Takom King Tiger Cutaway 1/35 WIP by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

I have made the initial cutouts on the kit's hull, I want to expose several areas of the model in a similar manner to my previous Tiger I cutaway model. Luckily with this kit, I won't have to do much/if any scratchbuilding to replicate missing parts for this kit.
Takom King Tiger Cutaway 1/35 WIP by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

So far with this kit, I have only had a couple issues, the turret was slightly warped, and so was part of the upper hull(it was warped when I got it out of the box, not after cutting). Unfortunately for the turret, it was too late, as I glued the roof on with CA glue, so there is a slight misalignment with the front right portion of the turret roof. For the hull, I am unsure what to do, I attempted to heat it with a hairdryer, and that worked to some extent, though I could use hot water, but It is still manageable to work with, though really don't want to damage the upper hull as I have spent around 5 hours carefully removing material so both cut out parts of the hull line up correctly.
If needed, I could glue it to the hull, though I want to keep it removable.

Takom King Tiger Cutaway 1/35 WIP by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Also another question, I am wondering about the upper part of the upper glacis plate, it seems like for the when the mold was milled for my kit they forgot to have the correct tool path, as it is roughed out, as you can see by the stepped lines, and they forgot to finish with a smaller cutter bit, to complete it. This isn't too big of an issue, as it can just be filled with putty.

Takom King Tiger Cutaway 1/35 WIP by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Hopefully these will be the only issues I have, as this kit looks beautiful on both the interior and exterior. Also this may be a very long term project, as this has 17 sprues worth of parts, and the previous Tiger I build took me about 3 months to complete, and with what's left of my Christmas break from college, this may not see completion until summer, maybe I can complete most of the lower hull/ engine bay over the rest of break.

very neat cutting

Some more progress on the interior of the hull, only a couple minor issues with the cross member ribs on the hull floor. The way the parts are assembled in the instructions is rather odd, as you attach the cross members , then build the outer walls of the hull, this lead to some issues (angling/ misalignment) with the main stringers that run down the hull, also some minor issues with affixing part Q59 (the lubrication zerks on the radio operator's side), as with the instructions have you affix them to the wall, then place it in the hull with the side wall. So far I only had one part break, part A7, a small grab handle for the escape hatch, for some reason when it is molded on the sprue, there are two massive sprue gates to a tiny handle, when one was cut, it applied force to the other half that was connected, and broke and flew off somewhere into the carpet monster. So I did my best to find something close to the .45mm thickness of the handle, and replaced the broken one with .68mm styrene rod. Also I found a good reference of the potential flaws of this kit, and I am not alone with the warped hull/ current issues.

some pieces are dry fit, I may be able to apply a coat of hull primer, so I can affix them and work elsewhere on the model.
Takom King Tiger cutaway WIP 1/35 by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Takom King Tiger cutaway WIP 1/35 by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Here you can see the issue with the warped hull in the front, to fix the back, I will glue the rear plate to the upper hull, this should fix that problem, but I don't think it will be possible to fix this issue in the front.
Takom King Tiger cutaway WIP 1/35 by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

A week's worth of progress, I took these photos last friday, prior to heading back to college, unfortunately they aren't the highest quality. Though I would say it was a successful break, accomplishing a majority of the build, I did a rough sprue + PE piece count, and it was around 900+ parts, easily over 1K with the decals included.The only major bits left to do are turret details, and the ammunition. I have also begun some basic scratchbulding for the kit's flawed transmission The major features that are missing from the transmission are the reverse/forwards lever, plate mounted on the drivers side of the transmission, and some small details on the front are also missing. So far I have made the mount for the steering wheel. I drilled the hole for the lever on the side of the transmission as well, would anyone know of a good technique for forming knobs on the end of rod? I thought about using CA glue and dipping the rod in it, and let it cure, as a round structure usually forms.

A 1/16 Trumpeter transmission for reference (not mine).

1/35 Takom king tiger transmission steering bracket by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Takom king tiger transmission steering bracket by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Takom king tiger transmission steering bracket by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Takom King tiger cutaway WIP by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Takom King tiger cutaway WIP by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Takom King tiger cutaway WIP by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

You are doing a SUPERB job on that cutaway KT!

Cheers,
Joe

Great work! Those colors are spot on right.