Tiger I Late #133 Normandy Taigen/TK7.1 swap

[Panzermechaniker]

Love the weld lines Mr. Chef. I wish I had the patience to do them. Also because of how many layers of spray bombed primers and paint I usually end up with unless I go full T-34 welds on my German tanks I lose the detail. Perhaps I should revisit my late Tiger when i get it back from it's turret internals being custom made after watching this build. I own a corded Dremel now which would make the grinding off of the tools etc from the upper hull easier than trying to do it by hand. I agree it was the thought of trying to get the cupola base cut off the metal turret to put a proper one in that made me just go the easy route on the Taigen and just paint it. Oddball's YT video was what made me want to do the late conversion but he has a machine shop

[Ecam]

If ever was there a time to actually do the turret/hull job it would have made installing the turret ring and tool placement a lot easier. But if I re-positioned the turret bottom I found that I'd lose the cool bearings. Soo Nope.

Look like the still would be enough room to save the bearings and do the turret centering. Too late now, but next time. Tremendous work on the late Tiger (just hid mine in the closet)!

[MrChef]

Looking good. You definitely have more patience than I do.

I think you used up all your tanking patience on your Challenging Challenger so you don't have enough to spare for the rest

Thank you sir.

[MrChef]

Supeb work Mr Chef, those welds are mint .

Thank you very much sir.

You could try adding a styrene sheet to the roof to give the impression it is a thicker plate.
Marking it all out to miss the big bits would be a pain but doable.
The loaders hatch would then be recessed and the cuploa would appear lower.
Just a thought

So, I've been mulling this All over the place. I do have styrene sheet but it isn't the proper thickness. To do the proper height commanders copula and the counter sunk loaders hatch since it's metal, it would take tools that I currently don't have access to like a lathe or belt sander.

But,even more research provides snapshots of historical late Tigers that didn't have the thicker turret roof armor and loaders hatch details. Here's some pictures showing late Tigers being produced in February 1944 with mixed details that are more similar to what I can produce and would still be sensible for battle at Normandy.





According to this the 40mm turret roof was only 15mm higher than the turret sides. What would that translate into 1/16 scale? H'mmm what thickness of panel would 15mm 1/16 scale be? According to actual pictures its not as exaggerated as some models.



H'mmm ya got me thinkin bix. Looks like I could leave the weld beads and just add the plates on top but I'd still have to source the loaders hatch. H'mmm yes not impossible. But I'm just a Chef



It is interesting however the more that I do research on the Tiger the more I'm turning up different details and variations. Not nearly the myriad of different odd Sherman but still not nearly as cut and dry as I had previously thought.

[MrChef]

Look like the still would be enough room to save the bearings and do the turret centering. Too late now, but next time. Tremendous work on the late Tiger (just hid mine in the closet)!

Thanks Eric. I just didn't think I could pull it off properly this time. But have no fear a late plastic version is bound to be in my future for more cutting and pasting.

[MrChef]

Love the weld lines Mr. Chef. I wish I had the patience to do them. Also because of how many layers of spray bombed primers and paint I usually end up with unless I go full T-34 welds on my German tanks I lose the detail. Perhaps I should revisit my late Tiger when i get it back from it's turret internals being custom made after watching this build. I own a corded Dremel now which would make the grinding off of the tools etc from the upper hull easier than trying to do it by hand. I agree it was the thought of trying to get the cupola base cut off the metal turret to put a proper one in that made me just go the easy route on the Taigen and just paint it. Oddball's YT video was what made me want to do the late conversion but he has a machine shop

First, thank you for your words of encouragement. And Second, we're seeing eye to eye with this one. So I shared my adjustment to the plan on my response to Mr.Bix. Ferr and giggles I'm going to share pics here what were referencing for us, others and the future builds.









Ok so here's what I'd love it to turn out like but I can accept it just not happening right now. FYI this is a Taigen metal Franken-Tiger even better IMHO than Oddballs work-





And the link to Oddballs build which BTW I still love and followed for reference. Heck I'm using his parts for this build including the same turret protection ring.

phpBB [video]

And the link to the Tiger Reference book-
https://porschecarshistory.com/wp-conte ... 0Doyle.pdf

[MrChef]

One of my New Years Resolutions with this hobby is to not only document and share progress and the good but also the bad which if I can solve or fix I usually don't share. Well here goes.

Had beautiful weather the other day and the stars aligned so I was able to start spraying this big girl. I used Tamiya Primer for the first time and besides the price I quite like it for smooth coverage and quick drying time. I decided to use Tamiya TS-33 for red oxide and AS-15 for the zimmerit. I plan to do some chipping now that I have an airbrush. So all went well till I was taking things back inside and the stupid balancing act I was trying bit me hard. The newly painted turret slipped and fell off the top of the box I was carrying. BUT it was saved from the cement by falling onto one of our terrace chairs. Quick inspection revealed a few nicks and one of the spare tracks on the turret loose. Easy fix right? Well I sure thought so. The spare track was still attached right until I started to examine it for surgery. Yep just fell off. So No worries with that cool collection of glues and adhesives it should be easy, Well I used the extra thin CA glue which besides wicking any crevice or channel faster than lubed panel liner on crack. It also sets, Yep that quick. Literally the bottle says 1-3 seconds. I think they overestimated by 2 seconds or more...

Soo as not to bore you too long if you stuck with me this far. The motivated glue decided to migrate right onto the corner of the newly painted turret. Which came out flawlessly might I add, of course till I dropped it annnnddd.

I moved quickly and smudged it off but the stuff not only ate the paint right down to the primer but left a perfect right thumb print smack dab on the corner of the roof.



Ok I put everything down and quit for the day. The next morning I decided to do my best fixing what I had done. Suffice to say I got the spare track glued properly so there's that. I used 1,500 grit sandpaper and wet sanded the offensive thumb smudge off. But it went down to the primer and very minutely through the primer in 3 spots. So after sanding I used camo putty and masking tape and smothered the turret with a politically incorrect and offensive plastic shopping bag.



That went as expected, thank God. Came back inside, let it dry for about 20 minutes and removed its bandage to see if it could massaged.



I can work with that. Only thing is I used the rest of the TS-33. H'mmm what to do???

Well I had this Ammo/Mig Factory colors set that I had used previously for some hand brushed chips and such. BINGO! It's a winner. Very close Red oxide color, Good time to practice some or Alot of blending. Then I had some fun playing with the Ochre Zimmerit color too. Ok not so bad them. Well lost about a day of forward progress but I'm happy what I could remedy the situation. She looks better now.



Not so bad. All of the paint used so far.

Oh I also solved the riddle of getting the Ammo/Mig paint to spray much nicer than I had previously. 60/40 thinned at 25 PSI. But mannnn it literally blows through paint this way.



More to come

[Herr Dr. Professor]

This is all familiar: long ago I lost count of similarly dumb things I have done. More useful, perhaps, is this suggestion: you say you spray the Ammo by Mig at 60/40 thinned at 25 PSI. Take a practice sprue or some parts and try about 18 to 20 PSI. I spray most acrylics at that pressure. 20-30 for enamels.

(A frequently-published, frequent, national and even international prize-winning modeler friend long ago told me that the trick is learning how to fix mistakes. That was when he opened a glass case to show me a model and dropped the cover, smashing the cover, but, WHEW, not the model.)

[MrChef]

This is all familiar: long ago I lost count of similarly dumb things I have done. More useful, perhaps, is this suggestion: you say you spray the Ammo by Mig at 60/40 thinned at 25 PSI. Take a practice sprue or some parts and try about 18 to 20 PSI. I spray most acrylics at that pressure. 20-30 for enamels.

(A frequently-published, frequent, national and even international prize-winning modeler friend long ago told me that the trick is learning how to fix mistakes. That was when he opened a glass case to show me a model and dropped the cover, smashing the cover, but, WHEW, not the model.)

Thank you sir. Yes I played with the pressures and thinning with the Ammo stuff. I found I had to thin it even though I had heard it was sprayable out of the bottle. I also did have it about 18-20 PSI but felt 25 worked better. So its definitely my inexperience and learning curve but could also be my airbrush. I absolutely love Tamiya paints however. They spray and lay down sooooo much better and smoother. I'm having Very good luck and experience with them 70 thinner/30 paint ratio at 12-15 PSI doing multiple light coats.

[MrChef]

a bit of progress after the slip-