King Tiger from Academy

$35 seems rather a good price, here its going for £38. I can't speak for the quality of the kit, but yes, it can be built without Zimm.

I've never built an Academy model. I have one of their interior detail Tigers in my stash that looks pretty good. The $35 figure is probably reasonable. Does it include shipping? You may also want to check on ebay. The Tamiya Ardennes King Tiger, which I have built, is selling for less than that right now, I believe, but there may be shipping charges there, too.

Thank you for the advice Bish & Barrett!

It was your Ardennes Tiger II that kicked me of in this direction Barrett :)

Follow this link www.cybermodeler.com/.../kit_aca_13229.shtml if you want to look at the parts breakdown.

One thing worth noticing is that this kit comes with the 600MM transportation tracks.

If you want the wider 800MM tracks you will have to purchase these separately.

Another thing that is interesting is that the small roundels in the camouflage pattern are included as stencil markings. I guess that is a good thing.

Camouflage patterns for the uniforms are also provided as stencils.
I don't think I have completed a figurine since the 70's so that is going to be interesting :)

Happy Modelling!

Zack

Its a bit deceiving to have that box art and yet only include the transport tracks.

That camouflage pattern is known as the Octopus scheme and I believe it was only seen on one Tiger II. Stencils for the figures camo sounds a bit different.

One of the reviews mentions that the very last Tiger II's never had anything but the transportation tracks.

Another review states that the transportation tracks are the wrong version for the particular drive sprocket configuration.

I love the internet :)

Here is a link to a picture of the camouflage decal;

www.cybermodeler.com/.../aca_13229_decals.shtml

Sideline question - is it OK to post a link like I just did or should I rather take a picture myself?

Or is it enough if I mention what forum it is and who the author is?

It is the Cyber Modeler forum and the Author is Michael Benolkin, January 2013.

Happy Modelling everyone :)

Zack

I have never heard that about Tiger II's only having transport tracks. Its my understanding that transport tracks were not a part of the vehicle but a part of the train that carried the vehicles.

O, right, they are decals, I thought they were stencils. Not sure how a decal would for uniform camo, seems a bit over complicated to me.

Theres not normally a problem posting links like that. Generally people credit the source, which is the main thing. You can post the pic itself instead of the link in the same way you post pics from photobucket.

Well, you know what they say about learning something new every day. Just looked at the pics of the Tiger II with that scheme, and indeed it does seem to have transport tracks, as do a couple of other Tiger II pics I found.

Well, ignore my previous comments.

I don't know Bish quite a few companies put out decals for uniform camouflage. Shinsegumi is one company which makes quite a few decal sets for German, US Marine WWII camo, modern US camo from woodland pattern to ACU pattern to MARPAT as well as the desert camo patterns of Chocolate chip pattern and 3 color desert pattern and modern JSDF digital camouflage patterns. Trumpeter also put out decal sheets with their newer modern figure sets with both the woodland pattern and 3 color desert pattern. I figure it is so that those of us who can't paint complex camo patterns on smaller scale figures can have a good shot at putting out a nice looking figure where as hand painting complex camo patterns would have been somewhat off putting for some people.

Bish

I have never heard that about Tiger II's only having transport tracks. Its my understanding that transport tracks were not a part of the vehicle but a part of the train that carried the vehicles.

O, right, they are decals, I thought they were stencils. Not sure how a decal would for uniform camo, seems a bit over complicated to me.

Theres not normally a problem posting links like that. Generally people credit the source, which is the main thing. You can post the pic itself instead of the link in the same way you post pics from photobucket.

Mikeym_us

I don't know Bish quite a few companies put out decals for uniform camouflage. Shinsegumi is one company which makes quite a few decal sets for German, US Marine WWII camo, modern US camo from woodland pattern to ACU pattern to MARPAT as well as the desert camo patterns of Chocolate chip pattern and 3 color desert pattern and modern JSDF digital camouflage patterns. Trumpeter also put out decal sheets with their newer modern figure sets with both the woodland pattern and 3 color desert pattern. I figure it is so that those of us who can't paint complex camo patterns on smaller scale figures can have a good shot at putting out a nice looking figure where as hand painting complex camo patterns would have been somewhat off putting for some people.

Bish

I have never heard that about Tiger II's only having transport tracks. Its my understanding that transport tracks were not a part of the vehicle but a part of the train that carried the vehicles.

O, right, they are decals, I thought they were stencils. Not sure how a decal would for uniform camo, seems a bit over complicated to me.

Theres not normally a problem posting links like that. Generally people credit the source, which is the main thing. You can post the pic itself instead of the link in the same way you post pics from photobucket.

I have never come across them. I guess they must work. Its just the idea of trying to cut them out to fit round all the parts of the figure and to snug down properly. I know how hard it is to paint those camo schemes, I have been practicing for years and still can't get it right. Maybe I should get a set of these decals just to try them for myself.

The key is to cut them into small squares and fit them together one piece at a time which generally makes them easier to use decal solvents and setters to get them to snug down. And generally one sheet is enough to do at least 5 figures if you don't bugger it too much. LOL

Bish

Mikeym_us

I don't know Bish quite a few companies put out decals for uniform camouflage. Shinsegumi is one company which makes quite a few decal sets for German, US Marine WWII camo, modern US camo from woodland pattern to ACU pattern to MARPAT as well as the desert camo patterns of Chocolate chip pattern and 3 color desert pattern and modern JSDF digital camouflage patterns. Trumpeter also put out decal sheets with their newer modern figure sets with both the woodland pattern and 3 color desert pattern. I figure it is so that those of us who can't paint complex camo patterns on smaller scale figures can have a good shot at putting out a nice looking figure where as hand painting complex camo patterns would have been somewhat off putting for some people.

Bish

I have never heard that about Tiger II's only having transport tracks. Its my understanding that transport tracks were not a part of the vehicle but a part of the train that carried the vehicles.

O, right, they are decals, I thought they were stencils. Not sure how a decal would for uniform camo, seems a bit over complicated to me.

Theres not normally a problem posting links like that. Generally people credit the source, which is the main thing. You can post the pic itself instead of the link in the same way you post pics from photobucket.

I have never come across them. I guess they must work. Its just the idea of trying to cut them out to fit round all the parts of the figure and to snug down properly. I know how hard it is to paint those camo schemes, I have been practicing for years and still can't get it right. Maybe I should get a set of these decals just to try them for myself.

Zach, Wow! Thanks for letting me know I inspired you to build one. That's the kind of thing I was hoping for when I decided to post mine as a WIP.

The Academy kit looks pretty good. It's not a reboxing of Tamiya's Ardennes kit, for sure. It has more parts than the Tamiya Ardennes kit! Some things will be interesting to do. The wheels are 3 parts each, which apparently will allow you to recreate the inner rubber ring that they had. I wonder how you paint that to represent the different materials. I think I like the idea of providing solid construction straight sections of tracks, especially the upper section since it all gets covered by the fenders (I wonder if they were still called skirts eve though they didn't extend down as far). Unless you are going to cut out sections of the fenders, you really don't need to worry about representing sag on the top sections of track anyway. It would be really hard to see the effect anyway.

The roundels part looks interesting. You may recall that I mentioned the Tiger II I did was my second attempt. In my first attempt, I was nearly done and decided to try to add the dots over the disruptive camo scheme. There's a camo name for them but I forget what it is. Anyway, by the time I finished putting on three different groups of colored dots, the poor tank looked like it had the measles. I was so disappointed that I put it away and built another model until I could figure out how I wanted to move forward. In the end, I bought a second kit, scavenged some parts off the old kit, including the tracks, and built a new tank! I didn't mind, really, because I learned a lot about building and painting in the meantime, and my second build was much better, anyway. I just got back into modeling last November after more than 45 years away from it, so I had, and still have, a lot to learn.

The Academy kit looks like a good quality effort. I think you'll enjoy it. I'd love to see you do a WIP with it. Have fun.

That particular paint scheme appeared in one or two KTs only and both had transport tracks. Here is a detailed thread:  www.armorama.com/modules.php

 

speaking of transport tracks, by the end of the war, some tanks went straight from the factory out to fight in transport tracks.

When I first saw this, I thought: oh, ****, because of this:

....  one of my better efforts at multi-color schemes . But after looking at all the posts on both links, I'm not so concerned.

RB

Great paint and weathering. That is one sharp looking KT.

I think the Octopus paint scheme is super cool by all means. Again, your KT looks super in that scheme, unfortunately just a couple wore it. Another cool scheme is the very late war reverse disc pattern.  

Nice looking kitty there RB. I am thinking about doing an Octopus type scheme on one of my paper panzers, not sure exactly how I will do it yet, will probably decided when I get to it.

PJ, Bish, thanks. I did this one for a GB here, last year I think.....

I had a couple of paragraphs and a pic in an Osprey book that talked about the Octopus scheme and the last couple of KTs completed, used to defend the Kassel area, and thought: "Why not?".  Here's the kicker: at a local IPMS meet, this one got a 2nd in a big class, and that particular group is known for being sticklers about German multi-tone schemes and accuracy.