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Zvezda Elefant "To zimmerit, or not to zimmerit, that is the question"


Hubba

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Actually it's more a question of how to zimmerit? The supplied stick on zim looks very flat but it may be a better option than home made stuff, we'll see

 

All set to get going on this, photos to follow

 

Cheers, Andy

Edited by Hubba
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I bought some Zimmerit for my 1/35 build - but I'm having doubts - I can justify not using it - so I'm in the same boat - let's see how we get on hey...

 

Good luck with your build Andy - I'll be taking notes.

 

Steve

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Welcome Andy, looking forward to to your build. Tamiya do a set of zimmerit for their kit, they are clear stickers which can be trimmed and any external detail can be added as you can see where it needs to go. I’ve used their set for a Tiger build looks not to shabby.

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OK, got a couple of days off work so I can get going on this, here's the box photo's for starters

 

 

 

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Looks pretty decent, let's see

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That's another very nice kit I haven’t seen before and, if you do use the Zimmerit sheet, I will interested to see the result. :popcorn:

Kind regards,

Stix

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Thanks for the encouragement chaps.

I've decided to give the zimmerit decals a go and see what it looks like. They're going on reasonably well with the help of plenty of decal softener but not sure what they'll look like under a few coats of paint

The hull tub to glacis fit is a little disconcerting, may need to get a fresh supply of filler 😟

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Here are some photo's of progres so far

Everything seems to be well molded but positioning of parts can be a little vague and the instruction manual is a bit Dragon-like in it's (in)accuracy

Still not convinced by the zimmerit decals, very low relief quite a few gaps and too neat but they go on OK and I'm committed now so I'll plough on with them and see if they can be improved later

 

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Great to see your progress. I agree the Zimmerit does look a bit odd at the moment but I''m sure with the painting and weathering - plus all the other features in place - it will look the part.

Kind regards,

Stix 

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Just catching up Andy, nice progress with your build. The zimmerit looks good, looks a little bright with no paint on.

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Nice so far @Hubba 👍

 

I'm also doing the Elefant, usin ATAK Zim. Notice you have no zim on front lower plate (the plate below the lifting\towing eyes). Same with ATAK, no Zim for that plate

 

Tried looking for Elefants with Zim there but cant find any (found a photo without Zim there from Italy '44)

 

You think it was common not to apply Zim to that plate?

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Hi Andy,

Great progress. It's going to look fantastic.

Personally, I think you're right to go with the Zimmerit stickers. Trying to paste zim around those bolt heads etc would be a nightmare. Having said that, I do agree that the sticker zim is a bit too neat. I would .think about roughening it up here and there - just a bit of chipping with a scalpel, and maybe squashing/smearing some of the individual reliefs down with the end of a file?

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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On 26/05/2019 at 16:41, Rogue705 said:

I'm also doing the Elefant, usin ATAK Zim. Notice you have no zim on front lower plate (the plate below the lifting\towing eyes). Same with ATAK, no Zim for that plate

 

I found a photo in the Ryton book on schwere panzers, it shows that front lower plate with a zimmerit coating, it's on the Elephant that was captured in Italy by the Americans, prior to it being shipped to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, by the time it got to the USA quite a bit of the zimmerit had been knocked off, especially the front plate with the lifting eyes.

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3 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

I found a photo in the Ryton book on schwere panzers, it shows that front lower plate with a zimmerit coating, it's on the Elephant that was captured in Italy by the Americans, prior to it being shipped to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, by the time it got to the USA quite a bit of the zimmerit had been knocked off, especially the front plate with the lifting eyes.

I'm lost - who is supposed to be wrong and who is supposed to be right here - it looks great to me - isn't that what matters...

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18 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

I found a photo in the Ryton book on schwere panzers, it shows that front lower plate with a zimmerit coating, it's on the Elephant that was captured in Italy by the Americans, prior to it being shipped to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, by the time it got to the USA quite a bit of the zimmerit had been knocked off, especially the front plate with the lifting eyes.

Seen that pic Bob (Page 154), however, there is a pic in 'Gunpower 23' of an Italian campaign Elefant without?

 

Anyway, its all in the Modellers eye, build it how we want 🙂

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2 hours ago, Rogue705 said:

Anyway, its all in the Modellers eye, build it how we want 🙂

Totally agree, I was just trying to be helpful  and answer the question, I dug my early Dragon kit out (the 2000 kit, pre-molded zimmerit and tracks on sprues) that says to add zimmerit to that panel.  I did buy the Eduard etched zimmerit for this kit as I did not fancy going down the filler and screwdriver route, the problem with etched zimm is it's too low profile and does not fit too well around some of the bolt heads and lifting lugs. but they do supply a zimm panel to go where we are discussing, and as per your kits box lid art work. :whistle:

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On 26/05/2019 at 16:41, Rogue705 said:

Nice so far @Hubba 👍

 

I'm also doing the Elefant, usin ATAK Zim. Notice you have no zim on front lower plate (the plate below the lifting\towing eyes). Same with ATAK, no Zim for that plate

 

Tried looking for Elefants with Zim there but cant find any (found a photo without Zim there from Italy '44)

 

You think it was common not to apply Zim to that plate?

Sorry it's taken so long to reply, night shifts again this week 😴

The kit does supply zim for that panel, I just hadn't got around to fitting it when the photo was taken

I've almost completed the building phase and I have to say the zimmerit isn't great, it goes on OK but the relief is so flat, just have to see what paint & weathering does to it, I have a feeling it will become almost invisible

Other than that it's a decent  kit, nice clean molding and fairly good fit. One odd thing with it, a part is completely omitted from the sprues, the instructions call for it but there is no such part, the locating lug is molded perfectly but the part just isn't there, I know I'm not going crazy because the box art includes a photo of the completed model and it's missing on theirs too, luckily it wasn't a difficult part to scratch together from plasticard so nothing major to worry about just something I've never come across before

 

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments, I'll be sure to post the latest batch of photos asap

 

Cheers,Andy

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Hi, here's a catch-up with progress, photos were taken over the last few days

 

Firstly the top goes on with the breech, barrel isn't fixed yet for ease of handling

 

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The rest of the zimmerit applied and Mr. surfacer on the cast areas to give it some texture

 

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This one shows gaps in the zimmerit

 

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This one shows the part that I made to replace the omitted one, also the sledge hammer and it's holder were molded as a solid rectangle so I tried to give it some shape

 

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Wierdly, lifting handles are supplied for the centre engine grill but the 2 side ones have solid molded blobs so they came off and new ones made with old brass p.e. frets

The bottom photo shows the zimmerit gap on the other side

 

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After chipping away some of it I primed the model to see what the zimmerit looked like (If you stare really hard...) and fitted the last few bits, tow cables and some spare track links

 

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Another quick blow over with the primer today and I should be able to start on the paint this weekend

 

Cheers, Andy

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Hubba
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