SU-152 Destroyed on the ditch

SU-152
My next model, going for a 4BO beast. I went for a survivor of the winter of 43 in late summer september of 43.
Struggled again with the PE, mudguards should have left out, at least the front portion, which was common and would give the vehicle a more gnarly look.
Mudguards supports were terrible... things dont align, front support were 3-4mm shorter than they should. Aber wtf?? Forced me to take one out and left another like it ripped apart. The other ones are just terrible. Miss aligned and out of place. Fixing the supports to the mudguards itself was a pain... Im not a soldering master, I tried but they were super wrong in position. Went for a PA solution which is not that great.
Construction was straightforward although I struggled with casemate closure on the hull which is is not perfect.
Plates dont align being shorter which is nasty. The gun plate over the casemate also wasn't a perfect fit, which was disappointing for a Border model. Also casemate did not touched properly over the mudguards, I tried forcing a fix from the inside with plastic sheets serving as support but it wasn't perfect.
Running gear: Suspension works which is amazing, the problem is that wheel struts are too small and conical (Border wtf?) and dont fit tightly and its easy to miss align idler wheel to roadwheels. Only the sprocket have a proper strut into which is snugs properly and it spins.
Gun mantlet should have some kind of mistake in terms of design size and fitting on the hull (its hanging), which wasn't great (border again).
The PE cover over the mantlet, I had the hinges working, but it doesn't allow the gun to elevate. Wrong design or wrong sources Aber.
Lastly, engine bay hatches are super nice but the swing arm is super thin and its hard to glue, managed to broke them after closing the casemate and had to go for a closed hatch solution.
PE periscopes are babbly designed by Aber, they are too large and they dont let the hatch close. wtf Aber?
Painting:
Made some nice 4BO layering with lighter shades, in hindsight left too much darker 4BO on recesses and low spots. Was left again with a shinny patch around decals because of high gloss varnish to help on decals. It did not got well covered when I closed everything with a semi gloss varnish.
Made chipping on sponge but I did not like the result... maybe the wrong sponge?
Weathering:
I wanted to go for that big contrast of the dust layer/clean upper hull which I like a lot. Being a casemate vehicle it was perfect for this.
Had issues giving it a gradient feel on the last upper third. Went with Nightshade tip on starting with the hull/roadwheels first and move up but I havent quite mastered the muddy layer and weathering yet. Mud layer wasnt to my liking and then I gave it a super dark look with AK enamels.
Moved up and started weathering the casemate. I think it turned out ok, maybe too much dirt/oily on engine deck but IMO ppl underestimate just how much dirt, spots, fuel and muddy oil these decks carry week to week, specially on these diesel vehicles, and a vehicle >6 months old.
Tried layering several dust tones from light to dark to give a well lived vehicle. My initial plan was for a light large dust layer for base and going for a darker tone for recent dust, covering just half of the lighter. Wasnt planning that redish look but IMO it looks cool and believable. Diorama should also be a reddish road to maintain coherence.

Weathering jobs applied in this order altough I re-did a few after dusting:
1-Primer
2-4BO shading
3-Mapping on decals
4-Chipping sponge
5-first dark wash
6-Some silver detailing
-Some lighting on bolts and elevated details
-Rust spots and runs
-Grimes and streaks
Mud lower hull
-Dusting on lower hull (later redone)
-Dusting+pigments+rea dirt and grass on upper hull
-Predusting on lower hull again re-weathered with same upper hull tones
-Exhaust treatments, oils, fuel spots etc
-Track work with primer, mud and weathering
-Silver on road wheels
-Tools painted and re-weathered
-Re applied some chipping
-Re applied graphite effect

Used again pigments to give a cake feel to the dust layers but it came out ugly and I hated it. They easily displace and I made the same mistake of using AK pigment fixer and it was a huge mistake... it leaves a wet/tide mark which is super hard to hide or remove, specially when over other dirt layers. I have not quite mastered those damn pigments. Ive seen Rinaldi using them masterfully and I knew he just uses thinner to fix them... Should had gone that rout too.
I also had quite a strange tide marks on a few AK enamels, which turned out quite ugly. Gun mantlet and vertical side walls of casemate. I dont know why but sometimes enamels are super difficult to blend and remove, and I normally just give them a couple of minutes to dry, not those 10-15m I see on books. Maybe I should go for oils instead.
After hull was done I gathered my patience and re-covered the roadwheels weathering. Covered all with a "preshade/predust" in a buff like tone to recover from that dark mud. I think I managed to recover but it has a somewhat different tones from the upper hull.
Also messed up the hatches again... did not paint them white before moving to weathering, just gave them a light white later on and its ugly af.
Original plastic texture on the mantlet base looks super fake after painting... because its too regular and even... Should have gone with "my texture".
Another issue was the tracks... man... what a pain. Whats the point in having link to link tracks just to have them crumble with any move? That system doesnt work Border. Pins are too small and too thin. I understand they look realistic but its too fragile... I had to re-drill and re-pin too many times before putting them in place. This system doesnt give any advantage to have a linked track. Plus such thin pins are also easily damaged when weathering with enamels and wetting them in thinner.
Will be adding a few objects to give an abandoned feel. clothes, jerrycans etc.
Moving on to the base and Kubelwagen.