Hi ,
I'm working on a Tiger and an Elefant in the same time and I have to do the classic zimmerit.
But the big problem is.... I can't buy milliput or something like this in my town because noone sale it.
So how i can do the zimmerit?
regards

Nico

There are several aftermarket suppliers Eduard -photoetched brass, from Czech Republic and Atak resin from Poland. Cavalier fron Australia makes resin sets too.
Some folks have used Tamiya or Squadron putty thinned with liquid model cement, NOT tenax or MeK.

And if you're really into stress, you could try the old hot knife/screwdriver method, where you MELT the pattern into the plastic of the kit.

I've used the Eduard stuff, fit is good, but the pattern is VERY regular and maybe a bit too fine for my eye. It is also hard to make it appear battel damaged.

The Cavalier stuff is more realistically 3D, but does not always perfectly fit even the kit the set is intended for.

I've not tried putty or melting.

Mike

I've used the putty method with Squadron White putty. You don't have as long to get it "just right" as you would with miliput (basically, one pass with your texturing tool), but, with just a little practice, it's not all that tough. Remember, the stuff was applied imperfectly in real life, so don't sweat any small variances.

Hi, I can vouch for the Cavalier stuff as being real good. Haven't had any fit problems with it and it looks nice when all done.

Have use part of a kit of the Atak stuff on one of Dragon's Panther's and it's real nice too. I do think that it's even thinner that the Cavalier pieces. In fact, it's so thin that it tends to tear apart sometimes. This is kind of agravating, but in my humble opinion doesn't detract from it at all. But I haven't finished this kit yet, so I can't say how the over-all effect of it will be, but I imagine it will look very nice, if I ever get it done. It happens to be one of the kits currently under my bed collecting cat hair and dust. You ever heard of the 'aging process' some of us modelers have a bad habit of getting into? Ha!

Have never tried the hot knife or the putty stuff yet. Heard the Zimm-er-Rite stuff us supposed to be real good for making the Zimmerit as well. This is sold by R and J Products. Haven't tired it so can't say one way or the other.

I don't have the patience for this putty or the hot knife methods so I just stick with the already made patterns as it's quicker and much, much easier to do.

Take care, sgirty.

Be a hero! Putty is the way to go!

Tamiya putty (the stuff in the orange capped tube) works well. And you can thin it with liquid cement as said above. The best description of how to do this is on Track Link (www.track-link.net). Look in the articles section and you'll find a detailed zimmerit tutorial.

If you want, you can order zimmer-it-rite from R&J productions. It's a two part epoxy putty that works like milliput.

Squadron green works well too, but you have to be careful, because unlike Tamiya putty, it eats the plastic.

Cheers
Andy

I just recently tried this method on my Elefant (after seeing this post)... I must say it worked much better than I expected. If you don't get it right the first time, wait a minute or two, then scrape it off. I have about 75% of the appropo surfaces on the Elefant covered, need to redo one spot and then gonna give it a light coat of primer, just to see if I'm happy with the results. Thanks for the tip (though I wasn't the one who asked). I tried the hot knife method, but using the plastic cement to "soften" the edges, melted my Jagdtiger (well warped one side pretty darn bad. Anyway enough rambling for today...thanks again

Thanks for your help guys, you give me nice ideas
regards

You can also use acetone-based finger nail polish remover to thin or wipe off Green Putty. Assume it works on the White Putty too.
If you go with ZimItRite, make sure you rough-up the surface, so that it has something to grip on to. It is not self-etching as is the Green Putty.