(original post)
So I will just post pics -check back tomorrow for the story! Edited and added to on the 29th Dec.2009
Okay I seem to have the energy and motivation to fill in some of the blanks now so let's start with the first picture. In it you can see the front glacis armour plate from the
Tristar kit, (sanded down somewhat on the underside) and the one from the
Aber PE set,
Upper hull Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf.A - #35 066.
Next, a shot showing the
Tristar piece laid over a drawing from
Tank Power Vol.XI PzKpfw I vol.I - #266 from
Wydawnictwo Militaria .
I would use the one from
Panzer Tracts but for some reason there are no 1/35th scale drawings in their otherwise excellent book on the subject.
In this case there seems to be some dimensional issues with the opening for the access hatch.
Here the metal piece which seems to have the correct width, (if the corners are more round than in the drawing.)
Here you can see I've impetuously glued the rear hull part E7. This is an apparently improved one from the original releases from
Tristar. The main difference is the metal flange at the top. I should have taken the time to thin the wall of the plastic first as I did at this time plan on using the circular cover plate from the Aber set. I also should have reamed out the opening more carefully as I ended up going too far out of the boundry and well I decided at that point to use the rear plate from the
Aber set and all the details that go on it.
Here I have annealed the part to help with the bending of the lower angle. The plastic floor on the
Tristar tub needed to be trimmed off.
I next tried to improve the look of the seam with some filler putty,
The two end flanges meant for positioning the part on a Zvezda or Historic kit were removed.
Dry test
Here you can see I actually came to cut some brass from a sheet in a cursory attempt at scratching some metal parts for the hull. This I didn't go forward with as that is more work at this time than I am willing to commit too!
Here I cut the rear engine deck parts off the tree. Little did I know that this would be a folly. The kit is not compatible with the dimensions of a Panzer I/A, but for a Zvezda Panzer I/B. I suspected this but I was curious.