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1/35 Tamiya King Tiger, Belgium 1944. Finished 24/07


DaveJL

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Hello all,

 

Bit of a late entry from me but here it is; Tamiya's 1/35 King Tiger 'Production Turret'.  Some information I've found on King Tiger '332'  - issued to Schwere SS Panzer-Abteilung 501  in preparation for the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. Tiger 332 was encountered by Shermans of the 740th Tank Battalion on Christmas Day 1944 before being  abandoned between Coo and Trois-Ponts in Belgium. It was recovered by the 463rd Ordnance Evacuation Company on December 26, and transported from Bourgoument to Spa railway station in Belgium near US Army headquarters. From there it was shipped by rail to Antwerp and then to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds (APG) in Maryland.

 

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Kit will be completely OOB except for some etch grilles, a brass antenna, some kit from the spares and Joefix Studios foliage:

 

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Never used foliage on a kit before so that will be new to me.

 

Dave

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Welcome to the build Dave, better late than never. Nice looking project, Joefix have some nice products will be interested to see these in action.

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Made a bit of a start over the weekend. Starting off, of course, with the running gear and wheels:

 

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Lower hull with various bits added:

 

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One thing I like to do my my German AFV's is to take parts out of the side skirts to make it look less factory fresh. 

 

From this:

 

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To this:

 

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Both halves just dry fitted. I've also bent the edges slightly and added some bullet strike marks with a small drill. Another great kit by Tamiya, just falls together with little to no effort. Will move onto the turret next.

 

Dave

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Cheers Stix.

 

A bit more done. I'm doing the turret all buttoned up so it just fell together. The barrel needed some sanding to remove the seam line (think I'll try a metal barrel on my next AFV build) but other than that the fit was perfect:

 

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On the hull, I added some wire running from the headlamp, as it appears quite evident on the real thing:

 

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Taking shape:

 

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The few extras that I'll be adding:

 

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Jerry cans and fuel drum need re-painted. I also popped down to my local model shop and picked up some of Tamiya's new paints:

 

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From initial inspection, they look like better shades than the originals with the green more 'olive' in colour than XF-61. I also ordered some Tamiya Red Oxide primer specifically for my German AFVs:

 

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I've ordered an Eduard etch set as the Tamiya Grille set does not come with the grilles that are replicated by mesh (which I don't like) in the kit, whereas the Eduard set includes them along with some other nice details. 

 

More soon.

 

Dave

 

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It's coming along very nicely Dave - looking forward to seeing the goodies from Eduard - Great Job Mate :thumbsup:

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3 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Nice work Dave, those new Tamiya paints are very nice I've been using them myself.

On Ozzy's recommendation I used these new Tamiya colours on my King Tigers, much better than the Hataka paints.  Welcome to the GB, by the way the Tamiya box art is wrong, photos of 332 after its capture show that it did not have spots on its hard edge camouflage.

Regards.

Bob

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18 hours ago, BIG X said:

It's coming along very nicely Dave - looking forward to seeing the goodies from Eduard - Great Job Mate :thumbsup:

Cheers mate.

 

18 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

On Ozzy's recommendation I used these new Tamiya colours on my King Tigers, much better than the Hataka paints.  Welcome to the GB, by the way the Tamiya box art is wrong, photos of 332 after its capture show that it did not have spots on its hard edge camouflage.

Regards.

Bob

Thanks Bob, that'll save me a few hours painting anyway!

 

Could I just ask; some of the pictures I've seen of 332, it's missing the grilles just aft of the rear of the turret (the parts replicated by mesh in the Tamiya kit). Would all King Tigers have been fitted with them?

 

You can see the lack of the grilles here

 

I've also found some pictures of 222. Does anyone have any information on this tank? From looking at the pictures, it was a bit more 'beaten up' than 332.

 

King Tiger 222

 

Cheers 

 

Dave

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5 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Could I just ask; some of the pictures I've seen of 332, it's missing the grilles just aft of the rear of the turret (the parts replicated by mesh in the Tamiya kit). Would all King Tigers have been fitted with them?

All the King Tigers built in 1944 had the grills at the rear of the turret, they were there to prevent explosive devices put under the turret overhang where the blast would penetrate into the turret and set off the stored ammunition.  332 was fitted with them, photos taken during transportation to Antwerp for shipping to the USA show them in place.  After its arrival at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland it was driven around and tested where it lost most of its attachments and by the 60s the left side of the hull and turret were cut open to show the inner workings.  I mentioned that all KTs built in 1944 had them because in January 1945 some KTs were built with armour plate spaced over the rear 4 rectangular grills, they still had the debris mesh fitted but not the triangular grill.

6 hours ago, DaveJL said:

I've also found some pictures of 222. Does anyone have any information on this tank? From looking at the pictures, it was a bit more 'beaten up' than 332.

222 was filmed passing through Tondorf in mid December going up to the front, it was well photographed carrying paratroopers on its way to Stavelot, while defending the bridge at Stavelot on the 19th December 44 it was badly damaged by US armour-piercing fire and abandoned.

 

Hope this is helpful Dave.

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9 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

All the King Tigers built in 1944 had the grills at the rear of the turret, they were there to prevent explosive devices put under the turret overhang where the blast would penetrate into the turret and set off the stored ammunition.  332 was fitted with them, photos taken during transportation to Antwerp for shipping to the USA show them in place.  After its arrival at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland it was driven around and tested where it lost most of its attachments and by the 60s the left side of the hull and turret were cut open to show the inner workings.  I mentioned that all KTs built in 1944 had them because in January 1945 some KTs were built with armour plate spaced over the rear 4 rectangular grills, they still had the debris mesh fitted but not the triangular grill.

222 was filmed passing through Tondorf in mid December going up to the front, it was well photographed carrying paratroopers on its way to Stavelot, while defending the bridge at Stavelot on the 19th December 44 it was badly damaged by US armour-piercing fire and abandoned.

 

Hope this is helpful Dave.

Great, thanks mate, clears things up!

 

Will maybe just stick with 332 then albeit with slightly inaccurate side skirts (based on the pictures I’ve seen.)

 

Did 222 have the camouflage spots?

 

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

Looking good so far dave

Thanks!

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3 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Will maybe just stick with 332 then albeit with slightly inaccurate side skirts (based on the pictures I’ve seen.)

There is also the problem of the smooth gun mantlet on 332. (I will post a picture later) The reason 332 was captured in running order was on first contact with a Sherman tank, the Sherman fired a white phosphorus shell so they could retreat while th KT was blinded by the smoke, however the crew of the KT just bailed out and ran for it!

3 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Did 222 have the camouflage spots?

Yes, I meant to mention that, it also had a the paint worn away in front of the hull machine gun where the paratroopers climbed on board

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I mentioned a smooth gun mantlet on 332, my s.Pz.Abt.505 KT also has a smooth mantlet, luckily some of the Dragon kits have both, here is a picture taken of the smooth and the rough cast mantlets, they were both used throughout the life of the KT, probably they were from different foundries, and photos taken of the last KTs on the production line in March 45 show both types.

IMG_0913

Hope this is of help.

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2 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

There is also the problem of the smooth gun mantlet on 332. (I will post a picture later) The reason 332 was captured in running order was on first contact with a Sherman tank, the Sherman fired a white phosphorus shell so they could retreat while th KT was blinded by the smoke, however the crew of the KT just bailed out and ran for it!

Yes, I meant to mention that, it also had a the paint worn away in front of the hull machine gun where the paratroopers climbed on board

Thanks mate. The Tamiya kit has a smooth mantlet so would that be more suitable for 222? Would you have any images of how heavy the paint wear was?

 

Sounds like 332 didn't see much action and may not have been as heavily worn as I'm planning on :lol:

 

38 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Wonderful progress Dave. It really is looking very impressive. Very nicely done! :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

 

Cheers Stix. Just awaiting the Eduard etch then I'll crack on.

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Eduard set arrived, 90% of which I won't be using :lol:

 

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Grilles in place. The triangular ones were a bit fiddly, but will look fine under paint:

 

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Also painted the tracks. Base colour of aluminium with a mixture of browns over the top before try brushing some silver:

 

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I'll hopefully get the primer on the rest of the model this week.

 

Dave

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Great news about the PE set arriving and the grills do really add to the appearance. I'm looking forward to seeing it with the primer on.

Kind regards,

Stix 

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3 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Great news about the PE set arriving and the grills do really add to the appearance. I'm looking forward to seeing it with the primer on.

Kind regards,

Stix 

Cheers Stix.

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Primer on. Base coat of black then added the Tamiya Red Oxide. Lovely stuff.

 

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Will hopefully get the yellow base coat on this week before heading to RIAT. I'm guessing by this stage in the war, the King Tiger would have had steel wheels due to the lack of rubber?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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Hi Dave.

That Tamiya Red Lead Oxide is looking fantastic. It's almost a shame to cover it up.

 

The rubber tyres on Tiger I's and KT's etc were an integral part of the suspension system, absorbing shock, decreasing pressure on the components and smoothing the ride for the crew and increasing accuracy when firing the main gun on the move.

However, it was soon realised that the high number of closely-packed wheels and their large areas of contact with the extra wide tracks performed perfectly well without the rubber tyres.

So, whilst there may have been a shortage of high quality rubber, and this may have further influenced the decision to 'do away with them' the more pertinent reason was that they were uneccessary. (Certainly for the Tiger I late and the KT)

 

In addition to all that, there was another advantage to doing away with the rubber tyres. if a Tiger or KT threw a tyre they were a right pain to replace, especially on the inner or (in the case of the TigerI) the interleaved wheels.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

Edited by Badder
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