Hi all,

I have just been thinking ahead for one of my future projects using the Dragon King Tiger 6208. I notice this kit comes with decals for SSPz Abt 501 '334'.

My assumptions are that 334 was one of the tanks taken from pz.abt 509 to make up the numbers of SSPz Abt 501 and had the following features.

Late September/early October build
No zimmerit
Jack and jack block still mounted
3 tone camo on a dark yellow base coat, soft edged with no 'ambush' dots.

My assumption is that it would have been much like '332'. Am I correct? I can't seem to find any photos of this tank, only written references, none of which describing the camo/build features.

I'm hoping this is correct as I really want to build a KT with no zimmerit and field applied soft edge camo. I know '332' fits the bill but it has been done so many times!

If anyone has any references or knows anything about this tank and can help me out that would be great

Cheers
Matt

Matt,
Check out this site I found on King Tigers maybe this will help


http://www.ss501panzer.com/index.htm

Thanks for the link Sal, very useful.

I found a picture of 334



By looking at the turret I think it has hard edge camo but thats all I can make out. I guess this would imply it was factory painted which opens up the production time frame. This would also bring ito question what the base coat would be. Also other details like the jack/jack block could be different.

This one could be tricky to build accurately

From the picture you posted, it doesn't appear to have any camo pattern on the upper hull.

Take a look at this web site. Scroll down to Tiger 334 and click on the small pictures. You can clearly see the jack mounting bracket in the photo showing the rear plate. It also appears that it “may” have soft edge cammo.

http://www.archiv-oberaussem.com/western-front45/doku.php?id=ss-panzer-abt.-501-battle-of-the-bulge4

Matt,

alternatively you could model the "334" which is visible on page 76 in Panzerwrecks 7. Of course it's not the same tank but the tank which replaced the one lost in Ardennes. The picture was taken in Hungary. It has one or two interesting features. If you don't have the PW 7 and you're interested in it drop me a PM.

spit

Spit, thanks for the offer but I really want to concentrate on an Ardennes KT as I have already brought all of the figures for the setting.

Thanks for the link John, very heplful indeed. It's looking to me that 334 was infact similar to 332. The more I look at the photos the more i'm thinking soft edge camo. Of course it could be down to how dirty the tank is but as it has the jack mount, must be an earlier production.

I think I will go with soft edge as per the kit (DML 6208) painting guide. Hopefully I can create a decent representation of 334 taking up its final position before being abandoned.

Thanks for all the help guys

Hi Matt,

well I've taken a close look to the picture you posted and found on my Pc the same but in bigger resolution.

IMHO the 334 had the factory applied hard edged camouflage. Why? Please take a look on the zoom I made on the turret and on two other pictures of other KT (both from Ardennes). On the right side you can clearly see a hard edged line you can compare it wit the other two.








I also found two other pics of the 334. The camouflage is not visible on them but I thought you might like them.





HTH

spit

Spit, great work!

I'm sure your correct about the hard edge. Looking at the comparison pictures the camo is very similar indeed. Also the last photo is very helpful. If you look above the 334 on the turret there is a clear band of hard edge camo which looks like dark yellow. Its also the the same colour as the wheels so this would indicate the base coat being dark yellow. Would you agree?

As for the model, I have already started it and I have almost finished the turret. I'm just going to have to change the ventilator cover as it looks like the later version was fitted to 334.

This is going to be a challenge as I have never attempted a hard edge scheme. I'm slightly concerned about masking over the PE parts like the tool clasps and breaking them. Would it be best to fit all the plastic parts first, then do the basic camo. Then add all the tools, clasps etc?

Thanks for your help
Matt

Thanks Matt,

Always happy to help.

Well, the hard edged scheme is a tricky one. Good luck. The less parts you'll have on your model the easier painting and of course masking will be. I've done one such a scheme using patafix (well it was not perfect). I put it on plenty PE but happily only tw or three parts were pulled out you can click here to see the result.

I don't quite see which ventilator cover you're speaking about. For me there's only one possible. However there is a cap(with a handle) - part O10 - which should not be added as 99% it was taken off by the crew (quite normal).

HTH

spit

I remember seeing that one on model of the month, got my vote. The hard edge camo you did on the first paint job looked really good I think. As a first attempt I think I wil do the basic camo first, then add the tools.

Well we are talking about the same part. In the colour photo the ventilator is visible below the loaders hatch. It looks like it has a thin cover over the top of it. I assume this is just part of the internal structure of the ventilator and not a different cover?

Cheers
Matt

thanks




that's what I thought. Just do not assemble the part O10 and you are good for 99.99% of King Tigers

spit

Hi All,

After gathering as much info as I could with help from this thread I have finished building 334 and it is now ready for paint, give or take a few adjustments. To make this as accurate as I could I had to go down the AM route. I ended up using 3 different PE sets. The main bulk of it is voyager, some aber tool clasps and eduard for the side skirts.

I've tried to make it as accurate as I could from the pictures available but obviously some guess work was required. In doing this I have ended up with the most amount of PE I have ever used! Now i'm almost scared to paint it in fear of ruining all the work I've done!

Heres some pics of it with everything fitted in place. All the running gear, side skirts etc are just fitted to show how it looks but will be removed for easier painting.















So what to you guys think? Anything that needs changing that I havent spotted?

Cheers
Matt

Matt,
looks good to me, and your right that is a lot of PE. I'm looking forward to seeing it with some paint on it

Hi Matt,
Super build, looking forward to see what you do with the paint.

"Anything that needs changing that I havent spotted?"

Looking at your pics I noticed you've also fitted the front part of the turret roof upside-down:


I say also because I've seen this on many models, I've done it myself.
It's a mistake in the instructions, which shows it fitted upside-down.
Even Dragons own promotion pics have it upside-down, this is from their lastest KT kit, 6209, poster:


It can be easily fixed (if it bothers you?) with a little filing and a piece of square styrene strip.
It's discussed here; and there's pics of how it should look:
KT roof

HTH, Grant.

Grant, great spot! I never realised that in all the KTs I have built. I removed the part, sanded it down and placed it back the correct way.

Well I'm about 90% done with this one. My attempt at masking for the camo didn't go well so I ended up painting it by hand I still need to do some more detail work and weathering. I'm quite happy with it for a first attempt at hard edge









so, what do you guys think?

Cheers
Matt

Nice lookin Tiger buddy! Love the research and that late war hard edge. I have been to LeGlieze and can appreciate how big these things were,even if the one there has a Panther gun barrel for about 50% of it's length.
J

Hi guys,

well I finally got round to finishing this one. Hopefully it will go into a diorama at some point in the future. Thanks to everyone that helped with getting this one as accurate as I could. I'm not entirely sure about the final tone of the colours but overall I like the finish.



























Cheers
Matt

Awesome fidelity Matt. Captures the look nicely,
J

Looks real good there Matt, I really like the mud on the tracks

Great build Matt. You've done an awesome hardedge paintjob, and the weatering is spot on. One tiny detail though, I think the spare track links looks too new or maybe too black. It might be the photos or my poor jugdement, but maybe a little more weathering to make them blend more into the rest. Anyway, great work.
Best regards
Jacob

Hi Matt,

Nice looking KT you have there.

Would you mind telling me which colors did you use for painting it?

Thanks in advance,
Angel

Hi guys,

Thanks for the kind comments

Jacob, I think your right there. I've been meaning to tone the spare links down and dirty them up.

Angel, I used vajello model air and tamiya acrylics. I used vajello dark yellow, camo brown and german camo green for the basic colours. This was then oversprayed with tamiya buff to tone it all down. The tracks where base painted tamiya redbrown with highlights done with various greys. The washes where done with raw sienna and burnt umber oils. Mud and dust was done with tamiya mud texture paint and Mig dark mud, light dust and standard rust pigments.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Matt

Thanks Matt for your reply.

Merry Christmas to everybody,
Angel

Outstanding job on that finish Matt. I really like the looks of the KT!