diff --git a/docs/issues/47-model-source-download-visibility.md b/docs/issues/47-model-source-download-visibility.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ca1e9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/issues/47-model-source-download-visibility.md
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# US-047 — Model-source race: visibility, sane timeouts, quiet tracker aborts
+
+Status: in progress
+Priority: High (follow-up to US-044/US-046; blocks usable LAN downloads)
+
+## Context
+
+Reported 2026-07-06 (Windows CPU node, 79.2 GB RAM, `--tracker
+http://192.168.0.179:8080 --model Qwen3.6-35B-A3B`):
+
+1. Startup prints `(auto-join unavailable: HTTP Error 503)` even though the
+   user explicitly named a model. The auto-join query (`/v1/network/assign`)
+   never sends the requested model, so a fresh tracker + a caller too small
+   for the *recommended* preset 503s (expected per US-046) — but the whole
+   auto-join step is pointless when the user already picked a model: the
+   `/v1/nodes/assign?model=…` call right after it succeeds (assigned layers
+   0–2 with tracker `model_sources`).
+2. The tracker-vs-HuggingFace race then starts, but only HuggingFace shows
+   progress (hf tqdm bars). The tracker tar download prints nothing and
+   swallows every failure (`except Exception: return None`), so the node
+   *appears* to download only from slow HF; the user killed it. Tracker-side
+   log showed the tar stream reset mid-`archive.add` — with no way to tell
+   whether the client timed out or the user aborted.
+3. `_download_model_source` inherits `peer_timeout` (2.0 s) as its urlopen
+   socket timeout. Any 2 s read stall during a multi-GB tar stream silently
+   kills the tracker source and leaves HF as the only contender.
+4. Every client abort spams the tracker console with a full
+   `BrokenPipeError`/`ConnectionResetError` traceback from `socketserver`.
+
+## Fix
+
+1. `startup.py`: skip the network auto-join query entirely when a model was
+   explicitly requested (`model` set and not `"stub-model"`); path 3b
+   (`/v1/nodes/assign?model=…`) is the authoritative one there.
+2. `downloader.py`: model-source downloads get their own timeout constant
+   (30 s socket timeout) instead of the 2 s peer-probe timeout. Peer shard
+   downloads keep 2 s — they run sequentially before the race, and a dead
+   peer must not hang startup for 30 s; the race is concurrent so a slow
+   source costs nothing.
+3. `downloader.py`: progress + failure visibility for the race —
+   `_download_model_source` prints received bytes every 512 MB and prints
+   the exception when a source fails, so "downloads only from HF" can never
+   happen silently again.
+4. Tracker `_handle_model_files_download`: catch
+   `BrokenPipeError`/`ConnectionResetError` around the tar stream and log a
+   single line instead of a traceback.
+
+## Acceptance criteria
+
+- [ ] Node started with an explicit `--model` never queries
+  `/v1/network/assign` and never prints `auto-join unavailable`.
+- [ ] During the race, tracker-source progress lines appear alongside HF
+  tqdm output; a failing tracker source prints its exception.
+- [ ] A ≥2 s read stall no longer aborts a tracker model-source download
+  (30 s socket timeout).
+- [ ] Client disconnect during `/v1/model-files/download` logs one line on
+  the tracker, no traceback.
+- [ ] `python -m pytest` passes from repo root.
diff --git a/packages/node/meshnet_node/downloader.py b/packages/node/meshnet_node/downloader.py
index c57958d..15c4fac 100644
--- a/packages/node/meshnet_node/downloader.py
+++ b/packages/node/meshnet_node/downloader.py
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ from typing import Any
 
 _DEFAULT_CACHE = Path.home() / ".cache" / "meshnet" / "shards"
 _PEER_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 2.0
+# Model-source tar streams are multi-GB; a short socket timeout must not kill
+# them on a transient read stall. Peer probes keep the short timeout because
+# they run sequentially before the race and may hit dead endpoints.
+_MODEL_SOURCE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 30.0
+_PROGRESS_INTERVAL_BYTES = 512 * 1024 * 1024
 
 
 def compute_shard_checksum(shard_dir: Path) -> str:
@@ -111,6 +116,8 @@ def _download_model_source(
     source: dict,
     shard_dir: Path,
     timeout: float,
+    progress: bool = False,
+    label: str = "model-source",
 ) -> Path | None:
     url = source.get("url")
     if not isinstance(url, str) or not url:
@@ -125,16 +132,26 @@ def _download_model_source(
         extract_dir = tmp_root / "extract"
         extract_dir.mkdir()
         try:
+            received = 0
+            next_report = _PROGRESS_INTERVAL_BYTES
             with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=timeout) as resp, archive_path.open("wb") as out:
                 while True:
                     chunk = resp.read(1024 * 1024)
                     if not chunk:
                         break
                     out.write(chunk)
+                    received += len(chunk)
+                    if progress and received >= next_report:
+                        print(f"  {label}: {received / 1e9:.1f} GB received ...", flush=True)
+                        next_report += _PROGRESS_INTERVAL_BYTES
+            if progress:
+                print(f"  {label}: transfer complete ({received / 1e9:.2f} GB), extracting ...", flush=True)
             _safe_extract_shard(archive_path, extract_dir)
             shutil.move(str(extract_dir), str(shard_dir))
             return shard_dir
-        except Exception:
+        except Exception as exc:
+            if progress:
+                print(f"  {label}: download failed: {exc!r}", flush=True)
             return None
 
 
@@ -178,7 +195,9 @@ def _download_from_fastest_source(
             for index, source in enumerate(model_sources):
                 label = str(source.get("type") or "model-source")
                 candidate = tmp_root / f"source-{index}"
-                jobs[pool.submit(_download_model_source, source, candidate, timeout)] = (label, candidate)
+                jobs[pool.submit(
+                    _download_model_source, source, candidate, timeout, progress, label,
+                )] = (label, candidate)
             allow_patterns = _allow_patterns_from_sources(model_sources)
             hf_candidate = tmp_root / "huggingface"
             jobs[pool.submit(_download_huggingface_subset, hf_repo, cache_dir, hf_candidate, allow_patterns)] = (
@@ -189,7 +208,9 @@ def _download_from_fastest_source(
                 label, candidate = jobs[future]
                 try:
                     result = future.result()
-                except Exception:
+                except Exception as exc:
+                    if progress:
+                        print(f"  {label}: download failed: {exc!r}", flush=True)
                     continue
                 if result is None:
                     continue
@@ -324,7 +345,7 @@ def download_shard(
             cache_dir=cache_dir,
             shard_dir=shard_dir,
             progress=progress,
-            timeout=peer_timeout,
+            timeout=max(peer_timeout, _MODEL_SOURCE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS),
         )
         if raced is not None:
             return raced[1]
diff --git a/packages/node/meshnet_node/startup.py b/packages/node/meshnet_node/startup.py
index 5700cf3..a3365f5 100644
--- a/packages/node/meshnet_node/startup.py
+++ b/packages/node/meshnet_node/startup.py
@@ -561,13 +561,19 @@ def run_startup(
         raise ValueError("--shard-start / --shard-end require --model-id")
 
     # 3a. Auto-join: query tracker for network-wide HF model assignment.
-    print("Querying tracker for network assignment...", flush=True)
-    assign_qs = urllib.parse.urlencode({"device": device, "vram_mb": assignment_vram_mb, "ram_mb": ram_mb})
+    # Skipped when the user explicitly requested a model — the shard-assignment
+    # query below (/v1/nodes/assign?model=…) is authoritative there, and a fresh
+    # tracker would otherwise print a scary 503 for the model-less auto-join.
     net_assignment: dict = {}
-    try:
-        net_assignment = _get_json(f"{tracker_url}/v1/network/assign?{assign_qs}")
-    except Exception as exc:
-        print(f"  (auto-join unavailable: {exc})", flush=True)
+    if model and model != "stub-model":
+        print(f"Model {model!r} requested explicitly — skipping network auto-join.", flush=True)
+    else:
+        print("Querying tracker for network assignment...", flush=True)
+        assign_qs = urllib.parse.urlencode({"device": device, "vram_mb": assignment_vram_mb, "ram_mb": ram_mb})
+        try:
+            net_assignment = _get_json(f"{tracker_url}/v1/network/assign?{assign_qs}")
+        except Exception as exc:
+            print(f"  (auto-join unavailable: {exc})", flush=True)
     assigned_hf_repo: str | None = net_assignment.get("hf_repo")
     _gap_found: bool = bool(net_assignment.get("gap_found", False))
 
diff --git a/packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py b/packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py
index fbd724a..8ae8c80 100644
--- a/packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py
+++ b/packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py
@@ -3879,10 +3879,17 @@ class _TrackerHandler(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
         self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/x-tar")
         self.send_header("X-Meshnet-Model-Source", "tracker")
         self.end_headers()
-        # dereference: HF cache snapshots are symlinks into blobs/ — ship contents.
-        with tarfile.open(fileobj=self.wfile, mode="w|", dereference=True) as archive:
-            for rel in rel_files:
-                archive.add(snapshot_dir / rel, arcname=rel)
+        try:
+            # dereference: HF cache snapshots are symlinks into blobs/ — ship contents.
+            with tarfile.open(fileobj=self.wfile, mode="w|", dereference=True) as archive:
+                for rel in rel_files:
+                    archive.add(snapshot_dir / rel, arcname=rel)
+        except (BrokenPipeError, ConnectionResetError):
+            print(
+                f"model-file download aborted by client "
+                f"({self.client_address[0]}, model={resolved_name})",
+                flush=True,
+            )
 
     def _handle_network_assign(self, parsed: urllib.parse.ParseResult):
         """Assign a new node to fill the biggest uncovered shard gap across HF-model nodes.