Global Scale Modeller

Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502
Tiger I E Sd. Kfz. 181 Early Production
Lieutenant Otto Carius

Since I'm still unpacking and organising the man cave and I can't build anything as yet, I decided that I'd post the build log that I did of Otto Carius' first tiger I E that he used near Leningrad. I’m not entirely sure why I made the log, but here it is.

I'm a bit of a fan of Otto I guess... I don't know if that's the best word, and I've built all of the machines that he used during the war. I have tonnes of research material that has snippets of info about him; I've also read his book Tigers in the Mud, which was fascinating.
I used Tamiya's 1/25 Tiger I E kit into Otto's first Tiger I with the hope that I'd finish it in time for the local model show. I managed to finish it in time and it was entered along with a few other submissions.
A bit about Otto,
(from Wikipedia)



“Oberleutnant Otto Carius (born 27 May 1922) was a German Wehrmacht German Army (1935–1945) tank commander during World War II and is credited with destroying more than 150 tanks.[1] He is also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves were awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.
Carius had been drafted twice before, but sent home as "Not fit for service at present underweight!". But in May 1940, Carius was finally drafted into the 104th Infantry Replacement Battalion. Following training, he volunteered for the Panzer Corps. Carius learned the fundamentals of tank warfare at Putlos in Holstein as a member of the 7th Panzer Replacement Battalion.
His unit was integrated into the newly formed 21st Panzer Regiment and in June 1941 was sent to East Prussia. He experienced his first battle as a loader in a Panzer 38(t) during Operation Barbarossa in late June 1941. It was during this operation that Carius suffered wounds from a round that struck his tank.
In 1943, Carius transferred to the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 (502 heavy tank battalion). This unit fought at the Leningrad front and then in the area of Narva, Estonia (Battle of Narva). Carius was severely wounded on July 24 1944 while reconnoitering a village on a motorcycle ahead of his tanks. Until that day, he was unofficially running the 2nd company of 502nd; however, he officially became the commander of 2nd company on the same day he was shot through the leg, arm, 4 bullets in the back and one through the neck. He subsequently became the commander of a Jagdtiger company of the 512th Heavy Antitank Battalion (schwere Panzerjägerabteilung) in the West at the beginning of 1945. On 8 March 1945, without finishing its training, 2nd company was directed to the front line near Siegburg. It then took part in the defense of the River Rhine and eventually surrendered to the US Army on 15 April 1945.
After the war he started a pharmacy shop called Tiger Apotheke[2] in Herschweiler-Pettersheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, named after the Tiger tank, and still works there to this day. He also wrote a book about his own experience in the war, entitled Tigers in the Mud.”

Anyway, for some reason I decided to document the entire process.
Here are the references that I used for the project…



All of them were useful to some degree or another, but mostly I used Tigers in the Mud and The Modellers Guide to the Tiger Tank.
So, on to the build.
The kit it’s self is very old and has a tonne of glaring dimensional errors, the most noticeable being the tracks (they are enormously overscale) I knew straight away that I’d have to do some modifications, scratch building, and see about some after-market items. I got the kit from a guy in turkey for about $60 Canadian plus $50 shipping, which is a steal since most places were selling it for over $100. This was a good thing, since I didn’t want to spend buckets of money on the build, the after-market items were going to cost $50 with shipping.
I added Aber’s early German AFV tool set, and Aber’s Tiger grilles to the kit. I knew that there were once a set of resin tracks out there at one time but I couldn’t find any anywhere, no metal, resin, plastic… squat. So, what to do about the offal tracks…. Burry them in mud in a diorama! Problem solved, or so I thought, but I’ll come back to that.



I had to make a list of all the things that I was going to need and/or do to the kit to make it fit the subject that I was building. I needed to know what deficiencies the kit had that I needed to make up for or fix.

Once I opened the box I started taking stock,
She needed her turret smoke launchers cleaned up a bit and wired,
some new S mines built,
toggles for her bow machine gun added
adjustments made to the front and rear mud flaps
I needed to scratch the track installation cable and the clamps (that was going to be a bugger)
The track tool box needed some work
Blah blah and it goes on.
I actually have it written down haha. Besides… you probably want to see the pictures anyway.

So I started the build with a general inspection of the kit and inventory and everything seemed to be intact and accounted for. There were a lot of flash and injector marks on a lot of the parts in some really stupid places, and I looked at all that R/C stuff that I’d have to remove or fill in. It didn’t look like an impossible job.
The basic structure of the hull seemed in good shape considering it’s age. The turret however, was a different matter. The dimensions were all out of whack. It’s basically the wrong shape and it’s too big. I had no intention of fixing that, since there isn’t any after-market replacement, it was just going to be what it was.
For some reason I didn’t take a picture of the box unpacked, sorry about that. I’d never done anything like that before so it was difficult to remember to log as I built.

Work done on this day…
Cleaned up all large hull parts and turret parts and test fitted. I was surprised at the difference in scale from the normal 1/35 that I build in. Cleaned up and began construction of drive sprockets.













Day 2
Filled the open sponsons (oh Tamiya and their open sponsons… why oh why?)
Built the idlers which were terrible but I didn’t really want to go through and extensive scratch build of something that I was going to cover with a wheel, tracks, and mud.
Cleaned and installed the torsion bars and began to construct the road wheels.









Day 4
Wheel construction is completed
Big parts are test fitted again
Suspension is tested.









Day 5
Began the assembly of the hull interior and dry fitting. I wasn’t planning on going crazy with the details because most of it won’t ever be seen; I mostly wanted the “through the hatch” areas taken care of. Most of the parts are incorrect or oddly represented, so some modification was needed.



Day 6
Began construction of the Feifel filters, jack, bow machine gun, and rear exhausts.





All I did to the jack was clean it up and hollow out the handles. Later I noticed that the Stand pad was the wrong kind and built a new one.



The exhaust was a lot more complicated. I sanded the exhaust pipes and gave them a nice rough texture to mimic heat damage combined with rust. The blast valve at the top was a problem so I set that aside for a bit.





The heat shrouds that came with the kit were crap. Just blank pieces of styrene, no detail and far too thick, they were the right shape though. I used them as a template to make new ones.
I took a piece of silly putty and spread it out flat on a piece of tile, the pushed the shroud into it, rolling it back and forth to imprint it’s outline.





Then I cut out the pattern as best as I could.



Then using the pattern I traced it onto a piece of paper then cut that out.
After that I used the cut outs to … cut out the new shroud from a piece of lead sheet.





Then I sanded them a bit (used a mask… lead kills) and poof… bob’s your uncle.



The shrouds have a rim embossed into them and I had just the tool. I don’t know what it is… but I use it all the time.



I had already prepared the rear plate with the mounting lugs, made from pieces of square styrene strips.
Now I test fit them to the rear plate and see what happens.



Add some bullet holes and shrapnel hits, a few dents and scrapes.. wow gotta love lead.



Next I took some blurry pictures of me adding rolled steel texture to the hull and flame cut marks to the edges with my cheap ladies craft hand tool. (just because the knobs are pink doesn’t mean it doesn’t work)







TO BE CONTINUED...

Crazy dude! This is most excellent!

Keep up the good work!

Love the et you made the muffler shroud pattern! Superb idea!

Awesome work matey!

Wow looks great mate love the history as well look foreword to seeing this now you've unpacked

It has an incredible aspect!

Brilliant work, look forward to seeing more

Great stuff dude

The Feifel filter construction was a bit fiddely, they were the wrong one for the model of Tiger that I was trying to build and there are no after market sets to make things easier. So a bit of scratch was needed.
I started with the intake/exhaust hoses, they were just simple rubber tubes in the kit and the real ones were complex reinforced mesh piping, I decided to try to go for the “suggested detail” method and hope that it worked.
I had some very fine plastic mesh that I’d found in the packaging with one of my daughter’s xmass presents and thought that it may be small enough to work. I gave it a whirl and poof… Feifel Hose! I scratched the ends of the connector pipes with styrene sheet and tubes, and made bolts with Walden punches.






I used CA glue to hold the mesh on the tubes and just rolled it up.



The connector pipes and intakes.



The filter housing itself need a makeover as well. The entire top of the canisters needed a sheet metal cover installed. So I made one from a few strips of sheet lead and glued it on with CA.


The brass chain is from my spare box… I think that it was for a panzer IV smoke discharger system.


The raised centers were emulated with styrene disks then sanded down, Then the sheet metal covers were measured to fit over.


All glued and ready for sanding.


Finished with some dents and dings.

Day 8
I started working on the rear plate. I added rolled steel texture with the rotary tool and a tiny dental bit, added the torch cut details to the edges and the weld beads. I also cleaned up the tools that were to go on the rear and I started constructing the rear mudguards.




I used a tiny cutting bit on the rotary tool to carve out the tool clamps for the inertial starter.


I cut out the edge of the inside of the flaps to try to get them close to scale thickness,


Then I routered out the backs to thin them down.


I used styrene strips to add the reinforcing ribs to the flaps.





I made tiny wing nuts from styrene rod and sheet… don’t look to close though… they’re just a suggestion of detail.



I made the tail light with a few pieces of styrene rod and sheet then ran a piece of lead wire for the wiring conduit. Another “suggested Detail” moment.


TO BE CONTINUED…

Day 9
Today I added the torch cut makes to the tow joints on the bow.



And the bolt details.


I also, apparently didn’t like the exhaust pipe valves that came with the kit. So when I was adding the badly made lifting lugs, I replaced the valve with something worse.


Terrible


Day 10
I started construction of the bow area, and made some modifications. I removed the mud flaps completely because they were beyond my skills to fix. I repaired the attachment points and added the little rings that sit on the outside edge of the fender area on this model of Tiger.







Day 11
I started the construction of the top deck tool attachments, as well as the radioman, and driver’s hatches. All I had to do to make these serviceable was to add the vision blocks.



The hatch openings were missing the weather lip around the outside so I had to scratch build one.


Then I built the barrel rod and tow cable stations, these were terrible on the kit and had to go.


After gluing on the styrene strips I routered out the notches for the tools. That took ten or 15 tries to get it right.


Next came some of the tool clamps,These weren’t made specifically for the Tiger, but some of the clamps are universal. I had to modify a few to make up for the short fall.


There was no strapping for the jack block so I had to modify one and scratch build a bit.


I also added the conduit block for the headlight wiring.


Apparently I didn’t like the inertial starter… so I replaced it.


And the rest of the tools weren't much of an issue.




TO BE CONTINUED

Great job coen, I know just how tricky those tool clasps are to assemble, nice work

man, you'r awesome

shhh don't tell anyone... they might make me pay taxes on it.

You gotta love the Tigers! Very interesting to read the history you posted. The build, we'll I wouldn't expect anything other than BRILLIANT from you. Cheers.

Thanks Paul... at 1/35 you're certainly right. At 1/25 it's a bit easier.
Still... PE makes you go blind. BLAH...

Day 12
So it was at this point that I decided that the feifel filters were not supposed to be on Otto’s vehicle and put them aside. The remains of their installation needed to be taken care of though.
So I started building the bottom half of the engine deck brackets, vent cover plate, and adding the lugs on the rear plate (for some reason I didn’t take a picture of the lugs by themselves… you’ll see them later).
I also added the engine deck screens. I increased the level of detail that I normally do at 1/35 by adding the second layer of screen that you normally can’t see at 1/35.



I had to scratch build the second screens. I had all these little sheets of PE screen that worked perfectly.



I wasn’t overly happy with the end nozzles on the collector assembly for the feifel filter (the V shaped doohickey) but I didn’t have any ideas at the time. When I finally found something… I had already finished the model. Blah!



There were also a whole whack of screws head detail missing from the molding so I took my little punch tool that I never seem to photograph and added them.

Day 13
I began turret construction, again, I didn’t want to go bananas building a massive interior detail, just a “through the hatch” view level of detail. So I started with the breech assembly which was pretty minimalist in the detail department.



Then I dry fitted the barrel assembly.




And that’s when I noticed that I had a problem… the mallet is the wrong type for Otto’s Tiger. It’s missing the reinforcement armour around the sight . I’ll have to find a way to build that up some how.
So I continued with the assembly and dry fitting of the larger bits.







By this time I’d fixed the missing reinforcement for the mallet by adding a piece of styrene cut to shape then I built up the interior floor plate and a few other pieces. I also fixed the terrible seam around the loader’s hatch with some putty.

Next came Otto’s cupola. It was missing almost all of it’s detail, so I had to build most of it myself.



It was missing drain holes, sights, handles, you name it. I wasn’t about to scratch all of these things when I planned on Otto to be standing in the hatch so I did…. “Suggested Detail”!!!!!!



I also had to add the recessed screw heads for the gun lock on the turret roof, and I had to move the smoke discharge fan to behind the loader’s hatch.
Here is the fix for the mallet and the reducer ring that I added to the muzzle brake. You can also see that I’ve added the remains of the turret smoke discharge system brackets just above and below the mallet swivel lug.





I’ve also added the stop arm for Otto’s turret hatch and added a bit of detail to the hinge system.
Now the majority of the turret exterior is done.









TO BE CONTINUED…

This is a great posting. I have one of these from the seventies that has been dismantled. This is proving to be a very informative thread for me, as I was thinking of re-building it.

Pete

If you do just enjoy the kit. It's a fun build even if you don't do all the corrections.
It's an enjoyable challenge either way.
Good luck to ya, you should post your build too... I'd love to see it.

Frickin awesome my friend! oh dear, now i want to start my 1:16 scale tiger tank so badly

So do I... I don't have time though.
I thought that I heard you say that you were tracking down some after market for yours. If you got some you're further along than I am.
Mine's just sitting in my storage room.
You should start it Hamilkar... it would be an epic build!

Coen wrote:So do I... I don't have time though.
I thought that I heard you say that you were tracking down some after market for yours. If you got some you're further along than I am.
Mine's just sitting in my storage room.
You should start it Hamilkar... it would be an epic build!

Well i got an aluminium barrel, metal front machine gun and metal antenna for mine. Next i think i will need one or two packs of milliput and a tool (maybe a selfmade one) to make the zimmerit. I want to start the model in my holidays which start in three weeks, but i also have other very big and tempting projects like the revell 1:32 heinkel he 219 uhu or the 1:48 eurofighter. first i want to focus on my group build anyway

awesome build! and the detail...
i want to build a model of Otto Carius Tiger some time aswell. maybe a 1/48 scale.

And you should, He had two different ones, you could model either. There's a few really cool pictures of them out there to use as reference too.

This is his first one.


This is the last one he had.

Day 14
I worked on the turret exterior some more and I filled the interior as best as I could and mybe a little bit more, for the “Through the Hatch” effect.
So I polished off the rest of the final details for all of the hatches on the exterior. I also made all of the hatches workable, and I drilled out the side view ports. I even added the tiny aiming vein on the front of the cupola front view port. Then I did another dry fit.







I added the slide guard for the loader’s hatch, and ruffed up the armoured cover for the fume extractor.




Next I finished off the turret interior with a lot of suggested details.









Next came a really big modification. I cut off the entire back of the turret storage box with my pretend dremel tool, and replaced it with lead sheet so I could simulate shrapnel hits and anti-tank and sniper rifle hits.







I added rivet detail with my little punch tool that never gets photographed.


And finally, to finish the turret off, I built the smoke mine dischargers.


TO BE CONTINUED...

i'm speechless

I really think your doing an awesome job!

Looks great especially the interior

Fantastic work

i like the way you replaced the back plate of the turret stowage bin with this metal sheet and the bullet holes - very cool My biggest respect for your scratch building skills, i admire such people. I´m not good at this.

HamilkarBarkas wrote:i like the way you replaced the back plate of the turret stowage bin with this metal sheet and the bullet holes - very cool My biggest respect for your scratch building skills, i admire such people. I´m not good at this.

Neither am I, to be honest.
I read about most of these methods in books, then I try to apply them. Mostly badly.
But it's the practice that matters. The more you do it the better you get at it.

Day 15
On this day I spent all of my time, filling the interior with the last bits and just building/replacing the track haul cable that is mounted on the side of the Tiger. The kit offering was not worth even photographing apparently… cause I didn’t.
After looking at what I did… I’m not so sure that I did much better. But here it is just the same.



I’ve also added the side mud guards. They were originally all in one piece but I cut them into individual sections with my small razor saw. Then I beat them up with my pliers, drilled holes in them, and nailed them a few times with my rivet punch that I never photograph.





Here are the shots of the hual cable











After adding all that I added the little hangers that sit just above the haul cable and just below the spare antennae tube on the opposite side of the tank. I cut small styrene rectangles to represent the base plates then drilled holes in them and threaded brass wire through them.





Day 16
This day I painted the interior and buttoned her up forever, but for some reason I didn’t feel that it was necessary to take any more then one picture of the interior after I spend the day painting it. I’ll regret that.





Luckily, the pictures that I took are large enough that I can cut them up a bit.









Then I build the external lower hull fire extinguisher… badly.



And here she is… all buttoned up. Still more work to do though.













TO BE CONTINUED...

Day 17

I started working on the construction of the track toolbox that is mounted above the rear left mudflap.
No easy task that's for certain. All that was included in the kit was the box, it had two location pins on the back, that's it.
I think that it had some surface detail that was meant to represent the shelf that it sat on but that was it.
I cleaned it up so that all that was left was the bare box and I scratch built the shelf and straps from sheet styrene and bits of PE sprue.





After that I started building the hull mine launchers. The kit didn't come with any so I had to build my own from some styrene tubes, sheets and bits of wire. I have no idea if they are to scale, they're close enough to fool my eyes.











Then I replaced the bow mounted shovel. The kit one was oddly shaped and clunky looking. Mine is too... but mine is made of wood and will paint better.







Day 18

I started off by fixing the tow cables. I used a method that I use a lot on my 1/35 armour where I grind out the plastic cable with my rotary tool and a dental bit, and replace it with actual wire. It's really hard to do at 1/35, but I thought that it would be easier at 1/25.... BZZZZZT. Wrong.
Just as hard.

Before and after. The original had no detail at all.







I also replaced the barrel cleaning rods. The tow cables and the rods were moulded together so I had no choice. They're just tooth picks and bits of thick wire on the ends.









I had to build the clamps for securing the tow cables because the kit didn't include them. This is one area that the kit fails fantastically. It's a very obvious feature on a Tiger... why do this?
It is what it is.



I wanted to show one cable in partial use, because that was the common way that they were stored. They needed to be ready all the time. Tigers weigh 60 tonnes or so... they get stuck a lot.







Day 19

So with the tow cable and tools dealt with I did another fit test and an inspection to see what, if anything, I could fix or add.









At this point I had already done some minor reposing of the figures that I wanted to use. All three came with the kit. I didn't have much choice in after market, there aren't many 1/25 tanker figures out there. So I had to use what I had.









Day 20

I started basic set up of the base for the diorama.



I glued 4 or 5 blocks of floral foam to the piece of plywood that I bought at the craft store, then I carved it into the rough shape that I wanted for the display. Then I coated the whole thing with carpenter's glue.
I wanted to show the Tiger creeping along the low side of an Embankment with her turret turned to the side looking for a target, and the crew half in and out of the hatches preparing for action. Originally it was supposed to be a railway embankment, but I couldn't find and tracks of that size and I was too lazy to build them myself.



The beginnings of a crew... putty monsters.



Day 21

Paint time. I decided that enough was enough... let's paint this thing.
So I did.
Yellow.
(First I painted it all flat dark grey though but apparently I wanted to keep it a secret, because I didn't take any pictures of it.)























TO BE CONTINUED...

All your work will definitely pay off when this build is complete!!! Glad I could see the day by day progress of this build.

Inspirational stuff, the Tiger is going to look magnificent. Great work on the figures uniforms as well .

Awesome work

Great work dose not even come close. How did you do the shovel and tools was it just a cocktail stick or something else?

Simply spectacular! You made some big progress. All the extra effort payed off, you definately improved the look a lot

Nige201980 wrote: Great work dose not even come close. How did you do the shovel and tools was it just a cocktail stick or something else?

I'm not completely sure what a cocktail stick is Nige, I'm not a big cocktail guy, and I don't know if I've ever seen one.
I used what are called toothpicks... at least that's what they call them here.
Tiny sticks of wood for picking crap out'a your teeth... completely gross.
I have a whole drawer full of different kinds... and come to think of it... I'll bet some would work in those fruity drinks with umbrellas in them.
Those would have been a bit too big even for this scale.
Good for fence posts though.

Toothpicks cocktail sticks same thing mate lol it what we call them in my neck if the woods well when doing cocktails lol but when we need them for what you describe we call them toothpicks too .
Really great work

Haha.
It's like a Yugo... some people call them cars... others hand grenade test targets.

Day 22

The base coat is finished and I painted the tracks. The tracks for this kit are ofal. They are massively overscale and too wide. There used to be aftermarket runs available at one time but I've missed that boat. I couldn't find replacements anywhere.
At this stage I still didn't know what I was going to do with them so I painted and weathered them as usual.



After assembly (they just click together so it took 15 minutes) I painted them burnt umber...



Then added some rust paint colour, and brushed the high points with a silver coloured pencil.



Day 23
I painted all the little details on the tank itself, rubber tyres, tools, gun barrels, etc.





Once that was done I did the final assembly of the vehicle.
I sprayed the entire machine in acrylic semi gloss clear (model master) and added the decals.



Painted all of the added battle damage with humbrol brush and burnish metalcoat.









Day 24
Test fit time for the figures, tank, and base.







It was here that I figured out what to do about the terrible tracks. Burry them in mud.
I decided that I'd dig out furrows from where the tracks had passed over the damp ground and show the mud thrown up onto the tracks. wheels, and the lower hull.
So I marked out the rows and cut them with my little chisels.





Then I coated the base with the celluclay ground cover.
The celluclay is the white kind (the grey has less glue mixed into it and warps easier), I always us it now after a couple of dioramas experienced lifting in the corners.
I mix sand, small rocks, different colours of static grass, various sized talus, kitty litter, real dirt, burnt umber and brown acrylic paint, and huge blob of white glue into the celluclay and water. Dump it into a blender and poof. Ground cover.
Then I spread it in an even 5 mm thick layer all over the base.



Day 26
I waited for it all to dry... about 4 days, then added three colours of static grass and some grass tufts from a sheet that I had. I ended up regretting using that but it is what it is.
I stuck a tree into the top corner for fun, but my wife said that it looked out of scale with the rest of the diorama... and she was right. I removed it later.
I stuck a couple of rocks that my daughter found for me here and there (I always try to put something that she finds into all of my dioramas.



Day 27
Next it was time for tall grass... my applicator broke so these didn't turn out as well as they could have.



Now for the placement of the tank and the sweeping of the mud from the ground up onto the tracks, wheels, and lower hull.





Day 28
Pop a few completed figures in her and POOF...
FINISHED.

















The End

And that sir is what I aspire to !! Just give me about twenty years

Dude... I saw what you did your first time out.
Try 1 year. You're a natural.

Wow!! That is really impressive - the detail is incredible and if I sit marveling at the photos for much longer I'm going to get the sack!

I looked at the sepia photo and thought - "wow, that picture of the real Tiger looks exactly like the model!"

I'm not worthy

Dude that is a fantastic build!

Awesome work mate, really awesome.

OK WOW, that base is incredible and the detail you created - superb

Weighs a tonne too. Rocks are heavy

Thanks guys.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I hope maybe someone took something away from looking at it.
That's half the reason that I do them.

Awesome work dude

Amazing diorama! the tank looks very heavy and realistic how it stands on the base with the running gear adopted to the surface. superb my friend, a big eye candy

WOW WOW WOW great work mate great model great base great diorama absolutely brilliant all round love watching you build this and love the finish article will say it again WOW.