Construction started with the shield. The kit’s shield is of the late war style with straight edges. I wanted to have the more common scalloped shield so I went about scraping and sanding the scallops into the edge. I next thinned the edges of the shield as it was much too thick. The kit’s sight cover (part 18) is scalloped but I could find no photographic confirmation of this so I replaced it with a small piece of thin plastic sheet. Moving to the backside of the shield, there are some molded on inverted U-shaped protrusions into which one is to fit the braces (parts 22). Again I could find no reference to these so they were removed. I then cut a small length of Evergreen U-channel and added one to each side at the top of the shield. There is a separate shovel to mount on the shield. It is not the best and I replaced it with one from my spare parts box. The shield was left as a separate assembly to be added following painting.

1. Edges of shield with scallops added.
2. New sight cover made from a small piece of thin plastic sheet.

The carriage followed. The upper shield braces (parts 22) are molded with a square cross section which is incorrect. It would be best to replace them with scratch items but I just scraped their edges with my hobby knife to make them roundish. Reference [2] revealed that some extra work was in order here. Below the barrel is another shield located between the carriage legs, which I added from some plastic sheet. There is also an extra brace and stabilizer bar running along the front just behind the shield. This too was added with some plastic rod. Not totally accurate compared to the real item but it’s better than not having one at all. Last was a pair of triangular pieces located on the lower shield braces. I’m not sure what their purpose is on the real gun. The holes located at the pivot points for the barrel were covered with small disks punched from some plastic sheet. The aiming sights (part 28) and the traversing & elevating wheels (parts 24) were left off to be added later.

1. Firing lever.
2. New brace and stabilizer bar.
3. New shield/cover located between the front portion of the carriage legs.
4. Small triangular pieces on lower shield arms.
5. Small plastic disks.

Adding the box trail parts completed the major part of the build. The cross brace (part 14) needs to have a missing panel added under it. The panel also needs to have an X-brace added to the side of the panel facing the rear of the gun. I drilled a hole through the small triangular protrusions found on the outside of the trail arms.

1. Added missing panel and X-shaped bracing here.
2. Drilled hole here in triangular protrusions.

The box (part 5) is hollow so a bottom needs to be added to it. The T-handle (part 6) was modified to add a small extension to the handle where it attaches to the trail. The eyes in the tow ring are a tad too small so they were drilled out and handles at the rear of the trail were added using some thin wire.

1. Modified kit T-handle.
2. Handles from thin wire.
3. Rivets added to inside of carriage legs.
4. Hollow box needs a bottom.
5. Opened up the eyes on the tow ring.

Two pieces of ammunition are included. They don't look too good and if ammo is desired for the gun it would be best to obtain the sIG33 ammo set from Thor Hobby.

Once the trail was finished the traversing and elevating wheels were attached. They are a bit too large in diameter and touch the compensators on the legs above them. The seam lines inside the spokes are next to impossible to remove. And last, but not least, I added short extensions to the axles from some plastic rod. Now the gun was ready for painting.