Thought I would share the hot iron zim progress on my T2 "Porsche Turm"

Step 1: Mark out the vertical lines to scale (2.5 - 3.0 mils)


Step 2: Begin by "drawing" in the pattern, holding the iron at 30 degrees and pulling backward:


Step 3: well on the way:




I used this method on my late T1:


Scaling the pattern is absolutely essential for realism. I urge you all to give it a try. Those $30.00 cavalier sets add up!

Steve

Although I'm no great fan of the hot iron method ( firm believer in putty, me ) you're zimmerit looks very convincing. You're very brave using the ' one slip and you're b&&&rd ' method. Looking forward to see some paint on this.

Cheers
Henk

Oh, by the way Steve, how long does it take you to do a KT like this?

Cheers
Henk

Steve,

thanks for sharing. It looks great!

Your zimmerit work is very impressive, and really looks the part. Tell me, how do you ensure that your vertical lines are spaced/aligned properly? Do you draw them on with a pencil, first?

EDIT: Quite sorry; had I read more closely I would have discovered my answer to the above questions!

Are flaws absolutely unrepairable, or do you have a technique to repair them?

Steve,

I love this method. I plan on using it on my next build. One question though, have you ever tried to modify the tip of the iron so it is flat with the proper width and thickness to just press the iron instead of "drawing" the iron across the plastic? Just thinking that it may be easier.

Let me know what you think

Cheers

Branden

Guys,

Remember one thing, at 15W, you can slip all you want, you won't do any damage. If you dont make a convincing stroke, just go back over it and remelt. This is the third model I have done this way, I can't screw it up. The iron is not near hot enough to burn through your styrene.

Henk:

It takes about 2 hours to do a large tank such as this Tamiya Tiger.

Cheers,

Steve

It does look great, but it is too long and tedious a process, plus the cost to buy the equipment. If you are paying $30 for Cavalier, then you don't know where to shop. I get mine for hafl that and if you get the 2 sheet generic set you have enough to do 2 -3 vehicles. Snip snip here, snip snip there thats how we Zimm in the merry old land of OZ

Sorry couldn't resist the chance to clown a bit

Hey Stevo,

I think your just spoiled by all thenew Cavalier and Atak stuff released lately. Seriously, the iron is about $10 bucks, not really a "signifigant" cost when compared to zim sets such as the recently released set for the Dragon late Tiger. Plus, you and I know it takes a little more than just a snip snip here and there when using sheet resin zim. Complex angles and curves require measurement, and try to fit resin sheet zim around the Tiger or Panther front slope machine gun blister....That ain't workin!

As far as being meticulous, well, you need to try this on some scrap before making that judgement ol buddy. I'm not kidding, hot melting is really fast once you've practiced and know what you are doing. But hey, to each his own in our glorious hobby. Good to hear from you and happy zimming!

Steve

Seeing this makes me powerfully tempted to try this. I'm not much of a German armor fan, but I'm intrigued by the challenge of doing zimmerit by hand. (Gosh, I"ve got that Tamiya Panther G kit buried away somewhere...)

So are you using one of those 'hot knife/soldering irons' sold by Xacto, or something similar? Have you experimented with using Xacto blades instead of the tip you use? In the past I've thought about Milliput, and I have Tamiya's 'zimmerit combs' (still on the fret), but having messed with milliput before for other purposes, it seems to me to be no easier than what you're doing.

Your zimmerit looks quite good, but I think it´s not realistic due to the fact, that it is in the "steel" (=plastic), so on edges where Zimmerit surfaces hit non-zimmerit ones it looks quite strange...