im in, got a dml 6600 tiger I've been wanting to build

Welcome aboard Nathan

Welcome Nathan! Fine kit there.

I was digging around my stash and I cam across another King Tiger. I thought I had cannibalized parts from it for my E-50, but no. It was all intact, sans box. So I thought, twice is nice...



Ordered another grille set from BNA. The second KT needs it zimm applied to the hull and the my initial KT just needs some welds before I can paint. Half day at work for me tomorrow, and two days off. So here's to looking to some modelling time. Happy 4th of July.

Slapped on a 4 colour camo scheme. Will tone it down with weathering but I want to keep this one light as I want to depict a relatively fresh tank ready to enter its baptism of fire.

Schwimmy the Schwimmwagen is there to show just how humongous this kitty is.

Bryan,
She looks great! Love the dark scheme.

Gaz

Looking good!

Time to get started. I'm doing Zvezda's Panther ausf. D. (3678).




I had bought this kit to use in a collapsed bridge dio. It had position-able suspension arms. The tracks are length and link and bottom runs are molded flat. So that shattered that idea...at least using this kit. I'll put the idea on the back-burner for now and maybe grab a Tamiya Panther.

This kit is not an Italeri reboxing. And in general, it looks pretty nice. Zvezda has taken some different approaches to engineering this kit than other manufacturers have. The kit supplies a partial turret interior, which you really cannot see. Instructions are pretty crowded at times so it's best to take your time.

But let's to work

Construction starts off differently. Zvezda has you start with the turret first, ass opposed to the lower hull and running gear like most manufacturers.
The cupola goes together well. I would go ahead and paint the interior and vision block bezels before you put it all together.


Turret rear plate. The rear hatch is pretty typical...and it's designed to be movable. The problem is that it does not want to open. The arm won't clear the hatch opening to allow it to swing open. This limits the already limited view of that interior detail or the chance of posing a crewman hanging out the rear.


Speaking of interior detail...it's not a complete interior but it's not a bad start. You won't be able to see it anyway. Here are the fittings for the turret walls. Those ejector marks really show in those pictures.



Turret basket. Not bad.



Most of the turret details added. Turret sitting on basket to get a look at.


Some of the gun, suspension, and smoke launchers. Zvezda has the sub-assemblies jumbled together.


But they do go together pretty good. I did leave the smoke grenades out of the launchers for now.


Suspension arms added. This is where you need to take it slow as there are three different types of arms. They are mostly located on the sprues together and it would be easy to get them mixed up.


Drive sprockets, mounts, and idlers.


Zvezda did something neat with their hull sponsons. They connected them with three spars so they are all one piece. Side skirt brackets are delicate. I broke one removing it.


Assembled. Zvezda loses points on the skirts by molding them as a single solid pieces for each side. It would have been nice to have each panel individually done in thinner plastic.


And that's where I am right now. I'm seriously debating on painting the turret interior. It's not really going to be seen. I'll have to think on it.

Nice progress, Alex! Looking good.

Great builds so far, everyone! It is really inspiring to see so many people working on a similar subject.

Here's my entry to the campaign: Meng's Leopard 2A7



...and this is where I'm am at after two afternoons:


A great kit so far with some flash in the most unexpected places and a so-so plastic hardness.

Nice! I normally prefer to model WWII subjects but damn if the Leopard 2 isn't one hell of a pretty kitty.

Looking great, Cristian!

Really interested in the 2A7build as this is on my want list.

I applied the base coat on this tonight.

Thank you! I have built the Leopard 2A4 and 2A5 in 1/72 before but they do look good in 1/35, as well

Dustin, that's going to be a real eye catcher when done!

Started the camo. I'm really liking this red brown only color. I don't know if I'll add the green or not.

It does look pretty, Dustin.

Gaz

That looks great, Dustin! I think the green would add some more interest (aside from accuracy) when all is being blended together and weathered.

Looks neat! I kinda like just the yellow and brown schemes; very tigery, less is more..yadda yadda..

On the flip side, I screwed up my decals and now I'm all out of balkenkreuz decals.. oh fuddlecakes

Yeah you guys are right. It definitely needs green.

Dustin, I would leave it as it is. I like the scheme as it is now.

It looks good Dustin,as far as accuracy,there is some support for Jagdtiger 331 just being yellow and red brown.Thats how Jim Hensley built his in MMIR'S "The Modelers Guide to Jagdpanzer",so if you like it I wouldn't worry about it.

Dustin- Your first reaction was to really like the yellow and brown. Go with that and don't second guess yourself. I have found that my first impression of how a paint job is going is usually spot on. Good luck.

Fellas, thank you very much for the words of encouragement! It's very much appreciated!

@Dustin: You should go with whatever satisfies YOU! We are here to share OUR points of view and opinions but it doesn't mean these are any better then yours. It's your model in the end

I spent about six more hours cleaning and assembling the tracks. Not as bad as it might sound!