Kelscale

Here are two interior kit examples both from RFM but there are many more RFM 1/35 Tiger I interior kit RFM 1/35 Pz.III interior kit

Thanks Mick

Welcome onboard Keith So impressed with this kit I have just had the good fortune today to snap up the interior kit RM-5043 for a measly £54 inclusive of shipping. Considering this non interior kit cost me £45 I will consider that a bargain✔️ Have you posted a build log of the Easy 8?

I would definately attempt a non interior kit first. You cant beat Tamiya for the best engineered kits. You just have to sacrifice a little detail. My Tamiya Pz.IV Ausf J build will be coming up later in this post.

Turret and tracks The upper and lower two-part turret mouldings are nicely engineered with weld line detail hiding the angled joint. The gun breach and cradle parts fix to the lower part so you can paint the interior easily enough before joining the two halves together. Although not called out for with the gun tank, it is also appropriate to fit the front panel with the vision port. If this part is not chosen and you choose the vision port deleted panel as per the instructions, the four screw head detail moulded onto the turret roof behind where it sat need to be removed. The kit upper moulding with fan cover and close defence weapon (Nahverteidigungswaffe) cover plate, lifting hooks, hatch splashguard and hatches on one side already added **apologies in advance for some really grainy and out of focus pics. I've been playing with a new android phone which has a pro setting and I forgot to take some shots out of the zoom setting😳 The comprehensive gun breach parts are exactly the same as in the interior kit. Although not called out, a few other items from this kit can be found on various sprues trees. Unfortunately, the rotating turret floor moulding is missing crucial bracket parts only found with the interior kit. Even without it, leaving any turret hatches open will still leave plenty of detail to eyeball in the interior. *I have since found out that there are at least two sprue layouts available with this kit. A fellow modeller pointed out that he had far more interior parts available in his kit. When we compared both the instruction sheet and sprues RFM did indeed change the sprue layout at some point. It obviously does not effect the ability to build either variant. It just changes the amount of spare parts available. The few rotating turret floor parts available on sprues in my kit. It is missing a few parts that are used in the interior kit including the crucial connecting bracket parts that would enable you to fix it to the edge of the turret floor. If you don't mind a bit of scatchbuilding, images of the missing parts are available on sprue shots of the interior kit 5043 on the scalemates site for example. It would have been nice to see a metal barrel, although the slide moulded single piece one is easily cleaned up to hide the very faint seam line. For the 5043 interior kit I have purchased both a Panzerart metal barrel which includes a resin mantlet and also the metal barrel by Aber made specifically for the Tamiya kit. Both can be easily adapted to fit as looking down the related product list for this kit on the Scalemate website only shows one metal barrel option. This Yan Model part appears to be out of stock, even discontinued ! The kit provides a choice of three plastic muzzle brakes. One small anomaly I found in step 24 was that part S17 (the Nahverteidigungswaffe cover) is orientated off centre on the turret roof. Other Ausf J kits have this fixed facing forward. The part has two pips underneath, the larger one is to fit into a 1mm hole that you are instructed to drill out in step 23. The solution to allow unlimited orientation is to snip off the larger pip underneath. As the smaller pip sits centrally and the part when fixed hides the 1mm hole that you are instructed to drill, you can now position it in any direction. The turret schürzen are accurate for a N-Werk built vehicle, in so far as they have the correct brackets and appropriate bolt fixing location points to both the turret and the schürzen. N-Werk had a unique feature and differed to the earlier Krupp built vehicles. The front side plates of the schürzen were mounted 50mm further forward which changed the door layout so different support brackets were used. This also meant different mounts held the protector for the cupola base. The exposed bolt head pattern on the exterior of the front schürzen panels is a visual clue. On N-Werk built vehicles the middle bolt will sit rearward. Unfortunately, as soon as I snipped my turret schürzen panels off the sprue gates it was apparent that both the front sections bowed inwards quite badly. I left them overnight under a weight, but they simply sprang back the next day when the weight was removed! I am hoping that the fixing of the brackets to the turret will straighten them out. As with the track schürzen brackets the turret brackets were first fixed to the schürzen panels to get a nice clean fitment. As there is very little room between both the rear curved panel and the turret bin, and the turret bin and turret, these areas will require an airbrushed shadow coat before final fixing. PE storage trays between the turret bin and the schürzen are added by way of either plastic or PE brackets. As they would be hardly visible, I opted for the more durable plastic option and thinned them down. The cupola assembly is a comprehensive model in itself. It contains a myriad of parts, but they all fit perfectly, and it looks exquisite once built up. You get two main cupola moulding options; one to build up with the armoured visor covers permanently open, and one so the covers simply slot in and remain moveable. Test fitting of some of the turret components onto the hull The tracks With many components still left unfixed until I clean and prep for paint, I turned my attention to track fitment. Although RFM offer individual links together with a fitting jig, I had a few other options available. First up, I had the three-return roller link and length tracks left over from the Border Ausf J kit, and then two aftermarket 3D printed sets. One by T-Rex and one by QuickTracks. To save time, I opted for the Quicktracks snap fit set. These are series type 7 track links and come in two bags for both left and right runs. There is also a small bag with a few open links and wire to which you can thread through to close the track loop. Both runs were built up in an alarmingly quick 20mins. They do indeed simply snap together and are far more robust than they look once assembled. I had a few issues with a set of both StuG F/8 and Ausf J type Quick Track links earlier this year. They resembled a banana as soon as you started to assemble them. The manufacturer acknowledged there had been some quality control issues and kindly replaced both sets. Whereas the original set came in grey plastic the two replacements are now in black, and the boxes state they are ‘Rev 1’. Each handed bag contains a small built-up run which I assume is a QC test to ensure they align straight. Although difficult to see the detail in the black resin, cast numbers are present on each link and they fit the kit wheels really well. 98 links were fitted to the Ausf J and QuickTrack give you 120 links per side, so there are plenty left to depict spare tracks or save for future projects. The idler wheel axle does have a small locating tab to fix it a fixed cut out notch inside the idler housing on the lower hull, but that is easily removed if you wish to adjust it. With the tab left in place the 98 track links fitted perfectly. The top run doesn’t sag over the return rollers as naturally as the T-Rex links with pins, but that is due to the friction in the snap nature of the connection. It does however only take a little adjustment for them to look the business.

So far so good. I’m enjoying the build more than both the Dragon and Border equivalents. Apart from Border models trick engineering to allow fitment of the track guards after upper hull fitment I would say it is better engineered than both those kits. Although the styrene is softer the detail is almost as sharp as the Dragon kit. It’s also represented more accurately overall. There are less errors in the kits detail and the instructions are almost faultless in both parts call out and direction. There are a few prominent pin holes that are left visible and will require removal. I've just notice ones in both sidewall extensions just behind the towing eyes🤔 As already mentioned above I was surprised to see a little flash on a few of the smaller parts but in general I'm really pleased. I can't comment on the tracks just yet as these will be built up for the Tamiya build. If I had to pick out a few things I would improve on, it would be the option to include an earlier upper rear panel to except the horizontal exhaust muffler as these were seen on many vehicles right up until the switch to the Flammentoter type in Aug 44. A metal barrel would be a welcome inclusion as would the option of both glacis plate spare track and upper rear hull brackets in PE. A second pair of tubular schurzen rails without the top bracket cut outs would also be a worthwhile addition. The jack brackets are also only provided in plastic and like they all do, look a little bulky. TBH the ONLY error I have found so far apart from my self-inflicted construction one, will be pointed out in my next post. It concerns part S17 (the Nahverteidigungswaffe cover) which might sit incorrectly orientated on the turret roof. Even this is minor and simple to fix. If this ease of construction carries on, I will be very tempted to purchase the interior kit.

Upper hull and spaced armour (Drahtgeflecht schürzen) Before I committed to final fixing, I built up the upper hull parts and test fitted. This sub assembly consists of the top plate, two side plates and the front plate with drivers’ visor and ball mounted MG. At this point you get the option to add either side bolted lifting hooks or the later front panel U shape welded items. The spare track links located on the starboard side are offered as a choice of a bracket moulding with six links fitted, or just the empty brackets. The fitted link moulding could be improved on as there are visible knock out marks that are difficult to access. I opted for the empty bracket. I micro drilled out the end hoops so I could utilise aftermartket 3D links on some suitable sized wire. The top of the front upper hull panel surround also received some homemade torchmarks by scribing with a modelling knife over wet Tamiya xtra thin glue. Here you can see the very last square design of the front hatch splash guards and the two hatch bump stops moulded to the front panel. How they have survived handling so far is a miracle. They are easily replaced by thin wire should they be damaged. This whole upper hull assembly locates into slots in the transmission plate and track guards, and also into small cut-outs on the back of the upper rear panel. It should then sit down flush on the bulkhead panel and engine cooling louvres. Test fitting on my build resulted in the top panel sitting a fraction too high against the rear panel. The offending items appeared to be the top of the engine cooling louvre mouldings, although one appeared slightly taller than the other. The top plate angles down slightly just behind the engine hatches onto the top of the louvres, and this is where it was fouling. The louvre assemblies come in three parts including an armoured outer plate which is butted up to the top plate in a later step. They only fit one way and attach positively, both together and also to the track guards by way of cut outs. As the top plate was also not engaging down onto the engine firewall panel, which is obviously intended, somehow it was sitting approximately a millimetre or so too high. The top panel does have raised sections at either side where it butts up to the rear plate but looking at refrerence images, as well as other Pz.IV builds, it should definately be sitting lower. You can see in the pic below it sits a little higher on the portside After checking if I had made a construction error along the way, the very first build image I took exposes the anomoly🫣 The lower hull side panel on the portside had not sat down as flush as it should on the floor plate toward the rear. That small gap had to be the reason for the whole louvre assembly sitting a fraction too high. The only solution would be to shave a small amount of material off the top of the louvre mouldings. The small gap towards the rear between the portside plate and floor moulding is highlighted below. As already mentioned the connection is very snug. The engineering of the connection looks to build in a rigidity that allows the hull to retain its shape without reinforcement. Test fitting the parts shows a tight friction fit. They will 'click' into place with some force, but they can also all to easily 'pop out'! Although I was positive I had the connection tight the friction between the two parts must have pushed up the rear a fraction. Thats my excuse anyways 😳 Popping a weight over the drying parts is a solution I would recommend. The top plate sitting a touch too high at the rear. It should sit completely flush with the armoured plate sat over the engine cooling louvres Slowly removing a little plastic at a time from the top of the engine cooling louvres, the hull top panel finally fell into place. The engine deck hatches, and the remaining fittings could now be added. After shaving a little plastic off the top of the cooling louvres the top panel now sat flush with the rear panel and also sat down as intended onto the engine firewall panel. With that little conundrum behind me it was time to move onto the mesh space armour (Drahtgeflecht schürzen). In these steps you can build the kit up without the rails altogether by simply adding blanking plates to the upper hull. To replicate this option accurately you would then have to drill lots of very small holes in the track fender side profile where the lower brackets would have attached. That would involve a very fine drill and a very steady hand! The tubular Drahtgeflecht schürzen top rail provided comes with cut outs to slot the top brackets to. There is no complete rail included to represent a rail without the mesh panels attached. If you wanted to display the odd mesh panel missing, you would have to fill the slots in the rail. I notice RFM in one of their CAD images (see below) simple show the brackets attached to the rail where a central mesh panel is missing, which is a little strange. In reality the bracket was welded to the mesh panel and simply clipped over and bolted to the rail. The upper brackets attached to the mesh panel rail, and the lower brackets attached to the track guards. You have two fitment options available so the wider Winterketten/Ostketten tracks can be deployed. The upper bracket has two fixed positions whereas the track guard brackets had to be positioned to accept one or the other. In the kit the lower part of the brackets are moulded on the track guard. You then get to choose the orientation to which to add the individual upper parts. To clear the wider tracks the upper parts need to be positioned horizontally. In instruction step 17 these are only shown in the vertical position to accept the regular tracks included in the kit. Bracket positioned vertically to accept the schurzen for regular track fitment (as per the instruction image in step 17) Bracket positioned horizontally to accept the wider Winterketten tracks Rather than attaching the tubular rail brackets to the hull as instructed, I employed a similar method as I had with a previous Ausf J. As both connection points on the bracket require work removing seams, I reckoned it a whole lot easier to get a much cleaner connection by attaching the brackets to the rail cut outs first. It is worth noting ALL the brackets are different so I cleaned up and test fitted each to the hull before fixing them. I then ended up with two tubular rail assemblies with the brackets fixed neatly in place. I then dry fitted both assemblies, to both the hull and track guards so they cured overnight in exactly the correct position. Tubular rail test fitted to both upper hull and track guards. The track guard brackets have been fixed in the vertical position to accept the regular tracks. A set of PE brackets would look far more convincing if the mesh panels are not fitted. I believe Miniart offer the upper parts of these brackets in photoetch. The mesh Drahtgeflecht schürzen panels come in photoetch with predrilled holes to attach the lower plastic brackets. Plastic is used again to represent the upper brackets. Again, these are as thin as you could possibly expect the mouldings to be without being overly fragile. The PE mesh weave looks good, and the panels are convincingly thin. The upper brackets attach to shallow cut-outs to the rear on the top of the mesh panel so as to align with the cut-outs on the tubular rail. The mesh panels are framed on the outside with PE strips that include bolt head detail. These line up and are fixed onto the outside of the panels. The two lower plastic brackets fit through the mesh panel predrilled holes and are fixed to PE locking strips on the outside which is nice and simple to achieve. The last step is to add the upper rail brackets to the top of the panels. Due to the predrilled holes in the mesh panels, lining everything up is pleasingly simple. TBH the most time consuming element involves cleaning up the fine PE parts. Fully assembled inner view of the middle mesh screen. The cut outs on the mesh for the upper brackets is obviously very shallow so getting all three lined up neatly will insure they all sit evenly in the cut-outs on the tubular rail. Assembled outer view of the front mesh screen. The lower angle strip is a little out of alignment and will require re-fitment. All the mesh panels look a little out of alignment with each other in the pic below. This is due to the whole tubular rail assembly only being dry fitted to the hull. I think RFM have done a great job on the mesh screens. It makes for a relatively painless and super quick process to assemble. With the turret components test fitted. Cheers Pete. Thanks for looking in

Rye Field Model Pz.IV Ausf J #RM-5033 The lower hull, running gear and track guards. After inspecting all the contents and making a note of what might be available, but not actually called out in the instructions, I started with step one as per the instructions. As this was RFM's first Pz.IV released just before their interior kit, the lower hull is built up in sections to allow far more detail on the innner faces. All the flatpack lower hull parts will align true even though there is no internal bracing to fit at this stage. Just be aware that the side plates to floor moulding connection is an extremely snug fit so just make sure that they engage tightly. There should be no internal gap along the inner faces. The eascape hatch on the floor comes as a separate items which is a nice feature. No matter how hard I tried I ended up with a small gap enlarging towards the back of the hull on the portside. Trimming the small tabs that engage in the floor moulding cut-outs assisted in getting a much tighter fit on the starboard side. The option to have the wheel bogies moveable by snipping away a small tab is a nice feature, and all the road wheels have poly caps which is something I personally prefer. This system of attachment is extremely useful if you like to paint your running gear separately. A rotating sprocket is another plus if you have to resort to guiding aftermarket tracks between a very close-fitting track guard. Articulated bogie design. I decided on the three return roller option. One small anomaly found at this build stage is found on the outer face of the cast idler wheels. They have a small lip on the rim which wasn’t present on the real thing. This will require removal or alternatively, just use the fabricated idler wheels available. The lip on the inner portion of the rim is shown on the wheel on the right and is removed on the wheel on the left. Sanding accross the whole wheel (the simplest option) meant shaving away the central greese nipple. This will requre replacement if this type of idler is used. Although I cleaned and built up many of the lower hull accessories, I left some of the more fragile items off until I had finished with handling the upper hull. Such is the condition of my dexterity these days🥴 The interlocking transmission plate fits snugly between both side plates. I left that dry fitted to aid spacing before the lower hull assembly fully cured. Both armoured air intakes and simple handles for the transmission hatches are provided. Although many kits provide photoetch spare track brackets, RFM only provide plastic ones. Spare track spacing of the brackets is marked out via witness marks on the transmission plate, but they are obviously only for fitment of the RFM spare tracks. If aftermarket tracks are being used, spacing will need to be adjusted accordingly. I attempted some crude weld marks around the brackets as the glue was drying. A coat of primer will highlight my efforts🤔 The next steps involves populating both track guards with the pioneer tools and fittings. Simple photoetch clasp ends are provided for the two tools that require them. The two-part engine cooling louvres are also attached. The track guards then attach to the lower hull side plates before the upper hull is constructed and added. Again, everything fits extremely well. Track guards fitted with both engine firewall and cooling louvres, and rear upper hull plate test fitted. The C hooks were a bit of a disappointment. They both had two prominent and visible sink holes on one face. As they were already narrow I simply replaced one from my spares box. I also sourced a 3D printed fire extinguisher holder. The Bosch headlight moulding is sharply detailed but you might want to replace the wiring into the transmission plate. The portside track gaurd has been thinned from the underside to better represent sheet metal as the moveable front section will be displayed flipped back. The track guards attach to the lower hull side plates positively due to cut outs and once in place the engine firewall panel can be slotted down onto the lower hull floor, with the wings of the panel effectively trapping both track guards in place. This will also provide support for the top plate once fitted. The upper hull rear plate can now be fitted. Test fitting the engine firewall panel before tools were installed on the track guards. So far so good👌

Christ, you won't let this lie will you🥴 Troy, please stop taking this personally 🙏 I didn't say they didn't work, I simple stated 'they don’t brush paint well' so unless you have experimented with them and come up with a formula to make them 'work', out of the bottle, and I'm going to have to repeat myself, they dont brush paint well! Look fella, I'm not knocking the fact you can make them work, you can tell me you acheive great results with them all day day long, and I don't doubt you do, but in the context of this thread and the OP's original request my response remains; Tamiya acrylic paints are not an acrylic I would ever advise to use with a brush.

Thanks again guys, the support is really appreciated so thought I better respond as there hasn't been an update on this build for nearly four months🥴 As usual I got sidetracked with shiny, shiny new modelling goodies and although I was some way into painting the myriad of detritus left on the load bed and had also started the base, a single resin item ordered was an untimely but ultimately simple excuse to pop into a dust free container and pop open another kit. There really does need to be a regular new kit release armistice. There are simply just too many fantastic kits coming to market. Back to this build ASAP

Sorry buddy but can’t agree with that at all. I tried it when I started out as I didn't know any better. Terrible results but then I’ve never tried it with their flow improver.....and likely won't ever. I think however you’ll find the consensus is to go with Vallejo or AK for brush painting.

Welcome back to the hobby. I can only really echo what has already been said. I dont build wingy things but for starting out with 1/35 armour its Tamya, Tamiya, Tamiya. They are specially designed to be easy to assemble and user-friendly, even for beginners. I would thoroughly recommend you take a look at the Scalemates site https://www.scalemates.com/ as they keep a comprehensive update of all new releases as well as excellent info on individual kits, with pointers to build logs, reviews and most importantly sources of actual kits. Whilst they obviously don't have EVERY retailer on their site they do have some good UK stores and you’ll get to know who has the best offers. You don’t have to make an account if you don’t want, but if you do you can track your purchases, wish lists, builds and even advertise kits for sale etc. Just use the search facility for any kit in any scale and it will not only show you the history of the kit, but you can download the instructions, see kit reviews, other members build projects and importantly, also a list of retailers selling it. There is also a comprehensive list of all the kits associated aftermarket accessories to upgrade it with if you so wish. The earliest (70’s & 80s)Tamiya kits will be the cheapest, and whilst the mouldings might be old and not the most accurate they are still simple and pleasurable to build. If you go to Hobbycraft you will always find their bestselling kits. £25 to £35 is what I would expect to pay for those early kits like the Panther etc. They also sell Tamiya acrylic paints but as already mentioned they don’t brush paint well. Vallejo or AK acrylics are the brush paints to go for. I have just purchased most of my neighbours whole modelmaking collection and I have doubled up on many unopened Vallejo paints and a few kits. Pop me a personal message if you would like to know what I can offer as I’m happy to bundle up some paints required for a particular kit etc Los

My first foray into building a Pz.IV Ausf J was as a dual build not so long ago. It was a great way of comparing a fairly old kit with a newcomer on the market. That kit comparison can be found here along with build fixes and a comprehensive history of the Ausf J variant: Pz.IV Ausf J Dragon 6575 (2012) vs Border Models BT-008 (2019) release TBH there really wasn’t much in it as to which I thought was the better overall kit, so I thought it would be interesting to build two more Ausf J kits. Only their release dates would be 25 years apart! Both these kits are the manufacturers first releases of the Ausf J. The Tamiya (early) kit 35181 from 1994, although it has been released a few times since (with figures etc & updated parts) retains, with the majority of the mouldings from the original design. The main reason I purchased this kit was that I had purchased a set of Monroeperdu zimmerit As for the Rye Field kit, they have released two Ausf J’s to date and this, their (late) RM-5033 two in one kit without interior, is from 2019. I purchased this alongside their recent StuG III G and with only hearing good things I am very much looking forward to building it. Before we start, to get an idea of what we can be build out of the options available in both kits let us look at the history of the Ausf J. To give it its full title the Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausführung J (Sd.Kfz. 161/2) was the ninth and last variant of the Panzerkampfwagen IV medium tank family. It was produced from January 1944 to the last days of April 1945. It was distinguished by numerous simplifications made in an effort to accelerate production and conserve valuable materials. The biggest change to the Ausf J from the Ausf H was that the single-speed turret traverse electric power drive was replaced with a two-gear manual traverse, in favour of extra space used for fuel storage. In October 1944 the steel spaced armour (Schürzen) was replaced with simpler, and much lighter wire mesh screens. (Drahtgeflecht schürzen) This was a last-ditch effort to increase Panzer IV production rate and compensate for tank losses. Although both Nibelungenwerk (N-Werk from now on) built 2980 units, and Vomag 180, Vomag only built some of the very first Ausf J vehicles. Due to the production run timescale the Vomag vehicle chassis numbers (Fahrgestellnummers) 86394 to 86573 would all have had both anti magnetic paste (zimmerit), the original muffler type exhaust and fittings for either type 1 or type 2 Schürzen. Turning to look at the contents of the much deeper Rye Field boxing, this is a '2 in 1' kit so you can also build an artillery observation tank, (Panzerbeobachtungswagen IV Ausf. J) or Pz.Beob.Wg.IV Ausf.J for short, which started to be assembled in April 44. This is a kit I have very much been looking forward to building. Not only is it my first RFM kit but I have only heard high praise regarding both its accuracy and engineering. Just like the Tamiya kit all the sprue trees are individually packaged, and the instructions look nice and clear. The plastic, again similar to the Tamiya sprues comes in a sand colour. The detail looks sharp with some finely moulded parts such as the Schürzen brackets, hatch handles and cupola parts. There is very little mould offset, and seams appear to be very shallow which can only be a good thing. There is no metal barrel included but the plastic one is a slide modeled single piece. Checking over the sprues I was surprised to see a few of the smaller parts covered in small traces of flash. They won't be too much trouble to clean up, but it is not something I would expect to see on a kit this modern. What RFM can be commended on is the positive placement of many of the more delicately moulded items to the sprue gates. Cleaning them up should be much easier without sacrificing detail. Options to backdate both variants with what is available on the sprues is limited, but there are a few parts of which, although only called out for the artillery observation variant, are entirely appropriate for the gun tank. These include a turret front plate with the vision port. This change to delete was not fully implemented out by wars end. An earlier tow coupling without the horizontal bolt is also included, and the earlier non extended hull sidewalls and bolted on towing eyes could also be fitted to either variant. Although the earlier muffler type parts are on the sprues, only one rear lower panel moulding is included in this kit, and it is only engineered to fit the two flame-suppressing exhausts (Flammentoter) which were introduced sometime around Aug 44. The Ausf J used a 10./B.W lower hull (Wanne) and this is offered in a flat pack engineered design. You do get the much-welcomed option to open up different holes in the side plates to accept either four return rollers or the later bearings material saving three, introduced from Dec 44. There is then a further option for towing eyes. You have the choice to fit the front and rear extensions to represent the later designed Ausf J Wanne (from Oct 44) with built in towing eyes. Also optional are the smaller front extensions added at the start of Ausf J production with the towing brackets still bolted to the bow plate and the rear towing hooks of the earlier design which remained fixed to the rear side of the the lower hull. Other options include a choice of either original cast air intakes or simple handles (from Feb 45) on the transmission/brake inspection hatches, and either bolted upper hull side lifting hooks, or the later U shape type (from Dec 44) that were welded to the armoured front panel of the upper hull (Aufbau). RFM also offer an upgrade solution for super detailing. Set RM-2003 can be used both on this kit and their interior kit RM-5043.

Thank you, just ordered a set 👌

Fantastic work Paul. Keep the updates coming. Can I ask where you sourced the Eduard 3D lights from?

I'm going to have to track down an RFM kit, both this Ausf J and their Stug G kits look good.

Thank you Ed Thank you

Hi MN I will PM you what info I have archived Los

I love the Quickwheel wheels but like you say the masks appear far too sticky and just remove any tyre paint already applied. Good old fashioned hand painting works the best 😉

Quality build with some clean scratch work Kristjan. Loving the small details you have added to improve the build.

Very nice 👌

Not Tiger related but as for track colour I have recently used various base coat mixes of Tamiya Dark Iron, German Grey and Flat Earth. This was a first attempt with metal tracks on on a Jagdpanther before I added any sheen to both the inner wheels or guide horns

Bit late to the party but just had a catch up and you are doing a fine job against what looks like quite a pig of a kit. I’m so glad that blogs like this highlight the pros and cons of recently released kits. I love the subject matter and yes, the details look pretty good but IMO it’s at the expense of quality time at the bench. It appears both badly engineered and instructed to fit together. Call me a lightweight but I just cannot justify purchasing a kit that would be so badly developed these days. I’ve only built one Border kit and that was a Pz.IV Ausf J which I did a back to back build with the veritable Dragon #6575 Ausf J. It reminded me somewhat of the soft Miniart plastic and the detail was also soft in places. Although in the whole it fitted together OK, I still enjoyed building the 11-year-old Dragon kit far more. What did shock me a little was how Border had, apart from in the track fender design and full PE Schurzen, unashamedly copied not only the Dragon kit design and engineering but even the instruction steps were 99.9% identical. It turned me off them as a brand but hopefully they’ll knock a decent one out at some point and I can shut up moaning 🫣 Looking forward to progress

Thanks Bob. Appreciated. I've just ran through your build log. One question regarding this kit in particular is that although it came with a metal barrel, there is no mention of it in the instructions! It simple shows the split plastic barrel parts fitted directly into the mantlet! Looking at the Scalemates site and downloading the non zim kit 6312, this shows the barrel fitting into two collars before sitting in the mantlet. The outer (part H7) is a simple collar) but the inner collar (part H8) is moulded with an inner tube that slides only into the non zim mantlet. The metal barrel only fits inside the zim mantlet part. On further inspection sitting both the kits zim mantlet and non zim part upright clearly has the zim part much taller. To get a match in height the non zim part requires the inner tube collar. The outer collar will fit outside either but the crucial visual difference is there is only one step on the zim mantlet and two on the non zim part! Confused I am🫣 Now looking at both pre-production and period images of the monoblic barrel it appears there are differences. Tiger 11 from the first production batch looks like it only has the outer collar fitted. I can only see one step. Looking at other tanks I can definately see two steps and an obvious wider collar off the mantlet. Can you enlighten me as to you what you see or know

I am about to start Dragon's 2007 Tiger II #6302 kit with Zimmerit and would like some advice from Tiger II aficionados as to which early Krupp turreted tanks this could build into without exhaustive modification. I have read a few kit reviews but am still unsure whether OOB it can portray any of the first Krupp turreted vehicles. I’m not super bothered about 100% accuracy, but I would like to make sure it has the main features represented. What I have gleaned so far is: Unlike their non-Zim boxing from 2006 it has an odd anomaly with the turret moulding in so far as the bulge on the right side is exaggerated. The rear turret hatch plate is undersized and the Zim part in the kit does not have the prominent bolts on it (adding the bolt heads from the non-Zim part in the kit should be an easy fix) The rear hull plate is totally covered in Zim when in fact it should be clear behind the exhausts. (Easy enough fix) The first 6/7 production vehicles had no cut out at the top of the glacis below the radio operator’s periscope (at some point a cut out similar to the driver’s side was carried out to provide better visibility) The kit glacis moulding depicts the cut out later plate. Only the first few tanks had the earlier type of gun site and the two elongated holes in the turret. (Later models only show the inner one) The kit turret has weld lines around the cupola. All the first Krupp turrets had bolted on cupolas. (Chiselling off and smoothing the turret and raising the cupola with plastic card looks to be an option) The central turret roof plate weld lines on the turret moulding are sunk indicating an earlier and thinner plate. The kit only offers the Monoblock gun tube. (In both metal and plastic) The kit does not provide the early Tiger I type exhaust shields. Turret sockets (pilze) are offered as additional parts with witness marks on the turret marking their position. (If and when were these added?) Any assistance would be gratefully appreciated along with any correction to any of my observations