And so it begins

Well the start of the Koenigs Tiger the Zimmerit coating the photo etch stuff is so flimsy dashed awful stuff to work with.
I had to figure out how to preserve the locating indents for all the tools and wire ropes on the side sponsons of the tank.
I ended up drilling #70 size drill bit through the body at those points so when I fit the Zimmerit just poke a pin from the inside and note where it comes out then reform the indent.
Then just small (very) cut and push inwards then fit the tools etc easy peasy the ball mount and turret are going to be fun!
This one I also brought the metal tracks which are even more involved fitting together than the Tiger I.
Thanks chaps.

Slow as she goes this is really a patience tester with the track hangers on the turret as I stated the Zimmeritt photo etch covered the location indents for the hangers so I redrilled inside out and started the fit up.
You can see them on the left side in the pic on the turret those black things the bigger ones are not to bad to fit but its that bottom one the very small one that's the issue as its only @1.5mm in size!
I am having to glue it on with flat to flat as the indent was only very small so I'm using Loctite supa-glue boy it frustrates the heck trying to hold them in tweezers, then get it bang on as they have to engage the bottom of the spare tracks when hung on the upper hanger.
The tweezers have the propensity to launch small items like a flea jumps and trying to find them takes time I lost one handle for the radio op's hatch but had a spare, made one for the commanders hatch then found it 2 days later!
Also the special glue for the photo etch is like clag paper glue and takes 6 hours to reach max strength so when I put a piece on it has to be left alone over night, the tricky one was the ball mount curving it.

The next frustrator was the mesh grill's over the inner radiators just behind the turret cutting the fine mesh and using double sided tape was fun as per instructions, resorted to supa glue for the ends.
Anyway it's coming together, I put in for my B/day present for next month a 1/16th scale Panther which has the full interior the kit only has 55 sprues and 2,300 parts :yikes: that along with the 1/35 Karl Morser will see me out of modeling.
I still have to build Jagdtiger, Sturm Tiger, F14A 1/32th scale, Spitfire & ME 109........and a mess of 1/35th soldiers my wife got me as a frustration plan on her part.:thup:

I started building models at around the age of nine with my father. I have built quite a few model airplanes over the years, but one kit that I bought about thirty years ago, I never got around to build. It was a 1/72 scale DH 2 from 1916, the "pusher fighter" used to combat the Germans with their synchronized forward firing machine guns. I did build it about two years ago, very small to work with as you have to paint everything and apply the decals before assembly.Attachment 130675Attachment 130676Attachment 130677

Small work. I started out with 1/72 aircraft. There was one maker of WW I kits that came with prepared decal like skins that had all the camouflage and such on them. You had to work quickly, and get them on straight the first time.

L&S even 1/72 scale in aircraft they are quite sizable and whilst look amazing when done they take up so much space, I checked the scale and type of the F15 I erred from memory its a Grumman F-14A in 1/32 scale so is a big kit!.
Thursday I'm up off to the big smoke to get the Trumpeter 1/16th scale Panther with full internals pretty excited to have a build of such a complicated model as said 2300+ parts OMG!

That's one heck of a lot of bits! Should be a pretty good size as well. Looking forward to watching your progress.
I got to the point with the 1/72 aircraft that I started to build them with the gear up, and props replaced with circles of clear sheet plastic. Hung them from the ceiling due to lack of shelf space.

Picked up the NIB 1/16th scale early Panther by Trumpeter today coke a cola can for scale the box is about @300mm deep its a very big model so wont be starting it for a little while but when I do I'll make a seperate thread so I can share the ups and downs.
To say its a daunting kit from just looking at the plans is an understatement practically no wording and its a painting by numbers game, thankfully there is a full video on youtube by Andy's Hobby Center in the USA who built this exact kit.
So guess I'll be watching allot of Andy ????

Slow and sure getting there if I do zimmeritt again I will do it the old fashion way with putty and a razor saw.
The photo etch whilst fast was a right PITA to locate the turret spare track.
Went with just a 2 tone camo enameled painted the spare links with Humbrol 173 as that is the track colour from them.
But pretty happy with it have done about 10 links in the metal tracks only another 166 to go then etch prime and paint.
Will go with the ETO and caked on dirt & dusty look may put some battle damage.
As a fact no Konigs Tiger's front glacis plate or turret front was penetrated by A.P in WWII.

Konigs Tiger getting there slowly the photo etch caused issues with the towing cables.
I'll have to supa glue them on as the locating nubs are not big enough to locate correctly into the holes I drilled anyway that's a later on bit.
Camo's on/decals on/models sealed now to finished off the wheels and do the metal link tracks I brought.
These are a 2 piece affair not like the Tiger 1 there is a spacer link between the grouser plates whoopdee do.
Not sure if its 98/side will have to count the plastic ones in the kit then etch prime/paint humbrol 173 & weather them.
It will then be fit-up of the tank, weather it to complete the build so next up date will be a while.
Cheers.

Does anyone remember the plastic model kits on the market in the 1970's that were made in the USSR (Russia)? The ones that I am thinking of came with the worst transfers ever. If you got the transfers wet, which had to be done in order to apply them to the model, the transfers completely disintegrated. I remember trying every way that I could think of to apply the transfers to the model but there are only a limited number of ways of making a transfer wet and whichever way I tried the transfer completely disintegrated.

Cannot help you there F10 so many early model companies have folded in that time frame.I recently built an early zvezda kit a T 34/76 about the worst fitting model I have built very poorly fitting, apparently they have lifted their game and are a bit better!

I did lots of models back then too and can't remember a Russian company.

Zvezda are a Russian company that I believe have been around for a while not sure as far back as the 70's though.
Also from my books on the Tigers I learnt the Tiger II (Konigs Tiger) has 46 grouser treads and 46 spacer plates in each track so that's 92 links which works out to 38cm per track as I measured the rubber ones in the kit.

Sadly the quality has slipped with the metal links and I'm having to hand fit them filing and nipping over press tabs which stops the pin holes lining up correctly, frustrating you betchya!
I'm working under a magnifying light but small parts and gumby hands make for a not so restrained peaceful build I find and hour is my limit doing this bit then its time for reading up on the Tigers I'm onto the Tiger I & II combat tactics and crew training.

Russian kits. Yes the video starts off with wooden kits, before someone points it out, and then progresses to plastic kits made in the USSR.

At least some kits made it to the UK in the 1970's for retail sale which I remember by the cheap price and poor quality transfers. The boxes were marked with made in USSR not Russia.

Kits models in the USSR - YouTube

How was the fit and finish, I wouldn't think too good?

They weren't as good as Airfix but the main issue, as I say, was the useless transfers which is probably why I remember them. The shop where I went had several brands of plastic model kits but the bottom of their range were these kits from the USSR. As I remember it, bearing in mind that it was over 40 years ago, the kits were all from one manufacturer in the USSR and the scale was a little smaller than the average Airfix kit. As I recall the boxes were light blue and I remember being mystified as to why the Russians only produced models of WW2 American aircraft.

I built lots of airfix, I remember the small kits with fine details and trees full of minute parts. My thing was WW2 aircraft.

My airfix kits from what I can remember was a Spitfire 1/48 scale destroyed by .22 rimfire incoming after crash landing on my future b/inlaws farm at Pithara.
Also a Bronco, Fairy Gannet plus a Hercules C-130.
I also built a Jagdpanther, Sherman, that's about all I can remember wait Oh yeah! I built the Seaview sub that sank in the bath tub, built a Peter built AMT cab over Kenworth, also a T-Bucket called "The Bath Tub" all around circa about 1969-1972'ish.

My Airfix kits were primarily aircraft as well. Most succumbed to BB's and pellets when their build quality became overshadowed by (some) skill improvement on my part. Others met their fate by getting subjected to "air strikes" involving various flammable liquids now known to cause cancer in California.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

I built the Seaview sub

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

built a Peter built AMT cab over Kenworth

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I did the Seaview too, forgot about that. I did a "Mack" dump truck...

Glad I could jog the memory Jim.
L & S there were some pitched air battles at home, sadly I only learned later in life that my father worked as an RAAF engine/airframe fitter on that wonderful aircraft in WWII, I gather he was not to impressed with it's demise!

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Originally Posted by Low & Slow

skill improvement on my part.

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I built the plastic model kits to the best of my ability and as carefully as possible regardless of how long it took. My brother, on the other hand, built plastic model kits as fast as possible with copious amounts of model cement "smeared" over the entire model.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

My brother, on the other hand, built plastic model kits as fast as possible with copious amounts of model cement "smeared" over the entire model.

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I wasn't that bad but I've never had enough patience to do really well on most of them. Like woodwork, it takes patience. I don't do good wood work either.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I don't do good wood work either.

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The old saying "Measure twice, cut once." is very pertinent to woodwork.

My late father was notorious for cutting wood just a little bit shorter than was actually required. Most people use a tape measure that starts a zero and the day that I found one of my father's tape measures that started at 2" I thought that I was seeing things. After a "double take" to confirm that the tape measure did indeed start at 2" I did eventually get it where it belonged, the dustbin.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

"Measure twice, cut once."

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No, I get that. I just don't have patience.

My issue with wood is that I can measure three or four times, and still not get a squared off cut. Must be my saws. All of them.

L&S :rofl: they don't make saws that cut straight anymore......!

Taking shape, still scads to do have completed one track 46 grouser & 46 spacer plates plus 3 pins per pr = 38cm long track.
Have steel weathered the road wheels and sprockets that was a chore using applicator and Tamiya silver/steel compound.
Tracks will then be Mr Color clear etch primed, Humbrol #173 enamel painted, sealed then weathered.
(European dusty conditions on whole vehicle)
Cables & MG 42 to put onto the tank and that will be it then onto the Sturm Tiger or Jagdtiger may be a coin flip.

It's looking good Cinders.

A good tip for woodwork, and I don't know how widely it is known, is to blunted the point of nails before hitting them into wood as the wood is much less likely to split. As unlikely it may sound it does actually work.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

blunted the point of nails before hitting them into wood as the wood is much less likely to split. As unlikely it may sound it does actually work.

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This is one thing I did actually learn about wood craft to good effect.

Track grouser & spacers done all pins etch glued and drying out.:runaway::thup:
47 grouser 47 spacer per side with 3 pins per set man it is very fiddly!
If its not to cold tomorrow Mr Color etch primer clear then 24-36 hours to dry then paint & weather them fit to the AFV then finish it may do an Ardennes one with mud and heavy dirt on it.
I do not think its very dusty in Europe in Jan-Apr so will probably be a better fit.
Just have to see if that unit participated in the Ardennes offensive.
I know the 1/16 Panther is really going to test my shaky hands and eye sight.
You have to cut & glue the track horns onto the grousers so that's 2 per grouser no wonder there is 2300 parts in there with the full interior, what have I done to myself!:yikes: