I did some shopping and found a brand of paint called Lifecolor that includes an Afrika SandGelb. I am leaning toward a overall sand scheme.

Latest madness includes aluminum skinning on the exhaust shrouds. I am trying to replicate the damage and even if I have overdone it I still have the spares from my K sprue to try again.

I replaced all the side skirt fasteners with 00-90 hex head bolts and washers. My skirts are firmly in place and the reference photos show only slightly damaged.

Next step is the barrel cleaning rods and tow cables. I used lengths of the 00-90 brass screws and some styrene tube stock to make threaded rods. You can actually screw them together! I have the assemblies taped in place for now.