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Dark Side of the Dark Side? Or, more kings...

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  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Dark Side of the Dark Side? Or, more kings...
Posted by RBaer on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 5:06 PM

My wife bought me the Tamiya porsche KT a year ago, and guess what? I started it! t's actually quite a step for me, the first WWII German tank since I did Tamiya's ancient Tiger I as a kid...........

Zimm is Milliput on the big flat areas, and a hot knifeon the areas I didn't want to mess with puty on, the rear plate, turret front and mantlet. Tracks are Friul, my favorites for anything that sags. This will be a largely OOB build, since I'm not conversant in German armor at all, so if anyone feels like throwing out something the kit is glaringly wong in, I'd like to know. I do know I should have used the Friul 18-tooth sprockets with the early tracks, but the kit sprockets were a good fit, and easy. I do have the original Tamiya KT that I will build up for fun, and do one of those wacky "what-if" primer and camo schemes on .I'll use the Friul sprockets on it. This one will be built to look like it's well used, probably towards the end of the Normandy campaign, if that's historically correct?

Comments of any sort always welcomed.

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 5:21 PM

looking good so far. Great work on the Zimm. Nice to see someone else who does there own. I take it you are doing the winter white scheme.

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by TD4438 on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 8:21 PM

No two ways about it.That zim looks awesome.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Texas
Posted by wbill76 on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 8:35 PM

Looking good so far! Seems like December is shaping up to be KT month here on the forums. Beer

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA
Posted by tigerman on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 10:36 PM

Zimmerit does look welll applied. Did you use the AFV Club roller on the KT?

   http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/wing_nut_5o/PANZERJAGERGB.jpg

 Eric 

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: South Carolina
Posted by jetmodeler on Thursday, December 16, 2010 6:27 AM

Looks good so far. The zimmerit looks great.

 

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Central Texas
Posted by NucMedTech on Thursday, December 16, 2010 7:47 AM

I like it!  Ready for more.Wink

-StephenCowboy

Most barriers to your successes are man made. And most often you are the man who made them. -Frank Tyger

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: fort mill SC
Posted by Robert92562 on Thursday, December 16, 2010 11:55 AM

I will use these images when I try my hand at the Zimmerit. Nice job.

Bob

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Thursday, December 16, 2010 12:14 PM

Thanks, all. Not sure about what scheme, but since Normandy to Falaise was summer, probably no white-wash. I would imagine that most of however few of these things that were in western Europe were out of action by winter.

I used a pocket screwdriver for the zimm. Slow, but just the right size. I had to keep it a little wet, or else the putty started sticking a little. For the zimm I did with heat, I filed the soldering iron/hot knife tip to the same size and shape as the screwdriver blade. Getting the putty on and spread in an even thickness was the hardest part.

This is my first real attempt at zimm, primarily because I was a bit scared of ruining a good kit. What I did was pretty much a compilation of different methods I've seen here, mainly.

Edit: As far as references, I used a couple of build articles on Dragons KT Porsche with Zimm, and a couple of old Tiger books. I hope Dragon's zimm is pretty accurate.....

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    April 2015
Posted by spadx111 on Thursday, December 16, 2010 8:50 PM

In a word nice .Ron

  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: Carmel, IN
Posted by deafpanzer on Thursday, December 16, 2010 9:36 PM

Yes Two thumbs up! Yes

Andy

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Monday, December 20, 2010 10:09 AM

Thanks!

Assemebly is done, unless someone can point me to something I've missed. This was an well-engineered kit, no fit issues at all. I only wish they were all like that......maybe. Anyway, I thinkI spent more time on the tracks and zimm than the kit itself. Primer is actually on, but I don't have any pics of that yet. I did rotate the idler mount back about 10 degrees to tighten the tracks very slightly, since they looked a bit loose previously. All the pics I have of actual functional KTs show the tracks off the first two road wheels and I tried to get that tension.

One question for those in the know: Would the areas that have zimm chipped off show the dark yellow underneath, or primer red?

As always, thanks for checking in.

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Monday, December 20, 2010 12:17 PM

Very cool! That's some real initiative taken with the zimm, and the hit knife work!

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Monday, December 20, 2010 4:40 PM

Thank you,sir. I have now popped my zimm-cherry.

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Piscataway, NJ!
Posted by wing_nut on Monday, December 20, 2010 5:15 PM

ME likey.

Marc  

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Texas
Posted by wbill76 on Monday, December 20, 2010 7:52 PM

Chipped zim would most likely show primer red underneath if the chips were fresh. Otherwise the crew would have the opportunity to paint over the chipped area in the field and blend it back in with the rest of the vehicle. The zim coat was applied to the primered hull before it was painted in the base color (for obvious reasons) and recovered vehicles with zim that has chipped or worn also show a light grayish or tan color (the natural zim color pre-paint) around the edges of the chip where some of the zim was left behind vs. chipping all the way down to the primer. HTH!

Nice work on this one so far, coming along nicely. Yes Wink

  • Member since
    August 2010
Posted by Iain Hamilton on Monday, December 20, 2010 8:10 PM

Nice looking KT! I would suggest looking to the bundesarchive on-line for cammo ideas. Also, the Panzer Wrecks series is full of photos that will inspire an authentic paint scheme.

  • Member since
    October 2009
Posted by PANZERWAFFE on Monday, December 20, 2010 8:21 PM

Great looking zim.  Yes  Really nice so far. 

Rob

Rob

  • Member since
    November 2004
  • From: Essex England
Posted by spacepacker on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 9:20 AM

Thats looking to be a great build.

To my knowledge the King Tigers did not appear until the "Battle of the Bulge", therefore they would not have been available for the Normandy breakout

However there are people here who know a lot more than me...cheers....Kenny

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 9:46 AM

Bill, just what I needed to know, thanks.

Kenny, oops! I'll ck my dates, thanks.

PW, WN, thanks, it's more fun than I had thought. I have always had some measure of reluctance to do zimm. Now to do the camo w/o an airbrush.......

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    October 2009
Posted by PANZERWAFFE on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 10:49 AM

From my reading the first 5 were issued to the Pz.Kp.(FKL) 316/Pz. Lehr Div. in Mar 1944 and first used in combat in Jun 44 in France near / in the town of Chateaudun in defense of the town for the Normandy breakout.  They were painted in Dunkelgelb with Olivgrun camo.  The vehicles had large double digit numbers painted on the side of the front section of the turret.

Hope that helps

Rob

  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: Carmel, IN
Posted by deafpanzer on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 7:36 PM

Great picture.  I can't tell if it has zimm or not... can you?

Andy

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: New Jersey
Posted by redleg12 on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 8:42 PM

Very nice detail on the Zimm.....( shame its not OD Wink )

As I said, love the Zimm

Rounds Complete!!

"The Moral High Ground....A Great Place to Emplace Artillery."

  • Member since
    October 2009
Posted by PANZERWAFFE on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 12:03 AM

Yes she is Zimmed.  Have a few other pictures from different views and it shows a little better.  These pics is how I did my KT a few months ago.

 

Rob

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 9:41 AM

Great pic! That's what I'm looking for, not obviously destroyed, intact but abandoned. I want to display it with a Sherman, if for nothing else than the contrast in size.

Mike, thanks.

Now I have to find some dark yellow in a rattle can.......

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Saturday, January 8, 2011 6:39 PM

Primer's on, Krylon, my favorite. Anybody see anything I'm missing before I go shoping for a Krylon dark yellow?

Tracks are in acrylic raw umber wash over the acid etch I do, ready for the brightening of the contact areas and final pigments.

Apprentice rivet counter.

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