ARMOR - Tamiya 1/35th Tiger 1 MID PRO Group build

Looking very good and very heavy, like a Tiger should!

A little help here, guys:

I just noticed something on Deakon's marvilously battle weary Tiger, did the Deutchies put zimmerit under the side skirts?? It would make sense that it would be there incase the tank lost a skirt (as Deadon's has lost so many!!). Also, nothing would prevent a grunt from sticking a mine under the skirt if he was next to the tank in the first place. Assuming they did, I ask the next question, was it applied before or after the skirts? If before, the trowel pattern would match, if after, or if they left "room" for the skirts to be attached, it would be at least slightly different. How's this for being picky?? Guess I get to redo the sides of mine. Whoopie!

The zim was applied BEFORE the side skirts went on. I believe this is also the case with the storage bin.

Rats. I was afraid of that!

Thanks, Eric

Yep, the zim was mostly factory applied, and was put on before the side skirts were attached. So yes, the zimmerit would be behind the side skirts. Not sure about the storage bin, maybe it is because I have not seem many reference photos without them. But anything is possible in the world of German Armor.

Oh..Mo's Progress...a Big 0. Have been glued to the computer screen playing Star Wars Galaxies..just made Exper Bounty Hunter..weeeeeeeee.

Taken off from work tomorrow so I can get the rest of this build done. So hopefully I can at least post some pics that are worthy!

Hey Moses,

Not sure if you forgot, if you have not had time, or if it’s too much trouble, but if you could please check on those parts for me that would be great. Just a reminder, its parts 4, 5, 6, and 7 are for on spur A. I’m not sure where they go and my set of MK tracks didn’t come with instructions. If it’s a problem for some reason, then please don’t worry about it. Thanks

By the way, I look forward to seeing some pics!

Didn't forget my lil' edog. I should have some info by weeks end.

Thanks Moses, didnt want to be annoying or seem pushy, just wasnt sure what was up.

Well ...hi guys.. almost at the closing stages of this build..all that remains now are some details to be painted. unit markings,, turret numbers,, as i have to move onto another model, i think these shall be the last pics,until the Tiger is in place on the diorama..this has been an immensely satisfiying project,and iv'e enjoyed the group build very much
i look forwardfs to seeing everyone's finished models ,
REGARDS....D......

Hey Deakon, first off I think you have done a fantastic job thus far. I love the battle damage, the weathering, and most of all the zim. But I have a few questions. I can't really tell from the photos, but is that Panzer Grey by the chipped zim? Mid Pro's were first primed in red primer at the factory, then coated with zim, with the Dunkelgelb applied as the base coat. This Particular Tiger I would not have had Schwarzgrau applied to it as a base coat, especially on the zimmerit. Again, I can't tell for sure by the photos. Also, are those fuel spills on the top of the turret? Lastly, I would have put all the markings on before the weathering process, this way it can all be weathered together. All in all, I think you have done a tremendous job Deak, I love it!!! makes me want to finish up the project on my end..but I work at a snails pace.

Cheers

Mo

no it's not schwarzgrau. it's rusted /red primed bare steel [think about it ] ...fuel spills ?? no why would there be spilled fuel on the turret top?? again, it;s where i chipped away some base colour and made it look like rusted/primed bare metal.. there are no unit marking because i have not sprayed em on yet as i said in my last post " to all intents and purposes it's finished." apart from a few details [unit markings]..[ in place weathering]
and a final touch up...and i still have to scratchbuild and attatch the side skirt bolt brackets..it wont be truly finished untill it's part of the finished diorama. figures and all, i have to move onto other projects connected with this one. hence the closure if a little early of my group build
anyways thank you for your kind comments especially towards my efforts regarding the zimmerit.[it was my first attempt ] no bull............

Deakon, I didn't intend on insulting you bud, was just asking a few honest questions. The reason why I asked about the Turret roof is because it does look like fuel spills. Paints chips are a little more jagged around the edges and are pretty much not rounded out in even semi-circles and should be very irregular. I also know you said it was still in progress, that is why I ask..why haven't you put the unit markings on before the weathering process.

But again, I think you did a great job on everything..and I hope you continue with more zimmerit projects in the future.

Moses old bean ,, i wasn't insulted by your comments, just answering your questions ..sorry if my choice of wording seemed like a rebuke, but please be assured that was not the case.
the pics really dont pick up all the subtleties of some of the painting, i can assure you that the areas depicting chipped and rusted paintwork look chipped and rusted [with jaggy edges l], although some areas could do with their edges being re-sharpened, / defined. i haven't added unit markings yet as my weathering technique tends to obliterate them, once they are painted on i will fade/weather them lightly to tie them in with the model,,at the same time as i put the final touches to the Tiger..

Deakon its looking good, and its so dirty
ive got one thing ive noticed, are you going to add a line if dirt/grime where the side skirts have been?
I,m still waiting on the local shop to get Tamiya putty in they,ve said it should be in Monday, i like the size of the Tiger Tracks compared to the sherman in doing at the moment

Okay, okay...What's going on here. This thread was CLEAR down on the second page! We can't have that sort of thing going on!! lol

Okay guys, I've added the zimm to the lower sides of the hull. And I've cut out and glued on the 30 of the 32 little square fender mounting brackets. What fun that was. I have to put all 32 on because the brass fenders need them to mount against. I am planning to leave at least one fender completely off, so I'll detail those brackets a little more than the plain plastic ones under the rest of the fenders. Has anyone else used brass fenders on their 1/35 scale tiger? The aber instructions show to mount a short pieces of styrene rod to the pe nuts then put them through the mounting holes in the fenders. This is one I don't get, unless they intended for the rods to be used to actually hold the fenders on without the brackets. I think I'll just glue the pe nuts over the holes and not worry about the rods as the gluing them to the brackets on should hold them. I could drill holes in each of the bracktes and use the rod to hold them on very prototypically, but I don't think it's worth it to do that.

I still haven't decided what I'm going to do on the tracks. I've tried putting (toothpick) a tiny amount of Squadron Green in the ejector pin marks, letting it dry, then removing the excess with finger nail polish remover on a q-tip. But the ejector marks are so shallow that most of the putty comes out along with the excess. So my next choices would be either Friulmodelessemo (sp?) or ModelKasten. I used friul tracks on the panzer II I did, and really liked them. I haven't used MK tracks before. The Friul tracks are a little more expensive, but more easily available to me. So I don't know if I want to go with the MK tracks to try something new, or use the Friul tracks and go more expensive. Oh, by the way, I saw somewhere a comment that Friul tracks are marked as sided, but a set hadn't been seen where there was any difference. The Panzer II tracks are sided and there is a difference. Half of the set is cast with bolt detail on on the opposite side of the links than the other half. That way, you can have the bolt detail to the outside on both sides of the trank. With one side of the Tiger running the track "backwards" from the other side thereby making the links identical, there would be no reason to do that.

One other thing I'm going to try out is making the cables out of florest wire. I went to Michael's and bought some of the finest stuff I could find. I'll try twisting up some 3 and 5 strand cables and let you know how they turn out.

So, work is progressing slowly, but at least it's moving. (I just have too many hobbies for my own good!)

Take care, all of you, and have a great day.

Bill

Deak, that Tigger's rockin', Mister! Amazing texture and contrast. What kinda dio will it be starring in (or did I miss an explanation somewhere)?

Bill, for the ejector pin marks on my E-100 trax (they were full of 'em!) I just plopped a big ol' blob of Tamiya Polyster Putty over each offending depression, let it set for a day, and sanded everybody down, flat an happy. Fairly quick, fairly painless, and entirely effective. No problems with the putty coming out of the shallower depressions, either. All in all, much easier than dealing with each little depression on a man-to-man basis! Give it a shot.

I'll tell ya this, though: had there been a Friul set available for the E-100, it would have been my first choice!

Hulk hate sanding!

Thanks, J. Did you putty the individual links, or wait until you had them "strung together??

How's the weather in Nipon this time of year? I always wanted to go to Japan, but the AF always took me the other way. But I loved Europe, so not complaining!!

wipw, if you want to try the MK tracks I'd recommend them. I just finished a set for my Jagdpanther and they are awesome. Barely any flash to clean up and only on some of the parts, easy to work with, just tedious of course. The only hard part to clean on the Jadgpanther attachment points is the links themselves but if you have a micro-file set you'll have one that will clean them in seconds. Not sure about how the links are shaped for a Tiger I but I know the MK's will look good.

Eric

Thanks, Eric. Do you have any online sources that have them in stock, by chance??

Hey i enjoy reading all of you posts iam working on a tamiya tiger 1 late and ihave every thing zimed and primed and ready for base coat. Since i dont own a digital camara (dropped it and got rained on at a party lol) i cant post pics maybe it will be fixed or ill get a new one soon OR MAYBE I LL TURN IT ON AND I WILL WORK LOL (NOT). I ll keep u updated.

Welcome to the thread, mk. We'll all be interested in your build of this kit.

Bill

wipw Try R&J Enterprises, I don't know if they have them in stock but they're good folks to deal with.

http://www.rjproducts.com/

They will get them for you if they don't have them in. I'll try to think of someplace else that carries them and let you know.

Eric

I’m going to chime in here and add a word about the MK, vs Friu tracks. I put both on my tiger. I used the Friu for the tracks on the tank, and the MK for spares on the turret. Now I used the transport tracks for my tiger, so there was no difference in the tracks for each side, but I would be very disappointed if each side on the regular Friu tiger tracks would be the same. This would mean that one side of the tank would have those little pins showing.

Anyway, to the comparison… The Friu tracks were very easy to put together!!! There was a little cleanup required, and I had to keep a drill handy for the holes. The MK tracks were very detailed, and required cleanup only where they were attached to the spur. BUT, each link was in 5 pieces. This includes 2 pins, 2 guide teeth, and the link itself. They required quite a bit more time per link, but did look a little better in the long run.

So, which ones did I like? Well… the MK were better detailed, but the Friu were quite a bit less time consuming, and when I was done painting, there was no need for metallic drybrushing with the MK links. All I did was take a little sandpaper to the tracks. So in the end, I would suggest both, LOL.

OH, one big thing that bugged me about the MK tracks. There are exactly 200 in a box. This gives you 1 spare!!!!! The Friu links numbered around 260 or so. THAT’S A LOT OF SPARES!!!!

Hope this helps


PS, why is this thread not a sticky yet?!?!?!?!

Bill,
Forgot to add, RZM usually has the MK stuff in stock. I have always gotten superior service from them, and have not had to wait for an out of stock item yet. If you want to be 100% sure, you can call them. Their link is…

http://www.rzm.com/main/main.cfm

Have you checked out Great Models, or Roll Models?? You may have call to see if an item is in stock with roll models, but Great Models lists if the item is in, or not.

http://www.rollmodels.com/
http://www.greatmodels.com/

I think Roll Models has a bit better pricing than Great Models, but I usually order from GM because you can check up on your order online. Oh, and when the order is shipped, GM gives you a tracking number so you’ll know the instant the package will arrive!!!

Eric,
Thanks for the link to RZM. I'll give them a check out. I deal with Great Models a lot, mostly since they are located about 40-45 miles from here. I am a little disappointed with them, though (read, really a lot!!), because they closed their retail store. I used to go down there at least every other weekend. I can still order from them and have them sent to their will-call desk, but that is only open from about 9-5 M-F, so it does me no good unless I take time off from work to go. Things get real expensive that way! Oh well, guess they have to decide and act on what they think is best for business.

As to the tracks, I don't know what the transport tracks look like or how they fit on the tiger, but...from what I understand (and what it looks like in the pictures I've seen), the track links are identical for both sides of the tank, however since the tracks are not "symmetrical", since they overhang the outside of the wheels. And it looks like the Germans "flipped" one side of the track around "backwards". So whereas the links go up on one side, they go down on the other (positionally, not motion wise, of course). So, the Friul links could all be the same and still have the molded on bolt detail to the outside of the tank.
Man, this is confusing to explain!!
Great Models has the Friul tracks in stock, but not the ModelKasten, at the moment. But they want $31.50 for the Friul tracks, plus $6.50 shipping, plus another 2.05 for sales tax. Man, 5 pieces for each link sounds like a lot of overhead for the MK tracks. But who knows, I might give them a try.

Have a good one.

Bill

Bill I did say the MK's were tedious but you'll love the detail in the end. They are very easy to build though as they give you jig to place 5 or 6 links on at a timeyou then put a pin in each side of the link and then the track horns. What I did on my Jagdpanther tracks was pin all on one side, spin it around pin the other side then do track horns on one side and then the other. The pins are very neatly attached to a straight piece of sprue to use as a handle and after glueing them all you can trim them very cleanly by placing them on the edge of a cutting mat if you have one or even cardboard or something. I'll take a pic of my tracks tonight for you so you can see how they look. they're unpainted so you'll be able to tell pretty good.

Eric

Terrific, Eric. Thanks a bunch!

I've got the Academy Early Tiger I with full interior, too. Maybe I'll use the MK's (if I can find online - there is a set right now on e-bay!) for the Mid and then decide which type I like better (method wise) for the Early. I'm thinking of getting one of the asymetrical turrets that someone mentioned for it, too. They were at tigermodels.com. They look pretty impressive, but I couldn't stand the thought of getting one for the mid and having to put zimmerit all over it. I guess there isn't any detail on the side of the turret to cover with the zimm, but I'm a chicken!!

Thanks, again.

Bill

yeah theres a few Tiger bist from Tiger models http://pmms.webace.com.au/newkitnews/newf.htm
i quite like the operating drivers visers
still no Tamiya putty in the local shop, its a bit scarse in England
any other sugestions for the Zimeret? cant get Zim it right

Bill Sorry I dropped the ball last night and didn't get the pictures taken. I was busy and didn't think about it till it was late. I'll send myself an e-mail and get them first thing for you this evening. Call R&J and see if they have any in stock if you decide to go with them.

Eric

Capt.

I understand Apoxie Sculpt is supposed to be fantastic. Has much longer working time than the Tamiya putty, but from what I read, you will need to roughen up the surface with sandpaper before applying it. It's made by Aves and is fairly inexpensive, especially in the larger sizes. Their link is:

http://www.avesstudio.com

(sorry, don't know how to turn that into a link). Click on Products at the top of the screen. They have several products they advertise, but it's Apoxie Sculpt I've read about. If you have, or can get, a copy Model Miniatures in Review, the issue with the DML Elefant on the cover (I'm at work, sorry), the guy doing the Elefant article talks very briefly about it. Basically, he just says it's great stuff to use. But he uses a tool made from a sharpened piece of resin to put in the grooves.

Hope this all helps. Sorry I can't tell you more. Other than you could try ordering the Tamiya putty from one of the mail order houses. I got mine from Great Models.

Good luck

Bill