Takom King Tiger w. Henschel Tur. 505 zimmerit & interior 1/35

[Jens Andrée]

I know I said I was going to wait with this one until I'd finished painting a few others but since my dedicated paint area isn't done yet - and I was just going to "check the sprues" yesterday, I somehow accidentally started to snip a few things off and before you knew it I was sitting there going at the lower hull!
I only did some of the lower hull assembly before I put it down and built the engine instead. I've been looking forward to build the engine, and the interior, for a very long time and I don't mind having this model as something I take my time with and build a few things as and when I feel like it...
I'm really keen on painting the engine to see how the new mig (Ammo of mig) paints look and feel so after I built the engine i primed it with my new One Shot black primer from mig. For some reason it didn't play well with my airbrush and it clogged up several times. Although my Ultra is a cheaper airbrush it's still a Harder & Steenbeck so it shouldn't have a problem with the mig primer, but that's just my opinion. I'll add a bit of thinner next time to see if that helps although it says on the bottle it doesn't need it.

The kit has fantastic details and the over-all quality is superb, but I think Tamiya has a better plastic/polymer compound, purely based on how it feels to handle, cut and sand. It becomes more soft when applying cement than Tamiya plastic I think?
Sprue Q had a distinctive part-line and even some minor flashing. This I didn't expect. Easy to fix though.
I took some pictures as I put the first pieces in place but then I continued. I shall paint the engine tomorrow. I just have to decide what colours to use? The paint scheme by Mig Jimenez looks fantastic but whilst doing some research I've seen other colours on the Maybach HL230P30, although most of them were in Panthers and only one was in a King Tiger - and there's no guarantee those were the original colours. Often the whole engine was painted in cremeweiss and not dark gray. Some were also painted dark green. Such are life's little dilemmas
The King Tiger I'm building is the Tiger Aufs.B, 1./s.H.Pz.Abt.505, no 101. Here's the paint scheme.

I had planned to load it with brass shell casings but since it's a late 1945 model, most, if not all?, were made of steel. I might go for artistic freedom here though and just choose what looks best...?

I've bought Friulmodel ATL-16 tracks for it as well since I'm keen on trying those out, but I might assemble the plastic tracks just to see the difference? I've only assembled Tamiya and Italeri tracks yet and the Takom ones might look realistic as they are? I do prefer "working" tracks though since they allow for more flexibility imho.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of the first steps on what will probably be a lengthy build that will require constant painting in order to keep up with the interior and it's parts.

I was happy that my lower hull wasn't bent as some others have been, but my upper hull is clearly bent out of shape. This should be easy to fix though.

I don't like the text/serial number on the floor of the hull, but it'll be covered so I might let it slide for now... I should've taken care of it before adding parts... sigh.

The interior of the lower hull was easy to assemble. Just take one step at a time and be patient and let the cement dry a bit before gluing on the next part.

Here's the engine after assembly. It took almost two hours to build, but I like the result so far! It's going to be fun to paint it tomorrow

Whilst painting the engine with primer I also put primer on two other tanks so I've got a lot to paint the coming week! I hope the issue with the airbrush was something temporary, otherwise I have to find out what the problem is? I suspect thinner is the solution though.

After the engine is painted I'm going to focus on getting the paint area setup so it's easier to work with the models, but there's quite a bit to do so I'm going to try to talk the kids into helping me tomorrow! I'll think of a suitable bribe that could simplify the negotiation. :p

 

[Polux]

Excellent start!
I will be watching...

 

[papa 695]

Nice start Jens, I've got the same kit to build for Patrick's King Tiger GB.

 

[Steve Brodie]

will be watching

 

[col68]

I'm in jens.

 

[bazers]

Engine is looking great.

 

[monica]

real nice start ,Jens,like the detail to this,and the engine as well,:D

 

[Trekkie_John]

Very nice, the V12 Maybach has some nice detail. Can't wait for more.

Have fun, John

 

[Jens Andrée]

Thanks for all of your kind comments!!!
It's a mammoth build for sure, but there's so much to research whilst building it and I've learned so much already just building a few bits and bobs!
One week ago I'd never heard about the Maybach HL230 P30 and now I've collected most of the available pictures on the internet! I've read about it on wikipedia and I've watched a few different engines in various states on YouTube in order to figure out where cables etc goes that aren't in the kit, and what the real colours were and how real weathering looks like.
Most of it is probably going to be out of my league, and also hidden when assembled, but I like to dig deeper to understand what I'm doing - and to understand how you guys can put together such amazing scale models, so it's a whole project just trying to figure out everything about the particular tank you are building!

Whilst waiting for paint I decided to build the turret basket. As much as I could before I had to start painting it. Some things will be virtually impossible to paint when assembled so this is a tank that needs constant painting I think...
I also discovered that the camera picks up almost microscopical blemishes that my naked eyes can't see so I'm going to take more pictures from now. Not to publish them all here because that'd be a bit extreme, but it gives you a chance to really look at some of the features and zoomed in too!

Lots of tiny parts...

Lots of really tiny parts!

And here's my first real complaint: The build instructions are not good at all. These 3D images are too dark and cluttered. Some steps required that I reverted to colour photos of the turret basked to work out where the parts went, and that's less than optimal if you ask me. If they had supplied a link where you could download a pdf of the build instruction then you could've zoomed in on the parts that were tricky to see, and by altering the contrast and the black/white levels in the pictures they could be clearer in some cases... This is an area where Tamiya has been superior so far. I don't know if you agree with me here but I'm finding some of these images hard to follow.

And this was as much as I could assemble before painting becomes impossible. You can also clearly see some minor blemishes on some parts that I couldn't see with my eyes. Also the way the cement makes all surfaces shiny doesn't exactly help seeing this either, but that's down to experience I guess? Which I don't have too much of yet... But I'm working on it and I'm learning loads by attempting this hard build!

It's not going fast this tank but that's not the point either. What's clear though is how fun it is and I will surely do more "full interior" builds after this one!

Happy tinkering all of you! :D

 

[Jens Andrée]

Very nice, the V12 Maybach has some nice detail. Can't wait for more.

Have fun, John

Thanks!

Whilst researching the Maybach HL230 I noticed how little material it was between the cylinder sleeves... The German engineers were really skilled - but damn this engine must've been prone to overheating?
I'm trying to find good pictures of the engine to see where wires and such are connected so I can try to recreate that on my model, if possible? It would feel fantastic if I could add some extra details based on the real thing to really try to make this as good as I can.

A small box full of plastic bits and bobs can be very joyful I've discovered

 

[tr1ckey66]

Looking good Jens. Looks like a very comprehensive kit and with the extra detail this will be stunning.
Cheers
Paul

 

[Polux]

Wow! Excellent work and excellent kit too!!

 

[Jens Andrée]

This kit is certainly not for the guy in a hurry. Perhaps I'm a bit too picky and thoroughly sand bits that are hidden as well, but a detailed kit it is!

Wasn't really up for a lengthy session this evening so I decided to start part of the gun assembly, later to be married to the turret basket I made last night. This was the fiddliest section so far - which required both putty and mending of a fudge on my part... (accidentally snagged a thin part on the sanding stick and it snapped! See picture below)

I managed to do steps 68-70, yes, three steps, in the better part of two hours! I even had to resort to cheating with CA glue to secure the MG 34 to the mount in the end.
I also managed to put a damn thumbprint on the barrel breach assembly whilst gluing up the machine gun mount... The downside of using cement so I have discovered
It'll scrape off the thumbprint tomorrow but I'd spent a lot of time making sure if was pristine. Bummer.

This kit is certainly worth the money if you look at how many hours of fun you have!
I've seen some people complain on YouTube where some models have been unnecessarily complex and that many parts could've been moulded together from start. I don't think I'm one of them.
Ok, there are limits and even this King Tiger have some parts that perhaps should've been moulded together - not because they are "unnecessarily" complex but because I think the end result would be better if they were moulded as one piece instead of three tiny bits. I do want this to look as good as possible in the end and it would be a shame if some parts are too cumbersome to assemble in perfect condition...?
So far I'm doing ok and I'm actually rather pleased with my work so far - even though i fudged a part...

Here's the start of the gun assembly from the breach side. Everything is made from sprue L, which is nice so you don't have to chase parts over several sprues!

Sadly the fit of the parts from sprue L isn't as good as the previous sprues I've assembled...
These parts are fairly big so it can't be user error I think? The parts are keyed so assembly can only be done one way.

Putty to the rescue! (pre-sanding picture)

And here's the fudge. Very small part that snapped before I even breathed... Luckily it cemented without a trace!

MG 34 that was rather tricky to assemble. If you buy this kit - which I can recommend even though I've just started - be careful during these steps and have good magnification and light at hand.

Steps 69, 69 and 70 took the better part of two hours. This kit will take some time to complete for sure

So far we've mostly had a miserable summer and I might just as well build models during the days, but I try to activate the kids as well so for time being this will continue as a evening/night activity.
Fantastic to pick up if you can't sleep! I just keep a tray with the instructions and tools next to the bed, and a box of all the sprues, so I can just grab them if I feel like being creative!

I've started to think about how to mount & display this tank and I think I will cut a mirror and glue it on top of the base. The upper hull and the turret (without the top) will be placed on stands. This way you can see more of the interior I hope. Subtle lighting will also help to display it. I hope it works in reality, but we'll see when time comes!

Thanks for all your kind comments! If you see something that doesn't look right, or something I've done poorly, please tell me so I can improve. Constructive critique is important and I personally think it's good, whereas some don't. I want to improve and learn so don't be afraid to tell me if something is wrong or weird!

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 3568]

Looking amazing so far.

 

[Robert1968]

I just came across this one and yes I'll be in to watch this till the end
Hope I'm not too late

Regards

Robert

 

[monica]

wow what great detail this one,has,very nice work,

 

[Jens Andrée]

...and major problem tonight... sigh. :mad:

(noob warning)
Background:
I bought Ammo of mig paint for this King Tiger since I love the various historically correct colours Mig Jimenez & co have developed - but so far I've only used Tamiya paints, and not a lot I shall add.
Anyhow, when I started modelling again I bought a cheap airbrush, a Harder & Steenbeck Ultra, and started experimenting. To cut a long story short I came to the conclusion that Tamiya acrylics + cellulose thinner was the best solution for me and it sprays fantastic and dries super fast!

Two days ago I used Ammo of mig primer - One shot - for the first time and it clogged up my airbrush. I didn't thin it out since it said it didn't need it but it took forever to prime the engine due to all the cleaning sessions meanwhile... The end results were good though so I decided to use thinner the next time.

There's the background and the state I started painting two hours ago.

I was going to paint with mig's Cremeweiss this time on parts that I previously primed.
I'm old enough to try before you do something for real the first time so I grabbed a practice piece that was primed and I dropped in 8 drops of paint and 3 drops of cellulose thinner in the airbrush and mixed it. It looked like it split but I decided to try it anyway and it sprayed well for 2 seconds before the airbrush totally clogged up! Totally!
I cleaned out all the paint, added thinner first this time and then paint and mixed, but this time I mixed it a lot more. I'm using a small brush to mix the paint in the cup by the way. Nothing dodgy or so...
After 10 seconds of mixing the damn thing emulsified and became more like whipped gritty cream... F...

Cleaned the airbrush thoroughly and I discovered that the blockage/clog had pushed paint all the way back into the rear cover piece of the airbrush. That's never happened before!

Ok, mig paint and cellulose thinner is obviously not compatible - that's blatantly obvious!

I've got some Vallejo non-toxic acrylic thinner as well so now I tried that. First 6 drops of paint and 3 drops of thinner. Way thinner than it should be but I wasn't taking any risks after the previous total failure.
It sprayed well and didn't clog up the airbrush - but a few seconds after being sprayed the paint and the thinner separated on the surface. It looked like one of those novel effect spray paints for spraying cracked paint.
I wiped off the paint from the test piece, cleaned the airbrush and this time put 8 drops of paint and 1 careful drop of thinner in the cup and mixed. I grabbed a new brush to mix with to be on the safe side and to rule out contamination.
It sprayed ok but it still separated on the surface.
I decided to go in at the deep end and sprayed the top piece of the engine since I didn't trust the test piece any more, but of course it split.
I only sprayed with a fine mist in order not to fudge it big and decided to spray it with several thin coats and hope the split scenario would cure itself. It didn't. Not fully...

Here are some pictures showing the problem:

First the test piece and you can see how it's split and looking "spotted" even after a third coat.

Here's the side of the real piece after a second coat. Still spots. The paint is not dry, hence the "wet" look but it's not different now 15 minutes later.

Here's a better view of the problem in another spot.

In order to try to rectify the problem I sprayed a bit thicker coat on the top and it has somewhat worked - but it's at the cost of losing detail...

I don't know what to do? Use water as thinner? Order the specific A.MIG-2000 thinner???
Sadly they don't write on the thinner bottles what they're containing so I can't work out what's going on here with my different thinners...

I would really appreciate some help here because I'm lost and I don't want to put the tank in the garbage and start again.

Worst case scenario I trash the mig paints and go back to Tamiya + cellulose thinner but I've bough quite a lot of different colours and they work for others so there's no reason why it shouldn't work for me? (unless I'm suddenly gifted with the Sadim touch - reverse Midas touch - where everything you touch turn into shit instead of gold...)

Damn! It was going so well and I was really enjoying it - and now everything's crap.

So tonight's post is a request for help and not pictures of successful progress.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Jens Andrée]

To get my confidence back a bit I decided to prime the road wheels to my Sd.Kfz.184 Elefant, but with Tamiya black and my already tried ~20% cellulose thinner I've used prior to this mig experience and I now feel a bit better knowing that it's the paint that's being stupid and not me.
Whilst awaiting some suggestions here I will now spend the rest of the night/morning looking at Ammo of mig videos on YouTube trying to understand how they're using their products?

 

[Polux]

What a great work are you doing. And excellent thread as well!

 

[Jens Andrée]

Assumption is dangerous and my assumption that migs acrylic paint was the same as Tamiya and Vallejo turned out to be totally wrong. "Acrylic" can apparently mean a lot of things... sigh.
This is the video I should've watched before even ordering the paint - let alone attempted to use it!

It doesn't explain though why the One Shot primer clogged up my airbrush when I used it straight from the bottle?

It's almost 6 o'clock in the morning here now so I'm not sure another attempt with this new information is the right thing to do before grabbing some sleep, before it's time to go up again and deal with the usual morning chores that comes with kids and animals...

...but using Ammo of mig apparently requires patience and practise. Not adding a couple of drops of the wrong thinner just because it worked so well with Tamiya.

ZZZzzzzzzz..........