Im new here and before I start Id like to say great site!! Looks awesome and I can see myself spending a bit of time here. Thank you.
I was linked here by a fellow forum friend in my country as Im building a 1/25 scale Tiger I tank of the Tamiya brand.
Its a brilliant model but Id like some hints or tips for applying the paste to make the German WW2 Zimmerit effect. Im using Tamiya’s basic tubed putty, which seems ok but Im new to this application.
Any tips from anyone that is a gun at this would be great. Thanks again.
Tere are so many methods… Resin zim, milliput, aves apoxie sculpt, I’ve even been experimenting with bondo. It’s whatever you feel comfortable with. EXPERIMENT!!! That’s the answer.
I’ll repeat a tip from the master himself, Shep Paine, as explained in the old “Tips on Building Dioramas” brochures in Monogram’s armor kits. His tip was to use a razor saw to make the lines. I think that he was using spackle as the medium, back in the day, but for whatever putty that you use, the saw works well. You drag the tip through the putty to make the verticle seams, and, holding the saw blade vertically, drag the teeth horizontally across the putty, to make those seams. You just need to choose a blade with teeth spaced appropriately for the height of the rows.
Hmmm… I didn’t think of that. Thanks baron! And since spackle will flake and chip easily… You might want to rough up the hull where it is to be applied with low-grit paper if using spackle. It needs some “tooth” to hold to plastic.
Though it 1/35 and the tanks 1/25 I simply wait a tad longer for the putty to harden now and it draws thicker lines, its pretty spot on and a great tool.
I also have seen another, unusual method for replicating Zimmerit, and that was to use a pyrogravure tool or a soldering iron. I have a Nichimo King Tiger in 1/35, that I got in my club’s raffle. Somebody had started the kit, and used the pyrogravure to burn in small rectangles. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, and doesn’t look too bad. I figured that I will go over the relief with Mr Surfacer, or maybe my homemade Mr Surfacer (Squadron putty thinned with acetone) to soften it a bit. I’ll take a pic and post it later, to show you what it looks like.
