ATAK Zimerit

[sassgrunt]

I am building a late Tiger I, and decided to take the coward's way out to make the zimmerit. I bought the ZM-1603 set from Atak, and really liked what I received. Along with the sheets of zimmerit, they give you replacement plastic parts for a new mantlet, turret vision ports, and a turret escape hatch.

You apply the zimmerit sheets with super glue, and everything went well until I got to the sheet for the left side of the turret. It has a large circular cutout for the pistol port, (which, on the real Tiger, was phased out by the time zimmerit came along). They also give you a circular 'patch' that fits in this cutout, but I could not get it to look like anything other than a patch. I didn't have confidence that I would be able to blend it in with putty, so the whole project just sat & stagnated.

I wrote to Waldemar at Atak, and he said that the set was designed for the Tamiya kit, (which comes with the pistol port), but that he has updated the kit to include a new left-side turret sheet. He sent me one at no charge.

I have not seen this kind of support from a manufacturer before, and just wanted to share the experience with you. I am very satisfied, and will buy from them in the future. -Mike

[tanks_for_the_memory]

That's a good experience to share. Atak are definitely an up-and-coming manufacturer with some nice add-on kits. It's not just zimmerit: they also do extras for the HL Stug for example...

[MichaelC]

I am also very impressed with their product. The first one from them was the Elephant zim which was really design for the Hooben as it has plastic replacement parts for the tougher parts (circular zim for the glacis plate bolts etc) but I have no problem adopting them to the Asiatam Elephant. The zim was so easy to work with and looks amazing. I have since also purchased their waffle pattern ones for my Stug III. Great products.

[huntpe1]

Has anyone fitted a set to a HL King Tiger and if so which set and how was the fit please .

[jukebox]

Has anyone fitted a set to a HL King Tiger and if so which set and how was the fit please .

Hi huntpe1,

I've bought two sets of the ATAK zimmerit, one for the HL KIng Tiger and one for my Torro metal King Tiger, so far I've only fitted it to the Torro King Tiger. It isn't a perfect fit but with a little bit of trimming it goes on nicely. I used epoxy adhesive for gluing mine on, use the stuff that has a 30 minute setting time and spread it on thinly, this gives you enough time to move the sheets around to get a good fit. If you look at the pic of the rear hull plate you can see where it's been trimmed, where there were gaps I trimmed pieces of off cuts from the pieces I'm not going to use to fill in, I reckon by the time it is painted and weathered these won't be noticeable.

DSCF3453.jpg (58.99 KiB) Viewed 1473 times

[MichaelC]

I purchased thier kit for the Tiger 1 (Tamiya) and a Panzer IV, I agree with MichaelC, they are excellent.. I am going to get the kit for the Elephant next.. I must say, I am not real crazy about glueing them to the hull, I hate superglue... super glue gets brittle with age.. Thouh I have not installed any of thier kits yet, the quality (for resin products) is top notch! I test fitted parts and it was spot on..
I am sure the Kit for the Tamiya would work for the HL, that is if HL is 100% true 1/16 like the tamiyas are, still I am sure it would work just fine as like the tamiya kit, you would require to do a bit of fitment. I say go for it! its only money

Cheers!

I did use superglue and they do get brittle, but what I find is that when they get brittle and chip off, it actually gives it the weathering look as the real thing dries up and chips off as well. I have not use the Atak for the KT, but I did convert the Tamiya KT Zimmerit kit for the Matarro Jadgtiger and I am not crazy about it. First of all the Tamiya one is basically a stick-on decal, so it is very difficult to adjust, and the texture is not enough for any kind of realistic effect.

Eastern Front, the Atak kit for the Elephant still has the early style of the zimmerit where the back quarter panel runs vertical rather than horizontal thru out as in the later version. I like it myself but if you are doing a late version you have to be aware of it.

[jarndice]

Just read a top recommendation on another forum for ATAK aftersales service. I love it when a company goes the extra mile for a customer. shaun