I'm still working on this, so its very patchy at the moment.
Straighten turret. Scrape flashing from either side of turret. Straighten turret again. Watch for flashing on either side of the main body of the turret, watching that you don't remove the raised panel or the secondary millimeter radar antenna on the upper left.
Cut off the gob on the middle center of the back, taking care not to dull the edges on the deliberately raised part. Front and back of the tread covers are also a common area for serious extraneous material. Scrape flashing from sides of tread covers.
I love these things.
Remove the gob from the rear of the cabin, above the skirt, between the pylons. Run your ceramic spoon down each and every one of the skirt leaves. Some units have a seam just below the body, some two thirds of the way down the skirt, some both. Watch out that you don't take the corners off the skirt bulges. I scrape down so that I don't accidentally scuff the body.
Watch for junk underneath the side turrets - its nice to make them stand out. I'm even going to try to make them black with a silver gun. Can't have too much detail, as long as you can make it distinct. Lastly, clear flashing from around and under the main gun and on the sides: you want the business end of the thing to look sharp.
Straighten the jet pylons.
The turbine "H's" have flashing along both sides (remember these rounded surfaces really show off flashing after painting. Also, there's all kinds of hard to see junk on the ends, sometimes even strings. Clean out the little holes, too.
Be sure to email Paul Chapman at SJ Games and ask them to introduce the Galahad Repair Kit, six "H's" of turbines for a dollar to replace those lost in combat. I haven't lost any yet, but people who have been playing for years have lost a few, and that's quite a blow. Would you want a GEV thats 2/2, D2, M0?
Okay, this one has a couple challenges. Flashing along the sides? You're used to that by now, and there are no protrusions so it only takes a second. Strings on front or rear of tread covers? Two swipes of a blade and all traces are gone.
Giant gob of stuff front and center, on a curved, textured surface? Uh, oh. If you're at a convention and want to judge someone's preparation skills, pick up one of their PE MSL's and stare it straight in the face.
If you scrape too much the surface will be unevenly rounded and you will lose more of the texture. If you try to do it in just one cut you'll get a flat spot. So try to take most of the gob off in one cut, making sure you don't go to far and gouge the front of the body. The scrape the rest down very gently, with controlled strokes. Then just get flashing on the lower front of the body.
The last nasty detail is a little easier. The rear of the unit has some very nice details, blocky bits and round bits, but there's flashing between them and on them. Just don't round the corners of the details, think short scrapes.
Scrape flashing from the sides of the base, top and bottom of the gun barrel. Look for a vertical line of flashing going up each side of the gun mount.
I love one piece minis!
As with the Galahad, each and every vertical groove in the skirts needs a swipe with something pointed and sharp. The sides of the turbines also have some flashing. Then, and this is tough to describe, the rear part of the cabin, where the bubble *isn't*, may have light flashing running horizontally across the lower third of that surface. The forward part of the cabin, beneath the bubble, has a deliberate groove in about the same place. Be careful.
You will also almost certainly find a very annoying gob on the back. There is a really cool cylinder with bands around it (like on the back of the NAC Ogres) running transverse on the very back of the body, just above the skirt. Don't damage this while removing the gob, which is usually right on top of it.
If you're *really* bold, you can try to cut out a notch underneath what passes for a main gun on the LGEV. Cut straight in underneath the gun (this will cause the gun to bend up, possibly breaking off). Then cut up from the treads (if you go too far you will cut off the gun). If successful this will make the gun stand out a bit more from the treads. If unsuccessful you will have a 0/2, D1, M4/3 unit. I did this to the first few, then decided that paint will make the gun stand out. I only cut off one out of four guns, but I think you get the picture.
Flash along both sides. Maybe faint, but it will be visible when paint is on there. Across the downward slope at the rear of each track cover. Across the back of the upper hull. Scrape very gently across the center of the main hull between the front track protrusions - don't mess up the angle, but take off the flash. Inside the front track protrusions.
Along either side of each barrel. Those tiny little fringes really show up on round surfaces.
Save the little U-shaped tree the guns come on - makes a great little foxhole thing for your infantry.
On the PE inf I found some flashing between the legs and on top of hands and guns. I think some of these guys are supposed to have their thumbs sticking out, so don't be to aggressive. Its hard to reload the standard 100mm HEAT launcher with no thumb.
Wire cutters will seperate the figures, but leave stretched, pointed edges that don't fit in the bases. You could cut that off, of course. I chose to cut the figures apart with a knife. This requires heavy pressure, and sometimes a piece flies off. A clever person would use eye protection. Make sure they fit in the base when you're done.
There are three ways I can think of to allow for the need of "ones," "twos," and "threes" during the game. First, you can not glue the figures into the bases and remove men as squads are eliminated; in to my mind this means that you will soon have nothing but ones. Second, you can glue all three men in, and then indicate the loss of one or two squads with a die or paper marker; in my book that's a nuisance. Third, you can create a one and a two for every two threes that you make. That means instead of buying four bases and four strips of three men for $3 to field four platoons (75 cents per platoon), you get six strips and eight bases for $5 ($1.25 per platoon).
Of course, the ones and twos have extra space on the base and a couple big holes. I filled these with spackle, bcause I had it around. Worked okay. Then I build mini-dioramas, see Infantry Modelling.
After priming and spraying them with red, then blacked the bases, and made the guns and backpacks black as well. Try to get the cable that connects to the gun. I painted the helmets white, then painted one little black stripe across the face. This little visor-look really makes them look more like people.
Flashing along the back. Flashing along the sides, but scrape each layer of the stair-stepped part (the track stabilizer) seperately so that you don't round any corners. There might be some stuff on the front
More flash potential on the edges of the dish antenna, top and bottom of the gun barrel, and underneath the back end of the gun. Carriage or turret or whatever you call it has a line running up the right hand side from the base to the axle, and also check the back.
If the HWZ is a lot of punch for a little prep, the LT TNK is the opposite. The prep isn't too bad, but the gluing is.
I found flashing only on the front and back of the main body, but check the sides, too. The front and back require care becase the PE LT TNK has lots of protuberances that you don't want to end up as metal filings.
The turret has some tiny stuff along the sides that's important, particularly around the gun barrel. Edges of the antenna dish are easy. be very gentle with the mast. You can straighten the mast if you want to, but you'll have to do it again later.
Deluxe G.E.V. includes: Command Post, 6 GEVs, 6 LGEVs, 4 Heavy Tanks, 4 Missile Tanks, 4 Light Tanks, 1 Howitzer, 1 Mobile Howitzer, 18 Infantry Squads, 8 Infantry Bases)