Matt182

Beautiful work Julian. You really are ploughing through this build! The camo is looking great Opening that tin of worms again there! I think the question is, how much of the red primer was over painted? Surviving Tiger IIs consistently show a red primer lower hull with ivory upper hull and turret. While light colours would undoubtedly help the crew, I don't think it was essential for everything to be painted. Painting the hull floor for example, would be a waste of paint. The Tiger II also had interior lights, which were surely more of a benefit than lightly coloured paint in a buttoned up tank. I assume all other panzers also had some form of interior lighting. Different factories did different things and there are examples of everything from fully painted to almost all primer. It can be difficult to know what the norm actually was!

Fantastic job Phil, looking really good

Certainly a beast among AA guns! looks like a nice kit too. Great work so far

Great work on the camo, looks great

Shaping up nicely Julian, great work on the camo. Agree about the tracks, 1 or 2 extra links would be just right I think. Are the idler wheels adjustable on this kit?

Thanks chaps Not much more to do now before getting started on the paint job

Hi guys, Managed to get some more work done on this. The turret interior has been painted. I didn't spend too much time here as most of it cannot be seen anyway... It took a few clamps and a fair amount of tape to close the turret but it is all glued together now So, a few photos of everything assembled. I can finally say the the interior is all but finished! :yahoo: Cheers Matt

Great work, looking really smart. Looking forward to the paint job

Nice work Phil, caunter scheme looks really good.

Cracking work Dan, looking really smart now

Cheers guys I sourced them from a few different places. I found the MP40 on ebay which came with ammo pouches. The rangefinder came with the AFV Modeller main gun sight. The headphones are from the Aber German panzer troop's accessories (#16011) with scratch built ear pads. The other bits and pieces to be added are from Dragon's German infantry equipment set (#3824) and a diorama company from Germany. I can't recall the website at the moment but will try and find it! Cheers Matt

looking really smart Dan. Great work on those fenders.

Looking really good Julian Ah, the joys of tracks and wheels. At least in 1/16 it's not too fiddly. How are the tracks by the way? Hopefully not littered with pin marks like the KT tracks!

Thanks Chaps Same here Martin, I've sourced quite a lot of aftermarket from them. They usually always have what I'm looking for and the prices are very competitive. The Voyager PE set is very nice, not quite as detailed as Aber's but then it is a third of the price! Cheers Dan, I'm trying to make the turret one of the main focal points of the interior. I'm hoping adding the turret shell won't detract from it too much Cheers Julian. Those headphones were a real pig to build! Well, the new airbrush has arrived and I'm back painting again. I've also accquired some personal items, mess tins, gas mask canisters, tools etc to fill out some of the empty spaces around the tank. Hopefully I should have another update by the end of the week. Cheers Matt

Thanks chaps Good price for what you get. Wasn't BNA model world by any chance? Not much progress to report. My airbrush decided to call it quits last week, blowing it's seals I've been working on some of the smaller details for the turret while I wait for a replacement to arrive. I've added the gunner and commander's headphones, the MP40 and the scissor rangefinder. I've also been trying to tidy up some of the paint work as i'm not 100% happy with it. Sorry for the poor photos, couldn't be bothered to setup the photo booth! One upside of the airbrush being out of action is that I finally got this little beast built. Nice kit, if a little over engineered. Cheers Matt

Looking really smart Phil, great work.

Lovely work Julian, those shells look great. Sod the naysayers, its a great looking model so far Forgot to say your Typhoon looks excellent too, can't fathom why you would of been critisied for that!

Thanks chaps I've surprised myself that I've kept my motivation up for this build. 18 months ago there was no end in sight but now it is all finally coming together at last, I'm itching to get it finished! Agree with you there Mike. Regardless of which side these men were on, they were very brave indeed. I can't imagine what it must of been like to climb on board and seat yourself just inches from the ammunition, knowing the consequences of a penetrating hit. Certainly an unnerving thought. Nice one Andy, you won't regret it! Any plans for blogging the build?

Thanks chaps for the very kind comments, It's very much appreciated Not much left to do on the interior now and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel Now that is a question! Totally agree that some of them are very expensive, and that's before you even think of the cumulative cost. I decided to buy one or two each month to at least spread the cost out over a year or so. As to what is essential, and what is nice to have, that is a difficult question to answer. It really depends on how comfortable you are scratch building and how much time you want to sink into the project. I would say the essential items are the ammo racks, main gun sight, radio racks, mg ammo pouches, mg ammo belts, drivers periscope and the main engine coolant hose. The boxes and cases, demolition charges, MG barrel cases and turret loading roller could all reasonably be scratch built. You can get away with not fitting the gyrocompass / transformer as many Tiger IIs did not have one. The clear periscopes are a nice to have but not essential. You also need to consider how you will display it. If you build it all closed up with only the hatches open you can save yourself a lot of time and money omitting things that simply won't be seen. Also depends how accurate you want to be. Built straight from the box this is still a very impressive kit It's a hard question to answer as these 1/16 kits give you so much scope to pick and chose what you want to do. I guess personal preference and your wallet is the simple answer! Cheers Matt

Thanks chaps I've been ploughing on with the painting, getting most to the turret complete. Still a few small details left to add and some tidying up to do. Quite a few photos this time! Gunner's position Loaders position Cheers Matt

Looking really good Could the upper hull be left loose so you can easily view all the work you have done? Seems a shame to hide it all away!

Thanks Eric How's your build going? Well, I finally have an update at last. Primer went down on the turret basket last week and I have now nearly finished painting all of it. There is still a little bit of tidying up to do and the elevation gear is yet to be added. I'm just waiting for more paint to arrive, then it's on to the turret floor and main gun. The turret basket has been quite time consuming to paint due to some awkward masking and needing to paint all the individual parts first before fitting. There are some areas I'm not 100% happy with but overall I think it looks good. It's a shame that most of it will be difficult to see once the gun is in place. Cheers Matt

Have a read of this thread Julian. It's about 88mm shells but is appropriate for all late war German ammunition http://www.network54.com/Forum/637977/thread/1275567962

Coming along nicely Dan, mg post is looking good. Are you leaving the rear fenders off? That bracket is a guide for the starter crank. The circular cover below the exhaust is removed and the crank fed through the bracket to give it support The two large square covers give access to the idler adjustment mechanism

I know how you feel Brian. Just when I thought I was getting my work space back, my wife decided she wanted the bedroom redecorated! Thanks Niek I don't think masking it should be too much of a problem. I'm just going to take my time, being very careful with the tape. I do have concerns about this as any over spray into the interior would be a disaster. I've been having withdrawal symptoms too. Itching to get going again. I have no updates just yet but good news, I have my work space back at last! First coats of primer will be going down on the turret basket later this week