Eric: Don't blame you a bit, I'd be as mad as myself

I mean they couldn't leave the cat in the pet carrier???

Armor86: Nice work!

Eric, Umm just a bit curious as to why the cat had to be shut in your room and all the models moved to safety. Is this little cuddly ball of fur actually a spawn of satan?

Thank you. The cat goes home today and I will move everything back accordingly. I hope to get a little bench time later today.

Tigerman, that sucks big time.  I totally understand when something get moved without your permission.  Things tend to get lost or damage. Hope everthing survived the temporary move.  

tigerman

My update? I can't believe I've been locked out of the man-cave. Seriously. My step-son brought his cat over and the family moved all of my models (without my permission!!!!!!!!!!!!) into the closet, so he could stay in the room over night. Well, I am PO'd big-time. i can't work in there and how dare they touch my builds!! They could have easily broke something. I would have died had they broken my last 4-5 builds. They didn't even ask me. Now i can't work on the Jadgpanther until the stupid mutt leaves tomorrow. I lost  a lot of limited build-time. 

ThAnks guys. I'm still ticked and was looking forward to getting some work done in the process.

Armor86, the tiger is looking good. I like those barrels. I'll have to look into some.

I dont blame yuh for being p.o.'d Eric ! Seems like people look at our hobby as if we are building toys . Hopefully nothing was damaged my friend .

Marc ..............

Armor86 -- great progress on your tiger, this is going to be a sweet animal!

Tigerman -- too bad about being locked out the the cave, and I understand that sense of affrontery when your work is touched without your permission. It's not happened often in my life and I sure hope it doesn't in future!

M/TB379

I feel like a proud father watching all his children working in the fields harvesting the crops. 

Mike, you're making fantastic progress so far.

Richard, keep a chugging along.

Ben, happy you found your Tiger.

Joe, liking the the PE zimmerit.

My update? I can't believe I've been locked out of the man-cave. Seriously. My step-son brought his cat over and the family moved all of my models (without my permission!!!!!!!!!!!!) into the closet, so he could stay in the room over night. Well, I am PO'd big-time. i can't work in there and how dare they touch my builds!! They could have easily broke something. I would have died had they broken my last 4-5 builds. They didn't even ask me. Now i can't work on the Jadgpanther until the stupid mutt leaves tomorrow. I lost  a lot of limited build-time. 

Steel Cats (Sept. 2012-April. 2013)

First post with photos - Tamiya Tiger I Initial Production DAK (35227) - replaced kit's MG 34 with after market barrels (Lion Marc LM10029) Dry fitted Front armor plate to Upper Hull, Lower Hull, Rear Hull plate, removed front fenders for PE version (Voyager Model PE 35061). The kit is festooned with holes for the various tools and other parts. Filled / plugged with putty, and removed several molded on clamps and fasteners on the rear deck and will replaced with PE ... Armor86

Thanks, Andy -- what can I say, this kit is a delight, it's a chore to slow myself down from racing ahead. The Cavalier zim is so darn easy to use, and I'm very happy with my first putty/rake zim as well. Four sections of zim to go as soon as the body is assembled, and that's dependant on getting the stern plate finished, so that'll be tackled later on today. Not all that many parts to go before I reach the point that all remaining details are mounted after painting, and that's my punctuation point, when it changes from building skills to finishing skills. It looks like I'll wrap up this one before too long, so I'm thinking seriously about a Jagdpanther in complimentary zim and markings for the late '44 period...

Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt- Holy cow!!!  It has been only 8 days since this GB started and you are away ahead of us.  Loving the homemade ZImm!!!  Well done!

Thanks, guys, more coming soon... RBaer, what a great idea, I did something similar on my Tiger 1 (Kursk) for the original Big Cats GB (missing welds on the turret roof), so I have a good mind to do the same. Interestingly, the Cavalier zim actually provides space for those weld seams to be added, I'm not sure if that was deliberate or shrinkage, but it makes sence now!

M/TB379

Shellback

Marc , what ? Your "brassed out " ?

OMG yes!

The build for this GB  will most definitely be OOB.  The old Initial Tiger kit 6252 does however have a ton of extra goodies in the box and seem pretty tame... comparatively speaking

Mike - Looking solid so far. Nice work indeed.

Ben - Dang glad see your perseverence paid off. Good Show!

Dadgum, the more I see getting done here the worse this here armor building itch gets!

                                                                              Joe

Yeah, you guys are busy......

I've been welding.......

and that's about it.

Busy -busy -busy ........

Mike: Nice work there! I've also found that it does help to cut up the zimmerit sheet to work it around the kit details too even when replacement parts are molded in the sheet.

Ben: Ohhhh, looks like a super kit there! I'll admit that 42 pounds is a little more than I'd pay but I'm happy to see you've got a kit and she looks like she'll be worth it. 

Cliff

I didn't notice that bit about only 1 in stock, but glad you got hold of it. I already have a Late Tiger I (6406) and i am not a fan of the pre zimmed kits. I think the one i have is basically the same as your but minus the Zimm. So will be nice to see how it builds.

Wonderland Models Bish - I know it says '1 in stock' but by the way the bloke was speaking I think they have some more too (should you want one).

Ben

Thunderbolt379 Looking good.  I have the dragon version of the Porsche turret KT.  I have a set of Cavalier coming in for it.  Also I think I might have the PE damaged zimmerit for it.

One day I will try to do zimmerit with just putty.  I have the AFV tools but yet to work up the courage to try it.

Kim

Mike, very nice. Lovely work on the Zimm.

Nice one Ben, where have you got it from.

Hi guys,

I have actually found a bleedin' Dragon Tiger I 6383 in stock in the UK! May wonders never cease?

http://www.dragon-models.com/html/6383-poster.htm

My LHS said that the Dragon Rep had been round and they asked about my order for this kit and apparently there is a big shortage of Dragon Panthers/Tigers & King Tiger's/JT's/JP's etc! So, today I set about Googling on-line stores and making phonecalls and actually found a place in the UK - WITH STOCK!

It wasn't cheap, £42 including express postage, but at least I have one now and although I like to support my LHS, I could have been waiting ages for my order to be filled so decided to make purchase now and rest easy - breathing a huge sigh of relief in the process!

• So, I now have a Dragon Late Tiger I Ausf E (kit) with Zim to go alongside my Dragon Initial Production Leningrad Tiger I (build)  that I finished in January this year which rates as my best and favourite build so far (photo below).

I'll be receiving this kit in the post shortly so all I have to do now is complete my wip Pz II and I'll be jumping on board the GB! I'm planning a war weary battered monster with plenty of heavy wear and chipping.

I'd best get going on the Pz II - all I have left to do is assemble the second run of Friuls and start the weathering. The weathering will be kept light and dusty so no real chipping or battle damage for the Pz II.

I look forward to joining you all! Some great work so far!

Take care lads,

Ben

Hi guys, I'm plugging away, doing a little each day. The turret is done:

Tan = Tamiya, grey = Cavalier, metal = Eduard.

Upper hull detailing is now underway, and I'm doing the zim on the rear hull plate. The set is quite old and that piece was damaged on the sheet; it also wants you to cut away a lot of moulded detail, and the resin seems to have shrunk a little as each piece is typically smaller than it needs to be. Instead, I chose to separate up the piece into multiple sections and leave the moulded detail in place, it's a long job but it gets around the problem of destroying the kit detail in favour of a part which is itself less than perfect.

The kit is pretty much falling together, I am a big fan of Tamiya's overall precision, and I'm thinking the zim should look great under a coat of paint!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Bish & Eric: Thanks for the advice guys. And Jack, the photos on the tread you linked are very helpful!

So I'm guessing doing the chipped areas as bare metal with some red primer that didn't come with the zimmerit would work. When I get around to painting I'll post the photos and you guys can tell me if it looks ok or it sucks!

Funny Eric, I do have a Jagdpanther in the stash but the Tiger was screaming 'BUILD ME!!! BUILD ME NOW!!!'

tigerman

Interesting discussion involving the zimmerit. I would think you'd have some primer mixed with the residue color of the zimmerit if it came off. Beats me.

I got some work done last night on the upper hull of the Jagdpanther. Still amazed that I'm the only guy out of 30 plus that is building one, but that's fine on me. No pressure for sure. 

I'd be tempted to add a second as i have a couple in the stash already, but this Befelspanzer is just calling out to me to be built. You got a nice collection in the roster, a lot of Tiger I's as might be expected, but a good mix of the other types as well.

Interesting discussion involving the zimmerit. I would think you'd have some primer mixed with the residue color of the zimmerit if it came off. Beats me.

I got some work done last night on the upper hull of the Jagdpanther. Still amazed that I'm the only guy out of 30 plus that is building one, but that's fine on me. No pressure for sure. 

JOE RIX

Here be some pics. of my progress. The second pic shows the one PE zimm panel I've glued on using CA Gel. Was hoping that would give me a moment to adjust the panel into its exact fit but found that ain't happening. Fortunately I got the panel on with only a slight skew. Thus, I will be experimenting with some alternatives. The first wil be with Gator Glue. If you are not familiar with this product it's sort of like Elmers on steroids. Being as it is water based it is easy to clean up around and dries slow enough to allow some fiddle time. The other is with spray adhesive, either 3M or Elmers. Got this idea from a reader who submitted this in the latest issue of FSM. The last pic is of the paints I'll be using.

 So, now for one of my potentially many questions. What was the color of primer used on German armor. I've read it was a red/brown colr yet I have seen a number of models where the chipping was done in a dark gray?

                              Joe 

 

Marc , what ? Your "brassed out " ?