Nice looking King, Lucas. I'll look forward to its completion.

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.

Hey Marc, I had a couple of ?s for you. I was checking out the pins (then I priced them and almost had a stroke- $10 for a box of straight pins?! ) Anyway, did you run them in a dremel to file them down? Also, I have never seen the ones that you put on your exhaust housings before. That sent me scouring my references. A provision for sheet steel covers that was never installed, perhaps?
Last couple questions. The scratched texture on your paint is crazy good- how did you achieve the effect- low grit in random directions on the primer coat? Weld seams- looks like your doing same as I am on the heavy plates (perpendicular gouges)- but the join seams are looking good too. Putty with a sharpened implement of some sort? I also spotted the casting line on the mantlet. Was that done in a similar way to the weld seams?
Anyway, thanks again, guys!

Hi all,
I started Dragon Kingtiger with Atak Zimmerit.

Hey Lucas
Seems like a lot for a box of pins, especially f you just need a few. I used them for the Friul tracks and still had 1/2 a box left so it was worth it in my case. The pins on either side of the muffler guards are lifting lugs.

What I did for the pins was to put the pin in... what else... a pin vise . It was easy then to spin the head against a grinding wheel in the Dremel.

I made a few tools in different sizes that I saw in the tutorial below and different putties depending on the situation.



https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/220&page=2


The rolled steel texture was done by stippling Bondo body putty that was thinned with lacquer thinner to about the consistency of thinned paint. After it hardened sanded very lightly with a sanding block to just smooth the high spots.

That's a nice choice Miloslav !

Good stuff Marc, thanks!
I got the Dragon #222 BoB kit because of the subject matter, and the added goodies were a plus (magic tracks, figs, etc). I was thinking about springing for friuls, but they can get a bit steep.
I saw that tutorial a few months back, and have been working w/ a modified hypo needle procured from a drug store (got some weird looks over that one- "honestly sir, I'm not going to use this for drugs...")
I think that I'm going to use vallejo cavalry brown for primer, then hairspray method w/ tamiya dk yellow, deep green, maybe red brown toned down a bit w/ NATO brown. Too far along in my build for troweling on bondo- I might lay the undercoat on a bit thick, then sand w/ a med grit on some of the bigger surfaces to get the same effect going.
Got some off time, hopefully I can get some progress pics up by the end of this weekend!

Marc, Lucas,
I use a curved chisel bit from Mission Models for my weld seams works great!

Cheers Rob.

It is good to see you join in Miloslav

Good idea Rob. never thought of that. Not sure if you know, but I just found out the Mission Modles is out of biz. So if oyu see extra tips at a show or or LHS probably a good idea to buy 'em. I just got both sizes at out show on Saturday.

Finally got all that pesky photoetch on. Some for the 3rd or 4th time.
Backdated it to a June production version to be just a little different from the stock kit. Time for some paint

Looks good Cam, I've got some catching up to do!

It is great to see some new Tigers taking shape here.

Camo scheme on and ready for decals, looking forward to how the knight on the turret will look.

Now that I found the time, the slow-setting glue, and the nerve, I finally took the plunge and assembled a run if tracks. What a PITA.



Thanks to everyone who posted indy-track tutorials, gave advice and pointers, and encouraged the hesitant (like me) to get r done.

Nice work being done all around. Lots of Dragon kits in the mix.

Keith

Keith; I think you will agree the pain is worth it judging by the look of the tracks on the vehicle.

Cam; A duel colour instead of tri-colour, I quite like the look almost tiger stripe in appearance.

Whoo-hoo! It does indeed work! One side done and the other in progress...


Keith

Some photos from build progress.

Miloslav what adhesive did you use for the zimmerit as I notice it has been very cleanly applied with only a couple of spots where the resin hasn't stuck down?

Darren, I used to most parts five-minute epoxy. For front and rear I used superglue.

@Cam--nice airbrushing job!! I'm at that point too.

@Miloslav--good work on that Zimm. Can't wait to see it painted.

I've had a few firsts--first attempt at painting that wavy pattern on the gun barrel. It
needs some touching up. First time I didn't finish airbrushing on a color in one session. My hand was cramping up and I got tired of cleaning out the airbrush nozzle.



Keith

I like the camo pattern Keith

Thanks Darren! It was a lot of fun. I probably won't get a chance to finish the green until next Tuesday and won't start the brown until sometime after that. And then there's the modulation of all three colors! Hmmm....looking at the top view pic the gun barrel 'wave' needs to be brought down a bit on the left side. There's always something!

Keith

Some photos from build progress.

@Miloslav--Wow! That is a beautifully rendered camo and wash job! What colors did you use? And you got the decals laid down into the zimm nicely. Can't wait to see more!

Keith

I used AK Interactive Color Set Germany 1944-45
About decals. I add decal to model and used special czech decals water.