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Matt182

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  1. Matt182
    Great work Dan. I like the minimalist approach to the weathering, looks just right. Those figures look fantastic too, nice touch with the tattoo.
  2. Matt182
    Hi Phil, I originally budgeted 25 AP rounds and 17 HE rounds for the hull so I painted up that amount. As It turns out, the 6 HE rounds I was going to fit in the front right hand side ammo rack do not fit. There is a spacing issue which has resulted in the outer two rounds catching on the raised triangular portion of the hull side wall. I built the racks using the AP rounds as a template, completely forgetting that the HE rounds are longer. It's not a huge issue as I have enough ammo to fill out all the racks. Really, the issue I'm trying to get around is the imbalance between AP & HE rounds (40 vs 24). I'm trying to make it look like there is roughly a 50/50 balance between the two by placing the HE rounds in the most visible locations. I'm also trying to get the balance between the hull and turret right as I don't want the turret to be overloaded with AP rounds. Might have to rethink this. I'm just a little annoyed with myself as I have gone on and on about test fitting throughout this build and I have made this gaff! There is no way I am going to adjust the rack now so I must find a solution with the ammo. Cheers Matt
  3. Matt182
    Thanks to everyone for the kind comments Progress has slowed to a snails pace at the moment. Getting all the ammo painted to an acceptable standard has turned into a bit of a grind if i'm honest. It appears I have also miss counted how much ammo I need for the hull, leaving me a few rounds short. I've decided to push on with finishing all the ammo first, so I don't run into this problem again when I get to the turret. Having said that, two of the ammo racks are now finished and loaded up awaiting final weathering. Hopefully I will have another update soon, just need to push on and get this part of the build done and dusted! Cheers Matt
  4. Matt182
    Nice progress so far, watching with interest
  5. Matt182
    Moving along nicely Phil, looking very clean and tidy. Nice mod on the barrel attachment, I assume you are still going to leave it friction fit so you can remove the turret shell? How's the fit between the upper and lower hull on your kit?
  6. Matt182
    Cracking job so far Dan. I really like the depth of colour you manage to achieve in your paint jobs.
  7. Matt182
    Top work Dan, itching to see the paint go down too!
  8. Matt182
    Thanks chaps Completion date? I haven't really thought about it but seeing as we are moving into autumn now, I'm hoping to get more time to work on it. I would like to have it finished by June next year at the latest. That would mark 3 years on this project and I think it would be good to have it finished by then! Cheers Matt
  9. Matt182
    I picked this kit up a few weeks back. It is not Zvezda's own kit but a re-pop of Dragon's early king tiger kit 6208. It looks good in the box, except the turret shell which has some sink marks which don't look too difficult to deal with. There are some minor sink marks on other parts and also a little flash but nothing a little work can't sort out. Plastic mesh is provided for the engine screens and some twine for the tow cables instead of the PE mesh and metal wire you get in the Dragon kits. The decals and painting guides are pretty poor and they are not very accurate. Plus side is Zvezda have done their own instructions which are much better than Dragon's. Overall I would say it is better than Tamiya's kit and on par with Academy's kit, but seeing as Dragon's kit can be had for not too much more, I would pass on the Zvezda kit and get the real deal.
  10. Matt182
    Thanks chaps for all the very positive comments I think I'm on the final straight now, as far as the lower hull is concerned. The custom decals I ordered from Peddinghaus turned up today so I've just spent the last few hours cutting them all out and applying them to the AP rounds. All the hull ammo is now ready for washes and weathering. Just a quick pic of the three types of ammo, with all the stenciling applied. Cheers Matt
  11. Matt182
    Cheers chaps, I haven't got much done lately. Peddinghaus have agreed to make my custom decal sheet but as they are rather busy right now, I'm going to have to wait. In the meantime I finished off the basic painting for all the hull ammunition and applied all the decals that I have. I decided to fit all the ammo to get an idea of what it will look like once finished. I quite happy with the results so far And with the hull top on. Once the decals for the AP rounds have arrived I will give all the ammo a dark wash to tone it all down. Testing the fit for all the ammo also reveals that there really is no point fitting the base plates to the ammo in the two racks by the firewall as they will never be seen. The same will be true for the turret as I will be sealing the rear hatch, so over all I will only need to fit 20 of the shell bases. Hopefully in my next update the ammo racks will finally be finished! Cheers Matt
  12. Matt182
    Will be following along too. Good to see another one being built
  13. Matt182
    Cheers guys I think that might still be a long way off. Still have the upper hull, turret and all the exterior to go yet! I used vallejo 70.801 brass straight from the bottle for the shell cases. Well I'm still working on the the ammo. I had to get some decal softener as some of them weren't settling down properly. The HE rounds are nearly ready so hopefully these will be fitted into the racks soon. I'm also in discussions with Peddinghaus about a custom decal sheet for the AP rounds. Fingers crossed it works out. Cheers Matt
  14. Matt182
    Cheers chaps Well, I've been busy with more painting. The ammo racks are now complete. Then my work desk turned into an ammo factory. 60 odd rounds painted up in their basic colours. I decided to take some artistic license here and paint all the shell cases to represent brass. It would of been unlikely to see a Tiger II fully loaded with brass shells (or any German tank for that matter) by this point in the war due to material shortages. Most tank shells by this point in the war were made of steel with either a pakerised blue/grey or green/beige finish. I just thought brass shells would be more interesting to look at! So here are the different types of ammo. The four on the left are HE rounds, the black round is an AP round and the round on the right is a hollow charge round. I ditched the kit decals and replaced them with Peddinghaus decals. The kit decals do not provide anywhere near enough for all the rounds and the Peddinghaus decals just look better. Sadly, neither Trumpeter or Peddinghaus provide the correct stenciling for the AP rounds. Both provide black stenciling, which on a black round is rather useless! The writing should be in red so I will have to figure something out. Finally, a test shot of the HE ammo in the center ammo rack. Still plenty of work left to do on the ammo before they can be fitted into the racks. Cheers Matt
  15. Matt182
    Excellent detail work Dan, especially on those pe ammo cases!
  16. Matt182
    This is the correct orientation. Note that Panther tracks were 'handed', they had a dedicated track for each side of the tank. If say the left track had to be replaced but they only had a set of right tracks, they would have to put it on backwards. This was to ensure any track pins which worked their way free did so facing the hull. At the rear of the hull there is a raised metal plate which knocks the track pins back in as they pass. Cheers Matt
  17. Matt182
    Any progress on this Phil?
  18. Matt182
    Thanks for posting up all the detailed photos, it certainly looks like a great kit. I will certainly be following this one once you get started. Check out the afv modeller shop for some very useful items like the MG ammo bags, ammo belts and some other items common to all German tanks. David Parker is now also releasing items dedicated to the Panzer IV so I imagine there will be more to come. http://shop.afvmodeller.com/customer/home.php?cat=387 Aber are also getting in on the act too with a replacement muzzle brake, turned aluminium rounds, metal track pins etc, etc. It's looking like there will eventually be a ton of aftermarket for this kit, and a giant hole in the wallet to go with it!
  19. Matt182
    Top job bringing an old kit up to scratch Dan. Those pe tie downs look like a real bugger of a job! Looking forward to seeing the paint go on. Cheers Matt
  20. Matt182
    Thanks for posting up detailed pics of this kit Stix. It looks like a very nice kit overall. One thing that has got me a little curious is the lower hull. It has some odd looking moldings around the final drives / front plate and the instructions appear to show that no glue is to be used when attaching the upper hull. Maybe this kit was/is intended to be released as an RC version too?
  21. Matt182
    Another small update. I finished up adding the final details to the ammo racks and the backing plates. Next I painted them up with the basic colours. I used buff is a basis for the wooden parts. Finally I used oils to tone down the ivory and give the wooden parts a basic wood grain effect. I also dry brushed some deck tan onto the wooden parts. To be honest, it hasn't turned out exactly as planned but as most of this work will be hidden by the ammo anyway, I'm not too bothered. 5 more racks to go!
  22. Matt182
    It's hard to tell from that photo but they have certainly retooled the lower hull as some of the details are different to those in the KT kit. I would hope they have lengthened it at the same time otherwise it will be a rather odd looking Jagdtiger! What concerns me though is the other parts on show. They all look like they are straight from the KT kit. I'm suspecting it will come with the Panther G based engine bay again and the same poorly detailed parts for the lower hull. I'm hoping these are just in there for a test fit and they are actually retooling those parts. Would be a real shame if they didn't as all the research has been done for them, they just need to look at it! I'm curious as to why they haven't tackled the Tiger 1. That would surely be a best seller, especially with a full interior.
  23. Matt182
    Very nicely done indeed! I had a flick through your in progress thread, some fantastic weathering techniques on show there. I particularly like how you did the lower hull and tracks.
  24. Matt182
    That's a pain having that part missing. Odd that it would go missing in the box as this kit is very well packed. I can only guess it was never in the box in the first place. I would try and get a replacement, maybe go direct to Trumpeter as well? You might have to pay for it though. If not, I'm sure you could scratch something to fill the void. Thankfully it will be a rarely seen detail anyway. Would be interested in seeing the HB Tiger too. I also have that kit (with a bucket load of AM) which I'm itching to start. I've told myself I must finish the KT first though, before I start any major new projects!
  25. Matt182
    Looking forward to seeing your next update Phil. I think your idea should work well, it's just a shame that Trumpeter didn't consider that people might actually want to see the interior once it's finished! I've just been looking through your photos again and noticed that you have placed a PE grill in that recess in the center of the turret. This space is actually for the turret ventilator. I'm not sure what the part number is but it should look like this: It looks like the PE part you have used is for the center air intake on the rear of the engine deck . Also, you mentioned that you were going to be concentrating on the exterior. I'm just wondering how accurate you are looking to be with this as the 503 & 101 tigers that served in Normandy had a couple of minor differences to what the kit provides. Let me know if you are interested in this. If not, i'll zip it Oh yeah, you may also be interested in this.... No release date given yet though. Keep up the good work!
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