I’ve just completed my second armor model and have enjoyed it immensely. The kit is the 1/72 Dragon sd.kfz.186 Jagdtiger Porche production with Zimmerit. It is entirely OOB and my inspiration came from the article from the Feb issue. I used mainly Tamiya acrylics, weathered with pastels and gave it a final coat of flat lacquer with a hint of white in it. Overall the fit was good but the one piece tracks gave me a bit of grief. I’ll apologies about the photo’s now as i don’t have a photo studio so I used white A4 sheets of paper. Thanks for looking and please feel free to leave comments. I’ve posted more photos on my blog if you would like to see more.
I like the restrained weathering as this heavy beast could not achieve a speed high enough to fling about mud or dust!
Most were destroyed by their crews after mechanical break downs, fuel shortages, no ammunition or all three!
When placed at a strategic ambush point with sufficient camouflage to hide from roaming fighter / bombers the Jagtigers proved a lethal long range tank destroyer with the high velocity 128mm or 88mm gun.
and thank-you for your comments. i’ll take them on board. I’m now looking for a 1/35 scale and I think I’m ready for Indy tracks. Anything has to be better than the one peice I fumbled around with. Anyone have any sugestions of kits. I’d like to stick to WWII.
My advice for when you are just starting out - keep it, simple, Keep it 1/35, keep it Tamiya!
Remember, 1/35 is a LOT bigger than the diddy small scale stuff you are doing now (you did a great job of that by the way - I’m terrible at small scale)!
I’d recommend you looked at a Tamiya Panzer III, a Tamiya StuG III Ausf B (I’ve got the StuG III Ausf B myself which I’m starting tomorrow) or you could go Allied and look at the Pershing or Cromwell maybe?
Remember, the bulk of the Allied tanks had ‘live’ tracks so their tracks didn’t ‘sag’ like German tanks and one piece vinyl tracks, painted and weathered properly, do the the job just great as they are nice and taught.
If you got the StuG or Panzer III your tracks would need to ‘sag’ in between the return rollers at the top - this is where aftermarket tracks like Friuls come in handy as they look perfect. You can also also use the link and length tracks supplied with the kit but you won’t get much sag with these. You need indy track links like Friuls or Magic Tracks supplied with Dragon kits which are also indy links and you can make them sag perfectly.
Personally, I find that Friuls are just awesome and look brilliant. They are metal (lead/white metal) and heavy so have a nice natural sag to them. The only downside is they aren’t cheap - probably about the same price as a good 1/35 Tamiya kit so I only use them occassionally. You can also get Modelkasten tracks which wbill on here loves and he makes them look great. They are plastic but build up in a similar fashion to Friuls so they can be moved around and positioned. Get the sag in the right place and fix with a little cement. These are obviously a fair bit cheaper being made from plastic.
Leo it’s hard to beat any of the Dragon Smart Kits for value and subject. Beware that some of the newer come with Dragon DS or vinyl tracks and not the Magic Tracks that are indie. The only knock on the DS one-piece tracks is that they appear a link or two too long on the Panther and Tiger tanks.
That being said, any of the Panzer III’s, StuG’s, or newer Smart Kits would be the way to go to get your hands dirty in 1/35.
I also recommend most of the newer Tamiya kits, but most don’t come with indies and some come with link-and lengths.
Thanks for your advise. I might go with Tamiya as Squadron have some on special at the moment. I do like the idea of a one peice track that is already finished. It was the joining of the 2 halves that gave me the most problems
I’ve just purchased the Tamia 1/35 Sturmgschutz IV. I bought it because it was cheap and looks like an interesting subject. Please tell me I made the right choice.
