MG34T Ground kit box

[phil337]

Here is my latest addition to my collection, a Rare MG34T ground kit box for the Armoured Tank/panzer version of the MG34,it is used to hold the front sight adapters, sling, bipod and stock. has its original ordnance tan paint on the inside together with waffenamt stamp,felt pads in the lid. Ordnance tan painted on the outside too, but beleive this has been post war repainted on the outside because it has some sort of greenish paint over the Tan paint that you can see under the layers. may try and strip back this green paint to reveal the tan paint underneath, and hopefully there may be some stencilled markings that remain, who knows?.

What is also unique is it is quite complete on the inside with wood pieces used to hold the mg34 bipod in place, there are holes that remain that i beleive were for holding the sight adapters in place, and i have managed to reconstruct pieces using carboard to give an indication to where the wood pieces were mounted from these missing holes. They appear to be just extra supports to hold the mg34 bipod in place, whats odd though with these extra wood pieces held in place, the stock held on top of the bipod would not allow the lid to close, only without these pieces does the stock fit and the lid can close, Design flaw? not sure but maybe the ground kit box was not designed to hold the stock aswell originally?, just the sight adapters,sling and bipod?

[me6_130]

hello Phil,

I've got some experience with these MG Zubehör boxes. The bipod, bipod-sight clamp and butt stock should fit inside well, in the correct position.

By the way, tanker MG34 did not carry the sling originally, as there is nowhere to hook the carabiner buckle.

Carles

[phil337]

Hi Carles,

Thats great, thanks for sharing your pictures, gives me an idea now what the boxes internal fitments looked like

[phil337]

can anyone offer opinions on the exterior paint color, there is original Tan underneath, do you think maybe a field repaint, or post war repaint, the Tan color inside remains, i managed to use Acetone and removed the black painted brush marks from the end, and concidering removing the other repainted color to reveal the tan underneath, but would i be destroying value or its history if its an original repaint, or not if its been post war repainted?, any opinions much welcome

[me6_130]

Colours found on this kind of boxes is Ivory, and very late war brick red primer. Your's is ivory under the repaint, it should be the same colour as the inside. Be very carefull with the acetone...you might ad a bit of water for it not to be so concentrated.

Carles

[phil337]

Hi Carles,

thanks

phil

[me6_130]

They might have red primer under the ivory, or not. #2 is red primer only.

Carles

[me6_130]

I once saw a blue one at Ebay, I believe. Member Gransasso confirmed it was it's original colour.

[me6_130]

While some have the same colour outside and inside, other are painted black inside.

Carles

[me6_130]

I am very sorry....My previous information was not totally correct. I had forgotten that you can also find boxes in green!!

Carles

[phil337]

thanks for sharing more Pictures of these Carles, nice to know what the original stencilled markings looked like

[phil337]

Heres an update on restoration, I have managed to carefully strip back the re-paint to reveal the nice ivory color underneath, sadly it appears the original Stencilled markings do not remain, looks to have been scraped away then re-painted.

[me6_130]

Hello Phil,

I had missed these pics. Looking forward to see the whole set fully restored Perhaps oxalid acid might work cleaning the rust stains out.

Carles

[phil337]

Hi Carles,

thanks, i was well impressed when i stripped the repaintetd layer off, did not expect much of the original Ivory color to remain i ended up using ordinary gel type paint remover, i tried using Acetone but it was hard work stripping the layer, the paint remover worked a treat

[ChrisCook]

MG34T tool box

Looks great Phil! I still need to acquire one of those, along w/ a milled topcover, those are still my "holy grails" of MG collecting... Chris...