my disassembly, in as much as was reasonable and practicable at my skill level, for the modification and repaint process. There were no nasty surprises, and I got a great deal of work done, as seen below. I only neglected to disassemble areas requiring soldering and, in one case, a part that I was unsure how to remove safely. Masking should probably take care of that concern.
I have identified a pair of colors that represent a color to me that seems appropriate compared to historical examples. The catch (and there is always a catch, as they say) is that the base paint in question is produced by Vallejo, and whilst I enjoy working with their paints, their sprays are not precisely well stocked locally, nor is Vallejo particularly good about keeping up stock levels on their end. We'll see. AK Interactive used to make a perfect color, but that appears to be out of production... I don't use an airbrush to do my painting. Rattle cans and brushes suit me fine.
I'm sure I can use another, but this particular mix of colors would be perfect for the job, and I really don't think completely hand brushing the base coat is appropriate or particularly practical, though some of it will have to be hand applied.
The metal parts appear to be workable for rust affects and potential mud and dirt effects. I don't see that interfering with operation, so that bit will be easy enough. The rubber road wheels are extremely difficult to remove, so it'll likely be a case of my matte coating the metal wheels and painting in the color for most... I'll likely leave some bare metal, to represent recent replacements.
I also unpacked the various accessories and sorted through what was provided. I have mixed opinions. Whilst some of them were much nicer than I expected, it's clear that some will need to be replaced. So these are just a few general thoughts. I'm not one of those sorts of modelers who feels that things need to be replaced with another part simply because of the need for the challenge or due to a change in material: in general, if the part is solid and looks the part, it paints up as well as any other. However, my experience has been that some parts -do- need replacing in larger scale projects, and frankly some of these are... meh. Stowage and tools look better than I had expected, though it seems to me there isn't enough of it. Rear stowage rack might need replacing. Bags and pouches are nice enough, but the cloth and resin examples I've seen might be better suited. The steel pot helmet included for stowage is... meh. Commander is fine enough I guess but a bit toyish. I haven't decided what I think about the ammo boxes. AA MG will need to be replaced. It appears that the hull MG is wired in my example to light up when fired, but the model didn't -come- with a hull machine gun barrel, so that'll also need to be seen to. I think I'd like to add a metal pistol port.
Replacements and upgrades are, of course, dependent upon finding them and getting them here in time. I've had mixed success with that recently. Several weeks ago I came across a number of listings for cosmetic accessories. I'll have to see if I can't find them again.
Stencils, at least, are sorted, as is a much better tank commander: both are coming from Rad.
So, to summarize.
1. Need to source the paint that I've identified and in both spray and bottle form. The whitewash for snow camo will be much, much easier. There will be no "piled snow" on the vehicle, incidentally: that doesn't stick to tanks unless they sit still for a good long while, and my experience has been that it doesn't "work" for my over critical eyes, though I've seen it done beautifully.
2. Will need to search carefully for cosmetic upgrades and find a way to get them here on time.
Aside from nervousness about putting the thing back together properly (the wiring was a bird's nest, and there was no diagram, though I sketched it as it appeared, and I'm very nervous about reassembling the turret ring and servo properly), this -should- be a fairly painless process. In the meanwhile, I'm in the process of reading "Death Traps," which I strongly recommend to anyone with an interest in American armored operations from a very different perspective (that of a maintenance battalion officer.)
Edit: Oops! Forgot the photos. Attaching now.
That seems to be the best time to do such hobby work. One can do disassembling inside. In fact, believe me, it's possible even to paint in an apartment bathroom without losing ones deposit and being evicted.