Tamiya Sd.Kfz.184 Elefant with zimmerit 1/35 - more complex than it should be...

[Jens Andrée]

Whilst still boasting my L-plates in the paint department I've started another build before I'm ready to do the final paint on my Jagdpanther. (actually, I've started more than one more tank apart from the Jagdpanther to be honest...)

I love building these tank models and although I'm not yet ready to begin the final coats - I can build more tanks whilst learning the necessary skills!

One of the tanks i just bought was the Jagdpanzer Elefant - with zimmerit vinyl stickers. I shouldn't really say "stickers" since what I got was one solid sheet of emulated zimmerit where you have to cut all the pieces our yourself, and here's my critique...
There are like a million little holes in all the pieces you have to cut out and this proved to be more than just a challenge!
I really don't mind having to assemble a ton of tiny pieces into a tank - that's the hobby imho - but not using a cheap laser cutter to pre-cut all little zimmerit pieces - and especially all the tiny holes - is terrible if you ask me!
I might still be a learner but I can spot something that hasn't been fully thought through, and the Tamiya zimmerit sheet should be renamed from "sheet" to "shit" if you ask me! (excuse the language but good it ain't.)

A few tiny hole punches would've been handy but there were none in my toolbox. I resorted to grab a few tiny FR4 drills (for drilling circuit boards) and manually, by hand, "drilling" out each little hole in the zimmerit pieces. It left jagged edges that needed careful trimming with a sharp nail cutter. I think I got away with it but it took two days... sigh.
I was careful handling both the tanks surfaces, and the zimmerit, in order for it to stick. Careful trimming was also needed on a few places, but it's all there now but I do wonder how long this will last? I will probably be a bit upset if this tank turns out ok and 6 months later the zimmerit starts peeling off...
I might use a tiny bit CA glue along the edges just in case, but I'd prefer not to.

I should've researched the subject prior to buying the zimmerit sheet but I didn't expect it to be so basic?!
There's plenty of room for improvement here Tamiya! A laser cutter costs peanuts today and I'd be really surprised if you haven't got one or two already?...

I will try to blend in the zimmerit where the fit isn't perfect either with putty, or a soldering iron. More on this later...

The kit itself is nice and I like the level of detail! I'd say it's an easy kit but some dexterity is required for some of the smaller parts, but a pretty fast kit to build. (if you don't count the zimmerit...)

One thing did raise a question regarding the kit. The tank is designed with "working" suspension and wheels, but comes with separate track links to be assembled in a rigid fashion - not like all the other Tamiya kits I've got with soft working tracks?
Why design a model to have more "working" parts than usual and then not supply working tracks? Not even the cheapo soft one they usually supply? Beats me.

I have a soft spot for tank destroyers and they are probably going to be in majority in my planned German lineup.

To be continued...

 

[Polux]

Looking good!! Don't give up, you are doing an excellent work

 

[Steve Brodie]

As Kate Bush so eloquently put it;

" .... Don't give up
'Cause you have friends
Don't give up
You're not beaten yet
Don't give up
I know you can make it good .... "

 

[Snowman]

Ditto on Polux'x comments. I like to call it "progressive resistance"!:D

 

[Trekkie_John]

Trust me, all that cuting (and sore fingers) will be worth it. I've built the same kit not long ago and even put it to one side for a while (fingers to heal lol). But it builds into a great model.



And can i just say yours is coming on nicely.

Have fun, John

 

[monica]

looking good,do,like it so far your doing a good job with this build,

 

[Robert1968]

When I get to my German tanks selection ( still on my brits ) but when I do I intend to do a elephant and will be doing zim on it
I've heard a lot of differing methods of getting it right so I'm hoping to try miliput abs a comb ( not using the comb after though. I may do a few other smaller test pieces before I try on the kit

 

[dubster72]

The easiest way to have an Elefant with zimmerit is to buy the excellent Dragon kit. Much more detailed than the Tamiya one IMHO.

 

[spanner570]

...or do what I did and shoot the b****y thing!



Looking good, Jens. Stick with it.

Ron

 

[Robert1968]

The easiest way to have an Elefant with zimmerit is to buy the excellent Dragon kit. Much more detailed than the Tamiya one IMHO.

When I get to the German I'll look into the dragon kit ( think the link by link track always put me off but.......... We can but try

 

[Jens Andrée]

Thanks for all of your kind comments!!!
The zimmerit exercise was anything but fun due to all the holes that needed cutting, and this not working out as well as I'd imagined it, made me rather frustrated...
It's done and it hasn't fallen off yet so with a bit of luck it'll work...?

I won't do another Tamiya zimmerit job unless it's a tank where no holes are required - just cut and apply!
Putty zimmerit is something I will try before even thinking about another Tamiya though.

I have started to look at some of Dragons kits, but so far I've felt that Tamiya is great for us total beginners due to the price - and in my case availability.
The shop I'm buying all of my models, paints etc from are well stocked - but they don't have Dragon.
That's not a big problem today since we can order from pretty much the whole world as easy as any local order... Perhaps I should get a Dragon kit next time? To compare?

Anyhow, thanks for all of your kind words and encouragement!
You were right in saying that this is a really friendly forum!

p.s. Now that the zimmerit is in place and I've slept on it I'm not as upset any longer. Perhaps I've already forgotten some of the frustration? Who knows... If I buy another Tamiya zimmerit sheet in the future, please remind me of this thread... :p

 

[Jens Andrée]

Today's post is called "on track"!
(or perhaps "off track" would be more correct...?)

This means I've just assembled my first proper tracks, i.e. made from separate plastic links and not the solid rubber variety I've had on all my other Tamiya models so far. All four of them
It was tricky at first before I found the best method of attack - and obviously after assembling one of them back to front and required creative use of cement to un-glue the malarkey again... sigh.
But you go to school on the first one and the next one is much easier. The last four pieces took about as long as the first piece took alone and I'm happy with the result so far!
After dry-fitting the two upper sections I discovered that some tweaking was needed, but since you can soften (to a certain degree) parts again with the cement I'm not that worried about final assembly.
I will make sure they all are 100% correct before I paint them!

The links are not all separate. Some came in chunks of 5-ish links or so, but all the bends and curves were made with separate links. Some set I've seen have all separate links and I'm glad this one wasn't like that because that would require a jig or similar I think...? Anyhow, not as hard as I initially thought and they do look a lot better than the Tamiya "rubber bands".

If you wonder what "V" and "H" means it's short for left and right for us scandihuligans.
Also using blue masking tape to hold the track links in place turned out great! Translucent enough so you see the assembly picture through it as well!
I remember the time before we had blue masking tape and you ripped off huge chunks of paint if you left the tape for too long time when painting windows etc... The blue tape is much more expensive - but it has the perfect amount of "stickiness" and it never dries or damages the surface! Seems to work really well whilst building scale models too.

I saw that you could buy metal track links to use in these models for a more authentic look but damn they are pricey!!! It shouldn't be too hard to make a mould and cast your own track links like so many of us did with tin soldiers when we were kids? The time required to make a complete set of tracks might make them more expensive than the ones you can buy, but us hobbyists can't count time as money for obvious reasons... hehe...

I'm still clueless whether I should assemble the tank with road wheels prior to paint, or not, and I've seen both methods used with similar results. I've now assembled one tank with the road wheels prior to paint in order to see for myself which method I prefer in the future? It wasn't particularly hard to paint them assembled, but there's a big difference putting on primer and doing detailed painting so I'm still not convinced you get the same result assembling them prior to paint...
Some people even assemble the tracks before priming but that must be begging for problems down the road...? Not something I'm going to try just yet.

I'm actually quite pleased with the quality I'm churning out at the moment. I was worried my models were going to look like a dogs breakfast due to stupid mistakes etc, but so far I've only made a couple of little mistakes - which all of them were recoverable. Only one mistake required some putty but that was mainly because the solvent in the cement resulted in me leaving an ugly thumbprint on a surface and I wasn't going to leave it like that! I will grab some razors next time I'm shopping so I can scrape such cock-ups in the future because sanding won't make it as flat as I want it to be. Perhaps paint cover some accidents but I've decided to do my best and to learn whilst doing it, and mistakes are only proof that you're learning!

I've also practised my airbrush technique a bit more and I should be ready to attempt a final coat of a tank during the weekend?! I'm still not sure how to do the whole flow from primer to done, but I've written down the steps on a piece of paper so I don't do anything in the wrong order - like I did on my T34/76 where I applied rust pigments prior to the decals, and an adequate paintjob... sigh. I think I've recovered some of that miserable failure but that tank was purchased as a trainer and it was going to end up as a totally beaten and burned out tank for a display I've had in my mind since I decided to get into the exciting world of scale models!

These first tanks I'm building are going to have minimal weathering. I don't want to make it look like I'm trying to cover up mistakes with weathering - and the fact that although weathering looks really easy when you see a professional do it, reality is rather different... Less is more I think. At least until the training wheels are off

That's it for now so happy tinkering!

Edit:
I had to test-fit the tracks after they'd dried and apart from a minor tweak that's required on a spot, it looks promising!

 

[Jens Andrée]

...or do what I did and shoot the b****y thing!

View attachment 283013

Looking good, Jens. Stick with it.

Ron

I've looked at your picture quite a few times now and I just have to say that it's one of the best ones I've seen out there in that condition!
It looks spot on like a seriously battle damaged tank just left there and you would've fooled me if you'd had a real background!

I'm not going to kill my Elefant but if I can eventually pull off even 50% of your level of paint and weathering I'd be very pleased!
The reason why I'm still hesitating to get started painting the tanks I'm building now is that I simply can't make it look real. I want them to look real. One day I hope...
I'm sometimes handicapped by not being able to 100% realise what's in my head and it's frustrating. My Elefant will receive very moderate weathering but I'm struggling right now when I practise because I don't get any sort of balance between basic colour and realistic wear and grime. I begin carefully but I always seem to overdo it. Not much but still...
This wasn't your first tank I hope so I will commit and do my best and hope to learn and improve so I eventually can pull of a masterpiece like yours!

I'll post my banged up, burned out, shot and rusted out T34/76 one day in hope to get some constructive critique on where I went wrong?
It looks so easy when looking at someone professional on youtube painting, and weathering, a tank to look broken, worn and rusted - but when I try it's a different tune...
But it's not going to stop me. Eventually I'll learn the techniques required and get some experience in order to understand the paint process better. Until then I will keep things basic and take one step at a time and be ok with the fact that it ain't going to be photo realistic just yet.
Rust seems so simple but in fact it's really hard and complex.

Thanks for sharing your fantastic tank!

 

[papa 695]

Your doing a fantastic job so far Jens, Zimmerit is something I've never tried.