Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

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VonDomenic
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Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by VonDomenic »

PREMISE

So, finally here we are.
I bought this model shortly after its release, it was maybe 2012, I was definitely still too young to get everything I needed!

You've been very helpful with my headache with the IBU2U, and I promised you I'd post some work on my tanks.
Obviously, it won't be a very fast project, as I will dedicate my free time to it! I hope I have enough!

If you have one, it looks like you're in luck.
It appears that Heng Long has not produced the "Porsche Kingtiger" for some time, favoring its brother with the arguably best-selling "Henschel" turret.
This makes it a rare tank to find, even used.

Warning: I'm Italian, and I'm aware that I don't speak perfect English.
In case of errors, please excuse me in advance :D

Starting Point:

Image

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Probably many of you do not need the historical hints, but I think it is right to tell a little about the real story of the vehicle in question, especially for those who will try their hand at such an adventure for the first time, or who perhaps do not yet know some information about the tank.

This Tiger II (or Koenigstiger), is the internationally known "Porsche Turret".
In fact, this information is wrong. Both turrets were designed by Krupp.
This turret was accommodated on the first 50 Tiger IIs, later replaced on the more famous "Henschel turret", squarer.

It was one of the last tanks developed by the Third Reich, which entered service in the last year and a half of the war. (1944)

The purpose of this project is to make a toy for older children a historically plausible model.

To do this, I suggest keeping at least these basic points in mind:

1)Almost all 50 Tiger II Earlys were used on the Western Front, mostly in France/Normandy. Most of the vehicles were lost in combat in this country, although some seem to have managed to survive, to be used in Holland and West Germany.

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2) Only one or two examples served on the Eastern front, one of them being the well-known "Anneliese", which fought in Hungary in the last stages of the war.

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3) ALL Tiger IIs with this turret have seen combat with Zimmerit armor plating.
If you wanted to avoid the tedious step of dwelling on this detail, you would be reproducing the prototypes, since they were the only ones that didn't have it.

Image

These are, in my opinion, the 3 fundamental points to be able to think of making this panzer, taking into account historical accuracy.

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GOALS

-Increase the level of detail

-Making the tank "lived" and battlefield stressed

-Cover it with Zimmerit (Thank you ATAK :D )

-Set it on the western front, probably in Normandy (the camo options will follow).

With these premises, I inaugurate this topic.
I will try not to make anything exaggerated, if I get lost in bolts and eyelets, the risk is to never finish.

See you soon!

Valerio
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Herr Dr. Professor
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by Herr Dr. Professor »

Bravo Valerio! I will be watching with interest and cheering you on. :clap: I do have another goal to suggest: do something about the standard HengLong "Panzermann" (my name for him) with the fried egg eyes. :haha: I used mine for practice painting. o-
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VonDomenic
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by VonDomenic »

Herr Dr. Professor wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 11:07 pm Bravo Valerio! I will be watching with interest and cheering you on. :clap: I do have another goal to suggest: do something about the standard HengLong "Panzermann" (my name for him) with the fried egg eyes. :haha: I used mine for practice painting. o-
Thanks for the encouragement!
Of course I will be happy to receive your advice during the work, as it's the first time I have tried my hand at such a large tank!

For the "Panzermann", I assure you that it cannot be left behind! It will be the first time I paint a military figure, but I think the room for improvement is boundless!

So, let's begin!
First I try to remove the tooth: the ATAK Kit for the zimmerit includes some pieces of the armor to be completely replaced, as well as the sheets to glue on the plastic of the tank.

The two most important pieces are the turret front armor, and the turret tailgate. Both have a nice texture, with the zimmerit already printed.
To fit the new turret frontal armor, turret disassembly is required. The front armor is held in place with screws. Just unscrew those, slide the barrel off, insert it into the new shell and screw it all back on.
The new tower front, placed:

Image

The new tailgate, and the standard one, side by side:

Image

I pry with a cutter, to detach the old hatch from the turret:

Image

The piece is in fact held in place with 3 pins, and just a little glue applied at the factory.
If during the process these pieces should unfortunately break off, it doesn't matter.
The important thing is that those of the new piece are intact!
However that didn't happen, so I have an extra spare part, just in case!

Image

After sanding the 3 pins of the new tailgate a bit, the piece fits perfectly:

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A general view of what the tank looks like so far, from the front:

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From the back:

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You will surely have noticed that I had already done some work some time ago, such as some small details and the removal of the side fenders, as well as the reconstruction of the side armor which is inevitably missing.

I will tell you about these steps in the next posts!

See you soon!
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Kaczor
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by Kaczor »

ATAK set is nice and fits quite well.
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HERMAN BIX
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by HERMAN BIX »

A great improvement already Mr Domenic, and I had no idea that the Atak Zimmerit set would fit that well onto an old H/L model.
I used some on a Panther and it was close, but did need some fitting to get right.
I really like the way you have removed the mudguards, a King Tiger looks soooo much better without them :thumbup:
HL JAGDPANTHER,HL TIGER 1,HL PzIII MUNITIONSCHLEPPER, HL KT OCTOPUS,HL PANTHER ZU-FUSS,HL STuG III,HL T34/85 BEDSPRING,
HL PZIV MALTA,MATORRO JAGDTIGER,HL F05 TIGER,TAMIYA KT,HL PANTHERDOZER,HL EARLY PANTHER G,TAIGEN/RAMINATOR T34/76,
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VonDomenic
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by VonDomenic »

Kaczor wrote: Tue Sep 05, 2023 11:43 am ATAK set is nice and fits quite well.
Amazing model, Kaczor! Zimmerit is a must to add truthfulness and detail to this Tiger II!
HERMAN BIX wrote: Tue Sep 05, 2023 12:41 pm A great improvement already Mr Domenic, and I had no idea that the Atak Zimmerit set would fit that well onto an old H/L model.
I used some on a Panther and it was close, but did need some fitting to get right.
I really like the way you have removed the mudguards, a King Tiger looks soooo much better without them :thumbup:
Thanks Mr. Herman Bix!
ATAK produces a Zimmerit kit exactly for the Kingtiger Porsche Heng Long!
I assume the hard plastic parts are meant to replace the original parts.
When I glue the shaped sheets, then we can give a more complete judgment!
It certainly helps the model makers of this large scale a lot, making zimmerit with milliput for these large surfaces is something that requires time and patience!

For the fenders, I totally agree. Especially the Tiger II with this turret, without the side fenders gives the turret more prominence, and slims the tank hull down. On the Tiger II "Henshel" the fenders fit much better.

In addition to being historically plausible as well. A great many of these Tiger II Earlys ended up losing their fenders. In many photographs, in fact, these are missing.

I'll tell you about the fender removal process soon!

Glad you all like the work
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Herr Dr. Professor
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by Herr Dr. Professor »

Oh, now this is a project even I could handle. This is such a fine improvement on the HengLong Königstiger . I am sorely tempted to get one of the ATAK Zimmerit kits, but I would need to store it away as project #4322.2 behind 4322.1 others I have waiting. :haha:
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by tankme »

Good looking build. I wish Atak made a zim kit for my 1/10th Jagdtiger. Zimming it up is going to be a nightmare.

NVM...just looked up and none of the Henschel Jags had Zimmerit. Dang it, now I have to get rid of all the print lines a different way.
Derek
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VonDomenic
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by VonDomenic »

Herr Dr. Professor wrote: Tue Sep 05, 2023 4:28 pm Oh, now this is a project even I could handle. This is such a fine improvement on the HengLong Königstiger . I am sorely tempted to get one of the ATAK Zimmerit kits, but I would need to store it away as project #4322.2 behind 4322.1 others I have waiting. :haha:
Thank you a lot! Lots of projects = lots of experience! ;D Can't wait to see your twist on this same tank!
I await your advice!
tankme wrote: Tue Sep 05, 2023 9:58 pm Good looking build. I wish Atak made a zim kit for my 1/10th Jagdtiger. Zimming it up is going to be a nightmare.

NVM...just looked up and none of the Henschel Jags had Zimmerit. Dang it, now I have to get rid of all the print lines a different way.
Thanks for the compliment!
Are you sure no Jagdtiger Henschel had a zimmerit? on the net I find many photos of henschel scale models with the zimmerit, or zimmerit kits for the jagdtiger in 1/35.
Could it be a mistake of the model makers and of the companies that produce the models?

If this should be the case, then you will have to arm yourself with fine sandpaper and many cans of filler primer, the same one used to fill car scratches, by body shops! :/
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Re: Heng Long Tiger II "Porsche" turret (Early Tiger II)

Post by MrChef »

Well lookie here. That's a cool project you have coming along.

Good work, keep it up. I am looking forward to your updates and whole process.

Chef
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