Yesterday I started my DML King Tiger, Porche turret.
I’m wondering as to whether anyone has a good reference pic of the roadwheels. I’m not sure how they were painted, if they had rubber portions or not. The demarcation line on the kit wheels kinda leaves a bit to be desired, and it is not shown in DML’s instructions either.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.
King tiger roadwheels were all steel, and had no rubber on them whatsoever, the part of the wheel that would contact the tracks while in motion would be a dark steel color(I use a pencil, it works great for simulating bare steel) Most of the time the roadwheels were painted a solid dark yellow, dark green, or both, depending on the camo scheme, if you are going to do the hard edge ambush camo scheme, dont do the same camo to the roadwheels as you did to the tank itself, tanks with the ambush scheme had either solid dark yellow or solid dark green roadwheels.
Thanks a lot for the info, that makes life a little easier.
Got any good camo scheme pics for the KT?
Also, were most of these beasts fairly unladden with crew equipment, that is to say, were they relatively bare compared to what we see on other German armour…?
Also, where was zimm applied? I have a few grainy pictures that make it near impossible to see.
Well, that’s not true. They had internal rubber cushioning. But it is true that there was no visible rubber.
Only zillions, that’s all! [(-D]
The ones I like the most are the really late-war ones, when they started using old paint stores up, and there is panzer grey on the tanks as well as the normal three late-war colors. Some of those schemes are quite cool.
you beat me to it Larry !!
Zimmerit was applied to all of the vertical surfaces of the tank, including the mantlet for the main gun.
As far as stowage on the tank itself, you don’t see it piled on like on Allied armor, maybe an old bucket hanging from the exhaust but not much more.
Last, since the Porsche turret Tiger II’s were early production versions, they would be found mostly in the three color camo schemes that were applied by the battalion maintanance personnel in random patterns. The hardedge ambush scheme was factory applied later in '44 and wouldn’t have been used on the Porsche turret T2’s. Another option if you’re interested, there are some fairly well known pics of a Porsche turret T2 that survived till the winter of '44-45 that was given a winter whitewash. I don’t have the kit, but I have heard the decals for this one are included, tank #314, nicknamed “Anneliese”
Goodluck,
Mike
Thanks a lot for the info guys. I didn’t chose any schemes yet, but I’m glad to hear that they were applied freehand. I have a couple of pics of great camo jobs, and wanted to base mine on one of those.
Actually that is not true, no zimmerit was applied to the tiger 2 mantlet (henschel) but yes, it was applied to the porsche mantlet[;)]
Here are some schemes from Henshel ardennes KT’s, just for some ideas…
Thanks for the ideas crockett. Is there a difference in the darker colours of the 104 and 332 tanks in the pic?
Really like the look of 104, it would be an interesting challenge to paint.
Also, I know that Tamiya dark yellow would be a good basecoat. What would good Tamiya paints for the brown and green camo be?
Well, as zokissima mentioned he was building the Porsche turret T2 that was why I mentioned the mantlet. [;)]
If you want to keep it simple and not mess with mixing different shades you could go with Tamiya XF-64 red brown, and XF-61 dark green.
Cheers,
Mike
There seems to be some difference, yes. When you look at the black and white photos of these tanks, it is evident. I usually don’t modify the dark yellow, but I do add a little hull red to the red brown, and of course as in the color plates shown, use hull red in place of the red brown , depending on the vehicle depicted. I usually go for the more dramatic color impact, as I always “mute” my camo schemes with some Buff or Pactra weathering acrylics. This ‘dusting’ of a neutral “dirty brown” gives the overall finish the realistic patina that you seee on service vehicles. A final “flattening” with Polyscale flat acrylic (70/30 water mix) is essential as well.
As for the roadwheels, I usually like to use Gunze gloss acrylic dark gray with a ultra fine brush to simulate scraped paint and metal to metal wear on suspension components. MM steel enamel is a good paint as well to simulate roadwheel bare metal due to track center guide wear.
Steve
Thanks a lot for all the info guys. The build is starting, so I’m definitely set with everything I need.
Is the same true for Jagdtigers, “no visible rubber”?
Thanks,
NMLakota
They used the same undercarriage, so I think so.