Hello,
I have been avoiding this kit for some time as the idea of applying Zim kept getting the best of me. Well this weekend I took the plunge and used Tamiya Polyester Putty and a razor saw and went to work. I actually had fun doing it. Anyway I will post pictures as I make progress and hope some of you Armor Experts will give suggestions where needed.
very well done. not easy to get straight lines like yours with the saw tool.
How quickly did the putty harden? It was easy to smear? Please explain your process.
Thank you Rios. The Polyester Putty was really easy to use. It is a two part putty, hardner has to be mixed in. I basicly followed the Zim Guidlines in the Tamiya Instruction sheet. (1) Spread the Putty in a thin coat 1mm-2mm thick . I made a small putty spreader out of some .030" styrene stock. (2)Take the Razor Saw and make Horizantal lines about 5mm wide. (3) I would then Clean the saw off on a old T-shirt then stagger the next pattern and make another set of Horizantal Lines. (4) Clean Saw blade and Repeat… That simple. Before hand I took some Acrylic Black Paint and dotted the indents for the tool brackets so I could find them again. When I was done with the Zim pattern I took a toothpick and cleaned out the Bracket Holes. I really am not sure how long it takes to set up as I was not keeping track of time but the process moves along Quickley and I had no problem with Early Hardning.
Please keep sharing and elaborating on your efforts because I have one of these too that has “scared me off” for too long. I’ll be watching this thread intently for motivation!
Thanks
Summit, the zim work looks great so far! Its not really that hard once you get going! I tried Tamiya’s Polyester Putty for zim once, but found it to dry nearly as fast as Squadron’s putty. What I didn’t try doing was to reduce the amount of “hardener” in the mix. This probalby would have given me more time to work with. I’m glad to see you didn’t have any problems! Keep posting photos, we’re eager to see the finished build!
I use the Tamiya putty and by reducing the hardener by half it give’s you more time and it will still harden up nice.
Nice job Summit, looking real good. I too am looking foward to seeing this one completed.
Thanks Guys for the encouragement. One of the Things I did not take into consideratin was the Room Temperature. My Hobby room was only about 70* as my Wife is the only one in the House Smart enough to Program the Thermastat and she was at Work today. AS for the Putty I used even lengths of mix, if not maybe a little extra hardner as it seemed to have a mind of it’s own. I am now cleaning up the road wheels, this will take a while.
can you do this with the tamiya ab putty (comes in clay like slabs)?
And I assume the colored one is hardener?
Hate to “intrude” again but I’m wondering how the more experienced feel about:
Squadron ‘green’ putty or Milliput ‘standard yellow-grey’? I gathered up both based on past threads along with Tamiya’s zimm tools for the day that I tackle mine?
I applaud your efforts. Looks real good. I’ve heard that the Tamiya putty is great stuff.
Moving forward…Kinda - I sprayed a couple of coats of MM Dunkelgelb which is suppose to be a Dark Yellow, Correct ? This stuff looks like it was made from Squashed canned peas. Some kind of a Funk Green. What the heck, Model Master Enamel paints are the only ones I have access to. What do I need to do to correct this color ?
Or Is this what it is suppose to look like ?
Straight out of the bottle, MM Dunkelgelb does indeed have a greenish cast to it. I usually will mix in 20% Light Gray to both lighten the shad and reduce the green effect. There’s a lot of debate over what the “correct” shade of Dunkelgelb actually is and the consensus leans toward the MM shade as having too much of a greenish tint to it. My personal reason for lightening the coat is because the weathering process inevitably darkens it anyway, so a lighter shade is preferred, hence the combination with Light Gray.
Looks excellent, man! That’s the way to learn to do it–OLD SCHOOL, man!!!
Kudo’s to you for confronting your trepidation and tackling this baby! [#toast]
you want to try a do or die zim?just try some red auto body glaze /putty.this stuff will keep yo slashing zim patterns from the time you apply it till the time it starts rolling up behind the applicator/ screwdriver.and man it gives the field applied look.[#oops].great looking king cat my friend looking forward to more.[tup]
Ok, I have not given up on this project. I was extremely unhappy with the camera I had. So - I recently purchased a new one to upgrade the picture quality. Now I can get back to work on this King Kitty. Here are a few pics with the new camera, at least you can now see the Zim lines.
and rear view
Still learning the Camera but I like it already !
Overall, very nice work…the zimm on the hull is particularly good—the turret zimm is a little “fine” IMO; the turrets of KT’s typically had a “larger” pattern (even the turret face looked unique in its pattern)…
I usually don’t rate a WIP thread until it is finished {even if it doesn’t include scenery[:-^]} however the combination of good work and helpful hints by others along the way I will need to give an early rating [swg]
Looks real nice. You’ve got a steady hand that’s for sure.