A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

[Jnewboy]

A few weeks back I got an order for a Porsche King Tiger, one of my personal favorites, and one in one of my favorite schemes, the classic "Anneliese" in winter white wash over camo. As I started unboxing the Henglong Porsche Kingtiger and I remembered that I have another Porsche King Tiger, it is a Trumpeter static full interior version that is desperately in need of a new paint job! So I have decided to do them together, exactly the same! Obviously the challenge is to get the Henglong up to the standard of the Trumpeter kit.

The first step was to apply ATAK zimmerit kits to each tank, the Henglong version went on fine as you can see in the pictures until I got to the gun Mantel, the gun Mantel on the Henglong Porsche is this sloped sleek looking thing that is totally wrong and ATAK made their kit to accommodate this mistake. Im not a "rivet counter" but its just to far off for my taste and so my first thought was to grind it down, and then sculpt it into the general right shape and then do the zimmerit coat by hand over that section. As you can see I got it ground down but then had a better idea! I was worried that my hand zimmerit would be noticeable against the fine work of the ATAK kit so I came up with a solution, the trumpeter ATAK kit has the correct gun mantel as a solid replacement part, why not copy it and use it on both tanks! So as you can see in the pictures I made a mold of that part and now have one for each tank. Much more to come! This will be a fun build!

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

[Jimster]

Very clever! If this is any indication of how much effort you’ll be putting into this project the results should be spectacular. Definitely going to follow this thread.

[Jnewboy]

Very clever! If this is any indication of how much effort you’ll be putting into this project the results should be spectacular. Definitely going to follow this thread.

Thanks Jim! Your Tiger is looking great!!

[PershingLover]

I agree, the Porsche turret looks nice. Never mind the giant shot trap, of course. Anxiously awaiting another amazing build!

[Jnewboy]

I agree, the Porsche turret looks nice. Never mind the giant shot trap, of course. Anxiously awaiting another amazing build!

Yes, obviously Ferdinand Porsche assumed that the allies would be so overtaken by the beautiful curves that they would be unable to fire! Its the same with the Maus, the front of that turret is a dysfunctional thing of beauty, Porsche's curves are still legendary and are on full display in their cars, I've noticed even Mercedes Benz has started copying Porsche's rear end for their latest models like the 2020 CLS.

[Jnewboy]

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

As you can see the mating ritual between kits worked out great! I simply sliced off the tip of the Henglong mantlet and glued it to the ATAK mantlet and then plugged the barrel in, no glue as this way it can be removed easily for shipping. Next is the ATAK kit for the Trumpeter Kit then the details on the Henglong will begin.

[LordPanzer]

I loved what you did a few months back on the "what if" Panther build. Cant wait to see what you work up on this one !

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Jnewboy]

I loved what you did a few months back on the "what if" Panther build. Cant wait to see what you work up on this one !

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Thanks! This one is going to be based on a real tank, so its actually going to be harder to do it correctly. There have been a lot of builds of this tank and frankly most have been lacking to say the least or a list of what not to do.

Look at this one:
4604542115 by jon newsom, on Flickr

At first glance it looks ok but then you remember that they whitewashed over the track links and tools. The whitewash should be over camo, and its far to neat on the turret, remember that they did not whitewash with a spray gun, they used brushes, brooms, rags, what ever they could find so getting it in all those ridges in the Zimmerit is wrong. Then we get to the actual name Anneliese, the color & font are wrong and the decal is even crooked. Speaking of the decals the color and font for the numbers are wrong and the cross is even wrong as it had a solid black cross. These mistakes could have been easily avoided.

By the way I am not in anyway criticizing the builder, it takes a lot of time to become proficient at modeling and much more to become advanced. My first models were... well not the best to say the least, the only reason I got better was some harsh critics and a lot of education with a little trial and error mixed in.

So Please, take no offence

Photo of the real thing:
4604542165 by jon newsom, on Flickr


Where the mistakes are difficult to avoid is using the correct camo undercoat colors and weathering the whitewash correctly. Mine will be based on these photos but at a future time when the ground has thawed and the thick mud is present while white wash is wearing away.

WWII German King Tiger Tank (Porsche Turret) "Anneliese" by FEI-CHUN YING, on Flickr

This one is much better however this modeler still made the white wash to thick for this time of season (early spring due to mud).



This one is interesting, it suffers from the opposite problem, the camo is fading without any trace of mud and they did not whitewash the tools. I like the figures and how the camo on the tank plays with their camo outfits.

Thoughts?

[Jnewboy]

Today I spent 3 hours deconstructing the Trumpeter King Tiger. I know RC enthusiasts may not appreciate it but I love the detail of the Trumpeter models interior portions. Tearing it down was harder than I thought it would be but now its ready for the ATAK Zimmerit coat.

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Untitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Much more to come

[Estnische]

That’s great Jon. I’ve always wondered how much of these Trumpeter interiors could be retained in a RC tank. Thinking about a T34.