Welcome To My Kleinfunksprecher d “Dorette” Radio Page One.

This page was made because I am always looking out for something different with my figures, and after I saw the excellent figure made by a fellow modeller mustangman, I found out that the German single man radio unit was available through Panzerwerks. The picture on the right is the finished radio as advertised on their website. What I also liked about this model is that the radio unit is in a kit form, and that it would have to be both assembled and painted, the same as the units in the Dragon Torn.Fu.d2 radio kit. So with this figure I have now completed the collection that I wanted, of a single British, US and now a German radio man.

The Radio Kit by Panzerwerks

Below are pictures of the pieces as supplied by Panzerwerks, and I am amazed at how detailed the items are especially as they are cast in resin, as I have very little experience of this material in 1/6th scale. I did find some forum topics about the Panzerwerks model here and here which I have found very helpful.

Picture 1. is the first page in PDF form of the instructions from Panzerwerks on assembling the radio, as they have to be downloaded from the website. Picture 2. is the second page in PDF form for assembling the radio aerial. I did notice on the first page it talks of having to use a piece of metal from a soda can, to make an item for the radio unit. So to try to help explain this I have the photos below about how I have had to make this particular item for the radio.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Picture 3. is of the radio units pieces before I have removed the excess resin material, Picture 4. are the headsets that were supplied in the kit which were made by Dragon, along with some metal pins that will have to be cut down to make parts for the kit. There is also a small length of wire, I believe is to be used to connect both units together, as well as a long piece of brass rod to be used as the aerial. The best way to describe Picture 5. is that these are the almost microscopic decals that came with the kit. Pictures 6. & 7. are some more pictures of the completed radio.

Reference pictures of the radio.

What I did find with this kit is that there were no images with it regarding what the real radio looks like, so I have had to do a little research to get some reference images. And I found some of the images above on the Wehrmacht-Awards forum. I have been able to use these images here for reference material for my radio kit, with the kind permission of Rob at Fieldgear.org, Funksammler, Uniformer and oberjaeger. Plus I have found that this combined with the help from the Panzerwerks instructions, as well as the help from mustangman who has already assembled the kit, I have been able to work out how the units go together.

I believe that the radio units were painted either Black or German Yellow, so to make my model like the images above I have found that the paint colour Dunklegelb is - Tamiya XF - 60.

I also had some superb help from Pete (mustangman) in Italics below from in answer to my questions:

Regarding the assembly of the resin parts, will super glue (Cyanoacrylate) work with them?

The cyano type glue is what I used and it worked fine. The tiny decals will most likely be the hardest part of completing the kit. The parts will come with extra material just from the casting process. I trimmed mine close with a razor saw (small hobby saws) and then rubbed the part on sand paper to get it to its final shape. Also when doing this on the face of the radio (the part with the switches and plugs) be careful not to sand thru the back ( I almost did as I got a little aggressive with the sanding) so learn from my near disaster!

My questions about the resin parts

1) Yes the large part is the radio unit and you have the correct part identified to go on the front. Yes you have to remove the material that you have marked with the red line. I used a hobby saw to remove most of the material and then laid sandpaper on my work bench and than hand sanded to remove the remaining material. This allows you to get the part matched up and keeps them nice and flat. I did the same procedure for all the material removal that are marked in red.

2) yes the item on the top right is the battery box.

Item A what are these and where do they fit on the radio or battery unit?

3) Item A are the electrical plugs that go into the face of the radio. You can use these in place of the ones that came with the headphones and throat mic. I made mine functional by drilling out the holes in the radio and inserting brass tubing. Than drilling out the plugs (item A) and inserting brass rod. You don't have to do this, but I believe the ones in the kit may fit the radio better.

Item B, is this the part that is angled and fits on the top edge of the radio unit.

4) Item B is the clamp used to hold onto the Y strap. Yes you have to remove the extra material. This is just for looks, the radio unit is held on to the Y strap with one of the pins.

Item C, is this the part that goes on the bottom of the aerial with I assume a hole drilled through it, so that the brass rod can go right through it and into the top of the radio unit?

5) Item C you are correct on.

In the instruction sheet and in Section 1. it mentions about using one of the supplied pins to fit it onto the radio unit, and then put the head through the 'Y' Strap. Is this all that holds the radio unit onto the 'Y' strap? As it does not look like it may take the weight of the resin radio unit.

6) See above, but yes this is all that holds the radio on and no issues.

In Section 2. it mentions about the leather strap that has to be made, I can understand the back part and fixing it to the resin battery box, but I am curious about where the other end goes? Does this go onto the pin fitted in Section 4.?

7) The strap on the battery box is like any other German equipment. The strap goes around the belt and the hooks over the pin on the bottom to prevent the strap from pulling thru, sort of like the K98 ammo pouches, same concept.

Assembly of the radio kit

Before I started with the kit, I found out about the safety problems that can come from working with resin - Resin Dust Hazards. I also found out that it is best to wash the resin parts in warm soapy water, to remove any mould release agent that may be on them. As it can affect the paint when it is applied.

Radio Unit and Battery Box

8. 9. 10.

Picture 8. shows how much dust I have made just from cutting and sanding the excessive resin off of the radio and battery box, Picture 9. is the front face of the radio controls, which has also had the excess resin cut off. Picture 10. shows how I have sanded down the sides level, but I have accidentally broken the bottom corner as it got a bit too thin. Note: I have saved the piece and I will glue it back in place. This front part gets glued onto the side of the radio box as below. I have had to use some of the Poly Glue 'Mix' (31) to fill the gaps in the sides. Which was when dry gently sanded smooth.

'Y' Strap Restraining Clamp

To help me to assemble the main radio unit I have used the image from the Fieldgear.org page, as it has some very good pictures of the unit.

The hardest part was working out how the radio unit fitted onto the 'Y' strap, as it looks like the clamp opens up, the strap is placed between the plates, the clamp is then locked to hold the radio in place. After some thought about this item, I have decided to try and make a clamp of sorts from some thin aluminium. Picture 12. shows how I have cut a piece of aluminium to twice the length of the resin clamp piece, so that it can be folded over with the ends fixed together. So that I can pass the 'Y' strap through it, the aluminium is then glued onto the top edge of the radio unit as described in the Panzerwerks instructions in Section 3. I have also used some stretched sprue laid on the edge to represent the hinge part. 

11. 12.  13. 14.

In Picture 12. I was going to glue the ends but I found that the super glue would not hold the ends together, so I have had to drill a hole in them and put a plastic rivet through, I then melted the ends of it to hold it all in place and gently sanded the ends flat as in Picture 13. I also carefully drilled and sanded the slot and cut the screw head off of the resin part, and in Picture 14. I glued it in place on the clamp I made.

Note: With the weight of the resin parts I could not rely on the clamp I have made supporting the radio unit alone, so I have fitted a cut down pin as shown in the Panzerwerks instructions Section 1. So that weight is held instead on the 'Y' strap with this pin, which I have glued in place as shown in Picture 13.

Battery Box

15. 16. 17.

With the battery box I have used some of the images from this website - Battery, as the page has some very good images of how the strap connects to the box. And from Pictures 15. & 16. above I can see how the bracket needs to be fitted to the back of the box, to hold the leather strap in place. Also a piece needs to be added to the end of the strap, so that it cannot pass back through the bracket. Then it looks like the strap goes behind the soldier's belt, over the top of it and it is held in place with the pin on the top of the box.

18.   19. 20.  

Pictures 17. & 18. show the base of the battery box that I have tried to sand flat, but I was getting too near the vents on the side as I could not get it level, so to make sure that I got the base flat. I have glued some oversized thin plastic sheet onto the bottom, which I have gently sanded to the box profile. I then put on some Poly Glue 'Mix' (31) to fill the gaps on the edges. Picture 19. shows how I have had to make the restraining clip out of an aluminium can to hold the leather strap, as explained in Section 2 on the Panzerwerks instructions sheet. Note: I have made the bracket so that it is just slightly wider than the leather strap, so that the strap can move up and down, but it cannot come all the way through because of the metal end on the strap.

In Picture 19. I have also cut a piece of the same aluminium can to make the metal clip on the bottom of the leather strap. This was cut to the width of the strap and double the thickness I wanted, so that I could fold it over the strap end and glued to represent the end piece as in Picture 18.

Picture 20. also shows how crisp the detail is on the resin parts, because the boxes can be linked together by sliding the radio box into the rails on the battery box. Note: It has to be slid together from the bottom to the top. Picture 20. also shows the battery box and the head of the pin to hold the leather strap. as shown in the Panzerwerks instructions Section 3. I have first drilled a very fine hole in the case, I then glued a cut down pin in place on the top of the battery box. Picture 23. is the leather strap and in the picture on the right I have also drilled some holes in the leather strap, so that I can fix the strap to the pin.

Continued on Page Two - Dorette Radio Page 2

Radio Reference Pages

Reference Information and Pictures of the radio Unit - Dorette Radio Unit

Pictures of the radio Unit - Radio (Many thanks to Heersbergfuhrer for the link to this page)

Radio Instructions - Radio (Many thanks to craigob for the images on this page)

Pictures of the radio Unit - Radio

Pictures of the radio Unit - Radio

Pictures of the radio Unit - Radio

Pictures of the radio Unit - Radio

Pictures of the radio Unit - Radio

Pictures of the internals of the radio Unit - Radio

Pictures of German handheld microphones - Microphone

Pictures of German handheld microphones - Microphone

Also to Fieldgear.org, Funksammler, Uniformer and oberjaeger for their kind permission to use the above images for me to work from.