Ok, i have joined the german armor GB, but I needed a kit. Told my wife, she went out and surprised me and bought me one. I have no idea HOW she knew what to even look for. Usually, I wouldn’t complain a bit, however, I don’t know JACK about WW2 German Armor. So, If anyone wants to help me along with some answers to these few questions, I would be very appreciative.
Here they go:
I got Dragon’s kit #6210-- Sd.Kfz. 181 Panzerkampfwagen VI (P).
I have not a clue what all this means, and I even speak German. What kind of tank do I have?
I’m building it OOB, except I want to add Zimmerit. Decals are from the Eastern Front, Early Sum. '44.
I have these colors: Tamiya XF-60, 61, and 64 (Dk. Yellow, Dk. Green, and Red Brown)
Will these colors look right on this tank?
Would this tank have had Zimm?
How can I make it with Putty? I don’t want to spend money on aftermarket stuff since I’m saving for my airbrush.
Underneath the Zim–Same camo colors or Primer?
Where does all the Zimm get applied? Turret, top sides…? Hull top, sides, back, front?
Rubber road wheels? Box art has no rubber, the instructions say rubber.
Tracks-- all steel/metal or did they have rubber pads?
I don’t want to seem like an @$$ trying to make others do my research for me, but I have so far made only ONE armor model (Sherman), and I really don’t even know where to start on this one.
Thank you for reading this to the end. I know it’s long, but I want to do a nice job on this one.
1 You have the Tiger (p) version, this is the brother of the tiger 1 that never went into production, I believe one served with the 603(I think thats the battalion)
2.Yes those are the colors that most people use in fact
3.Yes it would
4.I think you can make it with tamiya putty and the right size razorsawblade
5. dont bother painting underneath the zim noone can see beneath putty!
6. Zimmerit was applied to all vertical sides of the tank excluding the place behind the roadwheels
7. I dont believe Tiger p’s had rubber roadwheels
8. All steel
#1. You have a Test product of the German Army. I believe one of them saw combat. Dont worry about the Sdkfz stuff.
#2. Those would be the correct colors
#3. Yes, ther would have been zimm
#4. Buy either apoxie putty or tamiya ployester putty. Trust me, it will be alot easier than trying to use Squadron green. you will also need The Tamiya zim tool or a flat head screw driver about the correct size.
#5. Im not sure what you mean on this one, you can se under the zimm unless it is chipped. Depending on the chipping it can be the base coat to red oxide primer.
#6. Zimm was applied to the Turret sides, hull sides and all the verticle armor. It was not placed on top of the Turret or hull. There would however, be zim in fron of the drivers compartment.
#7. No rubber, these were all steel.
#8. The tracks were all steel as whell.
The directions should tell you where to zim, and iff not you can use the box art and Google for some references. Good luck, and welcome to the Darkside!
you have an experimental tank proposed by Porsche that was turned down for mass production in favor of the Henschel version. They later became Ferdinands and Elefants.
Yes colors are correct.
Possibly.
Tamiya makes a 2 part application, or you could use milliput, another 2 part application, Squadron makes a cheap putty that can be used by people with experience.
I will say this…you have one heck of a wife! Is she a closet AFV fan? Tell her she made a great choice to start you on! Geez all my wife does is complain when she sees my credit card statement. Wish I could I say I blame her though!
The name is in German and is their designation for the vehicle.
SdKfz is an abreviation of ‘Sonderkraftfahrzeug’ which means roughly “Special Purpose Motor Vehicle” and is the ordinance inventory number ie SdKfz 181.
‘Panzerkampfwagon’ means ‘Fighting Vehicle’
The VI is Roman numerals for the model number of the vehicle, in this case number 6
A letter in brackets is a clarification term used when the vehicle in question is of foreign manufacter (ie a Czech tank used by the Germans was designated the 38(t) the t meaning Tzech (German for Czech), or when 2 or more vehicles were given the same inventory and reference details. In this case it is a designation for the designer/manufacturer of the vehicle - (p) means ‘Porsche’ the company owned at the time by Ferdinand Porsche.
So literally what you have is the:
Special Purpose Motor Vehicle inventory number 181, Fighting Vehicle version 6, sub varient Porsche.
Henschel and Porsche were competing for the contract for what was to become the ‘Tiger 1’, and Porsche was so confident of his ties with Hitler getting him the contract that he started building tanks, but the contract went to the Henschel design instead. Those vehicles that Porsche had built were still used, mainly as 'Ferdinand" tank destroyers (later modified and renamed Elephants) or as recovery vehicles.
One of the original Porsche design tanks was fitted with an early Krupp designed turret and was used as a Command Tank of sPzJgAbt 653 (Schwerer Panzerjager Abteilung or Heavy Tank Hunter Battalian 653) on the Eastern Front in early 1944 but did not fight as such. This is the kit you have. I would be wary putting damaged zimmerit on the model due to its non-combat role. You will also be limited to the paint scheme as per the kit as it is of one specific vehicle if you want accuracy.
As to the Tamiya paint colours, I prefer JA Green to Dark Green for German camo, as to my eye it has a more appropriate contrast.
Hope you have fun building it, I hear it is a very good kit.
Petbat- Thanks for the history, that is really cool
Stormbringer and Stug 61- Thanks for the links, they look helpful.
My wife amazes me. I consider myself very very lucky to have sucked her in found her. This applies to her Hobby Lobby shopping for me, and everything else as well.
Tamiya’s zim application tool suggested using their polyester putty at putty:hardener 50:1 ratio. You can get them for pretty cheap on ebay (I guess it applies to both the tool n putty =P)
As for the zimmerit, squadron green works wonderfully for me, as long as it is the slow drying stuff, the quick drying doesn’t work too well, that goes for any putty…
Keep in mind though that modellers tend to make perfect zimmerit (patterns I mean)
There are many reference pictures of tanks just spackled in zimmerit. There are different combat patterns for the zimmerit too. it was generally applied in the field, after the crew was given the tank, and that meant a quick application. I have seen panther tanks with a Stucco kind of look to their zim. Umm anyway… back to the application,
It all depends on how you want it to look. A flat head screwdriver is a good idea, but becarful, you don’t want the head to be too big. Apply a small amount and either use your finger (as I do) or a butter knife to apply it in sections to the tank. Tank the flathead ( I use the opposite side of my x-acto blade, taken out of the knife) and apply the lines in a vertical pattern, about 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch apart. it’s up to you. after you do a few lines, apply the horizontal lines. here is an after pic of my work on the zimmerit., your box art will help you too! any questions, feel free to email me…I’m not a pro, but I take pride in doing my own zimmerit!
