Hello,

I have Tamiya #35194 German Tiger I Mid Production. I understand this kit needs to have the zimmerit coated applied.

I was wondering if anyone has used the Tamiya Zimmerit stickers?

This is what I am referring too..........

http://www.squadron.com/product-p/tm12647.htm

Just looking for advice on whether to try and use these or not.

Thanks
Spence

I used similar ones on a Panzer 4 years and years ago and the results were poor. They did not have the depth of actual zimmerit and they never look right.

Panzer 4 ended up on a one way trip to the bin after a few months

Okay,

Thanks. Any suggestions on better and easier alternative?

Also,

I have another Tamiya Tiger I kit. Its kit #35056.

I have compared this kit to the Tiger I restored at the Bovington Tank Museum.......and it appears as if this kit is the same model of Tiger.

Would kit #35056 work to build the Bovington Tiger "Afrika Korp" ?

Thanks for any guidance.

Spence

Spence,

I refer you to the following thread. It might guide your decision. Also, look at David Byrden's web site. He's the "Tiger master": http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/204199&page=1

The set I have for the Tamiya Elefant were very disappointing.

Okay,

Thanks Jason.......
Guess I will be looking for an alternative solution. I dont want to try the putty thing.

I've heard the Eduard is just a disappointing, kinda like hanging siding on a house.

The resin sheets that are a available look good but I'm sure some patching and joining of the pieces is needed.

But nothing beats the use of putty!





Jeff

Working right now on a Tiger II (Porsche Turret) and using the Tamiya Zimm for the first time ever. It is so far looking OK but will let you know shortly how it turns out!

I have used the resin Zimmerit in the past and it turned out very well so we will see.

Film at eleven!

There were no Tigers in the Afrika Korps.

You definitely need to visit Byrden's site.

Here is the commander's side of the turret with the raw sticker material applied. I intentionally left off the hatch zimmerit so you could get a better look at the before and after.



The film is very tough and of what is probably scale thickness. The shapes ARE NOT diecut and in my opinion it is better to cut the stuff with scissors but if you choose to use an X-acto make sure it is a fresh, sharp blade with a good point.

The film is thick enough that it does not hunker down well over details. When trying to work it around bolt heads and welded panel keyways I am going over these lines and scoring the zimmerit material with my knife to sort of take some of the fight out of the material and get it to lay down better.

Lastly the adhesive on these is rather extreme. Once you lay it down it is not going to move around at all. You can lift it up once or twice if need be to reposition it but not much more than that. For the most part once it's stuck, it's stuck.

Personally I think this product would be better served if it were a thinner water slide decal material rather than a thick adhesive sticker.

Here is the loader's side of the turret with the zimmerit applied and also painted. (No weathering yet.)



As you can see here trimming to exact size requires some practice, some patience and some luck. If you cut the various pieces out by cutting right on the guide line offered by Tamiya you will produce a piece that is oversized every time. I guess that is better than being too small. While still attached to the backing paper I tried to lay each piece up to the model to test for fit. Each time trimming just a little more off of each edge. As you can see even though I was careful I still ended up cutting some of the edges a bit undersized.

From previous experience working with the resin zimmerit I find that using small amounts of either the gell type super glue or good old Elmer's Glue as a body filler on these small edge flaws will rough up the surface and hide many these missteps.

Remember the original zimmerit process was sort of a "slop on, spread out, them apply texture" type of operation so perfection is not necessarily necessary!

(For me using the Elmer's works better and is more forgiving but the down side is you have to let that dry over night before moving on to the next step.)

People are always recommending Atak or caviler Zimm over the rest of the bunch.

Here is the painted Zimm with a quick shading wash applied.

I've used ATAK, Eduard, and the Tamiya stickers. Of the three, ATAK is the best option. It's better looking to scale and lets you easily modify to show damage, if you like doing that. The Eduard is my least favorite as it's a challenge to get the large PE plates to match up on the edges, and it just doesn't look as real. The Tamiya stickers are just fine. They provide the proper look and texture. They may not be perfect to scale, but they do the job. The only issue with them is that you have to cut openings for every bolt hole. This can be time consuming.

Pics of the ATAK product on my 1/16 Tamiya Panzer IV RC Kit.




Pics of the Tamiya stickers on my 1/35 Tamiya Panzer IV build

All three types are just a means to an end. Ya pick a course of action and work your way thru it.

Myself I would vote for the resin Zimmerit but this time I happened to have mail ordered the Tamiya product. I also just happened to come across this thread that had been hanging around since 2013 with just one answer in the negative in response to the question so I stepped up. I thought more information was in order and the original question was "hey, how 'bout those Tamiya Zimmerit stickers?"

So . . . . nuff said!

I've used several of the Tamiya "stickers" on the Tamiya Tiger and on the Dragon Brumbar! They are very good imho, apart from all the cutting out. Cut them slightly bigger from the sheet and trim them down on the model with a very sharp blade and you can sand and feather the edges too. It's worthwhile putting a bit of very thing super glue underneath the edges. A MUCH better option is the DEF Models Zimmerit sets which are pre-approved cut and super easy to apply.

ATAK or forget it.

Life is too short to suffer with [auto-censored].

(mike drop).

Another WIP, this time using the resin Zimmerit.


Another thing I like about the resin products are that sometimes rather than forcing you to work around a small, complex surface feature using a sticker, they simply cast the detail right into the Zimmerit saving you all that time and trouble!

In this case even the gun mantlet and the pig's head gun shield both with Zimmerit came as replacement resin parts with the rest of the set. (Sorry, cannot remember just who made this set!) Also you might notice all the lovely little irregularities that have been cast into the resin Zimm. This is something else you don't get with the stickers.

Case in point: Here is the ATAK set for the Porsche King Tiger.
Note all the replacement parts displayed down the right hand side of the photograph. The gun shield, the bow gunner's dome and the rear turret loading hatch.
The very parts I am right now trying to wrap with the Tamiya stickers - very fiddly bits thank you very much papa Tamiya - but I am working through it.






Above all ATAK photos.

Current progress on the Porsche turreted King Tiger using the Tamiya "sticker" Zimmerit.



Still have more Zimm stickers to apply and need to finish the tracks. Then on to planning out the camo pattern and decaling!

Yes, I admit it, I AM laying the shading wash on rather heavily so the Zimmerit will show up well for you guys in these photos. I can easily clean it up with a repaint should I decide in the end to do a cleaner vehicle.

But I will say those wheels and tracks are staying the way you see them there plus a little more dust and dirt. I really like how those areas turned out!

Couldn't agree more with this.

Not a fan of those Tamiya sticker things. When it comes to Zimmerit, IMO, best solution is to get a Dragon kit (or other) with good pre-molded zimmerit already built into the plastic.

If you can't get that and must apply Zimmerit yourself, Atak is the first, last, and only source I consider.

Their products are fantastic.