looks great Ron! Those chains look nice and heavy for sure! Great job!
I will agree with Manstein, you are in the top three. So many other great ones though. Another fine build. I like how you go after the oddball tanks too. As always the weathering just does her justice.
Thank you guys your comments are very much appreciated and although i am flattered i must dissagree there are many better modelers about these forums than me if i have an edge at all its because i love the finishing and weathering stages the most and spend more time doing that than anything other part of it and that draws attention away from the rest of the build heh. [:)]
Hi Manstein according to the dragon instructions they give you 4 options 2 early (no zimm) and 2 late (with zimm) the late ones had markings but the early ones did not i went with an early one to dodge the zimm and the very few images i found were inconclusive so i went with the safe bet and left them off.
Thanks again.
Ron.
I think that is the biggest difference: the finishing. I mean most of us can construct any kit, but the paintjob (cammo) and weathering are the things that give a build life.
Biffa, did you use the JF book on the 653rd schwere battalion as a ref?—there are a lot of pics and color plates in it of your vehicle, both with and w/o zimm—they had the cool shield and sword insignia…and by the way, I didn’t say you were THE BEST, just one of the TOP THREE…LOL, but I agree in this sense: a lot of people would be better modelers if they weren’t so afraid to build and make mistakes. I think that is part of your strength: you are a prodigious builder…
PS: this thing have spell check?
Didnt have that book M S i just had a lot of bits and pieces from the web and a couple of ferdinand/elephant books and the best i could find was the early with the 3-tone paint scheme at somepoint was unmarked so i went with it to be safe, its good to know that though because i will probably pick up another one of these to do a late version with the zim and the boom stowed, these kits can be found quite cheap on ebay, i think people overlook them because they deem them as boring personally its one of my favourites right now.
Ron.
…you should really check the book out before you do the next one as there are some really cool pics and plates in the book; in fact, there are a lot of all kinds of cool things this unit fielded, as the unit had a lot of engineers in its ranks so they tended to modify a lot. Here are a few examples: ferdinand chassis with Tiger I turret, Panther chassis w/ Mk IV turret, T-34 chassis with flak 20 quad mounted on it, etc, etc…this was also the unit that fielded the Jagdtigers at the end of the war…they started with StuG B’s and ended with Jagdtigers!
…Now, I want to build one!!!