Okay, so I finished the Panther a while back and then got involved in a few more campaigns plus two builds of my own. However, somehow I managed to start another Big Cat, Dragon 9144 Pzkpfw VI Ausf B Tiger II. I am now at the point to begin painting the details, then put on decals and seal it up for weathering. Weathering will be light as I don't expect many of these lived very long anyway, and I plan on making a base later so want to keep my terrain options open.











I am currently eyeing Dragon 6051 Jadgtiger with Porsche suspension at this moment.

Nice cammo. Looking forward to the weathering. What paints are you using and are the colors straight or a custom mix? Thanks.

Very nice KT! Love the camo

The red oxide primer is AK Interactive surface primer red AK180. The rest are Tamiya but instead of the usual Dark Yellow/Red-Brown/Dark Green (XF60/61/64) I chose Desert Yellow/NATO Brown/NATO Green (XF59/67/68), all straight.

Shell - Your big kitty is taking shape rapidly! The colors look right on it. Do you think the tools would have been painted in place or would they have been removed and added later?

The wooden-handled stuff I paint so it looks like it was removed. The rest - like the jack - I paint as if it was left on.

Yes, that makes sense. I imagine there might have been differences between new from the factory and field painted finishes. EG-I have been carefully hand painting the tires rubber color but often wonder if this is realistic. I have seen American equipment where the tire sidewalls were painted OD like the rest of the vehicle. Our old Marine surplus jeep came to us that way from the sale of surplus equipment in Yermo CA back in 1960. Was this done during a repaint or was that the way it was done at the factory?

My big kitty needs zim and hearing no suggestions I followed the only lead I could find and ordered the ATAK resin set which will come from Poland. It should be here in a week or two. I have no idea how time consuming this addition will be but feel it will be a worthwhile upgrade. Here is the review:

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/atak/atak35043.html

Paul
I really like the ATAK Zimm that I used on a Jagdpanther a few years ago. It needs to be applied with apoxi. It was in my opinion better than the stick on Tamiya stuff of PE Zimm and a hell of a lot easier than home made Zimm.
Just my $.02

Thanks Sal, it is certainly good to hear that the ATAK zim gives good results. I'm a bit nervous about using epoxy. My experience with it is as a thick paste that would add a lot of thickness under the zim. Is there a thin version? In my ignorance, I had been thinking of good ole white glue thinned with water so I'm glad for the advice!

A bit of an update here the PE zimm kit arrived


More soon

Nice work on the zimm Sal,never tried any AM zimm

Sal - You PE zim looks great on the model. Was it a chore to install?

Nice camo Shell. Will keep those colors in mind. Cheers, Tat

Added some Archer weld beads to my Leopard

Thanks Anthony and Paul, not that big of a problem that wasn't expected. If you notice I cut the rear piece anjimmied it in place
The turret was a bigger problem but I made it work

Here are my start up photos.
The Kit is the Tamiya 35169 King Tiger Porsche Turret and I am going to add resin zimmerit.





Tom

Great choice. Welcome aboard.

Here are some of my WIP photos.

These are cleaned up and waiting for the Zimmerit to show up.



Tamiya Zimmerit has been applied.







First pass thru the paint booth.





Will do some more assembly today to get the road wheels on, straight and properly aligned.

More tomorrow.
Tom

Zim looks great!

Here are some more in progress photos.
The wheels have a coat of Vallejo Polyuretane to allow me to do a pin wash to give the some depth. The tracks with the kit are a glue-able vinyl but they have to be formed to get the correct sag. I'm using the hobbytrax form to try and get that sag. I heat the tracks in hot water then try and set it in cold water. Tomorrow I'll remove them and see if it took.



The photo is of the hull and turret with the base coat and the minimal camo. It also has a coat of the polyurethane. After it sets I'll add the decals and the small items that need painting. Jack Block, MG, etc. Then another coat of the polyurethane. Let that dry and set, then the pin washes, etc.



More posts tomorrow.
Tom

Looking real nice! I've been wanting to build a Porsche KT.

Im now in the right campaign for my Tiger I Early!



JohnA

Welcome John!

Here is the photo of the tracks after using the Hobbytrax form.



Tom