Hi I have purchase this kit. Opened the box and thought oh there lots in the box. a bit daunting with lots of etch.
My main thought at the moment is Zimmerit on the chassis. I can do it will putty etc. but was wondering if any aftermarket bits available or ones meant for other kit would fit.

Thanks in advance

Rye Field is not very popular with after market manufacturers, so I wouldn't expect to find a zimmerit kit available soon. That being said, most resin zimmerit kits do not fit well, out of the box, even on the kits they are made for, simply due to shrinkage and warpage of resin, so some cutting and fitting is necessary. My suggestion is to go with putty, it gives the best look in my opinion, is the most long lasting and gives the model your signature "look". And Tiger zimmerit is easy to replicate. If this is not an option, go with Atak or Cavalier resin, it will work with some putty, and PE options only as a last resort. The resin decal zimmerit for Tiger I (Tamiya/DEF Model) may be a good and cheap option as well although I didn't really like the look of the Meng ones for Tiger 2(the only ones I had a chance to look at closely). Just my 2 cents...

Atak Model makes very nice Zimmerit from ultra thin resin sheet. It worked very nice for my Fehrman Tigers. Seen they offer for Sturmtigers a set, but for a Tamiya kit. For accuracy I can't recall. But a little bit of measuring and cutting and you have the job done I guess.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Hi!

Your best option, IMO, is to go with a DIY zimm coat. The subject vehicle is a pretty good one for doing this, in that most of the zimm'd surfaces are flat and easier to sculpt then if you were working a turret and gun mantel.

Putty does work, but I always go a very different route...

I use the ready-mixed dry-wall compound available in small tubs at Home Depot and other home centers. I mix it with a little latex wall-paint (don't have any at home? Just pick up a free wall-paint sample from the paint dept at HD or Lowes!).

The latex paint adds some "plasticity" and robustness to the otherwise soft plaster. The plaster is fine-enough grain to nicely mimic the granularity of real zimm in 1/35th scale. The mix goes on and adheres nicely to any styrene hull without sanding or other prep, and it does NOT damage that plastic surface in any way. It is completely safe to use, dries pretty fast, and is readily sculpted with any rake or other tool that you use with putty. It's all-water clean-up. Oh, and it is CHEAPER than any putty.

There are a couple of other specific properties of this mix which, I think, make it ideal for this use: 1) Real zimm "spalls" and chips off the hull with bullet strikes. You can easily and very realistically chip and spall this model zimm. 2) Real zimm has a specific color-range. You can use any tint or paint-color and get a very realistic material color in your zimm. This means that spalls and chips look RIGHT without additional painting or coloring. 3) The stuff goes on over both styrene and paint surfaces, so you can actually do a "before zimm applied" paint layer - whether that be primer, base-color, or (and possibly well applicable to SturmTiger, which were built using mostly used Tiger hulls, which had previously been camouflage-painted...) some prior camo coat. And chipping the zimm will nicely reveal that under-color! 4) Once on and dry, it is both extremely stable (does not shrink or out-gas over time) and takes any sort of paint well. And last but certes not least... 5) This stuff can be removed by chipping and washing off. VERY useful if you find that you don't like your first attempt(s)...

It's my only way to do zimm.

Just a suggestion!

Bob

not all STs had zimm.
this one does not-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-B-W-Photo-German-Sturmtiger-Abandoned-Sturmpanzer-VI-WW2-World-War-4082-/263360616479
Dan

I've been researching the Sturmorser VI for about a year now, in preparation for building my Tamiya 1/35 version. The photo above is one of two known Sturmtigers that didn't have Zimmeritt. This particular one was captured by the Americans or British, the other similar one was captured by the Russians. The peculiar identifying characteristics of this vehicle and it's sister captured by the Russians are the bolted on front glacis armor (there is another photo on the internet showing this same vehicle from the opposite side angle which better shows the conical bolts holding the glacis armor), the front hull towing clevis mounting (an early Tiger hull), and the two-piece counterweight on the barrel. The Russian captured one currently resides in the Kublinka Museum in Russia, I'm not sure where the one in this photo ended up, if it was saved at all. It also appears that these two might have been the prototype and second Sturmtiger manufactured. The remainder (I think 16 of them) used both the early and late Tiger I chassis, without the bolt on armor and with differences in the front clevis mount "cheeks" (an identifying mark for early and late hulls). I think the RFM kit is a later hull version, with a one-peice counter weight on the tube, and without the bolt on armor, which means it would likely have had Zimmeritt. I've searched for photos of Sturmorsers without Zimm, but I've only found these two. We apparently don't have photos of all 18 Sturmorser VI's that were built, but what there is shows Zimmeritt on the great majority-- I've counted at least eight separate vehicles (there are more photos than that, but some of these photos are the same vehicles from different angles). That does leave at least 10 vehicles unaccounted for in photos, so it may be possible there were others that didn't have Zimmeritt-- we may never know for sure. The same goes for camouflage patterns. Of the known photos, all of them seem to have different variations in camouflage, or no camouflage at all (except for the armor-yellow base coat). Of course, I've only researched what's on the internet so far, and there may be a trove of wartime photos somewhere yet to be discovered. There are a couple of books on Tiger variants, but those are eluding me right now.
VR, Russ

The Sturmtiger in the Deutsches Panzermuseum does not have zimmerit; there are a few other known examples.

I think you have the green light to build it without zimmerit if it saves you some trouble.

If you want to buy zimmerit, Atak is the best IMO; they have a set for the AFV Club kit and the Tamiya kit; either would probably work on the RFM kit with some minor tweaking.

IMO, most "do it yourself" zimmerit jobs look horrible, so proceed down that path with caution.

We need to be careful with museum vehicles, as they are seldom restored to "mint" condition. The vehicle in the Deutches museum was captured by the Americans and transported to APG. It is believed that it did have Zimmeritt, but it was removed at some point during the restoration process in the past. There have been some discussions on line fairly recently about finding Zimmeritt remnants around the rear of the vehicle, near the towing pintle. I am not completely familiar with the RFM kit, so last night I checked out some CAD drawings on line and noted the CAD drawings show it with the "bolt-on" armor on the glacis plate-- which would make it one of the first two Sturmorsers--which did not have Zimmeritt (as far as is known). I suggest you do a search on the net for photos of those vehicles-- there are at least 6 that I've found, and those vehicles don't seem to have Zimmeritt or camouflage. There is also the video of the prototype Sturmorser Tiger in action at Warsaw in 1944.
VR, Russ

Hi all,

Thanks all for the replies and help. I will probably go with Muliput when I do the zimmerit. Have used this before. I remember many years ago using a knife and a candle to do zimmerit and ending up with burnt fingers.