Alternative ways of doing things.

Sometimes you need an alternative way of doing things. In my case the Egyptian T34 tank kit is still causing me grief with all of its photo etched brass parts. At the moment I am attaching the various grab and tie down handles which all are in etched brass and tiny. They are testing both my eyesight and actually handle them is a test of tweezer manipulation. I was attaching one of the tie down handles for the snow cleats that are fastened to the tracks when the tank operates in winter conditions. Quiet why an Egyptian tank would carry these in a desert terrain is something I will need to research but in the meantime I am assuming even if they did not carry the cleats the tie down handles would still be in place. Anyway, whilst attaching the second tie down handle is shot out of the grip of the tweezers and disappeared without trace. There are no spares so I had to resort to an alternative way of doing things. I did try bending some very small plastic rod into a handle shape but the rod was too fragile to bend and broke. Luckily I had some thin brass wire so that was my alternative way of doing this. With the aid of pliers a near replacement was bent up and as it was somewhat easier to manipulate than the etched brass version I made the further four required. They don't look pretty (and I am not doing a close in photo for that reason!) but neither do the etched brass versions. What I have to remember is at the moment they stand out as they are in brass and once painted they will look better. Also in real life a 20 year old tank would not been in pristine condition and things like grab and tie down handles would be bent and misshapen from years of use and lack of maintenance. That is my excuse anyway!