RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Coming along nicely, Herman. The putty, torch-cut edges and brass guards add so much dimension and texture to what could otherwise be a big featureless box.

Gday mate! Oh it’s still a big featureless box, that’s just what it is.
The brass guards are going to give me a chance to add some munted texture, and add visual effect to a difficult foundation.
It’s a box, on top of a box, with a few wheels and tracks chucked in

Mounted the run of guards on both sides, except for the front ones.
They are a bit different to the rest having the longer section out front that clears the add-on armoured joint cover to meet up with the front mudguard flaps that sit in a slightly different spot due to the slope of the face armor past where the old drivers flat plate once was. I will make those to suit.
They are for now very clean & straight, but once on properly they will be damaged a lot in line with the real vehicles we see in period pictures.

The plastic that Matoro use behaves very differently to the usual H/L stuff, and miles different to Taigen and Tamiya.
That is related to my preferred method of zimmerit application using a heated screwdriver blade.
Testing how it goes during the weld & flame cut process has given me enough to be confident that it will cope ok, but my mind is not made up on whether to use a thin sheet of styrene glued on to the sides & then the zimmerit put into that, or, just go straight on the Matoro plastic. Only thing Im uncertain about is that by using a heated screwdriver the surface can be stress relieved causing it to bow outwards.

In the usual vein of my path in this hobby often being one of "putting lipstick on a pig" , this unloved 'pig' is at least now starting to take on some sort of level of dignity from what it was.
The brass guard sections are still to be fully secured by more little bolts & nuts(on the way from Mr Glover in New Zealand) and damaged.
A set of early Mato tracks which came as part of an estate sale back when I got my Tamy King Tiger are on to test fit.
I have applied Zimmerit on the rear and sides using a hot screwdriver to create the effect but not damaged it at all this time.
As my machine is going to be an early version of the Sturm, with later bits here & there, using an early hull in good condition with an overall fairly intact zimmerit coating is plausible, and certainly as the application of zimmerit was only cancelled from field application in October '44 where the first 3 machines including the prototype were completed by Alkett in Feb 44. Mine is going to be one of those 3 !!(just because ) and the first 3 true 'Production' machines completed in August '44 that for sure would have had the late wheels on them.As the actual prototype that fired on Warsaw had the rubber rimmed wheels but by all accounts was sent back for refitting and a new casemate soon after, Im going with the next 2/3 having rubber rimmed wheels and zimmerit in good condition (just because! )

Still a fair bit to do but its getting there now.

Hot screw driver? Heat, stab, reheat, stab? That would take some time. How 'bout a cheap soldering iron with a reshaped tip?

https://www.armortek.co.uk/Forum3b/view ... ger#p95529

Ecam wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 5:48 pm Hot screw driver? Heat, stab, reheat, stab? That would take some time. How 'bout a cheap soldering iron with a reshaped tip?

Ha! yeah it does take a bit to do, but I seem to have more control over a stubby flat bladed screwdriver than a long soldering iron.
I did try it once but the feel wasnt right.
Sure is not ATAK-perfect but it works for me

Nice project.

You can get zimmerit rollers now - just apply your putty and use the roller to make the zimmerit effect.

Ad Lav wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 6:32 am Nice project.

You can get zimmerit rollers now - just apply your putty and use the roller to make the zimmerit effect.

Thanks mate, Yep I've seen those. Putty is one of those variable things with its application thickness and getting it in the right place.
Putty on a StuG is a case in point !!

Marco Peter wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:04 pm https://www.armortek.co.uk/Forum3b/view ... ger#p95529

(sigh) now thats just not fair!!
So big and the zimmerit looks like its been applied by a trowel the same way it was on a real vehicle !!
Thanks for sharing that mate