What color is under zimm?

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Hi Everyone,
I bought a set of Royal Models “scraped” Zim for my next project, a Dragon Panther A Early. Large portions of the Zimm are damaged/missing, what color paint lies beneath the Zimm, was it Primer,Dunkelgelb or something else?
Any advice or references are appreciated, I’ve always used Cavalier for my Zimm and this is my first go at PE Zimm.

Happy Modeling…

2

I’ve seen some models show red oxide primer where worn or damaged zimmerit shows the under-side. The cover of AFV Modeller, # 16 shows a Normandy Panther. The modeler has painted the areas where zimmerit has been worn off with red-oxide paint. It looks to be a Panther A. The roadwheels appear to have rubber on them, unlike a steel-wheeled Panther G.

Glenn

3

Red oxide from what I have seen . The base paint was generally applied over the zimm to help with adhesion to the steel under.

4

Well I believe there are two answers to this question. Red oxide for factory applied zim, and dunkelgelb on top of red oxide for field applied zim. Make sense?

Steve

5

That would dovetail with the information that I have found on various web sources while researching this very question for my current Panther project. According to several sources, the zimmerit would adhere extremely well to the a clean primer coat, but nearly so well to bare metal.

Along similar lines, how about the color of the zimmerit itself, such as would be revealed when it was chiped without necessarily peeling off to the paint underneath? Apparently the formula for the stuff included about 15% yellow-ochre pigment. Would it then be about the same color as the yellow base coat?

Andy

6

dark yellow is the base colour or too rough action maybe expose the metallic colour

7

Thanks Fellas… I think I’ll go with the red primer with a light airbrushing of heavily thinned buff or dunkelgelb.
Anybody ever use PE Zimm? Any suggestions? I picked up a set at AMPS and thought I’d give it a shot.

Happy Modeling
Jeff

8

I’m in the process of using Eduard PE zim for my Panther. I have it most applied, and it has been relatively easy, although a tad tedious. I have been applying the PE zim prior to major assembly.

For gluing it down, I taped the pieces in place, and then ran CA glue along the edges, letting it flow under from capillary action. I then peeled of the tape and finished going around the edges. To get it stuck in the center areas of large pieces, I pre-drilled some holes which let me glue from the back, doing, in effect, the CA glue equivalent of a plug weld.

The biggest gotcha that I have encountered is the make certain that the PE is really flat against the surface when gluing. You don’t want it to form a gap, otherwise you run a strong risk of the glue filling in a bit and leaving the PE off the surface of the underlying plastic in the areas around the glue. If this happens, you run the risk of bending the PE into the void, leaving a slight folded outline of the glued area. The happened to me in one area, fortuitously in an area on the lower front hull, that I intended to damage anyway. My wee little mistake turned into a happy accident as I investigated ways to make the zim look damaged.

To simulate damage, I found that my dremel fitted with a tiny burr is wonderful. However, with dremelling, there are a few things to keep in mind. Obviously wear eye protection, and watch your fingers. When grinding near the edge of a piece of zim, you want to go at it from a side such that the burr’s cutting edge is rotating off the plate rather than coming onto it, other wise you run the risk of catching the edge and peeling up a section. Along similar lines, you also want to angle the burr in such a way the burr’s edges are not parallel to the zim pattern, other wise you run the risk of the burr’s teeth locking with the zim as though it were a rack and pinion gear setup, again peeling back the zim.

In addition to simulating damage, I also found the dremel handy for knocking down the edges of the plates a tad, just so that they wouldn’t look so much like the edges of a metal plate, but would hopefully look a little more natural. I added bits of putty, here and ther on the edges, to again to a better job of transitioning from PE zim to bare plastic.


Here’s the front with a bit a damge done to it. I still need to do a bit of blending with putty.


Here’s the rear of the hull, with the zim finished and blended with putty on the edges.

So far, so good.

Andy

9

Wow Thanks Andy, I like the idea of using the putty around the edge of the panel.Time to break out the trusty Dremel…
Jeff

10

Here is my dragon early A with the Eduard PE zim. After this model, I never used it again.

Installation went well…

and the finished product…

I thought it came out OK but I really wasn’t happy, I didn’t think it was defined enough. I tried washes but it still didn’t look quite right. It just doesn’t have the “depth” at scale.

So, the next zim project was Milli Putty and a zim tool, this I am happy with…

Just something to consider, good luck on the build…

Steve

11

For me the verdict is still out on whether or not I would use PE zim on future tank or not. Having applied it, but without the paint job, the stuff looks to be at least fairly comparable to photos of neatly applied (presumably at the factory) zim, although certainly underscale and far too neat for the messy field job. The part that I am questioning is that with the effort to blend it and give it at least a bit of scrapes and damage, it seems as though not much effort has been saved by using the “easy” zim.