PAGE 5-FINISHED PICS! The "MIG-nificent" DML King Tiger!

i believe the material of the wirecutter handles is bacelite (dunno about the spelling) wich is supposed to be blackish. so that looks correct to me.

also, the holes you mean, i don't see them, as far as chosing the periods that's not my departement so can't judge that one.

cheers

Bakelite is actually a dark reddish brown color.  Here is a picture of the bakelite wire cutters on a StuG III ausf. G.  Bakelite is still used today as it doesn't conduct electricity, making it a good insulator in the event you cut a power line.....  

Satori wrote:

Non-conducting should be the key. I think some are made of wood also, or some sort of material from compacting wood shaving. There was one not long ago on ebay that the handle wraping had started peeling off.

There were three types of materials generally used in wirecutter handles...early war or pre-war cutters sometimes featured wood handles but they weren't very common as wood, while low conducting, is still conducting. Bakelite, which can range from near-black all the way up to a reddish brown color depending on age/exposure/chemical composition was a common material. The third type commonly used was resin-impregnated corrugated paper which was non-conductive and very durable due to the resin treatment. This third type is most likely what you are interpreting as compacted wood shavings. With both the Bakelite and resin-impregnated corrugated paper, the end caps on the handles were made of rubber or synthetic rubber.

Satori wrote:

You forgot to paint handles of the wirecutter and ends of the cleaning tools. The driver and radio operator hatches allow you to choose the periods, you didn't fill the unused holes for the handles. Some other period matching issue with the engine deck too.

I was wondering when you were going to pronounce your verdict?

Anyhoo, I did specifically paint the handles a blackish-brown color--what I have understood the color of bakelite to be? The ends of the cleaning tools are painted as well; the probably don't stand out against the white. See the little "posts" on the edges? They're aluminum/steel-colored. Imight have forgotten the inside caps though?

Roy Chow of AMPS had a thread about "commonly mispainted items" which said that the Bakelite handles were blackish-brown; however, it's hard to argue with Scott Espins photo of a woodgrain-looking one. Very well; I shall paint it reddish brown. I guess the jury's still out on this one for sure?

I'm not really up on the holes in the hatches, nor the engine deck stuff. If you care to point the errors out I would correct them if they are an easy fix.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

doog: How the heck did I miss this one?!  A winter camo' scheme no less...I LOVE winter camo's

WOW!!!!... Another beauty from ya' doog, and good to see flexin' some winter muscle, Hanz and Franz would be proud There is just so much going on I don't know where to start...  As always everything is done with top-notch skill and execution, a real, gem to look at. ..

I'll need to take some more time to review and study, but I think one part where you lost me was the chipped zim' with primer exposed below.  You pulled that off brilliantly on another build, but it seems a bit out of place here, IMO...too strong of red within a white backdrop.  Maybe less would have been "more".  The white on the spare tracks seems a bit too white, I know what you were going for but again, a bit stark, IMO.

I'll get back to this but gotta' run...hope you don't mind some criticism, it's so DARN hard to find anything a miss on your work but I know you like thoughtful reviews. 

Looks like a few us did miss this gem. 

My apology "Sorry"

Tony

Thanks, Steve--yeaih, I agree about the big chipped zimm pattern there; if you read through the thread, you'll see that I "lost me" myself there, LOL! I had wanted to do a bit of experimentation with this build, to illustrate that it was indeed possible to "personalize" these pre-zimmed kits within reason. The red color is pretty close to the crrect shade, however, IMO--there was a huge discussion about it on Armorama, and I posted a few pics showing that it's really a very vibrant shade of red.

Thanks for your thoughtful and honest comments! Always nice to get a bit of a dissenting view!

Thanks, too, Ron; nice of you to look in on this recent build! I appreciate your kind words!

Thanks too, Tony! No apologies necessary!

SMJmodeler wrote:

doog: I didn't read the thread because I was pressed for time...as I am again right now, but I still plan to do so and study your work a bit more...

Thanks too, marevic1!