I Made This !!! MGZ34 Scope

[Oldrelic]

Hi,

I don't know if anyone had done this before ???

I have a Dummy Mg42 on Yugo Lafette , I know this thread is for Mg34's ..... But !

This is a DUMMY Mg42 that I have in my collection , and use at a local Historical Military
Museum for display on our Military world History Display.


I have just completed a Re-build on my Lafette . The YUGO Lafette Did Not have a Scope
Mount position on the stand , in my Re-build I removed the OLD Cradle original to My
Stand, and replaced it with one that did have the Scope Platform for the Gun scope mount.

After the Re-Build , all that I now needed was the Scope itself !

After pricing them ( MGZ40 , and MGZ34), and seriously thinking about purchasing one,
I decided that it would be way out of my budget to buy one that I would NEVER use other
than as a display.

So I decided to MAKE one !!!!!

After looking at the Two versions MGZ34 and the MGZ40, I decided that the MGZ34
Scope would be much easyer to make , less complex between the two , so I
went with the MGZ34 Scope.

It has taken alm
ost a solid month to Build , and Tweek ,into what I thik is a Very good
likeness of the MGZ34 Scope.

It is NOT PERFECT , It still has a bit of Tweeking to go before I am Completely happy to
be finished working on it. The sizing is probably a bit off , But I feel it is Very Close.

I Kindly ask for Measurement help, but I got NO responce from anyone. I had to use the
only positive measurement known to me , which was the Size of the Base.
From that I Eyeballed the size. Using many On-Line photos as reference .

I have posted current photos from the Start of my Build to where it is now, near its completion.

Again , I have only a Display Dummy Gun. This was a Fun time building and it Looks Great on
my Restored Lafette.

Let me know what YOU think ?? Is it close ??

I would like to still find a Burnt out, or Broken Scope Shell. If anyone has one for sale please
contact me.

Old Relic
01-16-2015

[Oldrelic]

I did already find the Correct Eye Cup , and a Reproduction Milled metal Base to mount my
Dummy Scope onto.

This made things easyer to mount My scope onto the actual lafette Scope Mount base
later.

Here are a few mor photos, After Building this up the FIRST time , I realized that some
thing did Not line up correctly .

I had to CUT it back apart , and spend another Two says cutting wood to get it correct.

Old Relic

[Oldrelic]

Here are some photos after the FIX and rebuild, the First photos are right before painting.

I first used PanzerGrau paint from 1944Militaria.com , then I changed the color to the
more common Apfelgrun. This was also purchased from 1944Militaria.

The next photos are after I painted my MGZ34 to check out the Overall look and mounting
on the Lafette.

The Graduated Number scale on the Scope Tower was done on my Computer and 'Printed' off.
It took several attempts to get the numbers to fall in the correct positions, but I finally got that right.

I will later get Sticker Label paper from a Hobby Store , and permanently 'Stick' the scale to the
Tower at a later time.

Old Relic

[Oldrelic]

After nearly Three weeks working on my MGZ34 Scope , it is coming near its completion.

In the following photos , I have re-painted the Scope and re-sanded it to smooth it out some,
I also added Screws where needed for a bit more realism.
I have also added the Collimator.

It still needs smaller things done to it before I will call it completed.

I would like to find or build more correct looking 'Knobs' , and I even have to find a knob
to use below the Collimator.

I also Still need to build on the Eyepiece tub, the plug for the Illumination Wire from the Battery Box.

Overall , I think it looks OK ....... It does not Work but it was Fun to build and Cheaper than I
real one that I would Truly NEVER actually use.

I will some day maybe get a REAL scope , but for now, this was in my Budget and a Fun Build.

Let me know how it looks !!

Old Relic

[Oldrelic]

Here are the last of my current pictures, I feel that I still have some work to go before I
will be done with my project.

It is not 100% perfect, but it does the job !!

I would like to know if anyone else has made a Lafette Scope from wood ???

Old Relic

[JBaum]

Someone who isn't fully familiar with that scope wouldn't spot it as not being real from 10 feet away, or probably even 5 feet. Looks great, way too much work for me to do.

[Oldrelic]

Thanks for the compliment, the idea was to make a Wooden Dummy MGZ34 Scope
'Look' the part for my display.

I am happy with what I have done so far , and if it looks real at 5 or 10 feet
distance , Then I am VERY pleased and I have Succeeded with my Illusion.

Thank You.

Old Relic

[along]

That looks professional.

well done, better than I could do.

I at first thought it was just a model but quickly saw it was real afterwards.

btw how accurate is it?

[Oldrelic]

My dummy MGZ34 scope as seen in All of the above photos was TOTALLY hand made
from nothing other than Web Photos, and construction materials as seen in the
very First photo (not counting the Rubber Eye Cup, and a Repro Steele Scope Base).

It is definitely NOT a purchased 'MODEL' from a store.

I have NEVER seen a MGZ34 Scope in person , So you ask "How Accurate is it" ?
I cant really answer that , I will leave that to the people here who own one,
or who have used one.

From what I have seen , it to me looks close and that is what I wanted to
achieve.

Why I spent the time Building it ... as the saying goes , " I have more time than
Money" .......... LOL ! and I wanted to display one with my Dummy Mg42.

P.S. I just today nearly finished this project, I cut my last piece of wood making
the Scope illumination Cable socket on the Eye-cup tube. I will send a few more
photos soon.

Old Relic

[Oldrelic]

Here are the last of my photos.

I have completed most all of the major components including the last
piece , the plug for the Illuminator cable to the Battery Box.

This is made from Plastic PVC , and Wood with a few screws.

It is NOT perfect , but it does its job on my Lafette !!
I want to add Better knobs, But that is a project for another day !

Thanks for Looking, Let me know what you think of my MGZ34 Creation !!

Old Relic

[anjongni]

Oldrelic,
Congratulations on your project. It looks perfectly realistic. Nice job!
When you're satisfied with it, maybe a little rusty (coffee?)-tinted Vaseline, or real cosmolene, ribbed into the seams and cracks will give it that "I-spent-70-years-in-an-old warehouse", and I just wiped off the grease - look so common to war-surplus parts.....Phil

[rodom]

Excellent job! If John Baum says it looks real to him, that's all you need to know! Very impressive use of common materials to make an uncommon addition to your MG42.

[Oldrelic]

Thanks every one who has put in their input.

I feel that my project came out Better than I had hoped that it would.

I have been ask be several people who have seen it in person 'When did
you get the scope" ...... I tell them that I know where it came from ,, I MADE IT !

I love looking at it on my Lafette, it really makes my Dummy 42 rig stand out
, and saved me some money too.

I would still like to find a REAL MGZ 40 or MGZ 34 Shell that is not repairable
to use on my Lafette Stand. on made of Metal and not from wood.

It is now COMPLETE , see the Final Photos

Thanks again everyone for looking.

Oldrelic

[anjongni]

Oldrelic, I thought of your project when I saw this on Ebay,de.
What's left of an MGZ, I believe...Not mine.....Phil
http://www.ebay.de/itm/1-Detail-MG-34-O ... SwoBtW6FOv

[Oldrelic]

Thanks phil for pointing this out .
It is very helpful to have a Second eye watching my back, Thanks !!

I did see this Sale on eBay also , They had 3 different MGz34 "Part Groups" ending at the same time from
two different sellers, Both sellers were from Russia.

A month ago I would have bid .... and put a good attempt in to win them,
It was just a bad timing thing this time.

This would have been a near complete scope Shell , missing a few major parts, but it
could have worked if i was able to purchase all 3 Sets at the same time.

There will be more parts listed over time and in the future. I will put a bid on them if
I feel that it would be a workable parts set to complete the Full Scope Illusion.

I have just posted the other Sets that were also for sale at the same time , but I did not bid on.
All 3 Sets sold in separate sales for a total of around $425.00 USD !!

Oldrelic