Trumpeter King Tiger

[fredben]

Matt thanks for sending your link to me to see this brilliant work your doing. This seems to go on and on. Excellent detail you are doing, something I have never thought of doing myself. Hopefully I will see the finished product.

[mick]

so glad this build is back on track again

[Paul Ayrey]

Still can't get over the level of detail and in depth modelling you have on display. Simply and amazing piece of work.

[Matt182]

Hi guys, thanks for your comments

I can't believe it's been nearly 3 months since I did any work on this one. I've really been struggling to get any motivation to get back to work on this one but I've finally managed it!

I started off with some simple assembly work by building the two cyclone air filters for the engine. They just need a couple of handles to be added.

Here they are fitted to the engine. They pretty much hide all the detail below them which is why i didn't detail the engine.

Next up I worked on the horrible rubber hoses Trumpeter provide for the fuel lines. I'm not sure who came up with the bright idea to use rubber for these parts but they need a good slap! They are a right pain to work with and are difficult to clean up. I did the best i could with them and I think they will just make the grade once painted. I really don't want to have to scratch build them! Here is an overview of how the fuel lines all link up.

The engine bay is now in the closing stages of construction with only a few more parts to build. I'm now thinking ahead to what is next and I think I am going to have to tackle the ammunition racks and ammo. This, I think, will be the worst part of the build but there is no avoiding it

Cheers

Matt

[tommy1drop]

Excellent work, really looking forward to seeing more of this build

[Phil Podmore]

This is some of the neatest scratch building I've ever seen

[Matt182]

Hi guys,

Got another update for you. I carried on working on the engine bay and i'm now calling it complete. There are a couple of parts left to add but these will be added once everything is in and painted.

First I had to extend the heat shields for the exhausts as the kit parts do not extend to the rear wall as they should.

Next I added some handles to the air filters

I decided to try and use some of the kit hoses and I think they will look ok once they are painted. I will make a final decision on that once they are painted. I also scratch built a new hose for the left fuel tank to the filler tank which I believe is a vent line.

I also added the cable to leads to the dynamos and also added the bolts that attach the fan box to the firewall.

So, here are a few shots of everything dry fit together.

And finally, here is how it will look with the right side armor plate in place and how it looks through the engine hatch

So I can now leave the engine bay and move onto something else. I'm thinking the ammo racks would be a good idea, just to get them out of the way!

Cheers

Matt

[Breaker]

Crikey Matt, I wish I had a tenth of your scratching skills, knocking up seat belt buckles is enough for me and they're way off the neatness your producing.

[longshanks]

Hi Matt,

Just come across this exceptional build, what an inspiration to all !!

Can I ask a rather mundane question as I need to tackle it in a planned project?

What method/tools did you use to complete the cut out of the hull ?

Keep up the good work, I will be lurking in the background ;o)

Cheers Kev

[Matt182]

Crikey Matt, I wish I had a tenth of your scratching skills, knocking up seat belt buckles is enough for me and they're way off the neatness your producing.

Thanks Breaker, I think the larger scale is giving me a bit of a helping hand though! I'm not sure anything I scratch in 1/35 or smaller would be anywhere near as neat!

Hi Matt,

Just come across this exceptional build, what an inspiration to all !!

Can I ask a rather mundane question as I need to tackle it in a planned project?

What method/tools did you use to complete the cut out of the hull ?

Keep up the good work, I will be lurking in the background ;o)

Cheers Kev

Thanks Kev. For the cut out I used a Tamiya scribing tool. All I did was carve a light outline of where I wanted to cut and then repeatedly scribed the same lines until it cut all the way through. The trick is to do it slowly without appling too much pressure otherwise the blade may slip from the cutting line. I tried to speed things up and ended up having to fill a few unwanted grooves!

This method can be done with any blade, it just takes a bit of patience. Also, remember the thickness of the blade will have a direct impact on how wide the cut will be. I your planning on having removable panels try to use the thinnest blade you can find to minimize the gap.

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Matt

[longshanks]

Cheers Matt, thanks for the info

Kev

[Stashaholic Steve]

Coming on really well, and the scratching is top notch. Wish I had half your skill /patience in that department.

[Humbrol007]

That is some heavy detail work, I wish I had that patience and skill.

[One-Two]

Awesome work.

Amaizing detail.

Astonishing good looking engine room...and transmission...and suspension...

Love it.

[Matt182]

Hi guys, thanks for the kind comments

I've been slowly working my way through the first of six ammo racks. Firstly, I will just explain why the kit ammo racks need so much work.

In the real tank, each ammo rack is made up of 3 parts: The nose, center and tail supports. Each round is held in place by wooden chocks which fold down to allow the rounds to be removed. This is where Trumpeter got it wrong. The nose chocks should be substantially smaller than the tail chocks but Trumpeter made them all the same size. The result is that all the ammunition sits parallel to each other as in the picture below. (My build, oob 3 years ago)

This means that all the ammo racks are wrong. The two forward racks should hold 6 rounds instead of four. The nose racks for the center and rear are too long due to the over-sized chocks and snag on the turret basket when it is rotated.

I had been hoping to just use the afv modeller resin replacements but my set is warped. I did try to reshape them with some success at first but after a few days they returned to their original state. Here is how the afv modeller ammo racks look, along with an example of the over-sized Trumpeter nose chocks

So the solution. I built a hybrid, using the kit racks and the resin chocks. It's been slow progress and I've had to try a few different experiments but I finally have the first rack complete.

Loaded with ammunition

And fitted in place.

So, that's one down, three more to go. The other two will only be single layers to aid visibility.

Cheers

Matt

[Matt182]

Hi guys,

I'm about half way through the ammo racks now. 2 are complete and a third about 75%

Here they are fitted

Finally, I think this shot shows why the ammo racks need so much work. Note how the rounds are now angled inwards.

This job is going a fair bit smoother than I was expecting but it is rather time consuming. I'm looking forward to getting this task out of the way!

Cheers

Matt

[Fleet]

I'm absolutely astounded by this build, the amount of detail you have put into this is ridiculous. Seriously cannot wait for more! Tempted to get my Dragon 1/35 King Tiger out now..

[fredben]

Hello Matt, fantastic build your doing, so much work done and still to do. I look forward to your next instalment.

[Matt182]

Thanks very much for your comments guys Fredben, I don't even want to think how much more there is still to do!

Fortunately I can celebrate reaching another milestone as I've now completed the main parts of the ammo racks. I still need to clean them up a bit and add a few more details but the core work is complete

So, here they are

Note the two cut down racks at the front are to aid visibility into the hull. I managed to use the resin parts for these so that sped the process up a bit. Here they are fitted in the hull

Finally, this is what it looks like with the roof on.

So, I think I will tackle a less demanding task next, maybe just build some basic parts for the turret basket.

Cheers

Matt

[Mr Grumpylee]

This build is AWESOME!!!

Lee

[Spookytooth]

Fantastic.

Simon.

[snapper_city]

Oh my that is something else.

[mick]

still in the excellent mode

[Matt182]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments

With the basic construction of the ammo racks now complete I decided to have a look over the build to see what I still need to do. As far as components go, all that is left in the hull is the radio racks and hull mg. Of course there is still a myriad of smaller details left to complete but I need to have the major components painted first before most of them can be fitted.

Not being in the mood for those parts my focus shifted to the turret for the last major components of the build, namely the turret basket, main gun and turret ammo racks. I decided to start on the turret basket.

Trumpeter did quite a good job on the turret basket but surprise surprise, some improvements are needed. One of the stand out details that needs attention is the basket floor. In the real vehicle, the floor was made of sheet metal, 3/4 of which were anti slip tread plate. Trumpeter got the split in-between each section right but forgot the tread plate detail. Fortunately, Aber make some brass tread plate that is almost a perfect match. I removed the moulded on detail, cut some tread plate to size and added it to the floor. A couple of extra covers in the centre of the basket were also scratch built.

On the real turret basket two on the rear sections fold up to allow access to some stowage bins and the batteries. I had to add some hinges for these.

Next I started building some of the components for the turret traverse motor, gun elevation gear and gunner's seat. These parts a pretty well done and will only require a few minor improvements.

Finally, a test shot with some of the parts dry fit in position.

I will hopefully have some more progress soon.

Cheers

Matt

[tommy1drop]

Excellent work Matt

Tom