Matorro King Tiger w/ Tamiya-HL upgrade

[[ICE]monkey]

i like it , becouse shes got service history , ie zimmerite and the late 18 tooth drive wheels so it been back for a refit, it tells a story which i like
cliff

[xrad]

yep...she did not just pull out of the factory and break down..

[Saxondog]

I agree with Ice, the combat experience look. These guy's had to be proud of their machines, and would certainly add equipment to insure their survival and their ability to maintain their machines. Their are alot of Allied pictures of destroyed German Tanks but I have noticed many seem stripped of spare equipment.

The extra road wheel and the fuel cans are nice details and add to the combat veteran look. One issue that I can't understand is the under powered design,why not increase the block size or add Turbo charging? Excellent build X hope to see it finished soon. Sax

[xrad]

Thanks sax..

Block was already overbored and at extremes.. really needed a supercharger as these are great at lower rpms and the technology aready existed since the twenties....

Maybach had a poor big end rod design..

but with factory sabotage and maybachs not the quality as earlier in the war...no chance for change....

[Saxondog]

Yea I'm with you on that,they could of used forced induction blowers, did not know about the rod issue. Just seems like they missed the cure and just wasted to many resources on the Tiger and King Tiger. 10,000 more panthers would have had a big impact, but like Kursk the Corporal would have wasted any advantage.

How did you paint the King Tiger? What I mean is did you use clay to create the patterns or just Airbrushed? The lines seem very fine,zero over spray. Perfectly matched edges. I would really like to know the trick to multiple color camo designs and how to get that sharp edge between colors?

[xrad]

For this tank, I used moderately diluted paint and did four coats of each color with small brush. It builds up slowly this way and does not look brushed on...looks like it was added in the field with areas of fade and incomplete coverage (paint was kinda rare back at this time..)

I need to get airbrush kit....

[xrad]

Black and white cammo pic.....

[Saxondog]

I attempted on my Henschel to create the multi color effect,but I used several brushes stating with the stiff direct application of the base colors then adding different tones of the base colors with lighter brushes and drier paint. Some where my colors seem to develop into 5 distinct shades.

But I also believe the in the field paintwork had to have some of the issues of different shading and appearing to be different colors when it was just the same base colors either applied at different times,or cut and thinned differently. On the Jagdpanther I used the airbrush and clay method and regret that not being retried on the Henschel.

Still have the Porsche in base color only,been looking hard at the best way to approach that project as it has a deep zimmerite coating,not the Tamiya film. Any suggestions?

Also like the photo,I have watched that video,stopping and changing resolution to try and enhance the details,if you look their are Porsche Turret tanks in that group yet re=armed with the two piece barrels. To bad the color camera's were not running,maybe in this modern age some new film may come to light

[GMV]

I see you have put a lot of money and effort into this. Great looking KT!
The sprockets and tracks are not Impacts, but Asiatam.
Regarding the roadwheels from Asiatam they could fairly easy be modified to accept two ballbearings in each wheel, I did that on my tamiya KT.
You just have to drill out the inner half to 3,5mm or so and grind down a bit on the inner wheel.
I had to grind off/drill out some on the covers to keep clear the buttonhead on the shaft.
The stock Tamiya spacers also had to be shortened and every second swing arm had to be grinded off a bit. All in all it's well worth to put in the extra effort. Now it's no wobbling at all.

Modified vs. stock Asiatam inner.




Simple drawing of how I did it. Sorry about the text, it's Norwegian....


Here is the building thread of my King Tiger, it's in Norwegian, but I think it could easily be converted with Google translate. Anyway you could still look at the pictures. http://forum.radiostyrt.no/vb/showthrea ... King-Tiger

[xrad]

correct..shiny sprockets asiatam...dull rough casting impact.