Full metal (almost sturm tiger build) weathering begins!

[tomhugill]

Posting off the other forum:

I had a nice package through today, my asiatam sturm tiger kit from mr Danube is here! This is going to be mounted on one of the taigen late tigers I got a couple of weeks ago. I have a damaged mf-04 that has not recoil so that's been ear marked for this. Now I just need another three dmds and I'll be rocking!

The parts:


I'm also really surprised, but very impressed that this kit includes a traverse mechanism!

[tomhugill]

Stage one, butcher a HL tiger top and cut off the front fenders.



Its not pretty but none of this shows so it doesnt have to be!

Next Sand the casemate, using some alu filler stuff, seems to work although I probably need more ventilation! I used epoxy to bond the casemate to the upper hull hopefully this will give the required strength





Onto the mortar, the counter balance required about 30 minutes of very slow sanding to achieve a fairly tight press fit. As an aside, wear eye protection, you cant see those tiny bits of alu but I can tell you they're definitely there!





Still not sure if Ill add the counter weight but I now have the option!

[tomhugill]

 Some more quick ones showing the casemate mounted in the lower hull.





The gap at the front is covered by a pair of plates so I've decided to leave them as is as they won't be visible.

[tomhugill]

Some more progress, reworking some bits but it's actually a fairly easy job and most things go together ok.

My favourite part has been the winch, quite fiddly and without instructions I made a few mistakes first time round, however after studying some pictures it's done. The most awesome part is it all works! It's geared down and theres working bevel gears and everything!!





I've added some plasticard tabs to strengthen the bond between the casemate and hull.

Added the tabs on the front necessitated the removing the front mud guards and some minor rework and sanding.




Annoyingly the part of the lower that should mate up is warped so next up I've it to rectify this.


Next up is finishing the hatches and I need to order some more conical bolts as most of these are damaged. Also need to pin thé front mud guards as they're not very durable in their present state.

[tomhugill]

Calling this an update might be pushing it, however I've added the metal conical bolts and when I ran out I've nicked the ones off the resin casemate:

[tomhugill]

I've decided to use half my new tank modelbau PE skirts on this so the res of the skirt had to come off:





Andy (major disaster) sent me some excellent reference material on the strum tiger. From what I can tell blue Danube had the modernised prototype sturm in mind when this was started. At least it lacking the track hangers, has the correct counter weight and has the fixture for the air filters on the rear deck. Therefore I'm going to continue down this route, first off was restoring said fixture to the rear deck:

[tomhugill]

None of my parts turned up today However, gave me a chance to get busy with some details: by accident found an easy way to do the flame cutting marks. We shall see if it works on plastic! I also added the front light and the rollers on the wintch:

[PainlessWolf]

Good Afternoon.
This build is shaping up beautifully! That's a lot of metal in one vehicle. Tons of nice extras that came with the components. You should rig it to fire golf balls or cherry bombs ;o)
regards,
Painless Wolf

[tomhugill]

Party poppers could be fun!!!!

[Red Devils]

Sweet build, great details!!! What is it weighing in at?

Derek