Tamiya's King Tiger (Henschel) WIP Build

I started to leave them off entirely to keep from having to paint the running gear and hull in 2 different stages.  Most of the photos I've seen show them missing sections or not attatched at all.  Next build I'll do battle damage like dents and bullet holes.

That turned out really nice. I like how you left some of the side skirts off. Really adds to the realism.

Thanks for the comments everybody.  I thought it turned out good as well, and i only paid $10 for it at a model show.  I just had to replace the kit tracks as they seemed to had dried out and broke to pieces, I espeically like the way the Eduard tool clamps look on the kit, it makes a whole lot of difference.

Tankster really nice job. I especially like the overall toned down ambush camo, and I love the wheels and track. Great job.  

that turned out really nice

NIIIICE!!   That's a build to be proud of!

She's looking great! I really like how the ambush cammo turned out!

Heres the big kitty all finished

The ambush camo is looking good Tankster!  I've been following your build log and thought I commented earlier, but I don't see it.  I must have hit the "back" button by mistake...sorry!

I had to repaint it a few times till I was finally satisfied with the camo  and I got the dots on to finish the 'ambush sheme'.  Next up is painting the tools, tow cables and applying pin washes to all the crevices.

Nice work on the cammo pattern.

I'll use either a toothpick or one of my fine detailing brushes to do the dots.  Thats how I did them before on my BoB King Tiger. 

Is it just me or is the gun mantlet a bit more beefy on the Tamiya kit?

I'm just asking all those stupid questions because I want to try out some new techniques on my 2nd KT...

She's looking really nice so far! How are you going to paint the dots? I sprayed them on with my AB. It took a lot of time but looked reallly nice when finished.

Here's how mine looked with the sprayed on dots:

You don't really notice them anymore with the whitewash and weathering on top...

Here's the link to the pics of the finished build in case you want to have a look at them:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/p/156532/1688799.aspx#1688799

Here's the main camo scheme painted.  I'm gonna go back and repaint the turret to more closely match the '332' King Tiger. After that it'll just be adding the dots to finish the ambush scheme and painting the tools.  This was also the first real field test for my new airbrush which did really well. 

The camo on the roadwheels looks great! I find it a lot easier to paint the tracks separately, but you did some awesome work where i would just fail really badly...

Regarding the kit comparison: The PE parts supplied with the Dragon kit are horrible. They are all too big and the big engine grills (the ones you have to bend) are shaped completely wrong. I'd replace the magic tracks with friuls anyway, so I think I'll just go with the Tamiya kit for my next King Tiger. I think I saw one of them with a huge pile of Aber PE and a metal barrel somewhere?

Nice work on that KT,I have the Dragon BoB KT in my stash for early next year

Bish

Looking good tankster. I still don't get how you guys can paint with the tracks on.

I tried to take them off as I didn't glue the drive sprocket but they were on too snug so I left them on there.  I have a Badger Krome a/b with a .21 mm tip so I can spray really fine lines when I need to.  Thats how I do it :)  But I think in the future I'm gonna start using either the ModelKasten or Fruil Metal tracks so I can build, paint & weather them separately and not have worry about getting them off after the glue has set up.

Making good progress on the KT, nice!

Looking good tankster. I still don't get how you guys can paint with the tracks on.

SchattenSpartan

Looking great, Tankster! How is the Tamiya kit? I finished Dragon's King Tiger recently and loved it...

As far as plastic quality goes its on par with the Dragon Kit.  I compared the wheels and drive sprockets as well as the tracks and they're virtually identical.  The only thing it lacks is the aluminum gun barrel, and PE parts.  But it does have the ammo racks inside the turret which the Dragon kit does not have for some reason.  But its pretty much like a Dragon Kit w/o any metal parts or Magic Tracks.

Vallejo Sand Yellow was then followed up with Vallejo Panzer Olive Green and MM Acryl Panzer Schokoladenbraun.  I added pin washes on the bot heads and drybrushed MM Steel on the drive sprockets and track guide horns.

Started painting the tracks & wheels.  I have to paint the separately from the upper hull since the side skirts obstruct the airbrush. 

Started out with Vallejo Surface Primer (Lt. Grey)

Followed by a pre-shade coat of MM Acryl Panzer Schokoladenbraun

Then the basecoat of Vallejo Sand Yellow

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I've got plenty of cyano glue and Gorilla Glue 2pt Epoxy just in case :)  I had to pop off the big hooks on the engine deck because the Eduard instructions showed them facing inwards when they should be facing outwards and that was not fun.  Hopefully everything should hold up but I do have a tendency to use alot of elbow grease when I drybrush.

Looking great, Tankster! How is the Tamiya kit? I finished Dragon's King Tiger recently and loved it...

Your efforts show. Just take appropriate care during those stages and you will be fine. And be ready to fix any mishaps that just might occur in spite of your care.

Thanks man, I can't wait to be done with it.  I've put alot more time into this than any other build that I can think of.  I just hope all that PE will hold up during the painting/weathering process.

Looking real good there Tankster! Gorgeous work all the way around so far.

I got most of the PE done, only a cpl tidbits left.  And started folding the PE side skirts from Aber.  They folded perfectly on my PE folding tool and I stuck them on with poster putty to while I decided on whether or not to put them all on or leave a couple off.