¹⁄35

Greetings from the Eastern Front

Interior Arrangement
I did not want to spend a fortune for a stock interior kit. So I decided for the partial self construction. Except the steering gear and driver station, everything else resulted from "scratching ".

The resin parts of the AIRES-kit are manufactured very fine, but the steering shaft axle, which leads to the steering brakes do not fit exactly into the hull. Extending the steering linkage and sanding down the left brake drum on the upper side provided remedy.

The cannon was assembled by means of resin blocks (breach ring and -block), plastic and metal tubes (recoil- and counter recoil mechanism), plastic sheet, wire, two compound putty and lead foil (waste shell chute, recoil guard, gunners seat), plastic- and metal rods, resp. -profiles (gun mount, sighting and aiming equipment). The purchase of a metal tube instead of the 7.5 cm cannon of the kit can saved, when one does a careful sanding job. I sealed the joint between the two cannon halves with instant adhesive and after draining I clamped the pipe into a mini drill. With sized-00 steel wool and a soft rag, soaked in toothpaste, the joint was polished at slow speed. The result is a completely joint less gun barrel.

The radios, one " 10 Watt VHF transmitter-c " and " 10 Watt VHF receiver-e ", as well as a " 30 Watt MW receiver-c"und " a 30 Watt MW transmitter " were designed by means of plastic- and metal- sheet, stretched and deformed sprues.

The hose of the crew area heating (attached in assault guns, starting from 1942) was built with steel wire, twisted round an isolated electric wire. I manufactured the faired exit at the hose connector from soldered metal tubes. Plastikcard served for the construction for the ammunition racks, the drive shaft tunnel and the crew compartment lining. I tinkered the grating of the ventilator from a spare resin piece, which was re-designed into a basked shape by means of a mini drill, again used as a turning lathe. Then I bored the holes and afterwards I scooped out this part from the rear. A plastic ring with " screws " from cut off stretched sprue serves as mount for the rear wall of the crew compartment. (This construction lasted more than 8 hours after several futile attempts to build an exhaust basket by means of copper braids!)

The MG 34 was cut, starting from the cooling jacket. I replaced this part with an aluminum sheet metal, which was perforated several times with a needle and afterwards formed to a tube around a hypodermic needle.

The profile of the floor covering was "poured ": Plastic rods are inserted into Nitro thinner for some days. The resulting plastic mash must be poured very thinly onto a slightly oiled (optional!) photo etched disk with appropriate pattern. After 1-2 days (try!) the thin foil can be removed carefully with the help of a craftsknive. Then it can be cut to size and fixed with white glue onto a plastic sheet (other adhesives loosen the foil too easily). Thus one single photo etched disk lasts a whole amateur craftsman's life!

All hooks and mountings for the accessories developed from aluminum foil. Screws and rivets were either made out of stretched sprues or with the highly recommendable " Punch and die" -set of the "Historex-Agency". I manufactured the current- and radio wiring with copper- and steel wire, as well as a full rubber hose (accessories for tilers).