Must. Build. Tiger.... 1/35 Meng King Tiger (Porsche Turret)

[diases]

Lo Guys.

Well, thought that my work would stop me taking part, but been watching in the background.

I Went to Mafva nationals on Sunday, and could not resist buying a king tiger.

So I'm going to attempt a rapid build. I'm back to Egypt Saturday for 2 weeks, then another 2 weeks off, so going to be a bit erratic with posts.

 

Monday.

 

Checking out the purchase.

It's the no internal version  (I have a takom kit in stash for another time)

 

 

Looks a reasonable kit, with a metal barrel included.

Only problem I can see is lack of zimmerit, as I believe all Porsche turreted tanks had it.

I'll worry about that later, as I have a mountain of wheels to prep.

Wheels cleaned up easily, and nice poly cap inserts.

 

Tuesday.

To paint the wheels or build the hull,  mmmm.

So onto the hull.

As this is basically a partial kit, internal suspension runners are used for torsion bar fitting and 3 internal braces,

1 brace was bent (model packaging had forced it onto another part), but not a problem. Its the right hand one behind the fwd brace if interested.

Suspension went in easily with no drama. Each arm has a locating slot so everything aligns nicely.

 

 

 

Rear plate slotted in well with just a minor warp on left hand side, soon sorted with a bit of tape

 

 

Slapped some hull red on sides, and that's it for the day. 

In the evening, had a check through the stash, and surprised myself by finding a eduard zimm set for a king tiger henshel turret (wife reminded me that I got at Telford last year).. Happy days.

I'll have to see what I can do with it, he he he.

 

 

Wednesday AM

Top deck time

 

Everything went together smoothly

hatches are all going to be closed (time restraints), But quite a bit of detail present.

I have tried fitting to the hull, and looks promising so far.

 

Well that's it so far, plenty to do and not much time. I want to get basic assembly finished by Friday, Then Finishing touches and paint etc, when I'm next home.

Wish me luck

 

Cheers for looking

Paul

 

Edited June 19, 2019 by diases

[PlaStix]

Looks like an excellent kit Paul and you look to be doing an excellent job with it! Looking forward to seeing more.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Ozzy]

Welcome to the build Paul, you've made a nice start to your build. I wish my wife was as helpful with my modelling accompaniments.

[diases]

Wednesday PM.

Zimmerit-tastic.

 

The Eduard zimmerit set is for dragon (6208), and interesting to see the differences between the kits.

First, Zimm side pieces are shorter by about 2mm, but same profile, so a small gap at rear, but easily rectified.

Second, ball turret on Meng kit is slightly bigger than the Zimm kit hole.  Prised off the ball, attached front Zimm, then placed ball over it.  Not the best, but hopefully a bit of filler will improve the look and finish.

Lower front is perfect fit.

Rear plate was pretty much a good fit, a bit off on some fittings, but a but of scriber manipulation had it sitting reasonably flat.

 

 

I'm reasonably happy with it at the moment, and a bit of filling, smoothing, and paint should improve it nicely.

 

Thurday will be Turret day, wish me luck

 

Cheers for the likes

Paul

[diases]

Thursday.

Turret all done, used the plastic 1 piece barrel rather than the metal one supplied. 

Went together reasonably well, although I think that the turret top panel should have been recessed (see photo)

 

 

 nice detail of hatches

 

 

Because its a partial kit from a full interior model, there's really good detail on the undersides of all the hatches if you wanted to display open.

 

 

So that's complete, OH wait a minute where's the Zimmerit.

Well, my set of Eduard Zimm is for a Hershel turret, so is different. So its going to be a handmade, try not to mess it up, version.

So off to research techniques.  And a bit of testing before ruining the main event.

 

Any hints on easy techniques gratefully received. 

 Cheers for looking

Paul

 

[Hewy]

The zimmerit fits pretty good so far, nice kit, link and length tracks I see too, 

[Ozzy]

Looking good Paul, considering all kits are 1/35, I’ve had size differences with zimmerit for other kits. I used the Tamiya stick on which was bigger than the Dragon kit I was building, luckily I was able to cut it with scissors.

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress Paul - that is really looking good. I used No More Nails for the Zimmerit on my Toon King Tiger Build and it seemed to work well.

Kind regards,

Stix

[diases]

Well, I'm back in Egypt now, many flights, and buses, but the worse bit is over.

Modelling will just be research based for the next 2 weeks.

State of play at the moment, is pretty good, Rear plates built and base coat of paint applied to hull. 

Bit of filling on turret, and base painted.

 

So it looking like a tank.  Still need to build the tracks, But they look pretty simple. Theres a nice track jig (Top left sprure in contents shot) for the top run which should make things a bit easier.

 

Im going for a winter camo finish, from Hungary campaign, eventually. 

But that's for 2 weeks time.

I hope you all have a good and successful build, and will see you all soon.

 

Cheers

Paul

[diases]

Slightly off topic, but in the 3rd picture(hull sides), you may be able to make out another purchase from MAFVA show.

 

I thought I'd better get my missus involved, so a Cobi Tiger model seemed to obvious choice.

She has made a start this morning and I'll make a little build thread for it later... he he he

 

See you all soon

Paul

[diases]

Lo Again.

Thanks for everybody's comments.

 

Well, work got extended, good for wallet, bad for modelling.  In the end I've had just over a week at home, and back to Egypt tomorrow.

I really wanted to complete this, as the PzIV was not finished in time.

So 4 days of rapid building, painting, and ageing, and I've produced this.

 

All comments most welcome

Cheers

Paul

 

Tank No.314, s.H.Pz.Abt. 503, Wehrmacht, Hungary, 1945 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by diases

[Ozzy]

Paul looks fantastic, thanks for your entry and participation.

[PlaStix]

Hi Paul. Just been checking out your photos in the Gallery. Fantastic result! That's a really stunning looking King Tiger! Very well done!!

Kind regards,

Stix

[diases]

On 7/29/2019 at 4:09 PM, PlaStix said:

Hi Paul. Just been checking out your photos in the Gallery. Fantastic result! That's a really stunning looking King Tiger! Very well done!!

Kind regards,

Stix

 

On 7/23/2019 at 7:56 PM, Ozzy said:

Paul looks fantastic, thanks for your entry and participation.

Hello From Sunny, Hot Egypt.

Thanks for the kind comments.

First real attempt at whitewashing, and I found it a enjoyable experience building up the layers, Unfortunately, the Tricolour camo underneath does not show through as much as I'd Like. 

I just wish that I'd had more time, as I think that I can really improve the results.

But I do have a couple of other KT's in the stash, which will not be so rushed.

 

Good Building to All that are taking part, and looking forward to seeing more results.

 

Cheers

Paul

 

P.S.

Lots of planning for Panther build taking place, as I sit here working, Its going to be a busy build for me 😁