1:35 Lifting hatch - plate hooks for Tiger II and Jagdtiger with weld seam, 40 pcs.

Forty lifting lugs with a weld for the Tiger II and the Jagdtiger

The set from the Panzerkraft brand brings forty three-dimensionally printed lugs in 1:35 scale, on which armor plates and hatches were hung. The print captures the bead of the weld by which the lug was fastened to the plate as well, so the laborious building up with putty is done away with. A printed part moreover offers a finer shape than the parting line of an injection mold can manage.

What the lugs served for on the real machine

The Tiger II and the Jagdtiger weighed over sixty tons and neither their armor plates nor their hatches nor the barrel could be lifted by hand. A workshop crane was therefore hung on the welded-on lugs distributed over the hull, the turret and the roof of the fighting compartment. Period photographs show them on practically every piece produced, and in this scale they belong among the details a viewer notices sooner than more complicated modifications.

Working with tiny parts

• separate the lugs with a new blade and level the mark from the support with a file
• cut the original shapes from the mold away and sand the surface under them down
• carry the parts with tweezers and join them with super glue
• forty pieces will cover several vehicles at once

Who the set suits

It will be appreciated by modelers of heavy German equipment who want to improve the look of the hull with no intervention in the construction. The work calls for a steady hand and good light, but not for experience with photo-etched metal. The spare lugs come in as a supply for future projects as well.