1:35 Německé batohy WW II

The field kit of a German infantryman

A calfskin pack, a bread bag, canvas sacks and a rolled blanket made up the load a soldier carried on his back and, when riding on an armored vehicle, set down on a fender, in a basket by the turret or simply on the engine deck. Stowed equipment turns the stark shape of a vehicle into an inhabited machine, and it is one of the simplest ways to give a model a story.

Nine castings capture the individual pieces separately, so the arrangement stays with the builder. That is exactly where working with this set differs from a kit: nothing has a fixed place and nothing falls into position by itself.

The material is cast resin, that is, a substance with no give. The straps and buckles stand only a few tenths of a millimeter above the surface, so sanding over them means erasing them. Always remove excess material from the back of the part, not from the visible side. The back also often needs hollowing, so that a sack seats on the curved edge of a fender; a round file or a drill with an abrasive head suits that.

Gluing is handled by super glue in its thicker gel form. The runny version escapes from the contact surface before the part has settled, whereas the gel gives a few seconds to adjust the position. Where a sack is to hang from a strap, drill a hole in both the part and the vehicle and run drawn thread or thin copper wire through it; the joint then holds mechanically.

In color it is worth separating leather from canvas. The pack tends to be darker and glossier, the canvas parts grayish and faded, and it is precisely that difference that keeps stowed kit legible even after the whole vehicle has been dusted.