Weld seams - King Tiger

[whitewolf]

Hi guys, I'm curious, does anyone do any aftermarket weld seams in etched or resin for the KT? Given the scale, I would be surprised if no one does?
Many Thanks

[Model Builder 4]

Hello whitewolf, I am not aware of anyone supplying ready made weld seams in 1/16 a method myself and many others on the forum use is to do them yourself using a putty such as vallejo model putty or milliput, you could also use small sections of spare sprues which can be melted using plastic weld and then shaped, I hope this may give you some ideas

Cheers,Lee.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Actually, I believe I recall seeing online somewhere cast weld seams for 1/16, but I don't even recall where to start looking. To me, Model Builder Lee's advice works best. I use putty, let it firm up just a bit, and patiently squish in "beads" with a tiny, flat tool (even a miniature screwdriver works). I think gluing in plastic cast seams would be more work and perhaps not suited to the variety of welds on an AFV.

[tankme]

1/16th scale is largely ignored by most manufacturers as far as aftermarket goes. There are so many more detail parts for smaller scales. Most of us do our own weld seems by the methods already listed (Milliput, Green Stuff, melted sprue/styrene rod softened with Tamiya extra thin cement). With all the various King Tigers out there made by different manufacturers it would even be hard to come up with a kit that applied to all of them.

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Shapeways is now offering 'weld seams' in varying
dimensions. May be worth a look if more traditional
methods aren't used.

[whitewolf]

Do you have a direct link?

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Here is one example: https://www.shapeways.com/product/LJ3BB ... arketplace

But there are others by the same vendor. Good luck, and if you go this route, maybe you could give us your assessment of the product.

[BarryC]

How wide, on average are weld beads on: WWII, Modern armor?

Are most weld beads on modern armor machine welds as opposed to manual?

Barry

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Thank you for the link, Schwerepanzer. I would never have remembered where I saw those.

[tankme]

How wide, on average are weld beads on: WWII, Modern armor?

Are most weld beads on modern armor machine welds as opposed to manual?

Barry

I would say most welds even on modern armor are done by hand. If you produce up to 1400 GMC SUVs in a plant per day and each weld needs to be aesthetically pleasing then I would say a robot would be a good solution. Seeing as most Abrams are made in a lot smaller batches than that I would say the added expense of a robot isn't worth it for most tasks. I don't remember seeing any welding robots in the Lima refurb plant for the Abrams.