Those photos were taken in the summer of 2005. The paint on the tank was in atrocious shape at the time; some pictures I took of it last weekend are much better. The welds look like three parallel lines and are pretty clean, all things considered, especially compared to the welds for the applique armour. Not nearly so smooth as the welds on the HVSS hulls that I've looked at (all 30+ of those), but pretty good. And as Kurt said elswhere, it's only towards the rear of the vehicle that the welds get bumpier.
I still hope to see Dragon do a direct vision M4A2. I love the company's products, although I have to say that this is a rather strange episode.
Cheers,
Scott Taylor
Thachweave Products
http://thachweave.tripod.com