Tiger 412 - s.pz.abt 506 - Ardennes Offensive

[mt 1]

totaly awesome detail,excellent work

[grim_marmazet]

Thanks for the comments guys. I only went into super detail because there's so much avaliable for the Tiger, especially Aber's impressive set! The only problem I have is now my King Tiger will have to be as detailed to match! lol At least it'll be easier.
Cheers,
Rik

[grim_marmazet]

The rear armour is nearly finished now! I have almost finished the jack and mounts. I'm waiting on some 0.8mm threaded bolts from Scale Hardware to use the thread on the mounts. Then they'll be fully functional, if delicate, including tiny butterfly nuts.

First up the jack itself. I've used the extra bits from the Aber set, and added a more accurate handle thanks to oz's photos. I still have to add the rest of the rivets, this is a slow process as im cutting them off there threads and then CA gluing them in place. But apart from the rivets, its done.


I've put together the mounts as well, which took quite a while, and also contributed towards the loss of my eye sight.


And a quick close up of the clamp for the handle, which is also functional.


I need to add the clamps for the starter handle and the small strips to hold up the mudflaps. I also want to make another jerry can rack on the back above the toolbox.
Thats all for now, i'll show more once I get the threads on.
Cheers,
Rik

[littletankman]

Hi Rik . Now thats very impressive mate . That jack infact the muonts to are extreamly good mate keep up the good work .

Andy

[xrad]

how do you do the small welds??? (if you don't mind telling)

[grim_marmazet]

The small welds are part of the photo etch set from Aber. They look even better with a little coat of Mr. Surfacer 500 and then painted. All other welds are done with milliput rolled into a flat sheet the cut into strips and put in place with a damp cocktail stick.
Hope that helps,
Rik

[grim_marmazet]

After a fair bit of repetative work I got the jack finished. The rivet heads took ages, and I replaced the triangular foot with the square one from a King Tiger jack, which is more like the actual thing.



And a picture in the clamps on the rear. I did unfortunately break the handle clamp, so I need to replace that, but i've come up with a better way to put them together.


Both exhaust shrouds are on now, held on with 1mm bolts onto plasticard mounting points. They're just begging for some battle damage!


I added the lifting lugs to the armoured exhaust covers, as these parts are strangley missing from both the Tamiya kit and the Aber set. They were made from some styrene rod, and slices from one of the sprue rods. They look a tad shabby in the pics, but will look much better with some welds and paint.



Thats all for tonight folks. I've been working on some jerry cans from Imperial Modelbau, but the resin casting is pretty awful on them, and they have taken a lot of cleaning up. If anyone knows where I can get really detailed water and fuel cans from, please let me know. I've been looking at the Andrew Design ones, they look really nice, but really hard to get hold of. I want to add some to the back, and some c-clamps. Oh and of course the obligatory eimer bucket!

I have been thinking about a fuel barrel. I've been reading Battle of the Bulge: Then and Now, and the Germans were always short of fuel, so I imagine the crews would carry whatever they could get their hands on.

Cheers,
Rik

[littletankman]

Hi Rik. looking good mate very good . I remembered those lifting lugs to on my HL Tiger . That Jacks very impressive mate.

Andy

[xrad]

ummm....I am not trying to make more work for you OR criticize your awsome work, ...I thought these jacks 20 ton have fold away handles for storage..unscrew them and then they collapse?

maybe I am wrong on the heavy duty ones???

pic by Armorpax

[grim_marmazet]

There were two main types of jacks, the fold away handle ones were used on a lot of vehicles, including the Panther and King Tiger, but the Tigers tended to have the standard fixed handle jacks like this one;



The one in your pic is a Panther designed one, you can tell by the 'foot' of the jack, and the clamps. There were a few designs, and they probably varied depending on when and what factory the were produced in.

Cheers,
Rik