Tiger 211 SS.Pz Abt. 102

[adt70hk]

Firstly, sorry to hear about your father's passing. I can imagine he has some stories to tell!

Secondly, I'm loving the work on the tiger!

Keep at it.

Andrew

[joelsmith]

looking real good, keep it up.

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

Sorry about your Dad mine was U.S.Navy too. Was already in when the war broke out and was in the North Atlantic.
When war was declared they steamed back to Norfolk for refit and he spent the rest of the war in the Pacific,he passed away at 82 years old.

Your Tiger is headed for the top of the heap sir

Tony lee

[totalize]

Thanks a bunch guys. Yep Dad served aboard a sub chaser mainly in the Pacific. Enlisted just after Pearl Harbor. He was so angry over that incident. He was a gunner and in his spare time a boxer. Fought a few guys in the Pacific fleet and a few Royal Navy guys too though that was in a bar fight and usually over the women. One time he was in a bar fight and the MP's were called. He was trying to find his way out before they got there and thought he would take the back stairs however, a Royal Navy sailor blocked his way so he punched him and the RN sailor went tumbling down the stairs. He ran down after him jumped over him and ran out the back door. He would always tell me you know the first thing you always lost in a bar fight was your cap.

[Tojo72]

Zimm really came out great

[Leon]

Sorry to hear about your dad Dave!
Progress on the Tiger is looking good.

[deafpanzer]

Sorry about your dad... sounds like he was a good man.

The cables look lovely!

[totalize]

Thanks guys,

I am going to work on the turret next. I will be doing my own broad pattern zimmerit. I won't be able to use the standard Lionroar roller(its not broad enough) but I have another solution.

[totalize]

Back with another update.

I got the turret together and added the weld seams along the edge of the turret roof. The barrel is slightly longer when compared to the drawings in the Jentz and Doyle book on the Tiger but not enough to make a noticeable difference in my opinion. Tiger 211 had the later smaller muzzle break so I used this option from the Kit. It also had the broad pattern zimmerit on the turret sides. I achieved this by using my 2 part Tamiya epoxy putty and a  brass gear that I had taken from an old mini blind. I got this idea from fellow modeler Phil Appleyard who first used it on his tiger builds.  The gear can't be mounted to a roller so I had to use my fingers instead to roll it along the putty. After rolling I patted the surface down slightly to flatten out the zimmerit but not everywhere as zimmerit was actually uneven in places. This is something you cant get with decal zimmerit or the ATAK resin stuff. They are all too perfect. For the area near the lifting lugs I used my regular Lionroar roller that I used on the hull. Tigers had the narrower, smaller pitch zimmerit in these areas. I think it worked out quite well if I don't say so myself.

[deafpanzer]

I am with you about Zimmerit. They were not pretty or even in real world. Amazing work once again!!!

[Leon]

Nice work on the zimmerit and weld seams Dave! Looking really good.

[panzerjager2]

Sorry for your loss


Very cool updates

[totalize]

Thanks Guys.

[adt70hk]

Loving the work on the zim

Andrew

[sturmbird]

I think I've seen at least three tracks with zimmerit, and maybe a fourth. First thing I noticed was that it was uneven, and with some serious peaks (like cake icing). Personally I like Cavalier and ATAK zimmerit. The Eduard just looks too flat, and Tamyia is even worse. On the otherhand, I'm not fond of most of the Dragon zimmerit. Still they seem to be getting better at it. I have a Panzer IVj that looks fairly good, but still too shallow.

I like the unevenness of your zimmerit. Especially the hull sides. Remember it was hand applied, and even then in a hurry. Still I see quite a few Panthers with zimmerit that often looks like wall paper it's even. Late in the war, it was often field applied.

I really do like the build, and have a couple AFV Tigers hidden away. Your research is impeccable!
gary

[totalize]

Thanks again guys.

I decided to start on the brass fenders for this build and got a few done by soldering the braces to the back side of each fender. I am trying to improve my soldering technique by getting cleaner, thinner joints. Some are better than others but thus far things seem to be going okay.

[wing_nut]

Saw there an update and I am behind with these things. But sad to hear about your dads passing.

[deafpanzer]

Believe it or not... I love photo etch but I haven't tried soldering. One day I will!!! Your fenders look great...

[totalize]

Thanks boys.

Andy I like photoetch as well. For these fenders I am going to rough them up with dents and bends and I can't do that by Using CA glue. The parts, or braces in this case, would just snap off.


Onward and upward as they say.

[totalize]

Feb 7, 2017 15:09:14 GMT -5 wing_nut said:

Saw there an update and I am behind with these things. But sad to hear about your dads passing.

Thanks my friend. I miss the old guy everyday.

[Leon]

Fenders are looking good Dave!

[totalize]

Thanks Leon.

Believe it or not the bending of the actual fenders was the greatest challenge. The multiple bends in different angles had me scratching my head a few times until the got the process down pat. The challenge being how to get all the bends just so without wrecking one of them when putting it my PE hold and fold. Then there was the top part and outer edge of the fender which had bend lines so narrow that if the part wasn't put in the hold and fold properly you got half of it bent and the other half not. I practiced on some older PE crap before trying with these ones. BTW, the PE set is from ET Model.

[jsteinman]

PE fenders are the BOSS - gonna bend em up good?

[totalize]

John,

Yes, I am going to bend these things up but will keep them in line with the pictures of 211 I posted earlier. Expect to have more damage on the left side with one missing fender completely. No photos of the left side of this tank exist AFAIK so I am going to take a bit more liberty with that side.

[totalize]

With the fenders now complete my next move is to add some wear and tear and add them to the hull. I tried an initial attempt to see how they would adhere using CA glue but no joy there. Damn things just fell off. The surface area of these things for gluing is like .2mm so very small. I then decided to add some more surface area by gluing some strips of .5mm plastic rod to the fenders. To increase the surface area for gluing further I filed them down flat. I will post some shots of the fenders on when I get a chance to take some decent pictures but here's what I am talking about.

[totalize]

Another small update.

Found a resin spare track link set I had kicking around from TMD. I am going to give these a go but I do still have some spare links from my AFV Club track set so I could use both. The TMD link holders are nice as they have casting marks on them as well as the handles on the ends which the AFV Club parts do not have. BTW the turret got a coat of primer and I added some zimm to the escape hatch hinge which Tiger 211 had.






Also, Tiger 211 had spare links on either side of the bow plate. SS.Pz.Abt 102 was known to carry these on their Tigers which differentiated them a bit from Whittmann's unit. They hung them using hooks they welded to the top of the bow plate. I was not sure if they would have used a pins to hold them in place but from other references I have seen Tiger crews just ran some thick wire through the links and bent them around the track to hold them on place. I suspect they wouldn't use track pins because the tracks would probably have bounced around being loose and I didn't think they had the tools/time to bend very thick track pins around the outside of the tracks. It's all speculation of course but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[panzerjager2]

Cool beans update

[totalize]

Thanks a bunch.

I have more or less completed the build of my Tiger I and primed it up with some Tamiya surface primer. I beat up the rear left heat shield by first thinning the inside of the shield drilling some puncture holes with my pin vise then holding it over an open flame to add the dents. Its odd but on Tiger 211 the left heat shield is in bad shape but the right one is near perfect. Tiger I heat shields had a raised strip on the inside of the shield similar to the one on the outside so I added some stretched sprue here to replicate this feature. Staying with the theme of a beat left up side I added some damage to the fenders and left one completely off. I didn't do really anything to the right side fenders as the pictures show almost no damage to this side save a few missing bolts to the fenders.

I left one of the spare tracks off on the left side of turret and the securing hinge in the down position to add some further visual interest.

I didn't add the hull hatches just yet as I can't decide if I want to add some figures here or just have them closed. Hmm....

I added the brass co-axial MG barrel from a set I have from Aber after I primed. I also realized afterward I still have to add the front mud guard latches. I didn't add the cupoloa mounted AA MG as this tank didn't have one in the pictures nor did any of the other unit's Tigers AFAIK.

[Leon]

Bring on paint Dave! Nice work on the damage.

[panzerjager2]

Nice build