i kinda felt it might be fun for the seasoned veterans to see a greenhorn frog try his webbed hands at attempting to upgrade Italeri’s tiger into something more suitable for a Kursk era tiger. I will also add an Eduard PE set and a RB models metal barrel.
The kit i bought:
Appearantly the (tp) on the box stands for “tropical”… Something i was unaware of when i purchased it. To make this initial production tiger into something Kursk-like i will have to convert some things as you can read in the link above.
Not being the rivet counting type i am willing to take this with a grain of salt, attempting to convert the most obvious differences. Being new to the whole kitbashing thing and having next to no experience with PE, this might prove to be amusing to you armor gods outthere[;)]
I have already made a start on the kit. A short summary:
Due to the construction design i was left with some seams on the hull tub. A bit of filler and sanding should do the trick here:
The rear end plate has some issues to solve. My tiger will not have the Notek formationlights so i sanded those off as well as the mounting points for the jack. Lastly i have cut away the inside part of the towing hook and drilled holes in it. A piece of copper wire was attached to upgrade:
My first serious foray into working with PE has started by assembling the three piece braces for the jack after cutting away the square lumps of plastic italeri offered me. A tip from a fellow modeler showed me how to use masking tape on the PE frets to keep them from flying into oblivion. Very effective[:)]:
So far so good i’d say… Hope you guys will appreciate my efforts and thank you for watching aong[t$t]
Haven’t really chosen yet but there are a few that caught my eye… Will post a pic of a profile as soon as i make up my mind. I have Osprey’s book on the tiger as well as a polish book called “tank power; tigers at kursk”. It contains some profile pictures.
Labour In Vain,
Thank you!
Not much to show at the moment… I am cleaning a plethora
Always fun to strike out for new territory and stretch your legs as a modeler! You never know until you try and you’ve got a good philosophy/approach to the build. Will be following with interest. [Y]
Thank you sir![y[ I must admit i am really testing new ground here but it makes the build all the more exciting!
Not much in the way of progress to report… life gets in the way of things sometimes… However, today my rbmodels barrel came in from Hong Kong. Picked up from ebay it was half as expensive as a similar barrel i found in the UK… The ten day wait was worth it in that respect[;)]
The one problem i am encountering at the moment is the complete lack of any instructions for it. Tinkering with it i figured out the basic construction, also helped by a pic from rbmodels’ website but i seem to be left with some parts i cant figure out where and how to place. I have marked them with question marks in the next picture:
Are these supposed to come without instructions? And does anybody know how to assemble this particular barrel? I am at a complete loss here…[:$]
RB models don’t come with instructions as a rule. It’s one of the reasons why they are cheaper vs say Armorscale or Aber.
The parts you’re having trouble with are part of the muzzle brake and baffle system. The large round brass piece on the far right goes in between the two halves of the muzzle brake (should slip right into place, probably with the rear half), The PE fret contains detail parts to add to the large brass insert. The three rings “stack” on top of each other to simulate the detail that would be present and visible…that’s why there’s a raised “lip” in the center around the round opening (you may only need to use 2 of the rings instead of all three, different brakes have different details). The two smaller pieces on the PE fret are meant to represent the locking nut that secures the muzzle brake to the actual barrel after it was threaded into position. HTH!
Bill the 3rd ring is actually a spacer between the muzzle brake and the barrel. Place it on the barrel then screw on the muzzle brake and it provides the correct spacing.
I have RB Models barrels for the Stug III and the Panther and the muzzle brakes of all three are similar to the Tiger I brakes in design and parts breakdown.
Richard, isn’t this the kit you’re building for the Ostfront 2 GB? In any event, I’m watching this one! I’ve seen this kit on eBay so many times…always wondered how it built up! I like how you’re approaching it - putting enough detail to spruce up what it lacks, but not worrying about all the minor details! Thanks for posting the WIP on the Armor forum for all to see!!
Thank you each and everyone for your invaluable help![y] Im sure, with wbill’s explanation (and mikeym’s correction) i can assemble the barrel if i put my three braincells to it…
Bufflehead,
Yup![:D] Same one. Every now and then i do post a build thread here and this particular build is a big deal to me as i am scratching for the first time (seatbelts dont count) and working with PE for pretty much the first time, especially on this scale. So i can use all the knowledge i can get[:p]
Progress is little… the last two weeks i havent gotten much done due to life’s issues but i did get some good time in tonight:
Front hatches (nasty glue residue has been summarily dealt with after seeing the first picture appear on my screen[:)]:
Engine compartiment. Basic engine but effective enough as it will be mostly hidden away from view. Satin gloss black, aluminum and drybrushes with white and gunmetal, all acrylic:
And these PE bolts spice up the area underneath the front a bit. The original area was bare plastic:
Guys, Thanks for the kind words. I must say that working with the PE sofar has been very enjoyable even though it is sometimes a bit of work when you have to carefully fold it into shape.
Working on the rear mudguards, a multi piece PE replacement of the kit part, there is two things that are frustrating me at the moment…
How do you guys manage to glue PE at it’s edge? Even with CA this takes a couple of tries to sort of work and the end result is never very very sturdy…
And if you would take a look at the next picture:
How do you guys fold a “lip” as delicate as this one next to the arrow?? Mind you, the huge white giant thing in the picture is a standard q-tip. Up until this point in the build i managed to fold PE using fine tipped tweezers or my beloved reverse action tweezer but this… i am slightly frustrated to say the least…
Other than that i must say that the PE has been working out fantastic for me and makes the model look so much better every time a new piece is added/ replaced.
Gluing PE edge-on can be a challenge with CA. Gator Grip can help but some things can only really get a sturdy join using solder. As far as your question aboud folding lip edges, I use a bending tool called a FenderBender (they don’t make them any more) that’s similar to the types of tools put out by Hold 'N Fold or Etchmate. If you foresee doing a lot of PE in the future, it’s a great tool to add to the arsenal for just the type of bends you are encountering. You could also try using needle nosed pliers to hold the edge of the lip and use the body fo the PE to create a hinge/fold point but that’s a tricky proposition at best.
Thank you for your tips. Since this PE business is proving to be rather fun i will certainly look into the matter and consider investing in some specific tools like the bender and possibly even a fine tipped soldering iron if i can find one… For now i have managed to get things done with the things at hand. I did buy a different brand of CA glue and that helped a little. I will have pics to show for it soon[;)]
Terry,
Thank you!
THE PROBLEM AT HAND:
Last night i decided to do some work on the turret and barrel. Thanks to Wbills advice the latter did not pose much of a problem and i actually had to use only one of the little rings to have the muzzle turned into position just right.
During my initial questions i was shown a problem that appearantly is common with this particular kit: The turret front plate is tilted!:
Currently my theory is that one of the locating rings inside the turret is dislocated:
So you guys can see i have my work cut out for me to have this nastyness sorted out…
I am gonna watch how you tackle this issue kermit. I suppose some filing on the inside surface of the mounting rings and on the matching surface of the lugs could correct it.
