Well with my christmas cash I went to the LHS and got myself the new Tiger I Late w/Zimmerit. Looks like a really nice kit and suits me since I have no experience with zimmerit. I previously bought the Tiger I Late 3 in 1 and plan to use the decals from that kit to model the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 505. My only criticism I have with the zimm kit is that it cost $15.00 more than the 3 in 1 and used many of the same parts. Anyway I digress.
Here is the kit:
So far I got the lower hull and suspension done. The only issue I have is with the DS tracks. Eventhough they are well detailed they had to be shortened in order to fit. I have them on to train them. Something I have not done before. How long are they supposed to stay on to keep their shape?I have also opted to leave off the exhaust and exhaust shields to help with the painting process and will put them on before applying the camo pattern.
The fuel tanks, radiators and cooling fans are installed. This is where I am at so far:
DS stands for Dragon Styrene, a sort of vinyl track that takes paint well and can be glued together. No, that kit does not come with indies. This has peeved off most of the armor enthusiasts.
Huxy- Thanks for the feedback. My only previous experience with PE was for a 5-point racing harness for a custom dragster.
David- Thanks for the link and corrections. I came across that site while getting ready to build.
WBill76- Thanks. I hope to work on the kit at a good pace.
Tigerman- As far as I know the only issue with the DS track length is with the small idler wheel. Since kit #6404 goves the option of a large or small idler I guess the tracks would be ok with the larger one. However, from what I understand that is not accurate for the Late/Final Tiger I. Even though this is only my third tank and first Tiger, I do not like working with one piece tracks and would have preffered Magic Track to at least be an option for the price of the kit. Dragon’s upcoming Jadgpanther Late is supposed to come with Magic Tracks so I hope that is a sing that Dragon will start to go away from the DS tracks.
Thanks again for the comments. I have been tinkering at the Hull MG and Jack and will post updates soon.
I shortened the tracks by one link and did it at the connecting ends. Since the DS tracks connect over 3 to 4 links this was possible without the need to modify the way to attach.
Lookig great, Denis! Are you going to try to chip any of that zimmerit? I did it to a King Tiger pre-zimmed kit–you can read about it here, if you’re interestied. It adds a little life to the kit!
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Shame about those dumb tracks! I hate rubber band tracks! Remember that you can also get indy link tracks from Dragin–for additinal cost, of course, but they definitely would be better than dealing with that nonsense again!
Thanks Doog. I was following your KT thread and as much as I would like to do chipped zim I have neither the tools nor skillset to do it at this time. I’ll be sticking with OOB for this one. That includes the tracks. While I hate the DS tracks I just cannot see myself getting aftermarket tracks after paying $60 cdn for the kit.
I got a little bit of progress on the kit over the weekend.
Bow MG is done. No less that 8 parts. Too bad this detail will not be seen since I will be building this kit buttoned up due to a lack of interior.
I have the upper hull dryfitted and the engine deck screen installed. This step revealed that I needed to add not only a piece of sprue to the front hull to correct a warp, as I read about, but another one between the sprockets.
The main gun is together.
And I plugged the second hole in the mantle with tamiya putty to represent the monocular sight.
This is where I am at so far. Next will be the turret and then the details like the PE tool brackets. Time to stock up on patience. LOL
Making good progress Denis…it’s a shame about the warp in the upper hull needing that kind of correction even on their latest-and-greatest kit since it’s been known by DML for some time, but your fix should set it right.
Great work so far! It is a shame about those tracks but as long as the bigshots reviewers like Mr. Sewell continue to list the individual track links that Dragon uses as a “disadvantage” to the kits I think we will see more and more of them.
