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Found 24 results

  1. AFV Club is to reissue its 1/48th Northrop F-5E Tiger II kit as " Peace Bell Programme" (Yemen & Taiwan AF) - ref. AR48S10 Source: https://www.facebook.com/AFVCLUB.TW/photos/a.3561524077226419/3617871271591699/ V.P.
  2. Hey All, I just finished my latest model, the 1/35 Dragon King Tiger with Zimmerit. Although this is not a "new" kit, it's one I've had in my stash for years and always a huge fan of the KT, so I was excited to build and finish this big cat. I decided to do a small diorama and figure for this one along with some creative work with some putty. Info below... The Build In general, this an out of the box build with some add on FriulModel tracks (always a plus) and some resin pieces here and there. This is the premium kit, so comes with metal barrel and some other small goodies. The figure is of course Alpine and as usual a superb example of well done figure. Whether or not I brought it to life is another story. Like most Dragon kits, this was very well done and in general, hassle free. Ha, usually not a thing most of us repeat when we speak of Dragon. The Zimmerit is already applied and although it's nice to not have to roll my own, it does have some draw backs as it's the same mold for everyone and if you want any battle damage, you have to get creative with it and bring out the scalpel. Not a huge fan of doing that, so I kept it pretty limited in scope. The Inspiration and the Camo I have done many KT's in my day and there are of course many ways to paint it with the Zimm on. However, I was inspired by the SS KT 104 on display in Bovington. Although this camo is a little bold for my taste, I thought I'd do something different and give it a go. I'm glad I did as it proved to be a really fun camo. I used much more yellow than I normally would in my can. Usually I dull out my yellow, but the KT I was referencing had much more yellow, so there I went. I usually use Tamiya paints and I simply added more yellow to the Dark Yellow. It worked well. Nice and bold. The camo was super fun to do. More geometric in shapes and bold hard lines for the camo. Nice change from my usual faded out looks I tend to lean towards. I wasn't a huge fan upon first completion, but I thought with weathering and some handy work, I could make it my own. The Weathering I used green stuff for the blankets and torn sheets on the model. In general it works well. When it does dry out however, it tends to lift a little. Nothing major, but requires some work to get back down. I kept some lifted to represent the tank in motion. Lots of times in city environments, with bold three tones camo, you can see reference photos of tanks using sheets and blankets to tone down their color and blend in. Plus, it just looks cool. I used pigments mostly for the weathering. Always a risk if you ask me. Pigments are great, BUT can get out of control quickly and although we should be able to remove them if no fixer is applied, I find on most models that is not always the case. I didn't go over the top on the weathering. I kept it relatively neutral as I didn't want the great coloring of the tank to get covered up too much. The Diorama, Figure and Cobblestone Street The diorama is a combo of wood as the base and styrofoam. I used a ruler to carve out the cobblestones and then hand painted them with various colors. I wanted to keep them bright in some areas and grey in others for good contrast. I have never done a dio like this, so I'm not really sure how good it is, but it was a learning experience and fun to do and I think compliments the model well. The clock, bench and drainage is the Street accessories from Miniart. A really cool add on and something that really adds some fun to the model. I like the storm drains and man hole cover the most. Not sure why. The Alpine figure is just magnificent. Yah, I know...looks like he's saying hi to his favorite leader. But you know, he could just be ordering a beer from the local pub on his way through. I did the best I could with the painting and the face. In general I am pretty happy with it. He looks tired and ragged. Just as he should be. Finished and Fun! Well, that wraps up this great model. I had fun. I tried new things. I enjoyed the process. What more can a modeler ask for huh? Look, even the figure is waiving, Bye Bye! Told ya he wasn't doing the, you know....the thing. Cheers and please feel free to comment, criticize, and share your thoughts. It means a lot. Graeme Street P.S. Always good for a few Black and White/Sepia parting shots...
  3. I started this kit about two years ago and have seen various fellow modellers experiencing copious grief with the tracks. Even YouTube experts seem to finish up with gaps. I've been putting off trying to finish the model for months now because of the tracks issue. This is my first attempt at link & length tracks (A Tiger II is probably not the best place to start) I don't really want gaps if I can avoid them............. I've completed the wheels and cemented the idlers in place leaving the sprockets free as per some advice I found on t'internet. (This was before I received helpful advice to place the wheels on the axles and stick the tracks to them in order to construct a running gear unit accessible from both sides as the whole lot could be taken off and worked on.) I've painted the tracks on the sprues, possibly a mistake, as there's now paint in the link slots where the cement has to go. And I've added the top run on one side. I think, so far as I can see, that the next steps will be to work round the sprocket and down to ground level then on under the wheels round to the idler. Would value any suggestions. From experience does anyone think I need to clean out the link joints? Is there something else I should be doing? TVM in anticipation.....................
  4. Rejoining with this kit. Bought from an IPMS colleague, a few years ago. Options, 2 US Navy aggressors. Parts, fairly primitive and raised detail.
  5. I thought I'd join in the fun as I have an Airfix kit on the shelf - I think I messed the last one up so bad it got binned....hey-ho, can but try! Nothing aftermarket, just out of the box..it comes with the Humbrol Acrylic paints that I will not use... Any of you Aggressor experts know of the FS paint numbers of the 2 tone browns? I have used paint matcher at it mentions Hum 148 Radome Tan citing Mr Color C318 97% match and Mr Paint MRP-324 (not so sure!) 96% match as close matches? Most of the pics I can find are of a 3 colour scheme.... For the darker brown 186 Brown, is says MRP-166 at 98%.... Box and Sprue pics... VMFT-04 website - 'hoo - ah'.... https://www.marforres.marines.mil/Major-Subordinate-Commands/4th-Marine-Aircraft-Wing/Marine-Aircraft-Group-41/Marine-Fighter-Training-Squadron-401/ First bits of work...fill in the pylon holes.. Quite a bit of flash to sort with a stanley blade...
  6. Hey guys, i would like to show you my last finished kit. It is the very first armour kit since i came back to the modelling 2 years ago (hell the time flies fast!). One would say it does not matter, planes or tanks.. and bigger scale should be easier to make, right? Well, from my view, there are differences and bigger scales does not mean it ll be easier to make details.. Anyway, the build was a lot of fun to me, so i think soon i ll have a look on the 1/72 tanks in my stash The Tiger II was built for my friend to celebrate his fresh new engineering degree - ordered by his wife to surprise him, so i hope he ll be surprised in good You can find the WIP thread h with aftermarket parts used ere http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234990910-tiger-ii-april-1945-weathering-stage-dragon-135/, but because i had only month for the build (working on it on the few free days during the month), i did not have time to take shots of every little progress there Anyway, part of the gift was some wooden base (supplied by my friend´s wife) - and it was quite huge.. So i decided to build two little grass "isles" on it, with some ammo boxes and other stuff, to fill the empty areas. Now to the tank itself At the beginning we said there wont be any interior (because of the limited time), so everything is closed. Also i did show some camo schemes to my friend´s wife and she chosed the late war scheme as the nicest to her. I did some researching around and like 30 King Tigers were finished in this scheme - sadly i did not find any photo of any of these, so the camouflage is kind of what-if (used Rom1´s E-75 as an inspiration, thanks! ). Everything of the weathering stage (or well, the very most of it) was new to me and i was also experimenting a bit with artistic stuff.. Well, here is the result more to come..
  7. F-5E/F Tiger II / Azarakhsh (72-052 & 48-016) 1:48 & 1:72 Hi-Decal Line There are quite a few F-5E/F models out there, however the decal options in the kits tend to be pretty standard. If you want something a little different the Hi-Decal have a sheet out in 1/72 & 1/48 fro Iranian operated aircraft. The options on the sheet are; Islamic Iranian Air Force 3-7059, 21 TFS, TFB.2 Tabriz, 1985 - credited with at least 3 kills during the Iran-Iraq war, Asia Minor camouflage IIAF 3-7301, 21 TFS, TFB.2 Tabriz, 2010 - with eagle head and diving eagle on fin, Asia Minor camouflage IIAF F-5F Tiger II 3-7155, 43 TFS, TFB.4 Vahdati, 2010 - with Tigerhead and diving eagle on fin, Asia Minor camouflage IIAF F-5E Azarakhsh 3-7161, 41 TFS, TFB.4 Vahdati, 2010 - with yellow shark tail art and overall dark green camouflage The sheets provide all the national markings as well as stencils for each option. Registration, sharpness and colour density are all good, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Recommended for your next Tiger II build if you like a little something different to the kit options. Review sample courtesy of
  8. My next Hobby Boss kit. I like USN aircraft and I especially like all things Northrop so I gonna give this one a go. Box art. Paint schemes. I am going to do the USN scheme Decals. Bits. Thanks for stopping by and having a look. Stephen
  9. Sd.Kfz.182 King Tiger (Porsche Turret), plus Interior Set (SPS-062) and Zimmerit (SPS-060) 1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models The King Tiger needs little introduction to any armour lover, as it became one of WWII's iconic AFVs, even though it only saw limited action in the closing months of the war, and had a few serious flaw that were never fully fixed due to its short time in service before the factories and the Reich were over-run. As with any new equipment, Hitler stuck his oar in and always wanted bigger, which resulted in a heavily armoured tank with a massively powerful gun, but weight problems that put undue strain on its running gear, resulting in a high maintenance rate and frequent breakdowns on the battlefield. It has been said that more King Tigers were lost to crews having to abandon a broken down vehicle than were knocked out in battle. The design was complex, and although the simpler Henschel turret design was chosen over the alternative and more complicated Porsche offering to ease construction, it still took far too much time and valuable resources to create one. The Porsche company had already built a number of turrets however, so they were used up in the first batch of tanks, and the Henschel design should by rights be the "production turret", as they designed the chassis too. It took bravery on the part of the Allied tankers to take out a KT, as they had to get well inside the killing zone of the mighty 88mm gun in order to penetrate the frontal armour, and even the sides weren't easy to breach. You can tell the Porsche designed turret by the projection of the commander's cupola through the sloping side of the turret, which complicated construction and left a weak-point that could result in a penetration that would have glanced off a simpler Henschel side plate. The Kit There are actually two kits being reviewed here plus a Zimmerit set, as this is another of Meng's modular kits that have you paying only for what you want to buy. A lot of folks don't do interiors, so why pay for the plastic only to throw it in the spares bin? The same goes for the Zimmerit. If you choose an option without it, that's also wasted, so on balance it's good for your pocket and reduces your consumption of plastic (a little bit at least!). We'll cover the exterior kit first, and the other sets beneath the conclusion. This is a re-tool of the Henschel turreted King Tiger we reviewed here, so there are bound to be some similarities, especially from the hull down. What's different however is the colour of the sprues, which are moulded in sand coloured styrene this time around, and I've decided to use pictures of the shared sprues in primer red in this review for a few reasons. It makes it very easy to see which are the new sprues, saves a little bit of server space (which is important to us), and also saves me a little time during processing of the photos, which is always nice – I'll be honest. I'll add a caption to each one just in case you miss this part of the review for any reason. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the primer red colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the primer red colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the primer red colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the primer red colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the primer red colour shown here. What's in the box? A lot of sand colourer styrene. Ten sprues in all plus a lower hull part, a small clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, two types of polycaps, a turned aluminium barrel, instruction booklet and separate colour painting guide on glossy paper, plus a large envelope bearing the words "Streng Geheim", which means "Top Secret" or something similar, and has a reproduction map of the Aromanches – Cabourg area of the Northern French coat in 1:50,000 scale. An unusual but interesting extra that might look good on a wall somewhere. It's construction time again, and you will be totally unsurprised that it's identical, with the exception of no choice of exhaust armour parts, right up to step 12 when a turret ring adapter is added to accommodate the Porsche turret. An additional scrap diagram or two has been added to ease installing the bow-mounted machine gun stub, and the mesh covers over the engine deck have different numbers, but it's all very familiar right through detailing and installing of the engine deck and crew hatch insert. Now all that's out of the way, things start to diverge with the commencement of hostilities with the turret. The inner shell is a new part, and all of the outer skins are too, with new (but similar) parts for the basic internals such as the breech and commander's seat. The cupola has the same clear periscopes fitted, then slides into place from underneath along with the fume extractor fan in the centre, after which the roof is closed up and the top armour section of the cupola is fitted along with the armoured protectors, the up-armoured rear crew/breech hatch, and if you are doing one decal option, hooks on the turret sides for spare track links, the little guide marks for which are otherwise scrubbed from the surface before painting. It's a simple kit, but manages to pack in a huge amount of detail by utilising plenty of advanced moulding techniques, and if you don't spring for the interior set to complicate things, it's time to get the airbrush out. If you did go for the interior set however, you will have diverged from the instructions at several points, which are mentioned in the instruction booklet, and you might find it easier if you make notes and cross-reference the instruction booklets during assembly so you don't get out of step. You can see our thoughts on the interior set below the conclusion, and the zimmerit set below that. Markings There are three markings options on the decal sheet, and each one requires application of Zimmerit to be accurate. It may initially seem churlish not to include that in the kit, but some modellers prefer to make their own using putty and zimmerit tools to get their own preferred finish to their models, or have a phobia about these new style of 3D decal. Whatever your feelings on the subject, you can build one of the following from the box: Tank 332, s.H.Pz.abt. 503, Wehrmacht, France, 1944 Tank 314, s.H.Pz.abt. 503, Wehrmacht, Hungary, 1945 Tank 101, s.H.Pz.abt. 503, Wehrmacht, Normandy, 1944 The decal sheet is printed in China, and consists mainly of crosses and numbers in black, outlined in white, which is slightly offset to the right, although not enough to cause issues. Option B also has the name Anneliese in a green cloud, which is a little pixelated under magnification, but should look ok once applied. Conclusion Another lovely detailed King Tiger from Meng, which portrays those 50 or so tanks that were fitted with the unused Porsche turrets that were built before they knew they weren't getting the contract. Read on for the interior sets and Zimmerit decals. Sd.Kfz.182 King Tiger Interior – Porsche Turret Interior Set (SPS-062) 1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models We reviewed the interior set for the Henschel (production) turret here when it arrived, and apart from them changing the styrene colour from grey to sand yellow, and re-designing the Photo-Etch (PE) which is also bare brass now, plus tooling a new sprue for the Porsche specific parts. Again, I'll reuse the other pics for the aforementioned reasons. Look into my eyes… all the sprues are sand yellow Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the grey colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the grey colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the grey colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the grey colour shown here. Note: The sprues in the box are identical except moulded in sand yellow styrene, rather than the grey colour shown here. The set builds up almost identically too, with the inner walls decked with detail, the floor covered in working torsion bars, superbly detailed engine, fuel and other tanks, tools, firewall with ancillary equipment and a fully decked out engine bay with radiator baths and hosing. With the lower layer built up the floor plates, ammo for the machine guns and the big shiny brass ones for the main gun are added, with a ton of stencils for the shells, showing their contents. The bow machine gun is full length with the interior set, with a pair of dump bags for the spent brass. A huge line of additional dump bags is distributed on a rack around the turret aperture, and complete periscopes are fitted to the crew hatches, plus the opening mechanisms, which project a surprisingly long way down into the hull. The turret is also very similar with just a few differences, mostly around the rim of the aperture, with the same breech details and internal spring that lets the gun recoil once completed. The coaxial machine gun fitting has been expanded to two diagrams for clarity, and the "ready rounds" ammo storage in the turret bustle is simplified, which I'm guessing led to rounds bouncing about on rough terrain, so more brackets were added for the true production turrets. Unlike the Henschel rear access door, everything was included in the main kit, so no additional detail is used in the new set. Markings As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of decals on a small sheet, with most of them to be applied to the shells so the crew know if they're HE or fragmentation etc., but there are also a few instrument dials and internal stencils that are applied throughout the….errrr… interior, and all that has changed is the title of the sheet. Conclusion Superb detail that you can leave on the shelf if you don't want to go to the extra effort, but if you do, you know it's going to fit just fine, giving you lots of options for open hatches, maintenance dioramas, or even a cut-away model. Very highly recommended. Sd.Kfz.182 King Tiger (Porsche Turret Zimmerit Decal) SPS-060 1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models We've seen 3D printed decals before, and Meng have taken to them for their Zimmerit decals, which are a quick and easy way of applying the anti-magnetic coating that was used by the Germans mid-WWII when they became almost unreasonably concerned about their use by the Allies. You might already know, but Zimmerit was a thick grey paste applied to the vertical surfaces of a tank using a tool that would impress ridges into the surface to save having to slap it on thick all over, thus saving important weight. During this period it would be applied at the factory, or reapplied at the local depot, with the former usually being the more professional looking of the two. There were a number of patterns used, but the one most seen on King Tigers consisted of rows of horizontal indents stacked vertically. It would be seen on the glacis; rear bulkhead; hull sides (rarely on the skirts); the four sides of the turret, and on the rear hatch and mantlet. This set is patterned to the different turret, and arrives on an A5 sheet of backing paper, with the Zimm printed in grey. My micrometer says that the printing stands approximately 0.3mm proud from the backing paper, which is just over 10mm at full size, and seems a reasonably thickness to me after seeing a few Zimmerited examples at the Tank Museum in Bovington a few years back. The parts have holes where brackets and bolts protrude, as well as around the sighting gear and coax machine gun on the mantlet. The Kugelblende is sectioned up to fit to the curved surface, and the section for the gun-shroud is shaped to wrap around and conform to its highly contoured shape. The instructions show the numbers of each part and where they attach, which should make application easier, and a small message at the bottom of the sheet advises you to glue down any parts that have lifted during drying, which I would imagine will be edges or corners. Super-glue (CA) is recommended, although modelling glue is also mentioned, but I'd test it on a spare piece (one of the numbers would do), just in case. Conclusion This is pretty much a must-have for the kit, as all the decal options use Zimmerit. If you're not convinced you could make your own, take the easy way out and use these clever decals. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  10. King Tiger Initial Updates (36386, 36387 & 36388 for Takom) 1:35 Eduard There has been a rash of new King Tiger models lately in the predominant 1:35 scale, with Takom amongst the competing camps. These sets have been designed with their kits in mind to provide detail upgrades, scale thickness parts and the anti-magnetic mine countermeasure paste that is called Zimmerit. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package (the larger ones using Ziplok bags), with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. Upgrade Set (36386) This general set is on one square fret of brass, and includes detail parts for the commander's hatch; periscope blocks; padlocks for the hatches; new vision port armour for the front hatches, a host of new parts to detail the pioneer tools and their attachment points; fire extinguisher and jack block with mounts, and new mounts for the jack and track tools on the rear bulkhead. Zimmerit (36387) Zimmerit paste was a mixture of wood pulp and cement to resist the placing of magnetic mines on the hull as a slight overreaction to their use on the Eastern front. It was applied with trowels to most vertical and near vertical surfaces in a pattern, some of which were specific to the factory the vehicle was built in. This set is on two larger PE frets, and uses a thinner gauge of brass to make it conform better to the model. The sections are tailored specifically to the Takom kit, and this includes the kugelblende armour around the bow machine gun, which is best rolled to shape on a soft surface using a good sized marble or other hard ball to obtain the correct curvature, so lots of trial fittings will be appropriate there. Annealing the part will assist in this, making the brass more malleable. Holes in the brass match the fixtures moulded into the exterior, so little additional fitting will be required, but a small area near the rear mudflaps will need filling to give the zimmerit somewhere to adhere to. This is shown on the instructions to give you time to prepare the area. The mantlet is another curved surface, and you are shown how to attach the PE to these parts for the best fit, starting at the top centre and working your way around. The turret will need the lugs for hanging tracks removed before it can be fitted, and inserts are required for the early Porsche cupola, which projects from the side of the turret. A few small areas will also need filling such as the torch-cut lugs that give the joints more strength. Fenders (36388) Plastic fenders will never reach scale thicknesses, so brass is an ideal solution. The curved front fenders will need folding up into the correct curvature, and these also have strengthening ribs added to the inside, some of which might be best soldered, so that they don't suffer during handling during the rest of the build. An alternative angular set are provided that are suitable for two of the decal options, and these too would benefit from some soldering for strength. The side fenders are more simple, and should be bent to the same angles as the kit parts, with mounting blocks supplied to fit to the hull, which will be visible if you elect to show parts missing or damage, which often happened due to minor and literal fender-benders. The rear fenders are predominantly flat, with angled edges and triangular stiffeners, which would also benefit from soldering if you have the skills and/or soldering iron. Sometimes solder paste can be of use with small joints, and it's worth investing in a tube if you can track some down. one of the best uses for PE fenders is so that you can damage them in order to show an in-the-field likeness as is often seen in photos, as well as scale fidelity of the parts. Review sample courtesy of
  11. F-5E tiger II (KH32018) 1:32 Kitty Hawk The original F-5 design was lead at Northrop by Edgar Schmued who previously at North American had been the Chief designer of the P-51 and F-86. The F-5 was designed to reverse the trend of bigger and heavier fighters to produce a small, agile, high performance aircraft. It was also recognised that life cycle costs, and the ability to upgrade the design needed to be thought out at the beginning. Thus after winning the International Fighter Aircraft Competition in 1970 to provide a low cost effective fighter to America's allies Northrop introduced the F-5E or Tiger II. More than 3800 aircraft were built and served with the US Forces as well as their allies. Indeed the F-5F & N still serve in the adversary role today. The design of the F-5 would later go on to influence the YF-17 and F/A-18, as well as the late unsuccessful (is sales) F-20. The Kit This is a complete new tool from Kitty Hawk, The kit arrives on 6 spures of plastic with a small clear sprue, sheet of PE and two decal sheets. There are in addition resin exhaust nozzles add two resin crew figures; one seated and one standing. Construction starts as one would expect in the cockpit. The seat is first put together from an impressive 20 parts. Next up the cockpit tub is built up from another 20 or so parts not including the instrument panel and coaming. Once together the canopy raising parts are also added behind the seat. Following this the complicated nose gear bay / gun bay is built up which goes on front of the cockpit. All the detail is there for the nose mounted 20mm cannons including their ammo boxes and feed chutes. Once built up this section and the cockpit can be added into the front fuselage halves after some PE detail is added to the sides first. The nose section can then be built up and added but the modeller will need to select the right nose for the airframe being modelled. The instructions are of no help here so you will have to check your references. If wanted the seated pilot figure can be added. The canopy is then added at this stage in the instructions though I suspect most will leave it until the end. The canopy retraction mechanism is only in the raised position so if you want the canopy down some surgery will be needed. There is then the option to display the gun bay panels open if you wish to show off all that detail. Moving on to the centre fuselage two complete engines are built and installed. This seems a bit strange as no intake trunking is supplied and they will just sit there inside the fuselage. The main gear wells are made up and installed before the top of the fuselage is added. There are some optional vent panels to be installed but again its a case of checking your references as the instructions are of no help. For the rear the modeller can choose to build up plastic exhausts or use the resin ones. The two fuselage sections can now be joined and at the front the intakes added. Next up the wings are constructed. The main gear bay walls are added to the inner parts and the outers then added over the top. The main gears are made up and added along with the leading edge and separate flaps. The wings, tail planes and vertical tail are then added to the fuselage. The tail has a separate rudder. To finish off the aircraft the underwing pylons are added, and a whole range of missiles and bombs are provided. These include AIM-9 & AIM-7 missiles, Cluster bombs, dumb bobs and fuel tanks. Decals The impressive large decal sheet (and smaller additional sheet) look to be well printed. There is minimal carrier film and the colours are sharp, everything looks colour dense. From the box you can build one of nine aircraft F-5E Brazilian Air Force. F-5N VFC-111 "Sundowners" US Navy (3 Greys scheme). F-5E VFC-111 "Sundowners" US Navy (3 Browns scheme). F-5E Republic of South Korea Air Force. F-5E Islamic Republic Of Iran Air Force. F-5E Mexican Air Force. F-5E Republic Of Singapore Air Force. F-5E USAF (Silver with Yellow fuselage Band) F-5E USAF (SEA Camo) Conclusion The plastic looks great, and there is an impressive array of marking options available. The addition of PE and resin parts including good figures makes this an all round exciting package from Kitty Hawk. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of Available soon from major hobby shops
  12. Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B King Tiger (late) with Full Interior (35364) 1:35 ICM The successor to the much vaunted Tiger heavy tank instilled more terror in the Allied forces due to initial encounters lending an almost invincible air to the design. It was soon found that although it packed a formidable punch, and could absorb a lot of punishment, it was in fact a flawed design from an engineering point of view. Stressing the transmission even further than the Tiger I, they suffered terrible attrition due to breakdowns, leading to many examples being captured or scuttled by their crew if these breakdowns occurred under fire. When it worked, it was very difficult to kill, and could seriously outrange almost everything on the battlefield, but as with the Tiger I before it, the Allies worked out a strategy to take them out by cooperative attacks between multiple Allied tanks. As well as the reliability issues that were never fully addressed due to the state of the war, the complexity of the design was such that they were never available in sufficient quantities to make a difference, and even when they were, Hitler's obsession with micro-managing every aspect of the war led to some poor placement of resources. Many King Tigers were captured by the Allies and taken back for analysis, with a few remaining intact long enough to find their way into museums, such as the one at Bovington. The Jagdtiger was a development of the King Tiger, using the chassis to mount an even more powerful gun in a casemate, but again very few of these saw action too late in the war. The Kit There has been a proliferation of Tigers and King Tigers of late, and this is ICM's take on this behemoth of WWII. The tooling is all new, and it includes a complete interior, although in order to show off some of it, you would need to carry out some surgery to the upper deck and turret, and this kit would lend itself perfectly to a cut-away or even a destroyed tank diorama if you have the nerve to hack apart a perfectly good kit of course! The box is of standard width and height, but has been extended by quite a margin to almost 54cm in order to fit all the plastic in. There's your first clue – there's a lot in the box. The instruction booklet is also on the weighty side, with plenty of pages to keep you going through those long winter nights. Seriously though, there are said to be almost 720 parts in the box, and that's a statement I can well believe, as there are a full complement of shells for the ammo store, individual track links that are made from parts (like the real thing), loads of wheels to spread the 69 tonne load, and axles on which the wheels hang. The box has thirteen sprues and three separate parts in a mid-grey styrene, four in black styrene for the tracks, a fret of copper-coloured Photo-Etch, a small decal sheet and of course the instruction booklet with the painting and markings guide at the rear in colour. One of the separate parts is a replacement barrel for the one on the sprues, which is split all the way along the centreline. The replacement has a complete barrel section, with only the sleeve and the flash hider split vertically with two additional parts needed to complete it. This looks to have been decided late in the design process, but it's good to see them thinking of the modeller, although some will probably want to splash out on a turned metal barrel for the strength, additional detail and lack of seams. Yes, I'm one of those ones – I can't help myself. Looking over the sprues the detail is good throughout, although there are no boundaries being pushed in terms of tooling, as the main slabs of armour don't have any texturing to represent rolled steel of the era, but if you're adding Zimmerit, or have tried adding texture to your models before, you'll probably be unfazed by this, as it is surprisingly easy, so at least with a clean canvas you can go any way you choose in that area. The interior is well-detailed, and careful thought has been given to the construction of the various areas so that it all fits together like a big, dangerous jigsaw. The only omission here seems to be stencilling for the shells, and maybe a few more decals for the first aid box etc., and of course the cabling that is way too small to be realistically included on any kit if we're honest. Construction begins with the turret basket, unusually. The basket has a circular floor that is smaller than the aperture, and this is suspended from the turret ring by a framework onto which the gunner's seat is first added, then his controls, and a less salubrious bicycle-style seat is provided for the loader on what will be the other side of the breech. This assembly is mated with the lower turret and ring early in the build, with the aft turret shell racks installed on a double-skin floor that has slots in one layer to locate the racking that the shells slot into, eleven per side. The breech is next, with breech-block, shell ejection guide, the gun mounts and other equipment plastered all over it. The basic breech is then fitted to the twin slots in the front of the turret floor, and the upper turret gets its mantlet and top strip glued in place before the two are mated, after adding the roof-mounted vision-block, which is moulded in grey styrene. The three-part gun barrel is outfitted with the studded ring found at its base, and the two-part ring that sits behind it, protecting the gun and turret front from incoming rounds. Once complete that just slots onto the breech, and can be left loose for painting, so you get paint right behind the shield. Next are the commander's cupola and the gunner's hatch, the latter being well-detailed with hand-holds and latches, and the former having a hatch hinge-point fitted before installation. Lifting lugs, mushroom vent, shell ejection hatch, periscope armour and the commander's life-swivel hatch are fitted, with the rear hatch that doubles as the exit route for the gun during maintenance built up with latches and handles, plus the armoured hinges and a representation of the early pistol port moulded in. The delicate mount for the commander's machine gun is fitted to the top of his cupola, and the hooks for the spare track links are installed over small marks on the side of the turret, with the links being added from the standard links that are used to create the tracks. Now for the hull. There isn't a traditional "tub" for the hull, and you start by building up the sponsons with internal and external parts such as dampers, bases for shell stowage, brakes, final drive housing and the torsion bars for the suspension. The hull floor is a sled to which the lowest parts are added before being partially covered by the torsion bars that extend across the hull floor. The addition of the sponsons finishes off the lower tub, and lays the ground work for the interior once the two perforated ribs are laid front to back on the floor around the torsion bars, and in the process creating support for the incoming equipment. The engine is first to be built, sandwiched inside an armoured box with its auxiliaries, tanks and hosing. It is added to the engine firewall bulkhead and installed in the rear of the hull with the driveshaft, turret take-off box and the final drive/transmission boxes. Two plates are installed under the turret position, with another laid over it that has a cut-out for the turret basket, and further forward the driver's controls and seat are glued into the left of the transmission. The radiator baths with their PE fans that are folded into shape using a pair of tweezers are made as a pair, fitting on each side of the engine, with more equipment being fitted inside the engine bay and on the crew-side of its bulkhead. No space was wasted, and the remainder of the radiator bays are filled with fuel tanks on each side before attention turns to the road wheels. Construction within the hull continues with adding stiffeners across the hull, and supports for the heavy armour along with additional equipment and a full complement of 88mm shells, plus their racks, which build up layer by layer to a total of 46 in the sponson racks. The King Tiger was designed with overlapping pairs of road wheels, learning from the mistakes of the Tiger I which had interleaved wheels to spread the vehicle's weight, which could result in taking off up to 14 wheels if an inner one needed repair or maintenance. The all-up weight increased substantially between the two vehicles, so there are a LOT of pairs of wheels on a Königstiger, with nine axles each side, plus the idler and drive sprockets, all of which are assembled from two parts each and fitted to their respective swing-arms. These are capped off with hubs, and later in the build the tracks are wrapped around them. ICM advise making up two runs for the top and bottom, leaving the counting of links up to you. There are 19 links (comprising two parts) on the top run, and 20 on the lower run, with a further 3 wrapping around the rear and 4 on the front. This is repeated for the opposite side, and you will need to arrange the tracks so that they conform to the shape of the track run, and give the correct (minimal) sag, which you can see in any period photo of a correctly adjusted set of tracks. The upper hull is supplied as a traditional main part with a hole in the rear for the engine bay, turret aperture and the lift-out front section that encompasses the hull crew hatches. The radiator vents are moulded-in, giving no opportunity to display a radiator bay without surgery to the hull, which is a minor negative IMHO. Periscopes are slotted into the front of the hull, hatches are added to the front insert, mushroom vents to the engine insert, and the Kugelblende armoured blister surrounding the bow machinegun is backed with a box to receive the gun stub in preparation for installation, with a small forest of lifting lugs littering the engine deck and lift-out hatches. Armoured covers are fitted to the periscopes and the vents on the engine deck, which leaves it ready for adding to the lower hull in advance of adding all the various smaller parts such as track and pioneer tools, mudguards, armoured exhausts, towing cables, shackles and the PE grilles covering the intakes and vents on the engine deck. The turret secures with a bayonet fitting, and an aerial is glued into a socket on the engine deck, completing the build phase. Markings There are four decal options included in the box, with enough variation in finish from white distemper through Dunkelgelb to two Ambush schemes, that will please most folks without resorting to aftermarket decals. From the box you can build one of the following: Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, s.Pz.Abt. 509 Feldherrnhalle, Hungary, March 1945 Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, s.Pz.Abt. 503, Danzig, March 1945 Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, s.Pz.Abt. 501, Ardennes, December 1944 Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, Stab/s.Pz.Abt. 501, Ardennes, December 1944 This is an AFV, so the decal sheet is modest in size, with only a few markings on the sheet. The registration is perfect on my sample, as is the colour density and sharpness, but I would have liked to have seen some decals for the shell stencilss, and perhaps some for the stencils that are found inside almost any AFV. Conclusion This model gives you the basis for a good King Tiger build, and although it lacks some of the modern frippery such as rolled steel texture to the armour and a complete interior, there is enough there to give the viewer the impression of how crowded and claustrophobic these vehicles were for their crew. If you want to leave some hatches open on your finished model, as long as you've painted the innards, it will give a convincing sense of a working vehicle. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  13. Hello, here is my latest model, a 1/35 Tiger II from Dragon. I have added Voyager PE for the exteriour and the skirts, a RB barrel and antenna and home made Zimmerit. The figures are from Mini Art. The model depicts tank "233" from s.Pz.Abt. 503 in Budapest. You can find several pictures of this particular tank online and in books, f.e. in "Tigers at the front" by T. Jentz. This allowed me to reconstruct most of the paint scheme. Only the upper surfaces, the lower glacis plate and the rear hull plate had to be improvised. I also tried to match the tools and the weathering to the photos, which depict a heavily worn turret upper surface. Here are some pictures: Reference: (source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/9/9c/20110118202031!Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-680-8282A-03A%2C_Budapest%2C_Panzer_VI_(Tiger_II%2C_Königstiger).jpg) Reference: (source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/5/58/20110118202602!Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-680-8282A-06%2C_Budapest%2C_Panzer_VI_(Tiger_II%2C_Königstiger).jpg) Comments and critisism are welcome! Best regards, Thorsten
  14. Hi Guys, I've been struggling for motivation lately but seeing that this kit is finally on sale, I couldn't resist! First impressions are very good. Surface detail is excellent, particularly the welds and rolled steel texture. Tracks are link and length which I think is the best compromise between indy links and belt type tracks. The kit comes with a few PE parts, metal barrel (first batch only), two figures and 4 decal options. At £30 for the exterior kit, only Dragon comes close to matching this. Tamyia's offering is now well and truly redundant! I'm going to be building this OOB for the most part. I have a very nice Aber barrel in the stash which needs to be used. So, a few photos before I get started Turret roof with nice weld detail. Designed to left unglued if adding the interior. Both types of mantlet included. Lower hull tub. Note that there are a lot of locating holes for the interior that will need to be filled if leaving the fenders off. Hull roof is also separate for easy viewing of the interior. Link and length tracks very nicely detailed. Not a pin mark in sight Upper hull with excellent detail PE, decals and Instructions showing some of the 5-view painting guide. Nice to see all 4 decal options having a full painting guide too. So, on to the rivet counting part (sorry ). Accuracy wise, there is very little to comment on. The only 'issue' being the the turret ring is molded to the hull roof. This should be part of the turret but it's not really an issue and it was likely done this way to keep everything lined up. The kit best represents a vehicle built between June and mid / late August 1944 and would be better off having zimmerit applied. Of the 4 decal choices, the 2 with zimmerit are closest to the details provided but '124' of Pz Abt 505 will require a few parts to be left off. The 2 options without zimmerit will require a few more changes to be 100% accurate. Most of these details are minor in reality so unless you are wanting to be as accurate as possible, it's a non issue. My only other comment would be that I have doubts about the painting guide for option 4, '324' Pz Abt 509. I'm yet to see a photo of a partial whitewash over ambush camo as depicted but would be happy to see one So rivet counter hat off, I will hopefully starting the build tomorrow. First step is the wheels. More to follow soon hopefully Cheers Matt
  15. I hope this time the poll works with the photo below... So you know what to vote what you see. Tiger I = was made in the last century 1995 Tiger II = also .....but in 2012 repaint it! Panther & Vk4502 both i made in 2014!
  16. I also have this Revel 1/48 F5F for this STGB (I try to build a 1/72 and 1/48 double). It is an old kit with raised panels, not near the AFV standard that I built before, but hey its in the stash!! I plan to build using either the kit or Authentic decals set in my stash, that happen to be the same airframe. Here are the standard shots: Aftermarket Decals in the stash I am however sorely tempted by these - to build the tigered striped Bort number 30........be a challenge, buy hey, why not!! Gonna need a couple of 1/48 pilots too (there must be loads somewhere as not many build with the crew in!!) Tempted.....
  17. Never built Hobby Boss before. 4 nice choices decal wise - this will be OOB with wheels up. Have built the AFV F5E in Alconbury Aggressor colours, not too bad to paint the 3 way cam, could be a tad more fiddly at 1/72!! Obligatory box and sprue shots! Kit looks quite detailed, with a little bit of flash, on my initial look. Any top tips appreciated!! As with my SOP on STGBs, I will also built in 1/48. As Azureglo is doing the blue/grey Marines version, I am erring to the Brown Navy version....
  18. Hey guys, this is my first tank build since i came back to modelling (and obviously my first AFV WIP here ). I m building the Tiger II for my friend, who asked me to build it - i was happy to do so, but there was deadline of 9th november.. So i had like one month for the build, making it effectively like 10 days for the build - we have decided then it ll be OOB build with no interior and we have chosed the Tiger II (Konigstiger, King Tiger) as the subject - Still i wanted it to look as great as possible, so here is the shopping list : - Dragon 1/35 King Tiger (Henschel Turret) - Fruil Models Hunting Tiger (wide) tracks - Nordland Productions German Standard 2m AFV antenna rod (at first i thought i ll just use wire for antenna, but 3pcs for like 3,5 E and looking great, well,easy decision ) - RB Model 8,8cm L/71 barrel with muzzle brake - Eduard Brass-in MG34 machine gun Because of the limited time, i gave up on making of the zimmerit and from given late war camouflage schemes, my friend chosed the very late war scheme (olive green factory base, late war dunkelgelb + brown pattern applied by the operation units), which i did read was used for like last 30 King Tigers. I did not find any good images though so the camouflage is kind of what-if. I was mixing the colours following the RAL sampler, but i have underrated the influence of the dark washes/streaks and glossy varnishes and now the colours are much darker than what i wanted.. well, there is no time to fix it, so it is lesson for next time. Here is the progress - first i did some scracthes to the plastic all over the armour, thinned the right front fender and "damaged" it (the left fender wont be used at all, the side fenders ll be made from metal sheet from aluminium can). I have also removed/filled all equipment holders/holes prepared for holders and replaced these. Also i made some texture on the armour plate edges as i saw it on some builds and quite liked it - later when i saw some good shots of real KT´s i noticed, these are not so significant in real.. well, another lesson learned for future.. I have also made all the handles from wires rather than using the plastic parts (even though these were nicely done, but i was too lazy to clean the little parts.. :/ ), added wire to the frong reflector and tried to make some weld around the MG cover in the front hull, as there was nothing and it did not look right to me (i m not saying now it is any better.. ) Second i did paint the tanks body overall with vallejo red-brown primer and made chips in various rust tones by sponge on exposed areas or where i had plans to have chips through camouflage and primer paint to the bare metal - nothing too precious, just to give it some random pattern. Next i sprayed the chipping fluid all over, let it dry a bit and painted the olive green mix. Once it has dried a bit, i was working on some scratches around. Some shots from the progress : I know it could be much better, but the limited time.. Anyway, next steps were again the same : semi-gloss varnish - chipping fluid - dunkelgelb - chipping - semi-gloss varnish - chipping fluid - brown paint - chipping - semi-gloss varnish. Once this was done, i have applied overall filter (green + yellow + brown oil paints + white spirit - like 95%) to blend the paints together a bit and dark brown pin wash. The exhausts were painted in some rusty pattern (well, i have tried ) using Ammo rust acrylics applied by sponge from darkest to lightest, followed by chipping fluid, repainted by dark grey-brown-blue mix to simulate the burnt iron and then chipped down to the rust, then i have applied black pigment around the openings to simulate the soot. This is where i was after these steps : I have started to work on some mud and dust after that but i did not make shots yet, so i ll add more shots later I ll appreciate any tips for the final weathering (mud, dust, leaks, streaks) Thanks and have a good time guys, ll see ya later here
  19. The latest to limp from the Pigsty Productions line: Hasegawa’s classic old 1/32 F-5E, in the markings of the 1o/1o Grupo Aviação de Caça, Força Aérea Brasileira. This is a pretty decent old kit - it must date from the mid-70s - and I thoroughly enjoyed the build. I started by rescribing everything but the rivets around the tail section. I’d read some horror stories about poor fit, but there were very few problems. You’ll want to watch for gaps at the wing roots and, possibly, where the top and bottom of the fuselage meet aft of that. I packed the wing root joints with plastic card in preference to filler, but overdid it and managed to introduce a whit of dihedral on what should be a dead flat wing. The kit represents a basic F-5E, so for the Brazilian fit I added the ILS aerial on the spine and the fin-root extension. But a refuelling probe was beyond me so this is a very early F-5E (and certainly no F-5EM). The cockpit is good - for its age, very good. I pondered upgrades since it does lack mirrors, latches etc around the canopy, but I balked at paying more for that than the kit’s worth and settled for lead foil seat-belts and leaving the lid shut. The last addition was intake guards. These are necessary because you can see into the intakes and get a lovely view of how the backs of various parts come together. I suppose an alternative is full-length trunking, though I suspect you’d have to make your own. And that’s a terrible long intake. The centreline tank comes with the kit. Things that fall off were robbed from a Trumpeter F-105 - you get masses of redundant weapons in them. The AIM-9Bs in the kit were poor, so I grafted their noses onto old Tamiya AIM-9Gs, then grafted little-lenses onto them for seeker heads. The FAB decals were by FCM. Hmm, yes, FCM decals. One of the other horror stories doing the rounds is that these fall to bits on contact with water. I tested one and found it was nice and robust so, nice, I thought, no problems there. Colour density and register were excellent and, so far as I can tell, they’re accurate. But in the end they were too robust - it was like working with cellophane. Four coats of Microsol, two of Mr Mark Softer, and two of Klear, is what it takes to leave them silvered all over. But they are stuck down, even if they wouldn’t settle into the panel lines, and you can draw your lines in on top of them without tearing them. Stencils and such came from the kit - English rather than Portuguese, but barely legible - and only just behaved better. The camouflage is Humbrol enamel, all done with brushes as usual. The metallic bits are Gunze Mr Metal. Believe it or not, the napalm tanks and the rear fuselage started the same colour - just shows what a difference priming and polishing can make to that stuff. The final finish is Klear, Vallejo matt varnish, and chalk pastels. 'Scuse the Lego! Hmm ... must pick up a new backcloth.
  20. Tiger II, official designation Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. B. Named Königstiger which was wrongly translated as King Tiger. Turret number 300. Tiger II with early production turret is on display at Bovington Tank Museum. This vehicle was the second soft steel prototype made and did not see active service. The main gun on this tank is not original, it was added during its restoration. Pictures thanks to Alan Brown.
  21. This Ace Corporation kit is a repop of the lovely little Revell F-5E with a great set of South Korean decals. The kit has very little flash, engraved panel lines and a fairly distortion free canopy.
  22. F-5E Tiger II BU-741558 at the Fort Worth Aviation museum. Pics thanks to Nigel Heath.
  23. Hello everyone! I am new to the forum and modeling in general. I would like to ask a couple of questions on the F-5 tiger . I see that the swiss F-5E's have a long blade type antenna on their fuselage spines and for some reason the ex swiss AF F-5N's for the US aggressors lack them. Why was the antenna removed on the US aggressor aircraft?
  24. Finally finished my AFV Club F-5E Tiger II USAF aggressor. I've chosen to depict Buno. 74-1556 from the 527th Aggressor Squadron based on Aconbury AB, UK - aka 'RED 56'. Decals are Twobobs F-5E Alconbury Gomer 48-218. the Tiger II has been depicted in the Snake/VNAF scheme as seen on 1556 cirka 1985-86. References are pictures from the internet, as I had trouble matching the paint scheme on Two Bobs drawings to the pictures I found on the internet. Seat is Wolfpacks late seat for Tiger II. Hope You like it and happy holidays!
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