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Trumpeter King Tiger


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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks chaps :)

Completion date? I haven't really thought about it but seeing as we are moving into autumn now, I'm hoping to get more time to work on it. I would like to have it finished by June next year at the latest. That would mark 3 years on this project and I think it would be good to have it finished by then!

Cheers

Matt

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This is great work! Having been fighting with my Trumpeter kit build for some time now I understand just how much work you're putting into it and I admire your perseverance and skill.

Keep up the great work :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just spent a very entertaining and informative hour admiring your work on the Tiger II. It's a really magnificent build Matt. Your work on the shells using Peddinhaus decals is great.

Cheers,

Julian

Edited by Gremlin56
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Thanks to everyone for the kind comments :)

Progress has slowed to a snails pace at the moment. Getting all the ammo painted to an acceptable standard has turned into a bit of a grind if i'm honest. It appears I have also miss counted how much ammo I need for the hull, leaving me a few rounds short. I've decided to push on with finishing all the ammo first, so I don't run into this problem again when I get to the turret.

Having said that, two of the ammo racks are now finished and loaded up awaiting final weathering. Hopefully I will have another update soon, just need to push on and get this part of the build done and dusted!

Cheers

Matt

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Thanks to everyone for the kind comments :)

Progress has slowed to a snails pace at the moment. Getting all the ammo painted to an acceptable standard has turned into a bit of a grind if i'm honest. It appears I have also miss counted how much ammo I need for the hull, leaving me a few rounds short. I've decided to push on with finishing all the ammo first, so I don't run into this problem again when I get to the turret.

Having said that, two of the ammo racks are now finished and loaded up awaiting final weathering. Hopefully I will have another update soon, just need to push on and get this part of the build done and dusted!

Cheers

Matt

Hi Matt,

How many 88 ammo rounds do you need?

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Hi Phil,

I originally budgeted 25 AP rounds and 17 HE rounds for the hull so I painted up that amount. As It turns out, the 6 HE rounds I was going to fit in the front right hand side ammo rack do not fit. There is a spacing issue which has resulted in the outer two rounds catching on the raised triangular portion of the hull side wall. I built the racks using the AP rounds as a template, completely forgetting that the HE rounds are longer. It's not a huge issue as I have enough ammo to fill out all the racks.

Really, the issue I'm trying to get around is the imbalance between AP & HE rounds (40 vs 24). I'm trying to make it look like there is roughly a 50/50 balance between the two by placing the HE rounds in the most visible locations. I'm also trying to get the balance between the hull and turret right as I don't want the turret to be overloaded with AP rounds. Might have to rethink this.

I'm just a little annoyed with myself as I have gone on and on about test fitting throughout this build and I have made this gaff! There is no way I am going to adjust the rack now so I must find a solution with the ammo.

Cheers

Matt

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys,

Finally have an update. Painting up the ammo has been a very time consuming task. I decided to finish all the rounds I need for both the hull and turret now to avoid another slow down later on. The rounds for the hull were then glued into the racks.

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The racks were then glued into the hull.

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I then built the headphone/throat mics for the driver and radio operator. I used Aber PE combined with scratch built ear pads and cables.

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And finally, a couple of clearer photos of the engine bay.

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So, I'm calling the lower hull finished for now and will be moving on to the upper hull. I will probably revisit the weathering before the upper hull is glued on, likely to add some final details and tidy everything up.

Cheers

Matt

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi guys,

I've moved on to working on the upper hull. Originally I didn't plan to do much work on the exterior but having taken a closer look at some references, I couldn't leave it as is. The main issue is with the welding detail. It is all far too neat and some of the welds look nothing like the real thing. Here is what Trumpeter provides.

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There should be a lot more 'structure' to the interlocking welds and the weld for the mg ball mount should be nearly flush with the front plate, not raised as provided. So, all the interlocking welds were carved out, widened and replaced with milliput. The weld for the ball mount was smoothed off and a recess cut into the front plate for the new weld. I also added texturing to all of the armoured plate to simulate rolled steel.

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The ball mount also needed some attention. I slightly re profiled the base and added casting texture. The hole for the mg sight has also been reduced as the original hole is too large.

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The periscope cover has also been fitted.

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Another problem I encountered was with the side skirt mounting blocks. I will be using Aber's PE skirts but unfortunately the mounting holes do not line up with the blocks and they lack depth. All of the blocks were removed and replaced Aber parts with new welds.

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The rear plate also had some welds reworked / added. Note that the holes for the towing shackles are hollow and need to be filled in. I fitted some plastic card in between the upper hull and the rear plate and re-drilled the holes once the glue had set.

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Finally, I filled in the turret ring, ready for the retaining bolts to be added.

DSCF3294.jpg

Cheers

Matt

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