RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

The 1/16 Full option Königstiger comes with two sheets of zimmerit. Assuming it is applied and painted properly, does zimmerit improve the KT's appearance? Tamiya provide a few examples of actual historic KTs from WW2, some with zimmerit- others without- to base the model on. The turret already has a nicely 'pitted' exterior, and would look good 'au naturel', so to speak, and this makes the choice difficult....
I suppose, when there's a zimmerit kit with the tank, there's a temptation to use it so as to squeeze the maximum value out of the package....especially as these packages are never cheap..Any thoughts?
After the Cromwell, I've decided to build the Tamiya KT...and it's already on the stocks in my imagination.. This Damned addiction...

I would recommend not using the Tamiya KT Kit Zimmerit Sheets. They do not look that good, even well applied, and not many people have bothered to use them over the years.

Visit here for alternative finish ideas:

http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/kingt ... _frame.htm

You could always sell the zimmerit sheets on - I was on the market for them a couple of months ago.
I like the look of zimmerit on my HL Königstiger- I don't consider that I made a good job of it though

I preffer to make my own zimmerit. I attach a couple of photos. That's an early painting stage, now the tank has a three color camo and so on.

The atak king tiger zimmerit is excellent!

Hmmm..well, still undecided. Yes, Tom, I've heard good things about the Atak Zimmerit. I'll need more research on that one when the project goes 'live'..However, the problem with the Tamiya version, I read somewhere, is that if you make a balls up of it, it's very difficult to remove. While HL parts are relatively inexpensive to replace (relative to Tamiya, that is), Tamiya bits definitely aren't. That makes getting the decision right all the more critical.
Thanks for the pics, Rad. You've done a fine job there, although it looks as if the tank's been attacked by zimmerit-hungry moths Personally, I'm not in the beaten up/ war damaged camp as some here are. Several distinguished contributors here have turned the 'abandoned tank look', or ' the peppered panzer' almost into a separate art form. I couldn't match their models, even if I wanted to.
I prefer the recently-off-the-production line appearance; maybe with a few oil leaks here and there, light weathering (blending) as well as shadowing from exhaust gases.
Artistic Hobbies made a good fist of the Tamiya zimmerit here:
http://www.artistichobbies.com/resource ... tiger9.php Now, If I had that talent, i'd certainly clank down the old Zimmerit trail....

Samurai Modeler wrote:I would recommend not using the Tamiya KT Kit Zimmerit Sheets. They do not look that good, even well applied, and not many people have bothered to use them over the years.

Visit here for alternative finish ideas:

http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/kingt ... _frame.htm

Thanks for the link. That's an interesting and instructive webpage. My only reservation is that when zimmerit was bonded to tanks, it rarely came off, and was seldom patchy unless the tank had absorbed some battle damage. Even then, until the decision was made to stop adding the coating to new tanks, in the autumn of 1944, I imagine that the the bits that had been blasted off would have been repaired along with the metal substrata. That's my understanding, but I could be wrong.

I have managed to retain a few more working brain cells than would otherwise be the case because I have avoided "Zimmerit",
And you have an excellent excuse to not apply it to your next masterpiece,
The Tiger 2 was a late arrival on the battlefield and not too long after, some pen pusher in a Berlin office realised that the anti magnetic mine paste "Zimmerit" was not working very well mostly because the only users of magnetic mines was the German Armed Forces.
Although those cheating Russian fellows were not unknown to dig them up and reuse them against the enemy.
So a lot of late production Armour, not only Tigers left the factory free of "Zimmerit".
Shaun.

jarndice wrote:I have managed to retain a few more working brain cells than would otherwise be the case because I have avoided "Zimmerit",
And you have an excellent excuse to not apply it to your next masterpiece,
The Tiger 2 was a late arrival on the battlefield and not too long after, some pen pusher in a Berlin office realised that the anti magnetic mine paste "Zimmerit" was not working very well mostly because the only users of magnetic mines was the German Armed Forces.
Although those cheating Russian fellows were not unknown to dig them up and reuse them against the enemy.
So a lot of late production Armour, not only Tigers left the factory free of "Zimmerit".
Shaun.

Thanks, Shaun, after this erudite spot of input, the scales are now leaning slighty in the 'no zimmerit' direction. As for 'masterpiece', (and cheers for the unwarranted flattery ),the prime objective really is not to make a 'mess-terpiece'

I have the atak zimmerit on my King Tiger. Going to get some generic sheets for the jagdpanzer iv as the supplies stuff is pooh