KING TIGER 211,506 S.PZ.ABT,GERONSWEILER,DEC '44

[ronnie42]

Hi Herman is this ok . 1st one the trumpeter Atak zimmermet version for starters . Tamiya up next.

its about 11mm +or- 0.5 mm from bottom edge of hull to top of skirt fixing plates.

[ronnie42]

Hi Herman Missed out the single plate 2nd from rear here it is

[ronnie42]

Hi Herman The new tamiya drawing.

[ronnie42]

new KT rear skirt .

Hi Herman a pic to show the curve of the hull plate at rear you can see the 2 different curves . Forgot to say the plates for the skirt are lower as well 9 mm to the top and the last fixing is lower at 7mm. pic of last skirt shows last bolt hole lower.

[HERMAN BIX]

Hi Herman Is the plastic on the Tamiya as robust as the ABS stuff on the HL hulls? Was wondering about the heat on the plastic.

Fair call and Im about to find out !
I am assuming that as the Tamiya material is a lot thinner than Taigen or H/L that the effect of the zimmerit texture creating stress relief , causing curving of the surface will happen a lot easier.

[HERMAN BIX]

Thanks Mr Ronnie for the measurements. I have marked mine and will get onto them tomorrow.
I've just begun the process of moving house so things will get a bit hair-raising around me soon

Completed the zimmerit texture on the rear plate. It turned out pretty good, but yes, there is a lot of deflection due to the thin/flimsy material.
I had to superglue a brass angle on the inside upper edge to stiffen the top edge where the upper hull sits against it,otherwise there would be a curved gap and a cranky me
I think I will add a stiffener to the inside of the upper glacis plate too, it is very thin and will surely deflect once its surface is compromised.
Thanks to a care package from Mr Burger Patrol, I have also broken off, and replaced various detail parts such as the turret roof ventilator cover, the engine deck air intake cover, and added the turret front armour to the static KT project while I was at it.
The bits on my renovators dream were covered in glue remnants and enamel paint, plus I reduced a lot of the crisp details trying to sand off both . I just levered them off with a screwdriver & gave them the deep six.
If things go ok with the packing tomorrow I may even get red primer on the lower hull.

[HERMAN BIX]

That zim is very neat Herman

I'm guessing it's done with a hot screwdriver.

Well, good luck with your move, I hope all goes well.

Yes mate, its the hot screwdriver.
The Tamiya plastic is not as good as H/L or Taigen to use this method on though. I will need to be very careful doing the rest.
Move will be what moves are.............

In between packing today I got a bit of completion done on the lower hull.
Used gap filler on the lower glacis as my Tamiya putty would not stick
As it was almost cured, used the same screwdriver to add texture to it, and scraped a bit off to "emulate" damage I expect to be normal in that area.
Its way rougher than a putty or hot-melt method, but for where it is, who cares !
Later today I got the Mrs hairdryer out, warmed the surface(its been flogging with rain here all weekend) and went outside to get my intoxicating red oxide etch primer on it.
A small advance, but that smell !!..........
Now as Im on the underside of the world, the tank is indeed upside down............

[HERMAN BIX]

Been a 'slow news week'
Got a bit done here & there but its all about packing
Ive fitted the Tamiya tow cable and barrel cleaning rod holders to both sides, cut them into bits, drilled out the respective holes and I will run the tow cables through all the clamps & back into the clevice .
Or, run one cable and have the other one in the 'ready-use' position.

Also got one side of the turret zimmerited.
I decided not to include missing bits on the turret and very likely not much missing on the upper hull(if any) as this tank was fairly new to the field before it was captured. I can see there was what looks like a strike on the turret which may have knocked a bit of zimmerit off, but I think the complete coverage should be more in line with this machine while it was in action.
I will admit that this Tamiya plastic is not as good for this technique as the stuff I'm used to, but its still quite effective.
The remnants of the enamel paint also didnt help with the melting process.

Pretty happy with the outcome

[Son of a gun-ner]

That looks really good

You have definitely proven that the screwdriver technique gives a more realistic look than the stick on sheets

In the real world it was applied by hand, so wouldn't have a perfect machined uniformity.

Was zimmerit ever applied to the porsche KT's?

[HERMAN BIX]

Yes, apparently all the Porsche versions apart from the soft steel prototype were coated.

The curved section of the turret sides were a challenge, gently rolling the screwdriver tip across each line of texture , so as for risk over reward, I like the result.
Once I get the rest of the cable clamps from Mr Hugil I can secure them & do the hull .