Matt182 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 NOTE: Given Photobucket's recent block on 3rd party hosting, all the images in this thread are currently unavailable. I will look to host the photos elsewhere and rebuild the thread but this will obviously take some time. However, the completed build can be found HERE Hi all, With my build of HMS Warspite stalled, I decided to get started on the big King Tiger. As you can see the box is brimming with parts, 1800 or so including the tracks. I won't bore you all with the ins and outs of the kit so I'll get straight to it. Starting with the lower hull. Trumpeter provide a nicely moulded 1 piece lower hull. Detail is good and well defined but there are a couple of issues. Firstly is the numerous knock out marks littered all over the hull floor and sponsons. I decided to only fill the knock out marks at the front of the hull floor. Once all the hull equipment is in these will be the only ones that can be seen. I didn't fill the marks on the sponsons as I have a different plan to deal with them later. The second issue is a little more problematic. On close inspection of the sponsons it becomes clear that they are warped and bow downwards. I've dry fitted the main bulkhead to show the problem. It may not look like much but I can assure you from past experience that if they are left as they are, it will cause headaches later. So, I decided to tackle the issue now. Firstly I cut into the join between the sponson and the hull to thin out and weaken the plastic. Next I bent the sponsons upwards and glued some plastic rod into the join Once dry I sanded down the join. It's not perfect but it's done the job. I'm not too worried that the join isn't perfect as the weathering will cover it later anyway. Well that's all for now. Next up ill be dealing with the inner hull side walls. I hope you will find this build log interesting and informative and of course, any pointers or constructive criticism is always welcome Cheers Matt 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfpack Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Henschel or Porsche turret? W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 I'm leaning more towards the Henschel turret at the moment, mainly because there is far more information available about the layout of the interior. I accquired a very nice custom made main gun barrel last year. It is the 2 sectional type but it came with the large muzzle brake which means its limited to either a Porsche turret or an early Henschel turret. At the moment my provisional plan is to build '112' of SSPzAbt 101. It is one of only a couple of Henschel turreted tanks confirmed as having been equiped with the large muzzle brake As the hull on this tank would of been almost identical to those fitted with the last Porsche turrets and both were fitted with the same main gun I can continue my build of the hull and make my final decision later. Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngloSaxon Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Nice to see someone tackling this behemoth. I have one in the stash and I'm also planning to build a tank of 1./s SS Pz Abt 101, only mine is 105 that belonged to SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Mobius, Company Commander. Is your barrel by Gunnar Jansson? If so, you were lucky to get one as there were none left by the time I found out about them. 105 has the later style muzzle brake and Schumo in Germany make a muzzle brake and barrel to suit but I'm not sure if it's worth the cost over the kit offerings, maybe I will find out one of these days if I ever get round to building it! Have you bought any of the AFV Modeller resin? Anyway, looking forward to seeing it progress. Mike D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 More than a little bit jealous here... makes my HL one look a bit sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Mike D, Correct, it is one of Gunnar's barrels. I was lucky enough to get hold of some of the last parts he had, hence the mix of the sectional barrel and large muzzle brake. I've looked into the Schumo parts too and they are far superior to the kit parts. I would certainly go with Schumo if I didn't have Gunnar's barrel. Bang on again regarding the AFV modeller resin parts. So far I have the radio racks, ammunition racks, mg barrel cases and gyro compass but I will no doubt end up with all the upgrades. Good choice with 105. Bet you will be dreading the zimmerit job just as much as I am! Mike, I have one of the Heng long King Tigers too. The plus side of the Trumpeter kit is that if you do go with the Henschel turret there are plenty of parts left over for the Porsche turret. I'm tempted to use the Porsche parts to spruce up the Heng long King Tiger. Have you considered getting the Trumpy kit? Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted June 9, 2013 Author Share Posted June 9, 2013 (edited) Hi all, I've made some progress. Before I tackled the side walls I had to add the hull floor strengthening beams. Firstly the traverse supports And then the longitudinal supports Now on to the side walls. Before the sidewalls can be fitted some corrections need to be made. I've numbered them in the photos below 1. The holders for the spare periscope blocks are incorrect and poorly detailed. They need to be removed and scratch built. 2. This electrical junction box is poorly detailed and the cables coming from it are moulded to the side wall. This needs to be removed and scratch built. 3. These are the lubrication lines for the brakes, again moulded as part of the side wall. These need to be removed and scratch built. 4. These tabs are for the idler wheel. It's best to remove them now so you can freely move the idler wheels later and be able to get the correct the track tension. So, these details were removed and holes filled where required. Finally the side walls went into the lower hull That's all for now. Next I will be dealing with the sponsons and lots of weld beads. Cheers Matt Edited June 9, 2013 by Matt182 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngloSaxon Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Very nicely done, Matt. Keep it coming Mike D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Mike, I have one of the Heng long King Tigers too. The plus side of the Trumpeter kit is that if you do go with the Henschel turret there are plenty of parts left over for the Porsche turret. I'm tempted to use the Porsche parts to spruce up the Heng long King Tiger. Have you considered getting the Trumpy kit? Cheers Matt Yes... and then I woke up, laughing at my foolishness thinking I could afford to buy a £200+ kit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjb2562 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 looking forward to this one, please keep us updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Thanks guys, Mike, very good point about the price. I've had this in storage for a while and forgot just how much it cost me! Anyhow, here is my current progress. I mentioned I would be working on the sponsons next. Instead of filling all the knock out marks I decided to cover the whole sponson in plastic card. This served 2 purposes. Firstly it covers all the knock out marks and locating points. Secondly it increases the thickness of the sponsons so they come level with the side walls. Next I carved out around the interlocking joins Finally, I created the welds using milliput. I will be adding some Mr Surface to roughen the welds up a bit more (when it arrives) Next, I scratch built the brake lubrication lines and added the brake drums and their covers. Finally I added the front hull extensions, final drive housings and bump stops. The fit of the hull extensions isn't great and are going to need a fair amount of filling That's all for now. I'm not sure what to do next, so many different things I could start on! Cheers Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngloSaxon Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Great going Matt, nice to see the progress. Mike D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 More than a little bit jealous here... makes my HL one look a bit sad Yes Mike but think of all the bits that won't fall off the HL when you drive it around the garden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 (edited) Hi guys, Progress has been a little slow lately but I have managed to get a few bits done. My next step was to concentrate on structural strength and getting a good fit between the upper and lower hull. I though it would best to do this now before any further small details were added. To do this I fitted the main bulkhead, engine bay walls, inner rear armour plate and the front hull roof support. This is how it looks now. As you can see, plenty of pin marks to fill! My earlier fix on the sponsons wasn't quite as successful as I thought. Lots of glue and tape was required to close the gaps. Also, I added some of the mounting plates on the side walls Finally, a test fit of the upper hull As you can see there is still a gap between the upper hull and the sponsons. This is due to the upper hull, which bows outwards slightly. When it's all pressed into shape the gap disappears. Next step is to finish adding all the mounting points and add welds to all of them. Then I can get started on actually fitting some parts! Cheers Matt Edited June 22, 2013 by Matt182 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaker Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 Nicely done so far! Next round of photos, fancy sticking something in for scale? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 (edited) Thanks Breaker, how's this for a comparison against a 1/35 Tiger Edited June 22, 2013 by Matt182 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaker Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Makes the Tiger look 1/72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Ayrey Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Excellent progress so far, can't wait to see how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1968 Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 Doing something like this would fill me full of fear! 1800 bits to stick together! I'll follow this build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted June 30, 2013 Author Share Posted June 30, 2013 Thanks guys, Sean, yeah it's certainly a big kit! The only way to tackle it is to think of it as many smaller kits and just concentrate on one area at a time. Thinking of the final product at this stage of the build is not a good idea! I've made some more progress but all the welds and scratch building is really slowing me down. I did finally get to the end of the welding, for now. I also added the flame cut texture to the lower hull sidewalls Here is how the drivers position looks at the moment As you can see I've had to scratch build a few things. The two levers were rebuilt as the kit parts were not the correct shape. Next I had to build the springs and levers mounted to the brakes as these parts are not included in the kit. I also built the oil can behind the shock absorber as it is omitted from the kit. The shock absorbers were a bit of a pain as the fit was rather poor with some filling and sanding required. For the RO's position, all I've done so far is add the lever and spring for the brake and the shock absorber. That's all for now. Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 Well, I finally have an update. Here is where I am now. Driver's side Radio operator's side Basically, everything that isn't grey is scratch built excepted the mg barrel case next to the RO's seat. I will be reworking the RO's seat and the two storage boxes are works in progress. Hopefully all detailing at the front of the hull will be done soon and I can start working on the larger components. Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngloSaxon Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 You're doing some really great work Matt. Scratch built parts look spot on. Will you be putting the lubrication lines in? Also, mind me asking which putty you use for the weld seams? Mike D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Thanks Mike, much appreciated I did toy with the idea of adding the lubrication lines but decided not to in the end as almost all of them would be hidden. Having said that I think I will add some of them, just the visible ones though. For the welds I used standard milliput. The welds on the interlocking plates and front hull support also got a coating of mr surfacer 500. Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt182 Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 Hi all, Small update for you. I've pretty much finished detailing the RO's position. I made the following changes / additions The relay box next to the periscope holders was completely rebuilt from scratch Some of the visible lubrication lines were a added A mounting bracket was added for the brake drum cover The escape hatch was fitted and the locking bars rebuilt (the kit part had them in the open position) The mount for the RO's backrest was completely rebuilt and the backrest placed in the stowed position. A couple of AFV modeller resin cases were added along with their mounting brackets There are still a few bits left to do in this area but it's almost finished. On the drivers side I added new hinges to the stowage box and the rear mounting bracket for the gearbox I also got started on the gearbox as I needed a change of pace! Next I will be detailing the gearbox and it's cover. Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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