BIG CATS GROUP BUILD 2008

dupes: The pastels and tracks sure helped this one...you know I had some reservations/concerns...

espins1:  Thanks!...I hope to do it more justice with the dio'...that GB of yours was perfect timing!!!

wing_nut:  See my response in the walkaround...

Hey hey! It's done!

Quite a departure from the original paint scheme with the uber-weathering, but I like it.

Guys:  Here is my finished Panther G for this GB!!!  I have another thread going in armor if you'd like to see the "walkaround" pics':

Hi guys,

The Eduard grills are on order, I got the stripstock today to make the weldseams around the Tiger turret, and picked up some extra acrylic thinner. I've even found a great price on Eureka tow cables to finish off the StuG III (Hunters) and do proper justice to the Merkava (for IDF). the Academy Tiger should pretty much fall together from here!

With one exception -- those miserable little rain shields over the exausts. Five microscopic uprights and a circular cap, to be arranged symmetrically. They're driving me &^%$@ CRAZY! I tried drilling out the broken tips of the first attempt and replacing them with wire. Quite apart from the near-impossibility of cutting precisely 5mm lengths of wire with pliers, within two seconds of taking hold of such a piece with tweezers it disappears, never to be seen again.

Does anybody know if Dragon engineered the rain covers as single-piece items on their Tiger Is? If they are supplied as single-piece units they could be fudged into place on the Academy kit, and I could probably buy them from Dragoncare.

Either that or I'll have to fudge it any way I can, which is probably pretty crudely, given that the armoured covers obscure the view of the rain covers from any but a forward perspective.

Advice would be very much appreciated!

Cheers,

TB379

Specter - The only markings on that sheet are for Panther Ausf. D with zimmerit, which puts them several months after Kursk.  I believe most of the rest of the markings on that sheet are appropriate for Kursk with Pz.Abt.51 and Pz.Abt.52 well represented on the sheet. 

Dupes - Hopefully Roosterpelo can find some time to make it back to us for a GB or two.   

Well, he's sort of around. He's popped in very randomly, he is finally working on another kit. He got married, and got a new job - been going to S.W.A.T. school lately (although, I think he must be done by now).

Hopefully he can free up some time and come back!

espins1 wrote:

Specter wrote: Hi SMJ, I would like to join with a 1/35 DML King Tiger please. Geist was telling me about it the other day and I couldn't resist. edit* the kit is 6303 w/zimm That's a great kit with some pretty nice schemes included.  I reviewed it recently if you're interested.    Dragon 1/35 King Tiger w/zimmerit I'll be watching your build with interest, and hope to build mine later this year.

Way ahead of you on your review, I read just about every review you do at armorama. Everything in the box looks good to me, the only thing I might have trouble with is the spare track holders on the turret. I'll keep you updated on building for when you build yours. Also on your cool Panther chart, are there any pics of Grossdeutschland or 11 pz.div. from Kursk?

dupes wrote:

I do have it handy...let me upload to p-bucket. (5 minutes later)  *ROOSTERPELO'S WORK - NOT DUPES* (don't want to infringe on any copyrights or anything ) Really liked how this turned out...so it went into my "library" of build pics.

That does look pretty good.  Is Roosterpelo still around?  I don't recall having seen him recently.

I do have it handy...let me upload to p-bucket. (5 minutes later) 

*ROOSTERPELO'S WORK - NOT DUPES*

(don't want to infringe on any copyrights or anything )

Really liked how this turned out...so it went into my "library" of build pics.

dupes wrote:

Yeah, those are hot! I have a pic saved of a Panther Roosterpelo did last year with those markings...very cool.

I'd like to see that if you have it handy. 

I made some progress on the Panther D w/zimmerit.  The suspension arms have been attached, as well as the final drive housings and other runner gear components.  So far it's been very easy with decent fit.  There was a little problem with the final drive housings.  One of the locating pins has to be removed because there is no corresponding locating hole for it.  That's probably due to canibalizing some sprues from previous kits.  

For those that plan on building this kit, be aware that the suspension arms 2nd from the front and 2nd from the rear are supposed to have that raised seam on them running down the middle.  Also note that those are beefier than the rest of the suspension arms.  Once I got them all attached I lined them up by resting just the ends of the arms on the edge of my workbench while simultaneously putting a stiff straight ruler on the top half so they would line up correctly as they set.  Because some of the arms are thicker than the others, you can't use the tried and true method of just setting the kit flat on the table as the thicker ones will wind up with the axle slightly above the rest of the arms.  Make sense? 

Specter wrote:

Hi SMJ, I would like to join with a 1/35 DML King Tiger please. Geist was telling me about it the other day and I couldn't resist. edit* the kit is 6303 w/zimm

That's a great kit with some pretty nice schemes included.  I reviewed it recently if you're interested.    Dragon 1/35 King Tiger w/zimmerit

I'll be watching your build with interest, and hope to build mine later this year. 

Yeah, those are hot!

I have a pic saved of a Panther Roosterpelo did last year with those markings...very cool.

dupes wrote:

espins1 wrote: The markings are from the excellent Echelon Panther Decal sheet for the Panther D and A, ATX351009.   Scott - looks like you better be prepared to build several panthers when you invest in one of those Echelon sets!

Oh yeah!  I'm dying to get a Dragon 1/35 Panther Ausf. D Premium edition so I can do one of those gorgeous schemes with the black, red or white panther heads. 

T379:  Good to see you making some progress...2nd badge, huh?...she's a beaut' for this GB!!!

Bish, espins1, Specter:  Got it!!!

espins1 wrote:

The markings are from the excellent Echelon Panther Decal sheet for the Panther D and A, ATX351009.

Scott - looks like you better be prepared to build several panthers when you invest in one of those Echelon sets!

Hi guys,

The Academy Tiger I is moving along again, here she is:

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I was a little quick off the mark with some details. I'll need to relocate the track hangers on the turret as I positioned them for a length of connected track, then put a magnifying glass to my reference photos and realised they were hung individually. (It's well to be seen that this is the first Tiger I've ever built!) Good job I didn't use superglue!

Also, while the majority of weld seams are very well represented, the weld running around the top of the turret 'horseshoe' is not feaured at all. This is a good opportunity to lay on some .020" half-round microrod and texture it with a hot knife, which will also obscure the somewhat visible parts juncture. So, gotta get some mirorod... It'll be my first time for this technique, which dictates an experiment off the model first. I'm also thinking of doing her with turret hatches open for visual variety, whether or not I do the included crew figures.

I'm still having trouble with the exhausts, I wish somebody made some replacement parts, cast as single units, to avoid fiddling with tiny bits of plastic that make you feel you're trying to manipulate individual sand grains while wearing boxing gloves...

The good news is, the Eduard grill set is back in stock at Squadron and the order is going out tonight, so I'm very confident of finishing this animal on time to collect my second GB badge.

Cheers,

TB379

Hi SMJ, I would like to join with a 1/35 DML King Tiger please. Geist was telling me about it the other day and I couldn't resist.

edit* the kit is 6303 w/zimm

SMJ - If you wouldn't mind, could you change my build to the Dragon Panther D w/zimmerit?  Thanks!

I'm going do mine as either:

• Panther #232, 2nd Company, 15 Pz.Rgt., 11 Pz. Div.
• Panther #424, 4th Company, 15 Pz.Rgt., 11 Pz. Div.
  

The markings are from the excellent Echelon Panther Decal sheet for the Panther D and A, ATX351009.

Hermesminiatures wrote:

Yeah! Less Group and more Build!

These should keep you guys happy for a couple of hours

I'm in the process of cleaning it up before I paint it. I'm thinking I may add some mud made of putty to the fender area and bottom hull too. 

Hi all,

I'm happy to report the Academy Tiger I is coming together well, there may be a WIP photo either tomorrow or Sunday (working Saturday, though I do get home in the evening). I'm estimating it's currently ~35% done, so I'd better track down some PE grills and get an order in the works, so they'll be here by the time she's ready for the paintshop. I'm hoping she'll be done in a couple of weeks.

Cheers,

TB379

Yeah! Less Group and more Build!

Haven't started mine, like many others, but this is a pretty long GB and I'm trying to wrap up some other projects first

Moose - thanks for the heads up!

Thing is, I'm doing a Tiger I Late, not a KT, but the PE set looks equally massive, and should be a pretty similar buildup.

I have an AM barrel, but I don't think it's Lion Roar...wanna say Eduard? Single piece, but looks pretty decent to me. 

Hey Moose, I bow to you guys who work well with those complex PE sets.  21 pieces on the MG mount???    No way for me; my fingers always seem to be 2 sizes too large and my eyesight is long gone to be able to do that.