Academy 1/35 Tiger I Mid. Production

[JohnP]

Now before anybody lifts a finger SEBASTIAN note that Guppy has approved this tank's time gap from the start of the invasion (June 6th) to the arrival of this tank's battalion in Normandy(June 12th).

You can read my very long photo review of the kit here.

I will be building Tiger 323 of s.SS-Pz. Abt. 101. - some may know it for the tanker celebrities it had, like Michael Wittmann.



Tiger 323 was commanded by SS Hauptscharführer Hermann Barkhausen.
Sadly, barely any information or reference on him or his Tiger exists.

I can say that he was killed around the time Michael Wittmann was (Aug. 12th - 1944)
(Thanks to Coen for this info.)



However, there is some to say about the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion around D-Day. (LOTS OF READING WARNING)

101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion (in German Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101, commonly abbreviated as s.SS-Pz. Abt. 101) was one of the Waffen-SS's elite armored units, acting as a 'fire brigade' and a crack assault unit on all fronts. With the introduction of new Tiger II - "King Tiger" tanks in late 1944, it was redesignated the Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501.

It was created on July 19, 1943 as a part of the I Panzer Corps, by forming two new heavy tank companies consisting of Tiger I tanks and incorporating the "13th (Heavy) Company" of 1st SS Panzer Regiment. It was attached to 1st SS-Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and sent to Italy on August 23, 1943 where it stayed until mid-October. The 1st and 2nd company were then sent to the Eastern Front while the rest of the unit stayed in the West. On 22 September 1944 the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion was Redesignated 501st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion (abbreviated s.SS-Pz. Abt. 501).

When the formation was initially created, Michael Wittmann was assigned Tiger 205, the command vehicle of the second platoon. During the course of the Normandy campaign this vehicle broke down, and Wittmann was to commandeer a number of different vehicles, including 222 – which saw action at Villers-Bocage – and 231, in which he was filmed after soon after receiving the Swords to his Knight’s Cross. Following the injuries to batallion commander Heinz von Westernhagen in July, Wittmann assumed command of the battalion and with it the battalion commander’s Tiger 007. It was in this vehicle that Wittmann was killed on 8 August 1944. All of these vehicles were painted with summer camouflage, with the ‘Zimmerit’ anti-mine paste being applied to the turret and upper hull.

With the anticipated Allied invasion of Western Europe approaching, elements of the battalion in the East were ordered to the West in April 1944. On June 1, 1944, the battalion was located near Beauvais, north-west of Paris. Of its 45 Tigers, 37 were operational and eight more were under repair. With the D-Day landings on June 6, it was ordered to Normandy where it arrived despite heavy aerial bombardment on June 12. After weeks of severe fighting, most famously at the Battle of Villers-Bocage, the battalion had lost 15 of its 45 Tigers by July 5.

At this time the units' surplus crews were pulled back from the front and began outfitting with the new Tiger II tanks. By August 7 the remainder of the division left in Normandy numbered 25 Tigers of which 21 were still operational.

On August 8 1944, three of their seven Tigers committed to a counter-attack near Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil were knocked out by British Fireflies and Michael Wittman was killed.

The battalion lost virtually all its remaining Tigers during the heavy fighting in the Falaise pocket and the subsequent German retreat from France.

On September 9, the remains of the unit were ordered to rest and completely refit with the new Tiger IIs. With this change on September 22, 1944, it was redesignated the Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501.

On March 15, 1945 it reported a strength of 32 tanks, of which eight were operational.

The (101st/501st) SS Heavy Panzer Battalion over its history lost 107 tanks for 500 enemy tanks destroyed - a kill ratio of 4.67.

(Info courtesy of Panzer Ace and Wikipedia)

I did, however, manage to find a photo of what seems to be Hermann Barkhausen's Tiger!
If my vision serves me correct - that is a Tiger I Mid. in Zimmerit bearing the s.SS-Pz. Abt. 101 markingand the number '323'.



A comment on the source says it's from France 1944. Let's hope so.

[JohnP]

LET'S GET STARTED!



I will also be using Eduard's Photo-etch Zimmerit set.







From 2002... In response to this kit from 1996

Proof that this kit has not been started on yet...



Here are some tech specs of the Tiger I.




I started by adding large sections of the Zimmerit.







Gaps were forming during drytime - so securing it was required.



I now remember what I never liked about armor.. too many wheels!









Something strange - The PE set offers Zimmerit on the top of the front hull.
I left it out as it is not consistent with what research I have. Note that a few Tigers had crew-applied Zimmerit in.. odd places

Here's a problem I ran into.





The zimmerit panels for the rear covered some detail so some cutting was required...
I blunted my knife blade... I should get some Pe shears...







More is coming soon! Stay tuned - same bat time, same bat channel!

[mannloon]

Very cool subject, haven't seen a build log of an academy tiger yet. I have the dragon late zimmerit kit i will be doing as tiger 221 of Wittmann's company. I will be watching this with great interest. Zim looks good so far.

[MarkVerploeg]

Lookimg good so far
You can try a heavy duty blade for the pe
I have one from xacto ,the one that looks like a pen
And that blade is still good after cutting loads of pe
And it os more precise then the cutters too

[Rob]

Great start and a nice bit of history. It looks like this particular tank company is going to be well represented - I think I will be joining in with an example, but this time in 1/72, the gentlemen's scale

[Schoof]

Hey don't blame me . I only told you what I was told. .....

[Coen]

I've been thinking about trying out some PE zim for a while now so this will be another interesting build to watch.
It's also a really cool subject.
Good choice John Nice work so far. It looks good

[Schoof]

^^ He told me. .....

[JohnP]

Here is the current state of affairs!

The torsion bar interior doesn't have that great of a fit.

They were too small for the stubs that fit into the ends of the bar.



A lot of shaving of plastic was required.

Afterwards, I masked the interior for paint.









Masked again for the offwhite upper-half



For the offwhite I used 20 drops of Tamiya Acryl White and 1 drop of Buff.





The first interior parts were built







Sadly, I'm losing interest for the interior. I've been thinking about not show off the interior of this kit.. I don't have plans to show off the interior I'll end up gluing the thing closed anyway!
I do have the Early version of this kit - if I find my mojo for the interior in the future I maybe get around to it

I did, however, do the visible parts under the engine grills.





I drybrushed the part using Model Master Enamel Steel.



I will upload more progress later today

[AchtungPanzer]

A wonderful set. Very much PE from Eduard ! Now I love this model. Good start with. Well done mate !

[UKguyInUSA]

Great start, love the dry-brushing in the last photo!

[JohnP]

Here's what I've gotten done today.





The kit has the Early top portion of the hull - you're required to remove the SS mine launchers.



Engine Deck







Starting to look like a Tiger now

The top hull was slightly smaller than the rest of the lower hull - there are gaps you can notice along the seam between the two.
I can't fill it unless I ruin the weld seam detail.



Gun mantlet Zimmerit placed





Turret Zimm completed as well



We're getting there!











In the meantime, I found these old figures from a long time ago that I will try to salvage.

This figure is in good condition, all it needs is a repaint.



I will be using only the arms from this figure



I have an unused figure with a headphone on him somewhere in my spares bin..

[Coen]

That zimmerit looks really good John, are you going to try to blend the joins with some putty or some other thing? I've read that some use gap filling CA glue to do the blending since it's not as thick and drys fast.
I've never used PE zimmerit before so I'm curious.

[JohnP]

Yeah, I was thinking about blending it together somehow, not sure how.
I've got gap-filling CA and putty. I might try the CA and apply it with a toothpick.

[JohnP]

You know - I might try Mr. Surfacer instead!

I found a helpful how-to for PE Zimmy.

http://www.rollmodels.net/nworkbench/on ... ardzim.php

[Coen]

That might be the best way. It dries pretty fast as well.
I'll be interested to see how well it goes either way.

[DC87]

Great work on the brass monster

[T3hGuppy]

Now their is a nice looking Tiger,

[JohnP]

Right, sorry for the absence I have summer school and my priority is my education

Here are some old figures to represent the ones I will be using soon.
These will be a problem. Their hands are overscaled for some reason.
I will replace the arms/hands of the commander and the loader will be replaced with a figure with the same stance.





Next up is priming - for control, I use Vallejo's polyurethane primer.



Here is the result.



I filled/joined the Zimmerit PE using Mr. Surfacer.



Here is a blatant gap.



Several careful applications of Mr. Surfacer was used to fill it in.



You can still see where the PE panel ends but the gap is gone



Finally, the hull was primed.

[mannloon]

Looking good, those gaps are a problem i would be unfit to deal with. It's funny how once it is primed in gray like that i like it more because it looks like a dragon kit.

[Nige99]

Cracking job so far. Love the Zimmerit I've never had a go with PE Zimmerit before used resin and done my own with putty. But that looks really good.

[JohnP]

Hello guys - I've been at it again!

I'm finishing up priming and I've started to preshade everything



















This was all done in a 5:7 paint to thinner ratio at 20 psi



While my air compressor was cooling down, I worked on the diorama.
I removed the leg from the backing and covered up any gaps on it with masking tape.
I also masked the frame. Afterwards, I glued the backing onto the frame.





For the job, I used DAS modelling clay. I started by pressing it into the outside edges.
I smoothed it down with my finger and spread out more blobs of the stuff and worked my way to the middle.
While the clay was still wet, I pressed track and wheel marks into the 'road' and stippled the ground with a stiff brush.

[JohnP]

I have now moved onto painting the Tiger in it's yellowy splendor.

The pre-shading effect was hard to capture on my camera.





















This was all done with a basecoat of Vallejo Green Ochre.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more!

[UKguyInUSA]

Looking fabulous, mate!

[JohnP]

Hello - I've tried the best I could do for these figures. For some reason, the loader's face was barren with detail.
You could notice the subtle detail before primer and during primer.. it seems to have vaporized... I did use thin coats of paint... Creepy.

Sorry if they make you flinch, haha. I'm not very good at figure painting









Then I painted the gun German Grey, as depicted in the reference photo on Page 1. When barrels were damaged, they were replace with new ones that were factory grey.



I moved on to spray the green camo.







This was done with Vallejo Reflective Green.



I wasn't happy with some of the green stripes, which I went over while spraying the brown..











This was done with Vallejo Chocolate brown.



I thin all my Vallejo Model Color at a 3:7 paint to thinner ratio for airbrushing.

I think the Dunkelgelb shade I chose is a bit stark - I might try to tone it down with a filter.
If anyone has some filter tips to offer, don't be shy.. please

[JohnP]

Hi, I've been busy again.

I've worked on the diorama and primed it with Tamiya lacquers.





I wasn't content with the camo so I redid it







I also got the wheels on and painted.





Then the tracks were placed. The fit was a bit tight and difficult but I got it done.





Then I moved on to the chipping, which was done in a dark grey with a fine brush







My modelling progress has been very slow as of late. I've been busy with summer work for school

[Coen]

That's really starting to shape up John.
Nice work bud. I really like the look of that dio

[Deacon]

This is a great build mate.

The camo looks ace.

[UKguyInUSA]

This is coming together really nice and is going to look fabulous when completed!

[JohnP]

I've finished her up - but sadly found no time to work on the diorama.

She got a complete coverage of a dark oil wash and I cleaned up some overdone areas with q-tips moistened with odourless thinner.

I used the classic Tamiya X-20A and pastel powders for the mud effects. I highlighted the mud with Tamiya's Mud and Sand weathering set - those little palettes of makeup-like oil pastel squares. This simulated some great subtle dry mud effects.

The wheel grease was done with Tamiya Acryl Smoke X-19

The decals were quite poor. The carrier film was very plastic-like and the micro-sol/set system failed to cure the very bad silvering.

I created the chipping using Vallejo Model Color Black Grey and Model Master Enamel Steel with a fine brush and q-tips.

















Thanks for all the support and feedback, folks! I might get to the diorama later.

[Deacon]

I like that a lot mate.

Well done sir.

[UKguyInUSA]

Cracking end result John!