Nenad Ilijic

Yeah I know... it was probably my most frustrating build. I am not sure I would build it again. I would rather wait for some new kit to appear, or at least AM suspension and tracks. Thank you John. Thank you Gordon

Thank you! Thank you Nemanja, you are very kind! 🍻 Thank you, Stix. Coming from you, it means a lot!

Wow, what a fantastic model! The Dozer blade turned out amazing. Great job

Nice work John. I like the camo very much. Great base as well. Cheers, Nenad

Thank you Cesar.

Excellent work, I really like it. Just started my Miniart Grant Mk I. How's the kit? Did you have any problems with it?

Truly brilliant work Ed.

@supersonic, @Bullbasket, @Keeff, @StuartH, @Vince1159, @Stef N., @Milan Mynar, @FrancisGL, @Roman Schilhart, @IanC, @Pete Robin, @Autle, @Jasper dog, @Model Mate, @Watto, @edjbartos thank you all for your kind words. I'm glad you like it. Cheers, Nenad

Hello everyone, I wanted to make a little break from my "build all WW2 vehicles in North Africa" mission and I wanted something completely different. I chose King Tiger because I never build one. And I chose Battle of the Bulge because it's a different period and different theatre. The model I built should represent Tiger II "332" of 501st Schwere Panzer Abteilung, part of the infamous Kampfgruppe Peiper. It was completed on 11/9/44 with chassis number Fgst 280043. It was originally issued to Wehrmacht s.Pz.Abt.509, and then passed on to s.SS-Pz.Abt.501 in early December 1944. It was captured in the Ardennes on 26/12/1944 and there are several different accounts of its capture, but most agree about the following: It was captured by a 3rd Platoon of D Company of the 740th Tank Battalion when a leading Sherman commanded by Sgt. Glenn D. George, while patrolling on the road near La Gleize noticed a single King Tiger. They stopped and waited but the tank was silent. They fired a star shell, and to their surprise, the crew, probably sleeping at the time, quickly bailed out to the nearby forest. Now there are different accounts, some of them claiming that tanks were taken by US crew and driven along the road until they ran out of fuel, others claiming it was left there until morning. Anyway, it was recovered the next day by the 463rd Ordnance Evacuation Company with their M 19 tractor-trailer combination, nicknamed 'Tank Taxi', which is the combination of M20 Prime Mover (Diamond T 981) and M9 45-ton Trailer. Accompanying it were two T5 (M32) ARVs and an M1A1 Heavy Wrecker. The tank was then moved to the Stavelot Railway Station in Belgium where it was loaded on the captured railcar, and moved to Antwerp, from where it was shipped to the US and transferred to US Army Ordnance proving grounds at Aberdeen. While at Aberdeen, the vehicle was extensively tested until the mid-1950s and then moved to the Ordnance Museum. It was exhibited there until the 1990s when it was moved to Patton Museum, and after that, in 2011, to the National Armor and Cavalry Museum workshops in Fort Benning, where it is now, but not in public display. The model should represent a vehicle as it looked after being captured (hence the white markings added by the 463rd Ordnance Evacuation Company). The model is based on the Revell kit, which is not bad, but the detailing is quite weak, so a lot of AM extras were used. For details, you can check the WIP thread here. Painted with a combination of MRP, Hataka, and Vallejo paints. There's no definitive conclusion about how it was painted, except that it was factory painted in 3-tone camouflage. Looking at the photos, I decided to go with the soft-edge camo. And some detailed shots here. There are many photos of the real tank, so a lot of reference material. Here are some of these. Thanks for watching, for following my WIP thread, and thanks for your comments. Cheers, Nenad

I am not a big fan of filters, but this time, I sprayed 3-tone camo filter by MIG. It blended everything a bit. I left it for a day to dry completely and then sprayed AK heavy chipping fluid followed by two different diluted pigments, dark (AK Dump Earth) and light (AK North Africa Dust). Left it to dry for a day again and scrubbed it with a flat brush soaked in water. It creates random dirt patches and on the sloped areas, it looks like the dirt accumulated by water (kinda ). Left it to dry once again and apply normal (dry) pigments in a random fashion. Used three different pigments this time, Russian Earth, Europe Earth, and Earth (AK and Mig stuff). I added more on the lower parts of the hull, wheels, etc. I'm not using pigment fixer, just soaking it with enamel spirit. Once dry, I move the pigments around a bit with a brush, remove the excess and then soak it again. And I repeat this until I'm happy with the result. I'll play around with it a little bit more and call it done. RFI coming soon. Cheers, Nenad

Thank you, Nick. Unfortunately, no WIP thread for this one I know that people are complaining about this kit and that too many changes are needed if you want to build an early F2, but I really didn't have to do any major changes to it. No, I don't remember anymore all the changes I did, but I do remember that most of them were rearranging tools on the fenders and filling holes on the fenders, which is a bit PITA, because fenders are corrugated. Headlight had to be moved as well. Also, I had to remove the cooling water exchange port at the back. I remember I had to do something with the track holders in the front, but I don't remember what There were some changes required for this particular vehicle as well like adding jerrycan holders, adding a toolbox on the back that was missing, etc. I also removed spare wheel holders from the fenders (which is where I put jerrycans) and I made two spare wheel holders from wire and attached them to the rear (Ausf. D/E/F style). Not sure if these were all field modifications, or if some are related to this being an early F2. I also remember that there was an issue with barrel cleaning rods. The rods provided by the kit are one-piece, G-style rods, while you need 2 pieces earlier type. But in my case, rods are stored somewhere where they are not visible, so I didn't have to deal with this. That's all I could recall, hope it's helpful. Cheers, Nenad

Thank you Nick. Yeah, I'm not a fan of how turret dust effects turned out. Way too bright, just as you said.

So I did some chipping. I tried not to overdo it and to stick to the areas exposed to wear. Also, started attaching equipment. This was a bit tricky because PE clamps and tool holders are all quite fragile. On top of that, it turned out that the track cable is too short I have no idea how this happened, I was sure that I checked it. To do a quick fix, I cut the cable in two places, where cable holders are. Like this: And then, I just added a piece of cable that is now missing between two holders. Holders are now over the place where cable pieces are being connected, so the disruption is not visible. At least I hope so The other side with the entangled cable was easier. Some tools are also attached. Most of them are missing, probably lost or taken by the crew when abandoning the tank. Did some work on mufflers as well. Finished the tracks. First I dry-brushed Mr. Metal Color Stainless Steel and once dry I rubbed some AK truck rust pigments. And attached the wheels and tracks. It went mostly without issues. The sag on one side should be just a bit bigger, but I was too lazy to deal with it again. It is what it is. What's left now is to apply some dust and dirt. A chance to destroy what I did so far Will try to do it over the weekend. Cheers, Nenad

Now that you say it, I have to 😆 Does anybody know which trailer is that and what is the truck towing it? Is there a kit around?

I did some work on camo and decals over the weekend. I could not work on it for a longer period, so I split the effort into a few shorter sessions. Finished one side first: Then the other: And finally front and back: I tried to stick as much as possible to whatever is visible in the photos, but of course, most of it is just guesswork. I did the decals as well. Looking at them while on the sheet they looked to me very tick and I was prepared for the disaster. However, once I applied them, they turned out not that bad. They are on the thick side and there is some silvering visible, but I think that they will look decent once I sand them with 1000 sandpaper and seal them with a clear coat (I'll use Mr Color GX Super Smooth Clear Flat GX114). Cheers, Nenad