Nice figures Marc, but a close-up or two would be appropriate. 

Hey great work as usual Marc! If I may nitpick to my eyes too she looks like she should be smooshed down in the dirt a little more. Still I love the base as well as the Tiger and the figures.

I'll second on I'd love to see a little more detail photos on the figures, they really look sharp!

Guys: Things seem to have slowed down a bit here...I counted 42 entrants to this GB and there are only 13 finished builds...and FOUR of them are wing_nuts!!!   Good to still see some work though! 

Marc:  I gotta' go back and review that Panther on the brick pavement when I have more time...did you start a separate thread in armor for that one?  She looks sweet in the finished build pic's.

Yeah, I went a little steel cat nuts for a spell.  Here is a thread just for the Panther... just mot from here

http://modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/3612/panther-late-1-21-swear

Marc - very nicely done King Tiger.  

I can see what others have pointed out - shadows underneath the tracks - but at the same time like how the vehicle straddles the  track marks.  Also look forward to some closeups of the figures.

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I've got my home made decals on as well as the kit's hull crosses.  Letting the future set over night before adding the turret numbers which are dry transfer type.  Hoping to get a photo or two uploaded before the weekend is out.

regards,

Jack

Well, I'm not crazy about everything here, maybe I should go back and paint over some of the over-done chips and scratches but please mark me down as finished number 15. 

HERE'S SOME HORRIBLE PICTURES, ILL HAVE BETTER ONES ON MONDAY. BUT AT LEAST THESE WILL SHOW I DID SOME WORK...

MD: Neat! The bolted on shields are cool looking, did they come with the kit or did you scratch-build them?

Gamera that big cat of yours is excellent man. I wouldn't change a thing. The armor was from a set by ET models. If you guys have a chance check them out. Quality is real good and you can't beat the pricing .  So I cheated. I wish I had the skills to scratch build like that. So I'm starting my third now. 1/35 finally. Afv club tiger very late. I'm doing the tracks first. I have afvs workable tracks. Good price but a ton of cleanup. So I'll be on these for a week at least.

Dang Cliff, that is one fine looking KT with sweet figures! You so underestimate your skills my friend. I know you're a fantastic AC builder, but your armor building (like wingnuts) is an amazing crossover. I'm green with envy.

Malone. Sweet kitty-cat. I love the extra armor and all the AM's bud. Another top-notch build.

Gamera -- what are you talking about, oh shelled one? That KT is fantastic! The grass is mega-realistic, the tank looks squat and used and dangerous! And most of all, like a piece of metal, not plastic! The figures are excellent and the composition works!

M/TB379

So what do you guys use for Zimm?  I use Elmers wood filler, i was just curious what others use?

Also can someone tell this noob tube how to upload photos, tried the help but i don't see the option in the galleries or do i upload straight to the post?

Gamera - looks great man!  I do think you are a little critical of your work. We probably all are.  I had to really look for what you were talking about. I'm guessing you mean the top deck and top of the turret? I try to do the chipping when I'm calm and have a lot of time. It mostly prevents me from getting over zealous. It helps to do far less than you think is necessary and then walk away too. I honestly hardly noticed what you think is a disaster. (Really the only thing that came to mind as being out of place was the file cabinet backdrop... lol) The overall scene is really neat and is a stark contrast to the action and hell this crew would soon endure. Thanks for sharing.

Duke - sweet Panther. The camo really came out nicely. You've done some very impressive work on this thing given the scale. I'm looking forward to seeing what tricks you've got up your sleeve for 1:35.

Shawker - Great looking shepherd! I have two myself. As for zimmerit materials. I don't have a ton of experience with applying from scratch. I only attempted it once a long time ago with Squadron green putty. I think I posted a picture of that (Tiger) somewhere along the way in these pages. I used Squadron white putty on the MG ball mount housing for my current Panther build although the rest of the zimmerit is AM Cavalier. The white putty sets too quickly I think for zimm applications. Even for the small portion I did. I also used AM for my finished Panther (ATAK). The AM stuff comes in resin sheets that are pre-cut to fit the different section of the tank. All you have to do is glue it in place. Saves a lot of time and frustration for those of us not brave enough to do it ourselves. At a cost of course. AM zimm for a 1:35 kit runs somewhere in the $15-30 range depending on what you get. Shopping around is a must. I have been thinking about experimenting with Milliput. I haven't used it yet even though I have some.

Dave thanks that is Sarge my 2nd son and can do no wrong lol, he is a true ham all i do is bring out a camera or say you want you picture taken and that's what you get a great pose and smile.  Now his sister Sadie is the opposite nickname for her is Spaz (half-sister same Dad)

Try Elmer's wood filler (cheap, plus 100's of uses) easy to use if it dries to quick use a little water, also I have a zimm wheel don't remember who makes it and I have the Tamyia's zimm rakes somewhere but have never used them.

Look forward to your zim job with the Elmer's filler. I have only used Cavalier zimmerit. Great stuff and easy to use.

A little update from my end. It seems to be taking me forever to work through all the little things that need to be fixed, added, etc. That and a lack of serious bench time = OMG this is taking a long time! 

To exemplify that point, I managed to get one of the runs of 86 track links assembled. Each link has 4 sprue attachment points that need to be cleaned up. Assembly of these Bronco tracks is fairly simple though. You just have to take care not to bent the little nubs that create the "pin" the tracks can swivel on. They are nicely detailed and I think a solid alternative to the Friuls. They are not as sturdy, however. Too much tensile force end to end will result in separation of the links. Not ideal since if it is repeated, you'll wear the aforementioned nubs and the links will not stay together.

There is a fairly significant fit issue where the rear engine deck and hull sides meet the rear plate. It is the last major obstacle before some more major progress can be made. My goal is to get it joined up this weekend. Wish me luck! In preparation for that epic event, I had to get the engine compartment squared away. Most of this will be hidden once the rear access plate is in place, so I didn't spend too much time making it look pretty.

Spent a fair amount of time adding detail to the front end. There are a ton of ejection pin marks and sink holes in most of the parts. The little parts where the tow hook eyelets are located are perfect examples. This should all be one piece with the hull, but not here. The back sides of these were sunken in the length of the part. Had to be filled since it would be seen. I ended up sanding the entire part smooth (minus the eyelet) to get rid of ejection marks on the front. This eliminated the little dots they had for the fender bracket bolts. I added those back in with bolt heads I had lying around. Got the left side tool rack sanded down and drilled out. I don't know how I got on without those tiny drill bits and pin vises before. I use them quite often for all kinds of stuff. 

Anyway, sorry about the lack of updates. I haven't had the time to commit to them I'd like.

And, a little off topic... here are my two GSDs, Shawker. We have a Bernese Mt Dog too - full house of craziness! 

Apollo (top) and Klara. They are half brother/sister as well. Same mother.

Hope this works I am having a hard time getting a photo on here. I will post a pic of a KT I did a few years ago also to show how it will look finished.

Oh and don't look at the finger print on this one lol.

Marc-another outstanding build....makes me want to pull my KT out of the stash and work on it.

Gamera-I think your build looks great-IMHO weathering looks good-if you're happy with it, that's all that matters.

Malone-fine looking Panther, especially given the scale.

Shawker-thanks for the tip regarding using the putty for zimmerit.....Haven't tried my hand at zimmerit yet, but I'll have to give it a try when I do.

Dave-tracks look good-nice to have another source for Indy links.  Looking forward to seeing how you attack the fit issue-I'm sure you'll come up with a great solution.

Ho hoooo! Hadn't been on FSM in a while, thought I had missed the Steel Cats deadline. Still plugging away at the Demo-Tiger (and should have it done by the NEW finish date), but am currently working on a Flak Panther variant that will also qualify. Pics to come soon!

Great Work Hasenpfeffer - Malone Duke - Gamera - Shawker - 

Some closeup photos finishing up PE work - added bolts to the side fenders, pick up 1/72 scale early Panther Ausf D.... Armor86

Nice Dan, I have no clue how you guys work in braille scale, I have to have reading glasses for the small parts in 1/35 as it is lol.

Hey guys thanks, ya'll are too kind.  I dunno, I'm happy at how she turned out, I guess I'm comparing myself too much with contest winners. I may go back and try to tone down some of the chipping. I used Vajeho (sp?) out of the bottle, I should have thinned it some since it started to dry on the brush and went down heavier than I'd intended.

For Zimmerit I used Cavalier here but I've generally used Squadron green/white putty. The trick in dowsing the putty and your tools while you're working with rubbing alcohol. The alcohol keeps it soft and workable till it dries out. I have a Tamiya set of tools but find am 'Atlas Snap Saw' razor saw from the model railroad section of the hobby shop works much better for me.

MD: Cheated!?! Well, you used pre-made aftermarket parts- not cheating unless you carved the whole tank from a block of wood and consider using any 'store bought' parts cheating! They look great and add a lot of interest to her.

Dave: Those tracks are workable after assembly? I built some Vision tracks for a Japanese Type 97 that snapped together, loved them. Assembled them, put them on the tank and then hit 'em with some liquid cement and boom I was done, no fumbling around with jigs and all that jazz.

Shawker: Nice work on the old Tiger! I'd put some foliage camo on her, you can just happen to put some of the foliage over the finger print!

Dan: Love the bolts on the skirts!

Happy Easter folks!

Great work everyone. Glad to see the progress. too much family stuff to get any work done this weekend.

On another note, I'm bummed by the gaps on the rubber-band links. I thought they were looser  then they turned out. So, not much I can do, but accept it. Shrug.

Sorry to here about the track Tigerman ... the Tiger I DAK now has primer grey ... will finish with a two tone camo - photos below. Armor86

Hey guys, great to see the recent flurry of updates (excellent work btw by everyone), as well as as another completed build.

Gamara, I like the dio you have created,   and can appreciate all the work and planning that went into it.   The chipping you mention doesn't stand out in the photos, but I do find the overall dark wash has muted the camou colours quite a bit.   The figures are very well done, and I notice your effort to give their shirts sweat stains on their backs - nice attention to detail.  Again, instead of (what looks to be) black, try a dark blue-grey.  Essentially you want a darker version of the shirt colour.  I always look for other colours to use  to darken areas before resorting to black, as it has a tendancy to just kill colour vibrancy.

-----------------------------------

I ended up not using Archer's dry transfers for the turret numbers, finding them too small in comparison to the research done by Bison decals.  So after downloading an appropriate font - texgyreadventor - printed them up on some white decal paper.  I had to introduce the vehicle colour to the background, requiring quite a number of trial printouts before matching the model paint.  To the naked eye, it looks quite good, but for some reason the digital camera amplified the red hue.  

So except for the hull crosses, all other decals are home made.   The stalking tiger emblem is on clear decal.   Although  sPz.Abt 501 is one of better photgraphed units of the war, there still is not enough evidence to clearly state how this emblem was utilized.  Existing pics show it's use on a couple Tigers located on the left turret.  Also found a couple examples if this graphic found on both sides of a PzIIIn turret, so took that as my approach.

So next up is Shellback's method of future and sanding the decal edges, as well as introducing some paint to tie the two surfaces together.

regards,

Jack

A little update. I have most of the cables done and the spare tracks.

Wow!  I thought things were slowing down here and then, BAM!!  A flurry of amazing updates!!

Marc - very nice looking KT dio!  I love the figures, but have to agree with the others....need close-ups!

Gamera - How did I miss this page?  Sweet looking Porsche KT!!  I didn't know anyone was building one of these!  Great work with the zimm, camo paint job and figures! 

malone duke - Beautiful Panther G!!   I really like all the extra armor on it!  I'm doing the same thing with the Panther F, hope it turns out as well as yours!

Dave - Hey!  This is supposed to be for big kitties, not big doggies!!   JK!  Beautiful dogs and great photos....especially like the action pic of Apollo .  Panther is looking great and thanks for the info on those Bronco tracks!  I was thinking of ordering a set of those, but I found the Friuls in my stash.  If I build another Panther I might give the Bronco tracks a try.

Shawker - The King Tigers are really represented here and your's doesn't disappoint!   Looks like you applied your own zim!  Always a tough task but you nailed it!

dupes - Holy cow!  Marc returns!  I didn't know you were in this GB, but its very nice to hear from you again buddy!  I'm dying to see that Flak Panther!!

armor86 - Man, awesome detail on that Tiger!  Kind of a shame to cover up all that extra work with the primer, but the exciting thing is its finally geting some paint on it!!

Jack - Homemade decals?!?  You're much braver than I am! I've read how hard it is to do just white decals and you're method is new to me!   Strange how the camera altered the color of the backing...will it always look like that if its photographed?  Still, the tiger is looking great! 

Eric - Oh yeah, the Jagdpanther looks like its nearing the finish line!!  Its a bit hard to see in the photos, but it looks like you've added some subtle weathering streaks on the camo.  Did you use the oil dot method on this one?

Great, Great work all.  I'll post an update on the Panther F in a bit!

I had to work 6 days each of the last two weeks, which plain tuckered me out.  Fortunately I was able to bang out a little work this weekend, so progress has been made on the Panther F:

To get the steel roadwheels spaced properly I had to trim the inner hubs down.  Using my trusty JLC razor saw and a couple pieces of brass tubing that fit just right I managed to get a good, even cut so that I could use the scrap piece as a shim on the backside of the inner wheel.

I used a piece of brass tube to help align the shims as they were glued to the backside of the inner roadwheels.  Also, once dry the shims needed some cleaning up and sand level and the tube helped with holding the wheels during this process.

The wheel spacing is near perfect!  To make sure, I completed the set of Friul tracks and dryfitted all the suspension components.  The Friuls took several hours to complete, but I think the time involved was well worth it.

The sprockets still need a little work though.

81 links per side were needed and I was able to get the proper sag by making the idlers adjustable.   As I mentioned in an earlier post I redrilled the idler mounting holes in the hull to make them round, cut off the short,  keyed mounting pegs on the idlers and replaced them with longer, round pegs.  Then I glued hollow plastic tubes to the pegs on the inside making sure no glue seeped into the joint.  I made sure these were very tight against the hull so there was enough friction to hold the idlers in position...at least long enough to test things out.  I'll glue the idlers in place during final assembly.

Yeah, not much of an update after two weeks, but those Friuls killed me!!

Next up is the rear plate, which will need more modification than I originally planned.  Updates to come...  

Great job Ernest. Tracks look great.

You are correct about the oil dot treatment. If you scroll back a few pages, I have better pictures. The only difference on these are the tracks.

bufflehead

dupes - Holy cow!  Marc returns!  I didn't know you were in this GB, but its very nice to hear from you again buddy!  I'm dying to see that Flak Panther!!

Yes sir! Been plugging away on my demo-tiger, but though I had missed the deadline. Now that the extension is on, I'll put this guy up for now...and hopefully fit the tiger in under the wire, too. 

Update coming in about...5 minutes!