Building a Mid-Production Normandy Tiger 1

[PainlessWolf]

Good Afternoon, Tanks,
Not the same vendor or material but these are excellent! I've bookmarked this site for future visits.
regards,
Painless

[scalawag]

Here's the address for the AFV Modeller shop:

http://shop.afvmodeller.com/customer/home.php?cat=387

You will notice that there are various other parts for the King Tiger, including tinted clear periscopes - is this what you meant Painless?

As you already know, I am a great admirer of David Parker's work. He's shortly going to publish a book on his Trumpeter 1/16 King Tiger build which should be well worth picking up.

Thanks for the link tanks.

What a great little shop, some really nice detail parts there.

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Yes, David Parker is an amazing guy - it seems as if he casts these pieces himself to order.

Now back to my own obsession...

Texture is everything

Mr Surfacer 1200 applied to the cupola and exhaust assemblies.jpg (43.32 KiB) Viewed 4062 times

Mr Surfacer 1200 - what's not to like? That crazy name for a start... I bought this a while back. It's basically a quick-drying light grey paint which flows quite freely for the first minute or two - but then allows you to stipple it with a brush. The idea is to make a roughened texture on plastic which gives the appearance of cast metal - or rust. There are several 'grades', but 1200 seems to be the most useful in 1/16 scale.

As well as the cupola I decided to try it on the exhausts. The collars that fitted around the lower part of the exhaust were cast pieces and I had already added the lifting lugs from plastic rod and plastic circles cut out with a punch and die set. These are even missing from the Tamiya Tiger. Elsewhere I added Mr Surfacer to the exhausts themselves and the inside of the top of the shrouds where rust would inevitably form. I only used it where it will be visible once the parts are assembled.

The texture paint applied to surfaces where a cast finish is needed - or where there will be rust.jpg (31.5 KiB) Viewed 4062 times

As far as the cupola itself is concerned I liberally applied Mr Surfacer but took care to avoid the weld beads, AA rail and other brass additions. I will see how it looks tomorrow, but I may have to sand it back a little so that the texture is not excessive. Oh yes, and that fiddly hatch stop behind the front periscope guard is proving problematic - for now I have replaced it with brass.

Close-up of the finish on the cupola - but not on the AA rail.jpg (32.1 KiB) Viewed 4062 times

Care was also taken to avoid the weld beads and various the brass fittings.jpg (30.52 KiB) Viewed 4062 times

The cupola is still not fixed in place - and will require a little more work to fit it snuggly where the Taigen cupola used to be.jpg (31.68 KiB) Viewed 4062 times

[jackalope]

Great googly moogly you're doing an AWESOME job on this thing!

[scalawag]

However, am I right in saying that this would have been one of the two MGs from the either the bow position of the co-axial mount? if so, would it have been the version with the armoured sleeve? Or were Tigers carrying a third, standard MG 34 at this stage of the war? David, I'm not throwing down a gauntlet, honest.

I think so Tanks,

I'm not sure if they used the bow, coax or a 3rd MG34, but as David has already said I have only seen them fitted to the AA mount with the armoured sleeve. I don't think anyone does a complete 1/16 MG34 with that armoured sleeve, but ABER do produce just the barrel:

http://www.axels-modellbau-shop.de/kata ... :5888.html

The detail on those open gurtsacks is fantastic by the way, mine arrived today. Thanks for the tip.

[HERMAN BIX]

could be that the pictures of the '34 - sans- sleeve in less than ideal pictures leads folks to believe they are '42's ?

As for the Mr Surfacer, I wonder how it would go tinted with the red oxide primer colour that is right for the German machines ?
might as well kill mulitple birds with a single projectile if its possible

[tanks_for_the_memory]

That's an interesting thought Herman - makes you wonder why they don't make a primer red version in the first place.

I'm not sure what Mr Surfacer is made of - it feels thick like oil paint, but it can't be since it dries so quickly. I suppose there's no reason why you couldn't mix in some red primer acrylic - although it may alter the properties. I have an idea that plain old PVA glue - which can be mixed easily with acrylic paint - might be just as effective.

When I get round to doing dried mud effects on the suspension and lower hull I'm planning to mix PVA with Artex powder (it's an old ceiling texture plaster here in the UK). My boys have been using this on their 1/35 scale tanks and it works a treat. It will probably work just as well for cast metal or rust effects in 1/16...

[Markocaster]

They make a mr surfacer spray red oxide primer 1200 I believe. But not the paint on type.

[HERMAN BIX]

C'mon Mr Tanks................if you dont "feed the need" I will have to resort to toilet duck or other mind altering substances to tide me over !!
This makes my hair fall out & my eye sight diminish................(oh,never mind, thats this hobby we do) but give us something,
"please Sir, may I have some more"

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Well, Herman, I feel the summer fever too. The only problem is that I'm currently experiencing the summer heat (which you are used to for more of the year than I) in the south of France where I am now poolside en famille. So a long way from my beloved project...

So there will be no more hands-on postings for the next two weeks I am afraid.

However, that doesn't mean that I cannot dream (and search and buy!)

The panzermantel question

So, as we have already established, the Tiger carried two MG34s. Each had a reinforced barrel for additional protection from shell splinters, etc. So whether the MG was being used in the hull or co-axial mounts - or the AA position - it should be the same type.

Here is a shot of an original MG34 recently for sale in the UK:

Panzermantel MG34.jpg (38.21 KiB) Viewed 4914 times

Although not terribly clear it does show the 'fatter' barrel sleeve with a slot in the upper front end and without all those perforations which we associate with the classic MG 34.

I bought my hull MG from Steve at Welsh Dragon a while back - it was made, I believe, by Tank Modelbau of Germany. I thought it looked great at the time, although I recall that there was a 'fine line' version which I ignored. Had I known where I would be going with this build I should have snapped it up. But I didn't.

The hull MG that I bought was certainly an improvement on the HL versions (either painted clear plastic or, like my old, old original RX13 version, not even firing) but it was at least more of an approximation of the classic 'look' of the MG34 perforated barrel. I think this is just an example of how far this hobby (and 1/16 scale in particular) - and my 'detail threshold' - has progressed in the last couple of years.

Anyway, it now looks as if Steve no longer sells most Modelbau products (he used to have a separate tab for them) - which I am sure isn't his fault - but it's a shame.

So I started looking...

Basically I found a perfect MG34 'mit panzermantel' with LED ready to patch in to the HL hull (a great advantage of my previous MG). Here it is:

It's on the tank Modelbau site:

http://www.tank-modellbau.de

But I could only find it listed in the Jagdpanther 1:16 section. This is how it's described on the site:

2410
Aber Bug MG
Dieses Aber Bug MG wurde von uns so umgebaut das es nun für den Full optionbetrieb geeignet ist.
Lieferumfang: 1x Bug MG mit led Orange.

The number 2410 is important because when I emailed their website they seemed to think that the numbers were switched with the un-armoured version (2560).

Anyway,the important bit is that they are very friendly and can respond in English - although I did point out that their sales might improve if they improved their website!

At 25.80 euros it is not cheap - but given the trouble I have taken so far I think it's worth it.

In my next post I will look at the possibilities for the AA mounted MG... and in a week or so I will be back at the Saumur Tank Museum!