¹⁄35

A39 Tortoise

Stage Nine

This stage covers attachment of the main gun to the fighting compartment, and it is surprisingly easy to attach all of the parts while retaining movement in the gun. There is a light seam line along both sides of the barrel that will need to be cleaned up but it is quite easy to do. The armour plate on the barrel that protects the gimbal does have a locater, but I found it didn’t engage, so if you have the same problem ensure that one of the six bolts is top dead centre. Lastly in this stage, the rear plate is added to the fighting compartment; the detail is very good and accurate, but you’ll need to hide the joins with some texturing, since on the real vehicle this was all a single casting.

Stage Ten

Here you assemble the commander’s cupola, again a straightforward task that is clearly explained in the instructions. In my example part D12 was damaged beyond repair, so has not been added at this time. Something that is missing from the kit is the part that I believe secures the hatch in the open position; also missing is the latch detail around the left hand brace that can be clearly seen in pictures of the real Tortoise.