BIG CATS GROUP BUILD 2008

pordoi wrote:

Finally got a chance to snap a few photos this evening.  I'm doing a dual build of big cats   Had both in the stash and when I saw that the late A also had call outs for a Pz.Rgt 26 Panther, I decided to do both.  It makes an interesting comparison, a late A with zim and an early G without.  The G also includes additional roof armor.  However, my understanding is that the early Gs of Pz.Rgt26 without zim also had schurzen and additional add on armor over the fans and rear deck.  The Gryphon Models PE set will take care of that  Construction is still in the early stages, as you can see from the photos.  The early G hull:   late A with Cavalier zim in place:   and both:   Still a little clean up to do and a small gap to fill between the rear plate and the hull.  But the real fun has yet to start.  I have limited experience with PE and the Gryphon set is comprehensive, to say the least.  7 frets.  The PE supplied with the Premium kit is a bit less intimidating.  Nonetheless, I've yet to make a convincing tool clasp.  At least there's the option of using the molded tools provided in the kits.  Updates will be posted as the builds progress.   Don

I went with the smaller tile Cav zimm on mine, yours looks very nice.  With all the Dragon Premium A's on here, we should start our own little GB.  All we need is divisional symbol :)

ps1scw wrote:

I went with the smaller tile Cav zimm on mine, yours looks very nice.  With all the Dragon Premium A's on here, we should start our own little GB.  All we need is divisional symbol :)

Divisional symbol?  how about this?

Finally got around to get a pic or two of progress.  Had to take a break for painted a 1:1 family room.  Which is where my bench is and the 1 and only paint drip landed on my road wheels.  Guess I’ll just have to muddy them up.

The Cavalier zimm is a great product.  Except for the red arrow, every piece so far fit perfect.  The front plate is a resin cast piece that came with the set.  It has the same striation across the top the kit part has but these look like they represent a torch cut. The small piece of zimm on the deck did not cover that section.  Didn’t seem to make sense to have a bare spot like that… please correct me if I’m wrong… so I added some Milliput zimm.  Hopefully it will blend in enough to not look like crap.

re - Premium Panther A - ditto the above, have it in my stash, dont have the skills yet to tackle it, but will bookmark and make notes... dupes, will check your build in the armor forum, thanks for the heads up!

wing_nut - Looking good so far~! Bummer on the paint drip... is that floral "green thingie" you are using to prop the wheels? I must save those next time wifey gets some flowers to arrange. Looking forward to the rest! Cheers

pordoi wrote:

ps1scw wrote: I went with the smaller tile Cav zimm on mine, yours looks very nice.  With all the Dragon Premium A's on here, we should start our own little GB.  All we need is divisional symbol :)   Divisional symbol?  how about this?

I Like It!

pordoi wrote:

ps1scw wrote: I went with the smaller tile Cav zimm on mine, yours looks very nice.  With all the Dragon Premium A's on here, we should start our own little GB.  All we need is divisional symbol :)   Divisional symbol?  how about this?

I Like It!

Hi all,

Quick WIP shot -- the Academy Tiger I is building nicely, not perfectly, there are bits of engineering that leave something to be desired. For instance, the turret is assembled from right and left halves, trapping the rotation point of the mantlet between them, itself a good idea that makes for a stiff fit so the barrel will hold whatever angle you want. But the flex of the plastic is such that lining up the turret roof is trickier than it looks, resulting in a lateral rotation error factor: the front corners are slightly out of alignment with the vertical corners just behind the mantlet. Also, the division line where the roof plates change angle is over a milimeter out of alignment with the corresponding change of the turret sides.

The barrel is not glued in yet -- and it's a sloppy fit.

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I'm thinking of doing her hatches-open, and trying my hand at the figures. What's the concensus on interior colour for hatches? The box photos show a heavily-weathered dark colour. The commander's hatch also has a black circular structure at the centre -- was that a leather pad for inadvertant head contact???

The decals are appreciably thin, but very glossy and, most importantly, the yellow in the selection is off-register. I'm thinking of picking up some aftermarkets but Squadron doesn't have a very wide selection, six sheets at this point. Can anyone recommend Tiger I Early sheets, and where I might view them?

Cheers,

TB379

Hey, looking good to me fellas!

I really need to quit this silly "job" thing so I can just ride my bike and build all day...too many GB's, too little time.

Thunderbolt - I have a set of Bison decals that would interest you, go to -

http://ausfwerks.com//store/bison/bison.html

and poke around there. The one I picked up for that same Academy is 35023, but they have several sets that would be applicable. Haven't used them yet, but they seem nice and thin, in register, and attractive! Let me know what you end up doing. I you haven't used Ausfwerks before, he's really great - fast service, cheap shipping...good guy.

Maybe if we all sign a petition calling for the abolition of this silly 'job' thing...

Course then *some* of us are still stuck with this silly 'college' thing...but if we abolish the silly job thing, there would be no need for the silly college thing...

Wishful thinking...it's hopeless. I need to go sniff some glue.

Lots of good looking progress guys!  I've been getting busier and busier (see above) but I do hope to start my build soon. I'm waffling between my original King Tiger and a Panther F...decisions, decisions.

Hi Dupes,

Thanks for the link -- excellent site, great products, I've bookmarked them. I see he has MiG pigments too -- you can't get them in this country!

The LAH sheet is very attractive, I shall seriously consider some Bisons for this beast! Knowing what vehicle to build means I then know which style of Feifels to use, what spare track hangers to mount, that sort of thing -- then the beast can really get built!

Cheers,

TB379

Hey, no problem Thunderbolt.

When you say you can't get Migs in "this country", which country are you talking about? 

wing_nut - yes! Forgot how much those things shed.... next time you are in the floral section of Michaels, check out their floral "spool wire", sturdier than regular copper wire, can be used for 1:35/48 scales... (Yes, I am a "regular" at Michaels and the nail spa shop next door  lol)

Thunderbolt379 - nice job so far!

Dupes - thanks for that link, bookmarked...  and ditto the "job thing"... one reason I am attempting to semi-retire from academia and become a HS teacher... enjoy life a bit more you know!

dupes wrote:

Hey, no problem Thunderbolt. When you say you can't get Migs in "this country", which country are you talking about?

Hi Dupes,

Australia... no MiG stuff, no Future, most accessories have to come from overseas, the paint ranges we have are never complete, just selections of popular colours. Yich! And prices tend to be high.

Technical question! You may have noticed, the commander's cupola on the Tiger I Early was mis-aligned. I picked this up when I spotted the slew-off of the hatch angle in an overhead shot of the famous 131. The kits instructions are ambiguous on this and there are no positive-location devices. I cracked the parts away and cleaned them up, but relocating them is frustrating. On alignment, does one of the five slit windows point directly forward? The windows are created by a lower part that can also go two ways relative to the upper part carrying the hatch.

I've been looking at the Bison sheets again, and it looks like either 35022 or 023 will be the one for me. I think I'll order some MiG pigments too, European Dust and Light Rust should be appropriate for a summer battle like Kursk. I'm thinking they might bind as dried mud with some acrylic paint ... maybe even with flying model 'dope' which will evaporate off... Worth an experiment on some scrap card.

Cheers,

TB379

dupes wrote:

Crap, I'm in charge? What GB is this? Japanese Zero Variants?

I'm in!  Wait, what the...?  Where the heck am I?  Ah crap...

Darn you dupes!  Stop confusing me!  @#$% armor group builds....

TBolt your Tiger is looking real nice.

The rear grate over the engine compartment is pretty open and the view of nothing is pretty good.  I made a 100% total BS setup with an engine from a Ford GT.  Chopping stuff off here and there and gluing crap on here and there, throwing in some pipes and wires just to have something to see in there.  The only part even close to looking right are the 2 blue thingies (???) I only had 1 engine on hand and the Tiger P had 2 Maybachs

arki30 wrote:

dupes wrote: Crap, I'm in charge? What GB is this? Japanese Zero Variants? I'm in!  Wait, what the...?  Where the heck am I?  Ah crap... Darn you dupes!  Stop confusing me!  @#$% armor group builds....

Hehehehehe...

So wait, are you saying that no one over in the A/C forum has organized a Zero GB in a while (or ever...?)? Hmmm...another thing to add to my ever-growing list of potential GBs to host...

There was a Japanese aircraft build a couple of years ago, and there is of course the current Rare Japanese aircraft build. 

Certainly, I think it's overdue.

wing_nut wrote:

TBolt your Tiger is looking real nice.   The rear grate over the engine compartment is pretty open and the view of nothing is pretty good.  I made a 100% total BS setup with an engine from a Ford GT.  Chopping stuff off here and there and gluing crap on here and there, throwing in some pipes and wires just to have something to see in there.  The only part even close to looking right are the 2 blue thingies (???) I only had 1 engine on hand and the Tiger P had 2 Maybachs

That'll look pretty neat when painted up!

Fuzzy dice on the viewing ports and a couple of bumper stickers...

"If the turret's a rockin'... don't come a knockin'"

and

"Don't laugh... it may be your tochter in here"

wing_nut wrote:

Fuzzy dice on the viewing ports and a couple of bumper stickers... "If the turret's a rockin'... don't come a knockin'" and "Don't laugh... it may be your tochter in here"

heh heh heh, now that's funny! 

Hi Wingnut,

Yes, those grills are pretty wide... I'll be ordering the Eduard grill set, so that should obscure things a bit! Good advice on the engine lash-up, though. Trumpeter give full engine and transmissions in their kits based on the WZ 371 tracked carrier, and unless you're opening up the hatches there's no point slaving away on them, so i already have a spare V-12 that would go nicely under such an open-weave structure...

Ordered pigments and decals last night, this kitty will look the part of an LAH beast at Kursk...

TB379

  Wingnut, don't forget the nitrous

   In between working on my 251 for the half track GB my Sew-Prise Attack dio and a small dio that I'll be posting some pic's of soon in the dio section I managed to get some work done on my Tiger.

    This is a oob build so it's going pretty quick.The real fun start's tonight when I get to do all the PE tool clip's, yippeee

wing_nut wrote:

Fuzzy dice on the viewing ports and a couple of bumper stickers... "If the turret's a rockin'... don't come a knockin'" and "Don't laugh... it may be your tochter in here"

How about  "horn broken, watch for finger" or my personal favorite "Your body is a temple, mine is an amusement park."   I'm also a huge fan of "How's my driving?  Dial 1-800-EAT- "  

Great job on that engine Wing_Nut!  Can't wait to see it completed...

And that Tiger is coming along nicely Panzerguy!

Thanks glamdring

Nice work panzerguy

Got most of the PE done.   The turret come in 2 halves on the right side has a choice of parts for different hatches.  That in itself seems weird since from what I've read only 1 Tiger (p) was operational... so why the choice? Whatever the reason, I chose wrong. I just liked the look of the larger round hatch.  But of course the Cav zimm did not math.  So I cut out the opening. Now the question.  What would the zimm pattern be on the hatch? Straight like the surrounding sides or going around the inside edge in a circular pattern then straight in the middle?

And OMG were those hinges a PITA!!!  Of course, I figured a better way to do it on the 2nd to last one which have saved so much time, agro... and hair

Wingnut-nice job.  Looks like you're a natural tread-head.

SMJ-please remove me from the roster.  I might re-up later, but I want to reduce my committments for awhile.  Thanks.

Hi all,

Between last sunday and today I got some work done on my KT.  Trimmed off the molded brackets and replaced with PE.  Ended up removing the fender mounts.  Put them on in original places.  Ended up not matching the PE fenders.   After removing and bending up the fenders, I was able to reglue the mounts.  At least until I lost the last one. Figures!!  But with that done and the rear fenders bent and mounted this is where The KT is at.

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The blue tape was for mocking up where the fenders and the mounts go.

    Wing nut that Tiger's looking pretty good too

  Got some more done on my tiger over the last couple of day's.

  The PE was'nt to bad only lost one piece to the carpet monster even though the tweezer catapult was working over time

     Some pic's of my progress,

    The headless tanker's of Leningrad Hollow

   And with a coat paint

Panzerguy, she's looking great!

I wish I could say the same for my Academy Early... I finally bit the bullet and tackled those tiny pins that hold the exhaust top plates. Too small to clean up the stubs correctly, of course. And pretty much impossible to align between the barrel of the exhaust and the top plate. The structure flew apart when I tried to add the plate!

Solution -- drill out the lower holes afresh and replace the plastic pins with metal rod. Ah, well, I wasn't in any hurry, the decals and pigments won't be here for weeks, and the grills were out of stock at Squadron too!

TB379