Hello Phil and everyone. Abit of info for all.Hope this isn't violating any rules but since they advertise on this site I don't see how it could.Tankrats AFV Depot has a June special for the highly recommended by Phil #6416 Alfred Kurzmaul Tiger for 38.99.Of course that does not include shipping, but from the prices I have seen them for on e-bay, it seems to be not too bad a deal.Of course I am sure to overseas it is more also for shipping.Anyhow , here is the link http://www.tankratsafvdepot.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_63&products_id=923
Oh, they even have the OOP #6253 if you want to give 90.00 USD for it! Chris

53 Tigers, Wow Thats over two Heavy Panzer Battallions. See you soon Geraint

Some Tigers did have 8 hangers.

David

Hi David,
I'm glad you've linked that particular page from your site because I've been meaning to ask a question about the the track pins.
I'd always assumed (and some AM manufacturers I think) that one end of the track pin had a 'nail/ rivot type' head...Is this the wrong assumption?
The last sketch on your page shows a completely parallel pin and in the last paragraph states:
"Photographs show that pins were often stored in the left-hand side; they would have to be locked in place somehow."

Or, you could buy the cyber-hobby DAK tiger for a mere 379.99 USD!

At least in the original design, one end of the pin for the battle tracks had a nail-type head.

David

Hello Everybody!
Hi Rob! I'm not that crazy it's just a psychological imbalance! It all started when I couldn't work out the definite tactical numbers for the 2nd Kompanie bivouacked outside Villers Bocage, so thought! I know build the full Abteilung... All 45 perhaps... Then with Davids keen eye for every minute detail and production variation, this sparked my interest further into trying to depict as many of the s.SS.Pz.-Abt.101, as I could find references for. You know how it is?
Hi Grant, thanks for the kind words on the hinges and fenders, they have not been kind on my nerves! Today I had a first ever in modelling... I managed to set fire to some PE Brass when annealing it on the gas ring. I have never melted it before... Perhaps it had an unusually high oxygen content? It was one of the underside frame and rim detail parts from the front mudguards. Maybe I'll put it down to a PIAT round.
Hello Chris, that is an excellent offer over at Tankrats, just leave some for me eh? Thanks for the heads up on those.
Wotcha Geraint! The 101st was a heavy battalion, it's inventory in Normandy, was listed as, three companies with 14 Tigers in each, 4 in each platoon with 2 company 'stab' Tigers, making a total of 42 Tigers across the companies along with 3 BehfelsTigers totalling a grand score of 45 beauties in all. There was some serious scrap metal strewn acroos northern France by September 1944 eh?
Hello Scott! That is cheap for a Cyber-Hobby DAK Tiger... And I thought the 'Wittmann' was steep these days. One of my concerns with the recent Publication of 'Extreme Modellings' Elements... in combat. Tiger 1 and variants, was that it has a CH-DAK Tiger modelling within it's very informative pages... But this kit is now beyond most modellers price ranges, even if you manage to track one down. Shame really I would have really like a root through that box!

Hello David! Thanks for dropping in. Always re-assuring. I have been playing about with '411' this morning. I'm almost close to being happy with the exposed barrel under the dislodged sleeve, I'll post that someplace when the hull parts started to get fitted. Not as 'pesky' asthose 'Fehrmann's eh?.

Right I'll go and see if I can set fire to the cooker again... Phil

Back tomorrow...

Hello people... I'm back!
Okay then straight into what has been going on with the 'Modded' #6383.
After having a good long look at the zimmerit on the bow/glacis apron... I decided to take it off and re-apply it. This was done with Tamiya epoxy putty and a 'chisel tip' fashioned piece of sprue tab.
Here is the before:

And the after shot.


It looks a bit better now, I applied the epoxy putty as before with a flat headed artists palette knife. This time it was put on a little thinner, around 0.5mm. This was then ridged with the sprue tab fashioned tool.
This time I will not 'sand' it down any as this affects the patterns ridges and takes away a level of crispness. I believe that the zimmerit applied on this area 'settled' a little more than it did on vertical plates of the Tiger 1, and that it became softened by a build up of dust, and mud... Along with the clatter of those 'shod' crew boots.
Next on the list of 'modding' jobs were those 'pie tin' turret vision ports. They have bugged me for a while now, actually from the first moment I saw the kit in the flesh. They have an uncanny visual effect of looking as though they stick out a bit to far, and that the slot aperture is central rather than being biased towards the bottom aspect of the face.

So they had to go...

This was achieved with a chisel tipped xacto blade, the removal being as close to the vision port as possible.

But what to replace it with? A bit of a cop out, ATAK's cast resin ones from their DML Tiger 1 late set. I will really have to work on my resin casting skills.


A little smoothing of the 'scar' and cleaning up of the vision port, and the jobs a good un'.


A little care is needed with re-aligning the replacement vision port, so plot it's grid before CA gluing, or you could use a 5 minute epoxy!

Right I'll leave it there for now and pick up on the rest of the PE tomorrow.

Cheers for looking in... Phil.

Phil, Impressive chisel work!
Dan

Nice clean work!!

Russ

Neat work Phil and a vast improvement over the moulded ports.. Which resembled sunflowers to me..

Hello again everybody! Can't see the workbench much at the moment... It's a bit hot and sunny up here in the rain shadow of the Pennines, and my poor eye's don't cope well with too much natural light... When they let me out of the cupboard occasionally!
Welcome on-board Russ, the more the merrier ! Hi again Dan! How are you doing? Thanks for the nod on the knife work! This old Xacto chisel blade seems to have got better with age, and slices easily through DML's grey styrene, especially when 'honed' on a bit of fine grade wet 'n' dry.
Hello Grant, I suppose that they personal perspective on the look of the vision ports is down to the beholder. Living in Lancashire I think of 'Hollands Meat & Potato pie' case tins... While you you lucky devil living in beautiful Groningen, think of Sunflowers!
Right what have I been up to other than playing with some Model Kasten Early Tiger Roadwheels you ask? Well the front mudguards/fenders have been receiving my full attention when I can get the modelling time in.
First up those fiddly hinges, I am using an amalgamation of different PE for these parts, as I have got a few spare frets from other projects, and like the look of some parts more than others. The main hull mounted section of the mudguard is DML's from the excellent #6253, with the hinged outer section coming from Voyagers DML Tiger 1 late production set.
The hinges, I have tried various jigs and rig ups for constructing the workable hinges in the past, and have always gone back to taping it all down on a cutting board, and using a flat blade and the ever handy Xacto chisel blade to push and form the hinge tabs over the wire.

I have tried in the past to construct both parts of the hinge together, but failed miserably. I now find it easier to form them separately and thread/mesh them together with wire afterwards. It is best to place the wire around 3/4's of the way down the tab towards the main plate, allowing to rolled formed tab to come back on itself locking over the wire fully.


And you often get a nice crisp well formed hinge! Well most of the time, my little PE brass scrap/debris pot is full of crushed and broken PE parts ready for a Rob Ferreira inspired demolition!

Now you may wonder why I have not used the workable hinges on this Tiger? Well I am attempting to speed this blog up a bit, and use differing depictions of AM and kit options throughout the thread.

They really do look the part when installed, and well worth the effort.


Now it's just a case of scratching the welded post on the hull to take those lonesome fender pivot/hinge end plates! It's funny that this part is never depicted that well when it is the attachment point for the front mudguards and a little more substantial than the recipient part on the front fender... Those catches/retaining clasp's for the front mudguards is a nifty bit of PE engineering, though the tiny bracket it attaches to on the fender is really minute.

Right I'm signing off for the evening, I'll see what I can get on with tomorrow... Hopefully it will rain, and I'll be stuck in the house with a pile of brass and styrene!

Thanks once again for dropping by... Phil.

All that nice looking PE work done and not a PE bending tool in sight!
Dan

Looking good Phil. More dazzling PE work. I'm very impressed with those latches that hold down the mudguards.. Very tricky little things..

Question: Any reasons why you've not added zim to the small areas behind the mudguards?

Morning folks!
Not to much to report, gave the Tiger a little bath for de-dusting and de-greasing purposes, summer and models don't really mix that well eh? I'll have to break out the in-line moisture trap before painting begins. Painting is chalked in for the coming weekend! Should have a few more images up and ready this evening.
Hell Dan! Your right about not using a PE folding tool, do flat clean jaw pliers count? It's funny with this Tiger, as most of the larger items of brass came from the Dragon Tiger 1 late production 3-1 kit #6253, and these were preformed, so it was a case of using a smaller implement for the fiddly stuff, I have been using a blob of 'Blu-Tack' to attach some of the really minute stuff... Got the idea from 'Tacky Wax', I will have to try that one day. Sometimes tweezers just seem a little to clumsy My 'Hold and fold' needs a repair, and I can't quite get to grips with the 'Etch Mate' as it's layout and plastic construction doesn't feel quite right!
Hello Grant! The Voyager fender retaining clips are excellent, the best solution to this intricate part, I like the way no glue is needed on the latch T-bar until the base bracket is affixed to the leading part of the hull front side plate...
... Right the reason why I tend not to paste the area behind the front mudguards is... This part of the Tiger 1 during it's zimmerit phase is not really ever clearly imaged. I think it's part of the problem faced with how the actual vehicles were photographed, it only ever gets caught on the more candid shots when this area was not the feature in the mind of the camera wielder. Sometimes I think you can definitely see zimmerit there and other times not. Maybe it's residue from the glacis plates coating along with dirt and debris, perhaps it is pasted very lightly because of the size of the area and in relation to the bow/glacis apron which also has the viewer often wondering 'were all Tiger's with zimmerit pasted here?' So while I think it probably should be...or then again maybe not. I have just been a bit boring really and followed the trend that DML (with #6383) and other modellers and illustrators have been depicting recently... Though saying this ATAK and Cavalier both include the B/G Apron with this portion pasted... But then again ATAK are in two minds as to how much of it was covered with zimmerit as with the set #35030 and #35032, the latter going beyond the reinforced hole on the area behind the mudguard. Here are some possibly, but then again images to help us all decide... One you might know?




It's all a bit like the top edge of the mantlet the clearest image of this I have seen is the opposite from how most AM manufacturers depict it( usually as a continuation of the vertical plane of the mantlets face) whereas on this image it follows the route of the sides of the mantlets pattern!

Who would build a Tiger 1 eh? Still The Panther and Pz.VI had more true and minor production variations perhaps?
Right back to the drawing board... Phil.

I PHIL, YOUR HANDLING OF THE PE IS JUST SO MASTERFUL. The Zim does seem a bit hit and miss on the front edge by the mudguards? What type of glues do you use for the PE? Looks like shes nearly ready for the Tamiya paints. looking forward to seeing how they look with the different base cote colours. Nice one Geraint

Hello again I'm back! Tonight a little diversion from the ongoing PE saga... Don't worry it will be ready for painting to begin after weekend!
Hi Geraint! Thanks for the sharp reminder of the severed head in an envelope, I'll crack on with the blog straight away... Hehe, Modelling Mafia eh? The CA glue that I am using at the moment is 'Loctites' Super Glue Easy Brush, this is quite a thin CA glue and has a moderate curing time, and is easily applied with the brush included or it will readily flow well from a applicator tool (in my case stretched sprue or bent wire), this performs nearly as well as some of the Bob Smith Industries products. And it's quite cheap in Tesco!
Right on with the little smokescreen! The original idea of this 'compo blog' was zimmerit if I remember... I received a question from a concerned soul as to the 'look' of AM resin zimmerit sets, and was asked if I have ever used it. I have in the past used ATAK and Cavalier, both excellent products, and very easy to use. I still have 'The R02 LAH Black Panther' set lurking for a future comparison! Oh no the cat's out of the bag... And would be very happy if I could come close to matching this excellent product. On the Tiger 1 Though, because most of my Tigers will be grouped or paired, and the anomalies have specific zimmerit character details from reference images I have used to research them. AM zimmerit is not really the thing for me personally to use on any current builds.
Thanks to Mike for supplying the sets.
I have labelled the comparison images to avoid any confusion! The DIY tools used in this, are the AFV Club 'roller tool' the Lion Roar 'roller tool' and 'The Wonder Tool' (A.K.A. a venetian/roller blind inertia gear!) so for your pleasure gentlemen...



























I like the ATAK set as it is crisp, and the depth of the ridge is not to deep, albeit perhaps a bit to uniform in it's very even row alignment and very regular pitch. I do prefer the look of ATAK's #SE35-01 as the zimmerit profile around the gun trunnion pintles, at the turrets forward edge is more true to the Kassel applied paste on the mid and late Tiger 1's.

Right I will get on with finishing the modded #6383 then! I will try and get some more AM zimmerit comparisons in along the way...

Thanks for looking in, cheers Phil.

Glad you liked the Head in a bag, A TRUE MURDER MYSTERY? The Atak sheets look good, but when placed next to proper paste'n there is no comparision. Yes the Resin sheet looks good but its far to uniformed. Just doesn't look, excuse the punn PLASTERED. Just hasn't that factory DIY ruff look to it. Glad to have seen the two together, to be honest its a no brainer. This thread as really showed that the only real way to do Zim, is the way it was really done, scaled down of course. Nice one Geraint

Hello all I'm back again! Should have a bit more time to devote to the kitty litter with the onset of the summer slow down!

Hi there Geraint! Sorry for not being intouch, one thing and another sort of cropped up!Will chew the fat real soon eh? I think that ATAK haven't shown their full hand yet with their zimmerit sets, the crispness of the patterns are always a real marvel, especialy when you compare them next to the pattern on #6383, and the thinness of the sheets is amazing.

Right then onto the progress on the modded #6383... I have added some of the PE details to the turret stowage bin, along with some wire replacement grab handles on the engine bay door. loaders hatch, and commanders cupola hatch.

The dent on the rear and side was gouged out with a scalpel and chisel tip xacto, then sanded with extra fine wet & dry from various angles in order to get that 'crumpled' effect.
The latches from the Voyager PE detail set were depicted as working, this can easily be achieved with a 'hinge pin' of streched sprue, this is a neat little trick as it can be pulled through until it 'locks', then when cut, a little heat on the ends seals the head of the bolt pin and allows the latches to be articulated... Why? I just like em that way!

This was also done with the kits engine louvre vents and enginge bay doors locking latches.

This Tiger should get the pre-paint bath in the next few days.


Cheers for dropping by and keeping an eye on this madness, back real soon. Hopefully a bit later on.

Phil.

Hi Phil, like the latch pins, nice touch. Didn't meen to slate the Atak zim sheets, just much prefer your pasted Zim. IMHO it looks much closer to the photos you've posted of the real things. I like the irregular lines of your Zim, looks more like the real deal. Thanks for the heads up on the CA glue. When I was at Telfored last year i bought expensive brand of glue and after opening it and using it a few times it went off. A bit of a waste of money? Dont want to be a pain but the Voyager PE was lacking instructions. I've tried to contact Voyager and posted on loads of sites, asking if anyone has them and could scan ,or photo copy them but no joy. Any suggestions? Cheers Geraint

Hi Phil. Got some great news (well, for me it is).I was able to score not 1, but 2 of the kit # 6253 off e-bay as well as the AFV Wittman Tiger and a couple of the Verlinden "through the hatch" detail sets.Man what an awesome kit 6253 is!Anyhow I will show you some of it soon I hope.I have been working on installing the interior set into one of the turrets, and it is slow work.I will check in again soon, Chris

Looking mighty fine Phil..
Excellent touches of detail, I like the pinned hinge thing. I might borrow that idea one day..
Looking forward to the paint, temperature permitting.. :_

Question: I know you're using the Lion Roar roller, 0016, but have you also got/tried the Lion Roar "Special Style" zim head set, 0017 ?..and if so, what it's like?

Lots of good work!I like reading every post that you write!
The zimmerit is just superb, a lot better than the ATAK one.

I have two questions:
1.Which of the tanks provided in the #6406 have small break nozzle?
2.Which of the tanks have small zimmerit pattern on the turret?

That DML kit is killer.

Nice job on what you have done

Hello everybody! Work enforced mini-break over, and back to the important things in life... Tigers

Good morning Geraint, We actually have a bright dry start this morning up here in'th north, I was thinking of giving up on the Tigers and building an ark! It's a good job rain runs downhill eh?
I still have not been able to locate those voyager instructions admist my 1/35 scale 'Allied Tactitical Bombing Aftermath at Kassel' diorama, thatswhat my workspace lookslike at the minute. But it's due a good sort out so if they are in there, they will be winging their way south shortly... If I remember correctly, they are a mini epic in themself!

Hi Chris! Sounds like you have had a very fortunate and rewarding 'stash spree', hope you got bargains? You certainely are amassing your own Schwere Panzer Abteilung slowly eh? Just tell your wife that the stash is hi-art and holds uber kudos when displayed along the top of every available horizontal surface!

Hey Grant! How's the precipitation in the low countries? I will prepare a little SBS for the zimmerit patterns ASAP, the Lion Roar zimmerit applicator set 017, is one I have been playing with recently, though I'm not sure that the doe gear for 'waffle pattern' is as good as the other doe included for the nooks and crannies, saying this though, the waffle plate pattern depiction is excellent and crisp!

Hi Paul! Sorry about not replying sooner, it's a long story! And involves Richard Branson! You will haveto re-send me your e-mail address, though I haven't come acrross much more beyond the standard references for your 'winter Tigers'. On the muzzle brake and zimmerit question on #6406, do you mean the included decal options, and their production type inticasies?

Hi Jeff! Thanks for dropping by, muchly appreciated. #6383 is a good kit, hopefully at some point in the future it will be tweaked and refined further... And maybe lose some of it's inherited instruction confusions? Then again DML wouldn't be Dragon without it's infamous instructions eh?

Right then progress report, I here you bellow! Well the time needed away from the bench and the weather have seriously hampered much forward progress. But we have had a few clear moments, and I have managed to get some of the 'red oxide' primer on the bare metal surfaces, as per the real thing eh? So for the zimmerit I think that 'yellow ochre' as the 'recipe' states is the next job within the painting aspect of the build. There are still some parts to attach once my clumsy fingers have finnished mauling this Tiger, and it is safely mounted on it's painting stand. Okay here are the images... Brace yourselves, it's looks a bit freaky at the moment! Sub Modulation? Could be interesting?









So what do you think then fellas? Folly perhaps?

Back real soon, thanks for looking, and following this journey. Cheers Phil.