1:35 Panzerfaust 30 + 60

A cellar window as a firing position

A broken-out cellar vent in the corner of an apartment block, two single-shot Panzerfausts leaning against the frame and the remains of bricks beside them — a scene like that tells more about urban fighting than a whole column of vehicles. The Panzerfaust was a weapon of the last months of the war, put into anybody's hands, and a little pile of them by a wall is therefore a shortcut to the whole story of an encircled city.

The number in the designation gives the effective range in meters. The thirty was meant for a hit from immediate proximity, the sixty doubled the range and received a stronger propellant charge and a modified sight. Both versions had a tube with a warning notice on the upper side, which warned about the space behind the weapon.

What is inside: the set carries 26 cast parts and decals to go with them. It is precisely the decals that lift the piece — without the lettering on the tube a Panzerfaust looks like a smooth pipe and loses its sense of scale.

Advice on the build: the parts are separated from the sprue with a saw, not with cutters, because the thin tube cracks easily. Before painting, the castings have to be washed in warm soapy water and left to dry completely. A decal settles better if a gloss varnish is applied under it and the whole thing is flattened off once dry.

The placement in the scene decides whether the piece works. A discarded fired tube in a ditch has a different effect from a ready weapon leaning against a wall; both at the same time reveal how long the fighting has already gone on in that place. It pays to arrange the pieces asymmetrically and leave one half buried in rubble.

• A single-shot weapon for close combat from the last period of the war
• Suitable for figures and as the equipment of a trench and a cellar position
• The model of a vehicle and figures are not included in the package