Darren's House Of Unfinished Tank Models (enter if you dare...)

[The1971Show]

Hello everyone, it's been a while hasn't it? 

 

I took a long time off visiting LSP for a number of reasons - work took off and I ended up working upwards of 50 hours a week, and then the girlfriend and I went and bought a house. So now that we're settled amongst the landed gentry of swingin' East York, I've also started hacking a 90 year-old house to pieces. I'm also off work for a bit these days, so I do have time to hit the hobby room for about an hour every day before getting at the renos.

 

Oh yes - I did say hobby room! It's not Q's workshop by any means, but it's light years ahead of the TV trays I was building off before this. It does wonders for being able to keep up your momentum when you can just leave a project sitting on the bench as-is and return to it later that day or the next day and pick up right where you left off. It also quickly starts looking like this, though:

 

 

Scavenger hunt time: you should be able to see my Roland in there...

 

So anyway: it's not a large-scale airplane, but I hope this will get me re-acquainted with everybody and in the thick of it once again. For some reason I've acquired about 6 DML Tiger I kits, which is strange because I don't even really like Tigers that much (give me a Panther G any day of the week and twice on Sundays!) But here we are, DML's kit #6820, their rendition of Tiger '131' currently at Bovington.

 

 

Actually this build would check a vehicle deployed to Africa painted in an RAL 7008/8000 scheme off my 'to do' list (not counting a Pz.IVG deployed to Southern Russia in 7008/8000 with a disruptive dunkelgrau overspray on the same list...) but instead of 1 Kompanie, schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 which was sent to Tunisia, I'll do the 2 Kompanie, which was left behind in Sicily and subordinated to Pz.Abt. 215.

 

Shout out to the good people at the Tiger Im Focus forum where I've been reading up on 2./504 in Sicily, and of course David Byrden's website for providing info on some of the more esoteric details of this build.

 

The build's already in progress, so the first update will be coming pretty quickly...

 

Darren

Edited June 8, 2016 by The1971Show

[LSP_K2]

Excellent. One can never see too many Tigers,... ever.

[The1971Show]

Update the first: where I'm at, after about a week of building.

 

 

Nothing spectacular as far as the turret's concerned, just the basic assembly done and cast texturing done on the mantlet with stippled Mr. Surfacer which has been sanded down to take the edge off it. The nice thing about photographing your own work is that you can spot bits & pieces which need improvement, and there are parts of the mantlet which need a little more sanding. If you find yourself building any DML Tiger I kit, beware the mantlet, as for whatever reason it tends to look a little concave when viewed from above; I think it's a result of the casting process, and its view in elevation doesn't help because of the way it thickens in the middle and to the sides (i.e., an optical illusion which aggravates an existing problem. On top of this, you need to shave or file down part C19 for width or else ity will make the concave problem worse as well... anyway, I got that all sorted out in the end. There will be some Archer casting numbers applied to the mantlet eventually.

 

The black paint is overspray from painting the inside of the turret. If I stick a figure in the loader's hatch, this will come in handy.

 

 

The lower glacis; I tried to get a photo of my rolled plate texture technique. Basically it's the kit part stippled with Humbrol cement and then sanded down when that's cured. The shiny bits in this photo are where little pits and dints have been left in the plate. I also took this opportunity to file the occasional torch-cut mark in the side hull extensions (visible at the right of the photo) - '131' seems to not have many of these at all, as I guess quality control hadn't completely gone out the window yet in 1942/43, but if you look at some later German armour like the Grandmenil Panther these finishing flaws are more apparent.

 

I'm using reference photos of Bovington's '131' as reference too, even though I'm not building this specific tank. 2 Kompanie's Tigers should have been of the same production batch. There are a number of good reference images of '131' here.

 

 

1. The driver's visor and armoured exhaust guards with cast texturing applied. The exhaust guards will not get casting numbers as they will be invisible, hidden behind the exhaust shrouds when finally assembled.

 

2. The upper glacis plate. This is from the 'P' sprue and isn't to be used, but as is their wont, DML gives you a hojillion spare parts with every Tiger I kit which you'll probably never use. In this case, the part you're supposed to use, V4, has no detail on the undersides of the forward mudguards. Funny, the similar part you get in DML/CyberHobby's 'Orange Box' Tiger kit has the underside detail and is an older kit... so I picked up the Aber Tiger I fender PE set. This part is for the 'initial production' Tiger and doesn't have the reinforced threaded holes for the camouflage posts... actually, I'd probably have been better off just cutting the mudguards off part V4 in using the Aber PE parts in their stead, but whatever.

 

3. Drill out the twin holes for the fahrerfernrohre (driver's twin periscopes) in the glacis plate and fill with putty to simulate their being welded shut after having been dropped from production in January 1943. The area underneath where the driver's armoured visor has been painted black as pre-shading before I glue the part over top of this.

 

That's pretty much where I'm at right now - any questions about my build techniques and so forth, please ask. I've learned a lot from going through all of you builds here over the past year, so if I can return the favour please let me know.

 

Darren

Edited March 6, 2016 by The1971Show

[The1971Show]

Excellent. One can never see too many Tigers,... ever.

 

 

Thanks Kevin!

[The1971Show]

Thanks, Maru!

 

Just a quick update - DML gives you parts which fit underneath the engine vents and intake grilles representing the fans, radiators, and upper fuel cells. I think these may even be visible once it's all buttoned up, but I won't be installing these for the following reasons:

 

 

I learned by building their Panthers that it's a good idea to reinforce the hull roof with a straight edge because it will sag in the middle, resulting in uneven gaps between the bottom of the turret and the hull roof. In this case, the fit for the rear hull plate was also tight enough to bow it inwards noticeably. So, out came the 2mm styrene sheet. I'll be spraying the insides black before buttoning it up; I doubt I'll miss possibly seeing a minor amount of detail (which might end up coated in whatever I spray for camouflage colours in the end, anyway) if the general fit is improved quite a bit. 

 

Darren

Edited March 6, 2016 by The1971Show

[Uncarina]

Darren,

 

Great work! Good catch also with the upper deck warping. I had that problem with a 1/35 Abrams build I did several years ago.

 

Cheers, Tom

[Bill Cross]

Looks promising. David Byrden, one of the foremost experts on the Tiger tank, has been helping Dragon with their new Tiger kits.

[The1971Show]

'Struth, Bill, his name prominently featured as a technical advisor on the front page of the kit instructions. 

 

Today's update also includes a bit of a b**h session: two-piece barrels. You know the kind, the ones which are split lengthwise from front to back. This is annoying enough when it's a comparatively simple barrel like the 75 or 76mm from a Sherman kit, to say nothing of more complex things like an L7/M68 with full thermal shroud. What's particularly annoying is when newer kits like the Meng T-10M or even the Tasca/Asuka M4A3 76mm (W) do this. And these are not cheap kits! It's like an unwelcome step back into the dark ages. 

 

I did some quick research online, totally skewed and without any scientific method whatsoever applied  and basically found this (prices as listed at Sprue Brothers in $USD):

 

DML Tiger I kit #6820 - barrel split into sections, but not divided along length: $74.99

RFM Tiger I kit #5001 - barrel split into sections, but not divided along length: $47.99

Takom Chieftain Mk.10 kit #2028 - barrel split along its length, lengthwise: $63.99

Meng T-10M kit #TS018 - barrel split along its length with one-piece muzzle brake: $74.99

 

Trumpeter is also notorious for including two-piece split barrels which also split the muzzle brakes into halves as well (to wit: their 2S3 SPG and 85mm 52K gun kits) but I checked out their 2S7 SPG kits at Sprue Bros. and found that while they carry a $95.99 price tag (it's a massive vehicle!) they give you a one-piece barrel in styrene with an end cap you glue on for the muzzle, although I have no idea if this features any rifling detail which, as a 203mm gun, should be pretty obvious even in 1:35 scale.

 

I understand that if you want better engineering you should be prepared for it, and there are obviously factors such as manufacturing costs at play here too. But I can also say from experience that it's a real downer to open up a kit you might have dropped 4-6 hours' pay on to find that you're also going to have to spring for a one-piece aftermarket barrel now too. And chances are nobody's got the aftermarket item you want, yet (or frequently in Trumpeter's case, nobody's likely to ever produce it).

 

So anyway... 

 

There are tricks to assembling two-part barrels so that you don't end up with an oval profile, one of which is to use enough glue so that it squishes out the seams, let it set, carefully trim off some of the excess glue, and then wrap a bit of sandpaper around the barrel and start sanding it down in a rotating motion. Or you can stick the barrel into the chuck of your nearest cordless drill and let Mr. Bosch do the job:

 

 

I like using this technique to get rid of those damnable seams on one-piece styrene barrels as well. Hit the barrel with some primer afterwards, let it dry and then inspect up under a lamp to make sure you got rid of the seams/joins.

 

Darren

Edited March 8, 2016 by The1971Show

[LSP_K2]

Virtually every piece of armor that I've built has the same barrel design, but I've never seen it as an insurmountable problem, just a bit time consuming is all. Looks like you're making good progress.

[LSP_K2]

I just finished going through my new Ryton Schwere Panzer book, now I'm dying to begin a King Tiger or Elephant. I'll be eyeballing your Tiger, that's for sure.

[The1971Show]

No updates on the build yet, even though I've been making progress all weekend long. Mainly it's been a lot of texturing, shaving, filling, grinding, dry-fitting priming, etc. etc. I'll go over this when I post a dedicated update later this week.

 

In the meantime though, this is a neat photo which appeared on Ebay last week and sold yesterday. I didn't see how much it went for, but things being the way they are these days, the seller listed it starting at over 100 Euros and I have no doubt it went for even more than that. I checked this thread on the Tiger Im Focus forum and couldn't find it, so if this is 'S43' of 13./Pz.Regt. 'LSSAH' like I think it is, then we may have a new photo of a vehicle not previously shown before:

 

 

It's a nice image by any standard, and worth particular attention for the seldom-seen umbrella fitting in use over the commander's cupola. This is relevant to my build as the two support sockets for the umbrella need to be added to my kit. I also find it odd that it's loaded and secured to a rail carriage with the outer roadwheels, battle tracks, and side skirts still fitted. I can't tell whether the tracks you can see laying on the carriage underneath the rear of the Tiger are transport or battle tracks.

 

I'm going to remember this vehicle when I get around to finishing my DML 'orange box' Tiger.

 

Darren

Edited March 14, 2016 by The1971Show

[LSP_K2]

Well since the tracks on the Tiger itself are the battle tracks, I'd guess the others are the transport tracks. I also just now noticed that the box art depicts the front outer road wheel as missing, I'd not seen that before.

[The1971Show]

So two weeks have gone by and I've got little to show for this build that's new. Renos on the house have taken priority, but I do have a little update for you.

 

I was put onto denting things in styrene by a close friend who hates working with PE as much as I do. I try to avoid the stuff now because often the part's not entirely 3D, it's inaccurate, or it tends to pop apart if you try to dent it (qv...) So anyway, it's more labour-intensive, but thinning the inside of something like a stowage bin until it's translucent and then applying pressure can yield some pretty nice results.

 

 

I'm not after a bin which has been dented six ways from Sunday, but does look like it's been around the block. This is the result of about an evening's work, and less hassle (for me, anyway) than soldering a PE bin together.

 

Unfortunately I also tried this on one of the Feifel air filters as well, not noticing that I've now made it impossible to assemble per the kit instructions unless I perform some extra engineering... 

Darren

[LSP_K2]

I tend to just use various bits in the Dremel, then buff out with Scoth-Brite, as it's much easier for me, but whatever gets the results you're after is good.

[andromeda673]

nice work so far!!!! nice little building setup/bench you have there. Also I'm digging your guitars there........gotta love a Fender Jaguar with some P90 soap box pickups.