HL KT Progress so far...

[PainlessWolf]

Hello Tankers.
Progress so far on my HL Porsche Turreted King Tiger:
Lower hull:
Metal tracks primed and painted
Asiatam metal suspension arms mounted
Road wheel shoulder bolts trimmed and heat tube wrapped and wheels remounted.
Metal Sprockets and Idlers primed and painted and remounted
Adjustable rear Idler mount and hull brace installed. *(Rear Idler shoulder bolt trimmed and sleeved)
Metal tow shackles painted and mounted
Motors run in and metal gear box lubed and tightened.
Jack and rear exhaust and back plate detailed and painted
(Nothing done to the rear mudflaps yet but I have an idea to drill through those chunky supports, slide them through and pin them from inside the hull to make sure they don't fall out)

Upper hull:
Headlight modded (sanded and shaped) and correct slit cover mounted (Tamiya)
Rear Lift mounts removed and news ones (Tamiya) remounted in correct orientation
Plastic formed grab handles on Hatches removed and home made metal ones installed (Thanks to Blimp for the idea)
Plastic antenna mount sanded down and cleaned up and drilled for correct scale working RC antenna and mount.

Turret:
Rear plastic formed hatch handle removed and home made metal one installed (again, two thumbs up to Blimp)

That where it sits so far. I've got vacation this week and when I return I'll get busy again. I've got a lot of tools, parts and metal bits to add yet. Buying a sprue of Tamiya King Tiger parts off of Ebay has helped in the realism dept quite a bit.
I'm on the fence about replicating this paint job over zimmerit or just leaving it be (Yes, no screaming, *chuckles* I do like the green camo and went so far as to get touch up and spray paint in that color) and do my usual factory fresh with enhanced welds bit again. Talk at you again soon. I never would have gotten this far without inspiration from all of you on this site.

Regards
Painless

[maxmekker]

Sounds good man , but where are all the pictures

[TankLover]

Excellent progress so far; And yes we need to see pictures

[PainlessWolf]

Morning all.
A few weeks ago I got out my lil' camera, one of the early Kodak digitals, to take pics of the Idler Tensioner\Brace install on this tank for Phil Flueger over at RCTankWars.com. He had mentioned wanting pics of the install on the HL KT since he hadn't seen it done with his parts yet. Well, long story short, the pics looked good on the view finder but were so blurry on the PC that I just scrapped them all.
Some Tanker with better camera knowledge can provide them. The setup worked and was basically the same as the install pics for the other make KT hull that came with the tensioner so no great loss to the Modeling world *chuckles* Ok, pics of my tank? I'll see if I can bum the Mate's Smart Phone and take a couple tonight and post them. That will be a pleasant break from packing for the trip.
regards,
Painless

P.S. Here is the one halfway decent pic from that earlier set. Timestamp is off. I've since replaced that kinked smoker tube with a more flexible type tubing I had laying around in my modeling toolbox.

[PainlessWolf]

Tankers,
A few Pics as requested. Pardon the dust, Mind the Gap, etc...
regards,
Painless

[PainlessWolf]

Tankers,
Vacation over and back at work. Here is the little mod I dreamed up to keep the rear mud guards from being lost in high brush (grass) or rough terrain. I put the guard in place and marked the spot where the tabs that went into the hull met the inner surface. I checked twice and used a fine tip Sharpie to mark the best spot for a drill through. The hole couldn't be too big or it would weaken the tabs. I removed the guard and used a 5/64 drill bit in a Dremel and drilled straight down through both tabs. A tiny drop of Super Glue was placed in the drill holes after the guard was fitted back on and a brown paneling brad was pushed through the tabs (I had looked for a good fastener earlier and the brad was the right diameter and length. No cutting needed) It was a perfect fit. The guard even swivels up and down normally. The second guard took even less time. Here are some pics of the finished mod.
regards,
Painless

P.S. I know some guys here would have built working scale hinges out of plastic stock. This works for me as it is strong and invisible after the deck is back in place.

[Reaper332]

Lookin good mate as for the hinges if your happy then thats all that matters......
Cheers Ken

[PainlessWolf]

Thanks, Reaper.
Apologies if I came off defensive over the hinges. You guys are incredibly talented to the point where I debate even showing off what I am doing. I may spend the money one day and get a Tamiya Panther or Jagdpanther or an all metal kit and go nuts on detailing it. I've already gone further with this KT than I had originally planned and now I'm just I'm looking forward to finishing this and having some fun with it. After that, I have tanks in the motor pool for repair and a 1\6 Stuart I've been waiting years to tear into.
Regards,
Painless

[Reaper332]

No apologies needed mate, I am also far from the talented guys on this site but its all about giving it a go and having fun at least thats what I think away.
Keep up the good work and look forward to seeing some pics.

Cheers Ken

[PainlessWolf]

Complete except for one small part I'm still trying to locate (Loader's hatch inner hand wheel) and painting the Hauptmann figure. WIll post pics on the 'Show Off' Topic by the weekend. Thanks again for all the encouragement.
regards,
Painless