Zvezda 1/35 King Tiger Porsche turret

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So after a not very succesfull first attempt i am back with a more solid plan
Thanks to the information that was provided by Tiger213 i didn't start right away but did a little more research
And it seems my plan was more fiction then reality (Thanks AK for the good information in your book )
But anyway as i wanted to build a King Tiger i went through the stash again and made a new plan ,this time i dropped the battle of the Bulge idea and just looked for a winter washed King Tiger
And i found better option
Now i will build a Porsche turret King Tiger that served on the eastern front (it seems they did use white camo there)
So the idea is to make this tank

It is a Porsche turret version belonging to the 503 Schwere Panzer Abteilung of the Wehrmacht
If you ever had a Porsche King Tiger from Dragon you may recognize it as this vehicle is named "Anneliese" by the crew and as far as i can tell this decal option is in all of Dragon's Porsche style King Tigers

I made a poor attempt at this vehicle years ago when i was more of a happy enthausiast willing to try any kind of modelling
I just started building armor and barely had a clue of what i was doing as i didn't own any books about modelling or had internet to get information that way
I have 2 kits availble to make it but i want to save my Dragon kit with the molded on zimmerit for a different build
So i will be building this kit instead

It is the Zvezda rebox of the older Dragon kit of the Porsche turreted King Tiger
It has no zimmerit yet but at the time this kit was first made there was no technology to mold it on yet


So a "first" look in the box
It is a big box to start with and it is filled pretty well
Most sprues have their own bag with the exception of a couple of them

So what do we have to work with

Lower hull tub


Upper hull and rear plate
And all the tools


Various small parts


Upper turret shell ,turret ring and the large grill covers that are found on the Porsche version of the KT
the Henschel or regular production version had shorter grill covers


Sprue with the exhausts ,sprocket and idler wheels
You get 2 of these


Fenders and interior parts of the gun (pretty basic though)


Lower turret part and more gun parts


Wheels and tracks
You get 6 of this sprue


The simple black and white A4 sized instruction , decals , some string and the mesh for the grills (not showing as the mesh is white on a white background)

So all in all not a bad kit i think
And it is half the price of a Dragon boxing so that leaves some room for after market parts
And i have quite a bit of after market for this one

A set of Friul tracks to replace the styrene ones


A Lion roar photo etch set consisting of the fenders ,grills and tool clamps
It says 5 sheets but there is a 6th and some twisted copper wire for the towcables (if i decide to have them out of the normal stowage place)


And because i am horrible at making my own zimmerit i have this


It has thick resin parts for the turret including a full upper turret shell and parts for the rear hatch and a new gun mantlet/sleeve


And a sheet of thin flexible resin for the hull

Besides these things i have replacement decals that i will borrow from the Dragon kit and a antenna from Aber
So that is my plan for the tank
I may add a figure for a commander or several tank riders if i have suitable figures in the stash

And that is all i have for now
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[Tiger213]

Mark,

I've seen your post and would like to share some of the information I've collected during my studies.
IMHO, Tiger 213 did not have the camouflage you want to make, well not the white in it.

Some facts:
Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501
213 - tank from the 2. company, commander SS-Unter-scharführer Franz Faustmann. The tank was later take over by SS-Obersturmführer Wilhelm
Dollinger, most likely for the breakdown of his own tank. The tank took position near Ferme Werimont, supporting the perimeter defence of Kamfgrupper Peiper, where it lost a part of its cannon and after the war it was towed by american soldiers /for a bottle of cognac from the pub owner's wife/ into the centre of La Gleize.

The hassis serial number 280273, which indicates it was assembled in October 1944, no zimmerit and factory applied hard-edge camouflage - without "dots", so no Hinterhalt-Tarnung (ambush camouflage).

Some pictures:







This kind of camouflage Is typical for Hetzer in Ardennes, from Volksgrenadier divisions, like this:


Hope my comment will help you. If you have any questions, please contact me.

[MarkVerploeg]

That was intresting
To be honest the idea was a bit "too good to be true"
I haven't studied the unit or the camouflage of the tanks
But after seeing your comment i went through several sources of information and indeed none could back up the illustration from the AK book
In fact all the King Tigers i found that where in the Ardennes region had their regular camouflage paints ,mostly ambush style schemes with the colored chips/dots
I doubt it would be a problem here to build it like the picture but it would be noticed at the contest i want to enter
TWENOT or the Dutch Armor Association (DAA) is filled with over enthausiastic tank lovers that would know.it is historicly inaccurate
And they host the contest

So i have to thank you for the early heads up
And now i will have to think if this kit gets build now or that i will build some thing else
But i am thinking about building a Tiger 1 now and just re edit and rename the entire thread

[MarkVerploeg]

I think i have the awnser to my problem
It isn't going to be a solution for the Battle of the Bulge theme in the contest of my club but it still is good for this GB
i will still be building a King Tiger but it will be a Porsche turret version
My plan is to make the Anneliese from the 505th heavy tank group i think
I have a Zvezda kit for that tank and some added goodies like a zimmerit set a photo etch set and some metal tracks
I will edit the original post once i can make some photo's of the kit and other stuff i put in that box

[Tiger213]

I think i have the awnser to my problem
It isn't going to be a solution for the Battle of the Bulge theme in the contest of my club but it still is good for this GB
i will still be building a King Tiger but it will be a Porsche turret version
My plan is to make the Anneliese from the 505th heavy tank group i think
I have a Zvezda kit for that tank and some added goodies like a zimmerit set a photo etch set and some metal tracks
I will edit the original post once i can make some photo's of the kit and other stuff i put in that box

Good luck with it. IMHO you made a good decision, go for it.

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks
Too bad my first idea wasn't all that good (accurate) but for that contest i have a different idea now
I made a duo of KT's a couple of years ago 1 regular and one command version wich was converted by my self (first and last time i made a full set of antenna's) i plan to strip them and give them a new coat of paint turning them in number 222 with the fallschirmjagers on the back and the platoon leader
I just need to look for the camo scheme's of both and numbers
But i have some reference of that along with the 2 sets of Dragon figures
As for this build ,i hope to start today
I was busy the last couple.of days and i didn't manage to finish my other build just yet
That still needs the bird cage armor wich is a bit of problem as i haven't figured out how i can build them with installing them right away

[Tiger213]

222 with Fallschirmjaegers on is my favourite Especially the guy on the motorcycle smoking with them on a stop.
I have many many pictures, video and resource material. Just drop me a line when you need help.
Some of specific features: no lifting jack in the back /not even the holders/, missing 2nd right fender and front side fender - as seen on Kaiserbaracke crossroad. As for the FJs equipment- one has Sten Gun, other MP41.

And good luck with you project, keep posting your progress.

[MarkVerploeg]

I have seen a couple of photo's of the tank so far
I don't know if i will do missing fender parts as the kits are already build
I am sure i don't have a motorcycle for it so it will be the guys standing on the tank without the motorcycle
The problem will most likely be that i can't find any pictures from the surroundings
But because i made the 2 kits as a pair i want to keep them together
I just need to search my figure stash for all kinds of suitable figures but with over a 100 figures i should be able to find some
And i could add some more small vehicles or a wreck of something near by (if i have something for that)
But do you happen to know what kind of weather they where having in those days
I mean do i need snow or only mud

[Tiger213]

Over 100 figures? and I thought I have too much..

Tamiya was making the motorcycle, I luckily have it, as it is DKW NZ 350 late...
But maybe a Schwimmwagen or SdKfz 250 would fit there..

As for the weather, it was typical for Ardennes region it late November - no snow was falling until the Christmas day /some leftovers of old snow might appear in shadow areas/. The ground was partly frozen, partly muddy. Heavy fog was present too. The roads were narrow and because mostly made of dirt or macadam, after a few hours they turned into deep mud.
Here are some pictures of a typical environment:

Kaiserbaracke




Poteau


Somewhere past Bullingen


Stoumont





Hope it helps

[MarkVerploeg]

Those are very helpfull
Thank you very much

[Bissyboat]

[Les]

How is this project coming along man?

[mick]

good luck with your build

[MarkVerploeg]

good luck with your build

Thanks Mick

How is this project coming along man?

To be honest it is on hold at the moment
Just because of the "the end is nigh" sig entry
Mainly because i have only a couple of weeks left for that so it has taken the priority
But that is making good progres and the KT's hull is build up ,up to the point that i have to install all the photo etch
Once i have all the part made for the the end is nigh build i can glue it together and i will have to leave it to dry for atleast a day so i can work on this build while that happens
But i have 2 weeks of vacation starting today so progres will be posted soon ....that is a promise

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So finally i can post a update for this build
Life got a bit busy and with several builds on the go it was a bit hard to find the time to write a update
Mainly because 3 of my builds are entries in various group builds and those have to finished with in this month
But i think i can make it

Anyway first up a bit of history about the King Tiger followed by some specifications

The story of German heavy tanks actually starts in 1937 when there where contracts awarded to Henschel und Sohn(Henschel and son) in Kassel and later in 1939 to Porsche
This results in the birth of the VK 36.01 from Henschel
A tank weighing in at 36 tons that would eventually lead to the Tiger 1
Porsches design was the VK45.01
On May 26 1941 there was a meeting between the German Waffenambt and both companies
This meeting was focussed on future development of heavy tanks
As there was already an idea that the still to be build Tiger would need a replacement
The Tiger wich is known for it's 8.8cm gun would eventually need a heavier and more powerfull gun and even thicker armor then the 100mm it has
Even though some guidelines where set nothing was settles on
No deadlines where placed
Both the manufacturers had different ideas
Porsche who waas know for inovative ideas wanted a gasoline/electric powerplant while Henschel was a more traditional designer who preferred the classic pertol engine in the back/drive sprocket at the front approach

When the Tiger entered production the King Tiger or actually the Tiger II program gained some momentum
Porsche came up with the VK45.02 (P) chassis and Henschel came with the VK45.03 (H) chassis
Turret design and production was to be carried out by Krupp
Allthough the chassis designers where part of the turret design
But before these chassis where build the final order for this project was given by Hitler as he wanted a even more powerfull gun then the current 8.8cm L/56
The gun of choise would be the 8.8cm L/71
The rest of the tank would almost be build around this massive gun with specifications for armor thickness
A problem with this gun was the round it fires
The Tigers rounds are 931mm long while the Tiger II would get a round of 1200mm long
That was a reason to have a large turret
But with the addition of such a long and heavy gun this resulted in a unbalanced turret
Krupp made several turrets to test on the Henschel and Porsche chassis
This however was a time consuming proces and it would take a long time before it was finished

2 turrets ?
Early in 1943 the actuall testing was done and production started
Because Porsche was sure his design would win he ordered the start of the production of his design
However Waffenambt preferred the Henschel design wich was the better design along with the turret design for the Henschel hull
On 17 febuary 1943 Krupp was informed that the production of the P2 turret as it was known was to seize at 50 turrets
The P2 turret is the one we commonly know as the Porsche turret
Turret 51 was to become the first of the H3 turrets
The H3 is the turret that the Germans called the serienturm or series turret
Another name for production turret or the Henschel turret
(See where we get all these names from )

The hull
Prosches design lost the competition
Henschel's design was the better one and it was pushed in to production shortly after being approved
Because Krupp already had about 50 P2 turrets it was decided to usr them anyway
The only difference between the turret lower parts was that the P2 needed a armored ring in order to be put on the Henschel hull
With this ring fitted to the hull roof the problem of the shot trap at the front of the turret was also partially solved


Actuall production of the Tiger II started in october 1943 with the frist tank complete in november of that year
Porduction seized in march 1945 when the last factories where either captured or destroyed by allied troops
The King Tiger was in practice not the best tank of it's day
The high amount of craftsmanship ,presicion parts and overall technical complexity made it a mechanics worse enemy while the high weight ,short combat range and relativly poor mobility made it hard on the crews to get anywhere and crossing a bridge could be a serious problem as most rural bridges could not bear the weight of the Tiger II and the tabk would simply break it and end up in the water

Specifications of the Porsche turreted Tiger II
Crew 5 ,commander ,gunner ,loader ,driver and radio operator
Weight 69.8 tons
Lenght 9.5 meters
Width 3.58 meters
Height 3.06 meters
Powerplant Maybach HL230 P30 23095cc V-12 gasoline engine
Fuelcapacity 860 liters
Max speed 42 km per hour
Normal road speed 38 km per hour
Cross country speed 15 to 20 km per hour
Armament
1 KWK 43 8.8cm L/71 gun
2 or 3 MG34 machineguns
1 MP 40 sub machine gun
1 flare gun

Some pics of the real deal

Hull production

Hull interior during construction

Swing arms before the torsion bars are installed

Engine

Driver seat and radio operatirs seat

Bow gun note the coarse texture of the zimmerit

Coax gun and gunners sights

Transmission and steering unit
The brakes are missing though

A drawing of the armor thichness and angles

More armor drawings


And now for my build

I started by assembling the big pieces of the hull


And adding the Atak zimmerit


The rear was quite a challenge


The basic turret shell was put together



And then i had a very rough base of a Tiger II
My idea was to have the big parts and zimmerit glued together first as all the other parts go on these parts


The wheels
Lots of sanding was done to get them smooth


The swing arms of the suspension where placed


The bow gun and headlight where installed


Then the rearplate
Quite a lot of the Lion roar pe was used here


All the fenders where bend and prepped
I will install them once the tracks are on


The front panels are a bit of a challenge
And all the bolts on the fenders are seperate parts


Starting to work on all the tool clamps





More and more pe got added


And a tiny wire for the head light


For some reason Lion roar only gives you a copper replacement for 1 towcable
So i grabbed another from the spares box
It is one of those horrible steel things from Dragon though
But it still is better then a piece wire


The other side


The big pe grill covers where made


Then it was time to move over to the turret


I used some periscopes from the spares box as Zvezda doesn't include that clear sprue in the kit


Other turret parts where glued in place
At this point i was still debating useing the kit brackets for the spare tracks or the pe parts


And in the end i used the kit parts


All the parts for the painting proces

And that is where i will end this update
Currently i am painting the KT
It has been primed and painted in dark yellow
Next step is the winter wash and after a clear coat the detail painting
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[Stokesy44]

Looks good Mark. Really like the Zim and the PE work is superb.

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Stokesy

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So with the end of the gb coming close i have decided to make this build my main build for the week as i do want to finish in time
At the moment it is painted and the winter wash is applied
I only need to do some quick detail painting on the tools and other stuff that is on the tank and i hope to get the washes and streaking effects done by tonight
So all i have for now is the base paunting and chipping of the build


I started out by spraying it in dark yellow
It is a mix of the Aqueous dark yellow and sail color wich i use to tone it down a bit


After a gloss coat i applied the Ultimate winter wash
A very nice product and i will be using it on future winter washed builds
I sprayed 2 layers giving it about 30 minutes in between each layer to dry
It doesn't give a super smooth finish at first but it is a wash not a paint
After 2 layers the finish is pretty smooth but if you really want a even finish a third or fourth layer will do the trick
I didn't feel like i needed that and with 2 layers you still have a very nice base color for your model


I then started the chipping
Using a flat brush and a piece of sponge to add all the worn effects and chipping on the various parts




The wear on the winter wash was done in a very random way
I don't want one wheel looking identical to the next
The same goes for the rest of tank


And finally some decals where applied
I used some decals from a Dragon kit as i didn't have the right ones in the spares box
I also added some new winter wash on the barrel and a couple of other spots as i chipped them a bit much and i had second thoughts about those areas

I will start detail painting it right after i finish this update and hopefully i have the washes on there by tonight
I showed aset of friul tracks at the start of the build but i think i may run out of time for those
And ofcourse the kit tracks are in the trash so i can't use those any more
Not that i wanted to use them as those take ages to clean up and assemble
But i still have another friul set that is already build and was used on a old model wich i binned a while ago
Because friuls are quite expensive i always remove those just in case i have a use for them later on
So i will end up using the recycled ones instead of the new ones
But that shouldn't make much difference on the tank

Thanks for stopping by and having a look
I hope i can show the finished tank in a couple of days from now
Take care and happy modelling
Cheers
Mark

[Bissyboat]

Proficient work on the zimmerit. She´s shaping up to become a lovely beast.

[MarkVerploeg]

Proficient work on the zimmerit. She´s shaping up to become a lovely beast.

Thank you very much

[privatepete]

Top work Mark looks really good, keep up the good work and hope you finish it on time

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Pete
I think it will be finished in time
Just a couple of things to do today and the last things on sathurday when i have the day off

[demarcation]

Fantastic job so far Mark!

[AdamLuscombe]

Very interesting project, looks awesome so far

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks guys
I hope to finish it tomorrow but there isn't a whole lot more to do

[Tomcat64]

Superb work and attention to detail Mark - it looks fantastic!

Hope you manage to get it over the line at the weekend

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks Neil
I hope to get started on the rust tonight and even if i can't do that today i only need tomorrow to finish it
I am sure of it

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
Time for the final update
I finished the build today so now i can show the final steps here and call this build completely finished


So after the decals and a new gloss coat i started with the washes and a bit of streaking
I only applied the streaking on the roog of the turret as that has a smooth surface
I tried to add this effect on zimmerit before but that doesn't offer a look
The streaking product will fill the deeper parts of the zimmerit causing very wide bands of dirt instead of a subtile and thin line
So i decided not to do this on the sides of the tank


Then the fenders where fitted
The front parts where giving me quite a hard time so in the end i left them off
A nice benefit is that you can see how flimsy these things are comparred to the rather solid look of the hull


Here you can see the right front part is missing completely


A little bit of chipping was added on the hatch of the engine deck
And i think i placed the large screens at this point but i'm not sure about that


I then started to paint the rusty exhausts
I used Ammo dark and shadow rust for this


And to finish it off a bit of rust pigments


Some rust wash from Mig prod. was used on the tow cables


And on some other smaller details like on the engine deck and wheels


Then it was time to get dirty
I mixed up some mud using mud colored pigments ,some satin varnish,water and a bit of fine sand to add texture


The mud mix wash brushed on the tracks and covered with sodium bi-carbonate
I use this to make snow
It sticks to evrything that is moist but i used a old brush to push it on the mud a bit to get the look of compressed snow that is stuck on the tracks


And then i called this build finished
I can still add a figure as a commander but after going through my figure stash i noticed i don't have a tank commander in winter clothing
So that could be something for the future or not at all
We'll see what happens

And that is about all i have for this build
I will post the full reveal in the final reveal section
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and happy modelling
Cheers
Mark