Matt182

Very nice, outstanding work on all the PE! Nice to see an Afrika tiger in the two tone scheme which is so often overlooked. very nice weathing also. Cheers Matt

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

Looking good Wolfpack. I assume the barrel is black to replicate a replacement barrel?

Very nice, great work!

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

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

Nice work. This one came out really well. Nice to see a desert vehicle that isnt chipped to death!

I've read a couple of reviews / viewed spure shots of the Academy Tiger II. In my opinion it looks pretty good and I think I will pick one up. I would consider Dragon still has the benchmark when it comes to Tiger IIs. I wouldn't even bother with the tamiya kit anymore if accuracy means anything to you!

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

Wow, fantastic work, especially considering what you started with. I'll be following this one. Oh yeah, would love to see the 152mm gun scratch built in 1:16 scale! Cheers Matt

Looking good Peter, a nice clean build and a good start to the painting. Cheers Matt

Thanks Breaker, how's this for a comparison against a 1/35 Tiger

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

Hi Paul, As you said, it just flips over and slots into the recess below. I didn't realise you built this over a year ago, it maybe more hassle than it's worth to try and correct it! Cheers Matt

Nice work Paul, It will look very good under paint. If I could just point out one thing, the part on the front of the turret roof is upside down (circled below) This is one of my previous builds where I made the same mistake. It's an issue with the instructions on all of Dragon's King Tiger kits. Luckily its an easy fix, just remove the part and fit it the other way up. Just thought you would like to know before you start painting. Cheers Matt

Really nice work Ian, you certainly haven't lost your touch! That PE zim actually looks rather good under paint. Looking forward to seeing this finished. Cheers Matt

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

Nice one Rob, came out really well. I agree with Mike, a little mud and a light dusting would be a nice finishing touch. Any plans to add those figures you bought? Cheers Matt

Nice work, the turret looks very good. What is the dry time for the tamiya putty? I've always used milliput for zim jobs but I would like to try something else. Just one thing, you need to extend the zimmerit to the bottom of the hull sides. The zim didn't stop at the fenders. Cheers Matt

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

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

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

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

Nice finish Roman, came out really well.

Thanks for the info guys. My local hobby shop has one of these for £15 and I was dubious about it's origins, given the price and revell's history of re releasing old moulds. Now I know it's the ICM kit I think I may just have to go and buy it Looking forward to your next update Roman