¹⁄35

A39 Tortoise

Stage Seventeen

It is now that the instructions ask for the travel lock for the main gun to be fitted, while I added it straight after assembly in stage fourteen; be warned, it is a very tight fit, and I had to sand the mounts a little to get it home. Now add the cables for the smoke dischargers on to the front of the fighting compartment; the boxes into which the other ends of the cables terminate each have small lights, which may be formation lights, or possibly indicators. Lastly at this stage, add the guards for the periscopes over what I believe to be the driver’s position. It should be pointed out that part D16 does not appear on photos of the Tortoise prior to the trials taking place, so its inclusion depends on what you intend to represent.

Stage Eighteen

Now assemble the huge tow cables for the Tortoise; the need to drill 0.8mm holes for the string to be inserted is a pain due to the small size of the parts. It was here I spilt my first blood on the kit, stabbing myself while trying to provide a point for the drill to bite into. The string provided in the kit is very stringy and tends to separate when cut, so to overcome that, I stretched it out and applied superglue, which when cured gave a stiff straight length which was easier to cut without unravelling, and facilitated the gluing of the ends into the drilled holes.