Hessler's King Tiger (conversion kit?)

Hi Larry,

Although I don't have the answer to your question, I know who would...
J-Hulk, where are you hiding?!! J-Hulk is da Man to talk to about this very
model. Have you seen his "Hessler's Tiger"? Awesome work. He's your man
on this one.

Roy

Yep,

That's J-Hulk's work.

Now, where is he when ya' need him?

Hey guys, I'm at work!

Yup, I did a HKT (Hessler's King Tiger) from the ol' Italeri M-47 kit. Takes some convertin' and scratchin', but it's a pretty easy build.

Larry, there is a post about that model maybe 10 pages back or so, and you can see all the pix on ronUSMC's gallery.
If ya can't find either of those, I'll post the links for ya when I get home.

Glad to see someone appreciating one of the most interesting and controversial armored vehicles in all of filmdom!

Later, fellas.

QUOTE: Hey guys, I'm at work!

Hi J-hulk. That makes two of us. LOL.

And now I'm home!
How about you, Dwight? I work as little zangyou as possible!

Larry, here's the link to the pix on the ron.george gallery:

http://rongeorge.com/modules/Gallery/jhulkkingtiger

I'll go back in the posts and dig up the old thread and give it a bump up to the top.

By the way, thanks for the "super-cool" comment!

OK, now I'm off to hunt for that old thread...

QUOTE: Yup, I did a HKT (Hessler's King Tiger) from the ol' Italeri M-47 kit. Takes some convertin' and scratchin', but it's a pretty easy build.

Ok, I'm lazy! What convertin' and scratchin' did you do?

Hi, Larry! Did ya see the original post I bumped up for ya? Kinda described it there.

Here it is in more detail:
Let's see here...what did I do...(this model is 5 years old!)
1. Used the Rubio aluminum 90mm bore evacuator-less barrel in conjunction with a chopped muzzle brake from the kit.
2. Fabricated and added all the studs for the now-removed storage bin on the rear of the turret bustle.
3. Scratchbuilt the rangefinder covers you see dangling from the rails on the turret sides
4. Scratchbuilt that weird tube assembly you see protruding from the ventilator cover on the rear of the turret roof. (what is THAT supposed to be, anyway???)
5. Removed all traces of installed tools and replaced with PE parts to represent all the empty clamps and holders (Eduard's M-46 PE set), as well as added some Hessler-specific items from the PE spares box (some rack-like items on the left side of the turret)
6. Scoured the countryside for decals to recreate the "R-01" markings.
7. Made looong antennae and added that cute little blue, white, and red flag Hessler had on the tallest of the two.
8. Scratchbuilt pieces for and otherwise modified the gunless 50 cal mount next to the commander's cupola.
9. Added a wire and metal tow cable to the hull rear.
10. Painted the whole shebang Tamiya German Gray of varying shades and gradations, applied even to the rubber portions of the road wheels.
11. All other PE and the drilling out of the hull machinegun are not Hessler-specific, but they do help make a nice model.
12. Added one rather un-Robert Shawish Tamiya German figure (the uniform and added headphones with wires is right on, though!).

I reckon that's about all you need to do to convert a stock Italeri M-47 into an accurate representation of "Hessler's King Tiger R-01" as it appears in the film.

Now, if I'd only spent more time sanding parting lines and ejector pin marks...

Thanks. Sounds like a fun project.

That it was!
In the other posts, I wrote about how this build had became a strange obsession after having found the video for 10 bux. Funny what strikes us as something we HAVE to build, eh?

Perhaps we should put together a group build and recreate that scene where all the "King Tigers" are cranking up and moving out of their snowy forest refuge. Or that scene with the M-3 halftrack (German Gray, of course) pulling Hessler's field command center (?), surrounded by droves of "King Tigers." The possibilities are endless!

I still gotta finish Guffy's "Sherman" one of these days!