BlackMax12 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Bit the bullet and got one of these, don't know where it's going as it won't fit my display cases. I taped the hull parts together just to see how big it is and it's big. That's a 1/35 King Tiger sitting beside and on top just for a sense of scale. The wheels and track are just sitting as I haven't fitted any torsion bars or anything yet. They give you inside armor plates for the upper and lower hull to represent the real thickness which makes the sidewalls almost 1/4" thick and this thing gets real heavy pretty quickly. I will do the interior basically OOTB as I'm not trying any super detailing and will spend my efforts on trying to make the exterior presentable. This may be too much model for my skill set. Lloyd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire1677 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 That looks like a beast I am currently working on a 1/16 T-34/85 so can appreciate the scale of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted January 29, 2017 Author Share Posted January 29, 2017 (edited) Yes the parts are pretty big and harder to handle and I can see there's going to be some filling involved in places. Have to start buying liquid cement by the liter. Take care, Lloyd Edited January 29, 2017 by BlackMax12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted January 30, 2017 Author Share Posted January 30, 2017 Here it is with the tracks, wheels and torsion bars dry fitted. Did I mention that this is big? That lazy susan it's sitting on is 16" in diameter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin56 Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Nice kick off Lloyd, the fit of the rear plate has me slightly worried but I see that your example has the same problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 Gremlin On page 30 of the instruction book there are two pieces N32 and N33 that should tighten up the fit of the rear plate to the lower hull rear. I haven't put them in place yet in my pics so that's why there's such a large gap on each side of the rear plate. I hope that adding them solves the problem. What concerns me more is blending the rear tow shackle horns on the rear plate with the horns on the rear lower hull, that looks like a nasty fit. Another not so good fit is the front armor plate with the gun mantlet as it doesn't fit the upper hull too well on my particular model. Going to be fun filling and sanding without ruining the welding on the interlocking armor joints. The kit has some flukes but overall it seems pretty good so far. I have the inner lower hull side plates in place with all of the cross bars, brake drums, etc and filled all of the punch outs on the top of the sponsons so it's almost ready for some paint. I built and tried the fit of the final drive and the transmission and it looks good so far. I'll paint and add the seats, fuel tanks, etc later as it looks like a real joy to fit the torsion bars with all of that stuff in the way. Oh yes, and add those dumb hydraulic lines before the torsion bars. Take care, Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 (edited) I have a lot of the interior assembled and ready for paint and the torsion bars and wheels painted and ready to install after the interior is painted but I've ran into a real problem with the main gun assembly. I spent over 12 hours on the main gun mounting yesterday with it's multitude of parts and then discovered that the gun is in depressed position and can only be depressed further not elevated even into neutral position. I put the whole thing in the closet for another day, maybe. UPDATE FEB 4 I had another look tonight and I found I had the rear of the gun carriage sitting on top of the support rail not inside the channel shaped support. This lowered the muzzle into a depressed and depressing position but now that I put the carriage in the correct place the gun can actually be elevated into fighting position. Trumpeter's instructions sometimes aren't the clearest and once again the brain sees what it wants to see so the carriage ended up on top and not inside of the support. I was wondering at the time I built it what held the rear of the carriage down as it only has the pivot ball at the front. Now I know and do I feel dumb or what? It's back on the bench and may actually be done before summer, that's in June isn't it? Lloyd Edited February 5, 2017 by BlackMax12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin56 Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 You have been having wild adventures Lloyd, sounds like you are doing an amazing speed-build The 2017 Summer solstice is June 21st 06:24 CEST so you still have quite a bit of time left, how about some photos of your adventures? Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 Mostly dumb stupid mistakes not real adventures. Looks like reading instructions isn't my strong suit. I wanted to see what the main gun assembly looked like so I jumped ahead, same with the fan boxes and radiators which was maybe not a smart idea as running those hoses is a lot tougher now. It goes into the paint shop tomorrow for the lower hull and engine compartment so I can put some of these assemblies in their places. As I said the interior is OOTB so no extra detail but something that annoys me is that one spends hours building fuel tanks, battery boxes, and even the transmission, etc and then covers it all up with ammo boxes and the like. There sure wasn't any room inside one of these and there must have been lots of noise, heat and fumes. It's been snowing all day and a high of -13C so I can't wait for June, of course then I'll complain about +30C being too hot:):) Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 Here it is as of today. Ran out of red paint and have to try to mix and match another batch. I suppose it doesn't matter if it's a little lighter or darker really. The gun and carriage are just sitting as are the sprocket and one torsion bar/wheel assembly. I don't want to put the torsion bars in place until I get those vinyl hydraulic lines that go under them installed. I can't do that until the bulkhead is completed and on an on. I'd like to also give it an engine but there's a bunch of hoses to go in and the driveshafts for the fans, paint the radiators, etc etc. Anyway it's coming and I'm happy that I solved the stupid gun elevation problem. That gun is big and it must have been a chore loading a shell and then the powder, I don't see a rammer for the shell so how did they do it? Lloyd 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carius Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Impressive big kit. Nice progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 (edited) Thanks Carius This one is a lot of work, not only a big model but a big big job even without trying to add extra detail. There's something like 140 parts in just the engine alone so it's pretty involved and maybe too much for me. Take care, Lloyd Edited February 6, 2017 by BlackMax12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carius Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Lloyd I'm sure of the lot of work that you did. Certainly, the end of the assemby and painting will be excellent. Cheers from Brazil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin56 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 That's a chunky looking main gun Lloyd, the progress is mind boggling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 Yes I guess in some cases size does matter. This is a 5" gun like on a naval destroyer for goodness sake, no wonder the Shermans melted just at the sight of it. It's not going to be as close to real as yours or Matt's KT but what the heck, it's still fun. It has snowed here for 3 days straight now and still snowing so who wants to go out other than to shovel sidewalks and driveways so lots of time for modeling. At some point the snow better stop as I'm out of red paint and the LHS is on the other side of the city up, some very treacherous hills. It's right across from the hospital so that's handy just in case........... Take care, Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 Got the roof mostly finished and the engine hatch. Lots of carving and sanding to make the hull MG ball fit in place. Installed all of the interior armor on both sides and the front of the hull and built the hull machine gun but it's not in place yet. Mostly finished the rear plate and built the jack. If you are installing the side skirts make sure when you build the tow cables they clear the skirts. I had to re-position the rear of the cable on the right side as I had it too low to clear the side skirt. Superglue is tough stuff but fortunately it scrapes off readily if not completely set. Take care, Lloyd 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceithearn Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Love your project and all the photos Lloyd. As an engine guy would really enjoy putting together a hundred plus parts....almost could build the real deal....hollow out the block...pistons and rings..., Shoveling snow....fine the first couple times for a work out, after that, bring on the liquid precipitation. Cracking job, please keep posting updates. All the best, Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 9, 2017 Author Share Posted February 9, 2017 (edited) I've been working on the exterior of this animal as I'm getting tired of the myriad of internal parts and I have a long long way to go on the internals yet. I want to make the upper hull removable to display the interior. I installed the two front "tow shackle horns??" on the front of the hull and then found I could not get the upper hull to mate with the lower at the glacis plate. I filed and sanded and finally resorted to carving about 4-5mm off of the bottom of the front interior armour plate at an angle so the two hull halves would mate with a negligible seam at the glacis. The upper hull has to slide down behind those tow horns and then mate up with the lower but it wouldn't go far enough forward. Trumpeter should have molded that front inner armour plate part G42 with an angle at the bottom so it would let the upper hull mate properly with the lower. They have the right idea adding interior armour to the sides and front of the hull and fighting compartment to represent how thick it was in real life but it has to fit properly. Built the two massive doors on the rear wall of the fighting compartment, at least 10 pieces per door so they sure don't scrimp on the detail and added the hatches and hatch actuators to the plate over the driver's head. The rear wall of the fighting compartment fits fine but the front wall with it's interlocking armour joints is going to be tricky. That's all I've accomplished today but it seems like I spent at least 8 hours with nothing much to show. Oh yes, it was -32C here last night but the snow has finally stopped after 4 days. There's a Chinook coming and it is supposed to be +7C here tomorrow so that should be a slushy mess. Welcome to Alberta, -32C one day and +7C two days later, no wonder the 'flu is rampant. Lloyd Edited February 9, 2017 by BlackMax12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) Didn't get much done today. Added the 16 pieces of photo etch to the inside of the fighting compartment rear wall and the two periscopes in the roof at the rear. Installed the track changing cable and spent an hour in the 20-40 mode where you work for 20 minutes and spend 40 minutes looking for the little piece you dropped. One of the cable holders vanished so had to fab one from .020 x .060 Evergreen strip. Wish they would give spares for some of the smaller parts instead of all the pieces for the King Tiger that end up in the bin. Started installing the spare track holders and spare links. Had to drill out each flat link with a 1.5mm bit to get the long steel retaining pins to thread through the link and the lower holder. Have to remove the spare links and fill all of those punch out marks on the lower links but they are just in place temporarily anyways. Added most of the parts to the interior bulkhead except for the hoses as they get installed after the bulkhead is in place. Maybe the engine will find a home yet this week. There are massive seams to be filled on those front tow bar horns but the front fenders cover quite a bit, unfortunately not all of course so might as well fill them. Here's a couple of pics from today. Lloyd Edited February 10, 2017 by BlackMax12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) Got the photo etch on the rear deck and glued the rear wall of the fighting compartment in place. The fit isn't that good at the top so needs some putty. Puttied the front horns, quite a bit of sanding to do there. Worked a little on the main bulkhead, not done yet. Still nervous about the fit of the front wall of the fighting compartment, it's not good. Not getting a lot accomplished, lots of time spent with nothing much to see. Lloyd Edited February 13, 2017 by BlackMax12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted June 27, 2017 Author Share Posted June 27, 2017 This model no longer exists other than a bunch of broken up plastic in the landfill. Serious mistake, don't glue the horns on the front of the chassis and install the roof plate as then you can't get the upper hull past the main gun mount to glue the two hulls together. Rather than just removing the horns which I had puttied and smoothed into shape, gluing the hull halves together and re-installing the horns, I sort of lost it and tried to see if a 1/16 scale Jagdtiger could stand up to a size 13 boot with 210lbs behind it. IT DIDN'T. Then a big mess of plastic bits scattered all over, I even found one piece in the aquarium a few days later, not to mention the Cdn$300 plus and at least 6 weeks of work and several bottles of Tamiya acrylics. I'd like to build another Jagdtiger but this time a Dragon 1/35 with no interior.....no interior, can't see it anyway. Note to self, look before leaping as it's really hard to rebuild shattered plastic. Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin56 Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 Solves the storage problem I suppose, bit drastic though Lloyd........................................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted June 30, 2017 Author Share Posted June 30, 2017 It felt really good at the time..."take that you ****er" but on reflection it's pretty hard to fix a pile of crunched up plastic. A little bit of remorse and wishing I had tried to repair the errors. "Temper, temper, temper" and I thought it had gotten better with age. Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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