DML Tiger II

[DCG]

I don't really even like Tigers of any description, really, so maybe someone can explain why I just had to have this kit?

http://www.network54.com/Realm/ml_pics/DMLT2.jpg

So anyway, it shows up at a local hoby shop last week and I'd already decided I was going to buy it... in fact, Magic Box Hobbies was the second shop I'd been to that day hoping to find it. My whims are fickle, what can I say? ;) As I was saying I found it, I bought it, and I brought it home forthwith.

I've decided I'm not going to buy any more PE sets for this kit - lately I've been starting to avoid PE sets altogether because of the amount of items I feel I don't really need, although there are stock sets I will use - Aber's German clasps and clamps set (the later one, I can't remember the stock number) being one of them. Luckily, this kit does come with PE of its own (most usefully for the grillework). I also find that a lot of PE items are still of the worng scale thickness (usually too thin). At any rate, I'm going to cheat and steal selected items off the Aber PE fret for the DML Jagtiger which I'm working on as well and after four years I might as well admit that I'm never going to finish it.

After putting the turret together, carving away the weld seams with a mind to re-do these in putty, and texturing the armour plate (more about this later) I discovered you need to move the pilzen sockets around, as pictured. The kit provides the earlier layout, as evident on the Tiger II at RMCS Shrivenham. I used online reference shots of the Tiger II at La Gleize to get the positioning of the later arrangement. Not perfect, but hopefully no pedantic ass with a set of callipers is going to start measuring it (which means I can't enter it into any IPMS shows, I guess ;) )

I made the new pilzen sockets out of On The Mark stainless steel tubing.

http://www.network54.com/Realm/ml_pics/turret01.jpg

That's it for this installment...

[DCG]

OK, the images didn't post. Please excuse me while I beat someone (likely James) roundly about the head until the problem is resolved. ;)

Later!

[DOJO]

How you liked the kit? As I'm planning on getting them.
Copy, paste helps to see pics.

[James Tainton]

Originally posted by DCG@Jan 28 2005, 10:48 AM
OK, the images didn't post. Please excuse me while I beat someone (likely James) roundly about the head until the problem is resolved. ;)

Later!
Darren the problem is that you have linked pictures from your network 54 account- they block linking images here (and else where I imagine) You need to upload and link the images to you spankin' new KitPic account- that will work the charm. Give it a go chum. ;)

[DCG]

AHA - as I thought! The Network54 monkeys strike again... am working on the Kitpic account, as you know. Stay tuned.

Ruslan: my first impressions are that the kit is very nice, although as I've stated Tiger IIs really aren't my thing I'm kind of at a loss as to what may or may not be wrong with the kit (except for the pilzen sockets). As I understand the roadwheels have been corrected in this kit (#6232) and as you do get all the parts necessary for an earlier Tiger II then this would probably be the kit of choice at the moment no matter which version you intend to build. I will be using the older Clipper barrel instead of the turned one provided with the kit as the detail is better; as well I'll be using and old set of Tamiya indie-link tracks as I won't be using the 18-tooth drive sprocket that comes with the kit (you do get a 9-tooth sprocket as well).

[DCG]

Ok, let's try something different then... here's the turret photo I tried to post earlier:

http://www.fototime.com/%7B52EF095F-B241-44E9-ACB4-1D02AE7C7030%7D/picture.JPG

[James Tainton]

success! ;)

[DCG]

OK, now that I've got the photo hosting problem sorted (temporarily) I'll continue with the build log:

Armour plate texturing is something I haven't done in a while because it's so time-consuming; however, the results can be really nice, and so I've decided to use it on this project. Basically I take Tamiya grey putty and apply it like peanut butter to the surface of the model. I then take one of those white Testors paintbrushes with the black vinyl bristles (cut down so they're about 5mm or 1/4" long), dip it in lacquer thinner, and start stabbing away.

(Frankly, I'd prefer not to think about how much toluene I might be dealing with here, so please don't remind me ;) )

This is what it looks like after drying for roughly 24 hours:

http://www.fototime.com/%7B39C3B2DC-68FE-49F1-AF6F-E892B282318E%7D/picture.JPG

The turret has already been finished in this photo, although because it's beyond my digital camera's macro capabilities I can't zoom in close enough to see the results after sanding. Here's the glacis plate:

http://www.fototime.com/%7BB43A0C2B-5028-4AA9-BE03-82175A6D549D%7D/picture.JPG

You'll notice I'm still working on replacing the kit's moulded-on sight aperture rain guard. Anyway, after the putty's dreid for about 24 hours, I sand it down under a running tap with some wet&dry sandpaper... I've used 220- and 320- grit sandpaper for this with decent results. just remember, finer-grit paper will take longer, and coarser-grit paper will leave behind abrasions in the surface of the model which you might need to feather out.

I sand until I'm left with very subtle pits and depressions in the putty. You really have to fight the urge to leave the surface heavily pitted, because although it probably looks cooler, if it were a real tank the armour plate would have been rejected at the foundry (case in point, the overdone texture on DML's Jagdtiger kits).

That's it for now. I'm in the middle of re-doing the weld seams at the moment so I should have something new in a couple of days.

[DOJO]

today saw this kit in hobby shop, but it or not.
Will be watching you.

[Stuke Sowle]

Looking nice Darren. I got this kit in the mail the other day and it indeed looks promising.

[DCG]

Thanks guys - got most of the weld beads done yesterday, save a few on the turret (two-part putty started hardening sooner than I though). Here is the kugelblende:

http://www.fototime.com/%7B65067A0D-3CB5-4E3D-B805-FBF70CF3681D%7D/picture.JPG

And the rear hull plate, to give you just two examples. I'm aiming at January 1945 for the relative production date for my model, so by that time the jack was deleted from the Tiger II; the attachment points for the jack bracket are filled in here. I'm also filling in the locations for the rear fenders as I'll be swiping the Aber fenders from my abortive Jagdtiger project for this build (big lesson: NEVER use contact cement to glue Cavalier zimmerit in place... actually, never use contact cement on a model, period! ;) )

http://www.fototime.com/%7BF9918D97-96DE-40E1-AAB7-9DD1AA052026%7D/picture.JPG

The armour texturing meant I lost the mounting lugs for the schurtzen, so I'm redoing these in strip styrene. Here you can see some more "liberated" Jagdtiger PE too...

http://www.fototime.com/%7BABC049D6-5AF8-464C-9205-49247DA31AAB%7D/picture.JPG

You can also just make out a little bit of the armour texturing here too - the light-coloured flecks in the puttied areas of the hull are the dints and pits.

Later!

[Panzergrenadier]

I have some how missed this thread. Nice kitty! :thumb: Any progress on it?

Siim

[DCG]

No progress on this build in a very long time, I'm afraid - first I started to hear of how certain of the plate interlocks are of the wrong dimensions or in the wrong place, and then there were a number of other projects I was more interested in getting some work done on. You know how these things go... ;)

D