RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi Tankers.

Before going through this post i would like to thank Fredrick The French, Felix from Alxes modellbau and Patrick.H.
I started this build 5 and a half years ago with no particular tank in mind and quickly abandoned it to the shelf as the Atak Zimmert kit I had purchased when fitted had shrunk. I have got more confident with my modelling skills so away we go.
I've found I was very interested in the pre-production King Tiger N0.11 because of the great photos that are available of this tank.
The model will never be correct as it wont have
1. Early tracks with a 18 tooth sprocket
2. The Tamiya deck has the cut out for the ball gunners observation visor, which was not present on the pre-production deck
3. The Tamiya turret only has one hole for the later T.Z.F.9D gun sight where the pre-production had a T.Z.F 9B gun sight, which required two holes.
The hull/chassis i have added 2mm Aluminum plate to the bottom,replaced all screws with bolts, added a DLKM Transmission support brace, Schumo metal sprocket wheel guides and Schumo transmission output/axle shaft support bearings. I have reconfigured the transmissions with a full length bronze bushing in the final brass drive gear before the output shaft and shimmed all gears for matching drive faces. I did a post a while ago called [Tamiya transmission fix] which showed what I used to reconfigure the transmissions. You can see I am trying to make this as bullet proof as possible and the hull/chassis is now rock solid with no flex.
Chassis/Hull Components used.
1. Schumo KT0014L Improved track idler system.[Drums]
2. Schumo KT0033 Upgraded idler wheel axles and main axle.
3. Schumo KT0040 Metal sprocket wheel guides
4. Schumo KT0027AL Driveshaft support bearings.
5. Schumo ZUH19 3.1 Reduction gears
6. D.K.L.M Transmission support bracket
7. 2mm Alloy belly plate.[home made]
8. Knupfer 2mmx6mm Bolts and Knupfer 2mmx4mm Bolts
9.Tamiya DMD turret rotation unit .Part no 0P.400
10.Atak zimmert.

The wheel assembly's have been painted apart from the outer faces and I added a shim to these before assembly for a very effective modification that is also easy and cheap. Look for a post of mine [King Tiger wobbly axle fix]all is explained in there.

DECK and GUARDS. Tamiya has you attaching the guards to the deck by 3mm P/K bolts which are totally unrealistic and in my opinion make the model look like a toy. I filled these holes with Milliput then used Knupfer 1mmx 5mm bolts, washes and nuts to attach the guards so they can still unbolt and removed a guard section which was missing when King Tiger 11 was found abandoned. Apart from the the rear tow cable brackets and the vertical brackets for the tow cables and barrel cleaning rods I have pinned every thing on the sides. All tools, tow cables, track changing cable and barrel cleaning rods I can just remove and after being able to paint these off the tank ,I don't just have to rely just on glue to hold them on. The kits plastic tow cables are way out of proportion so I used Schumo 2mm steel cable flexible. I love this product. Bend it how you want it and that's how it will stay. You don't have to fight the wire .The secret is the inner core has a nylon thread. Worth its weight in gold, affordable and only available from Axles. Deck grilles are ABER but I used 1.2mm bolts, washes and nuts to bolt them on. Apart from the the three prototypes made[V2 prototype is the Bovington tank museum and is not made of armor plate] N0 11 was one of the first eight to be produced for service and sent to the front so being that early build it had the deep wading snorkel cover attached on the back deck[the first eleven had this feature], no armored turret ring, no anti grenade screens, first version armored exhaust covers and one of the prototype exhaust designs with Tiger 1 type exhaust shields . The deep wading snorkel is made by Patrick.H who is a member on this site. This is sold through Shapeways .Patrick originally did these for a Heng Long but I supplied him with some dimensions and he was kind enough to produce one to fit a Tamiya properly. The kit is a mixture of 56018 full option and Tamiya static Porsche turret I used the full option deck which has turret rollers and also installed Schumo larger turret rollers. Used Schumo kit for hatch handles. Welds every where.
Parts used.
Schumo.ZUH 30 Turret rollers.
Schumo ZUH 07 2mm steel cable flexible
ABER 16 034 .Grilles
Patrick.H .Deep wading snorkel.
Knupfer 1mm and 1.2mm bolts,washes and nuts
I am not a bean counter as I have already mentioned that this model could never be correct but I like it when member's mention what they used, a part number or were they bought it. So helpful guys.
Click on the photos below to enlarge.

Well, maybe "[t]he model will never be correct..." but you are sure right, it will be "as bullet proof as possible." You sure are making an admirable start on the beastie. Go get 'em!

Thank you Herr Dr.Professor.Should have the deck posted within the next two days. Regards John.

Thats an exceptionally tidy piece of work there Mr G.
I've seen the '11' KT in lots of pics but it is seldom modeled in this scale at least.
Keep the pictures coming mate

What are you doing for the turret joint armoured protection ring ?
These so called Porsche Kt's all had them didnt they?
Reason I ask is that I have to make one for a tamiya Tiger 1 early to late which also needs one. Any ideas I can get on this will be a great help.

Hi Herman. Nice to hear from you. The first 12 or so did not have the turret protection ring. If you look at the V2 prototype at Bovington and also if look closely at the photos of No 11 you can see these tanks are not fitted with them. 12 pieces made up the ring and it was bolted to the deck. East coast armor might be of help for you as to Tiger1 late shot trap turret armor but this is not in the shape of a ring. I will try to post photos of a tank with the ring in question and without. No 11 even had exhausts that was made from different angles of pipe and had Tiger 1 type exhaust shields. The exhausts were prototypes and were not what became standard production with a curved tube. Its all these differences and the fact that it is documented by photos is why I wanted to build this. No 11 had a monobloc barrel which is a one piece barrel .Part used is from Schumo. A two piece barrel was quickly introduced into these tanks because of barrel wear and ease of manufacturing . The the kit supplied plastic barrel is the two piece unit which is not correct to model this particular tank. As you can see no11 had the one piece Monobloc barrel as per the photo] . Always happy to hear from a master. Regards John.

Thats great info Mr G, thanks for clearing that up.
I've seen the funky exhaust pictures, but never noticed the lack of the turret ring.
As to most things in museums, I always treat them with caution as they are often so very tampered with.
You've got a "something different" build going on now & good on you for that

Just a thought Herman. I have two [dear I say it ]Porsche turret rings .You can have one. I will send yo the dimensions by PM so you can see if it is any help to you. Regards John.

I am going to take a punt & say they will be different, but lets compare the dimensions & see!
Thanks for the offer

Really nice build. Patrick's parts are awesome. Now I want to continue mine, but it is impossible for moment...

Thank you for thanks, but what I have doing to help you? I don't remember.

Hi Fredrick, No 11 had exhaust shields and I am using your idea of taking Tamiya tiger 1 shields and modifying them to fit. Regards John.