Stokesy's Tamiya 1/35 Old but Gold Tiger II

[Stokesy44]

With the 1/16 Sherman finished I fancied something quick and uncomplicated. What better than vintage Tamiya?

I present to you Tamiya's 1993 vintage 1/35 Tiger II



I won't bother with the blurb from Wikipedia. It was the last major tank produced by Germany from 1944-45. It was a beast, weighing in at around 65 tons and it carried the PAK 40 88mm anti-tank gun. The gun on the Tiger II had lethality at most ranges approximately 30-35% higher than the 88 on the Tiger I.

it was designated as a heavy tank - no sh*t sherlock

It was deadly but it was right on the edge of being unserviceable due to its weight versus the capability of its engine, transmission and running gear. It was also phenomenally expensive to manufacture.

So what's in that there box sirs?



Rubber band tracks but they look fine. And Tamiya's Zim sheet along with a set of PE grills.



Looks like 1993 was a good year for mold and plastic quality. The plastic is in excellent condition.







And.... we're off



What a surprise, the darn thing goes together like a glove. Running gear test fitting. Rear panel attached but no detail parts added as the Zim needs to go on first.





Upper hull test fit and some greeblies done. There's more greeblies to do but they cant go on until I have attached the Zim sheets.





Same position for the turret. There's more to be added but the Zim needs applying first. The gun is only test fitted.





Classic Tiger II shape



Not bad for a morning's work. Man alive, I love Tamiya!



Nest up is the Zim sheeting.

[digger303]

The zim is going to be interesting. I'm wondering as to fit and will it stick.

[barryf1fan]

This is so freakin' cool... one day I wanna try a tank. Will be watching.

[Stokesy44]

This is so freakin' cool... one day I wanna try a tank. Will be watching.

You've got to do it. I was 'born' into the hobby with aircraft and ships. I only got into tanks when I was much older but I love armor building now. I still build aircraft too but tanks are great for blasting away at the build phase.

When I set up yesterday all I needed was the kit, my glue, a knife, nippers and my sanders. Cue a 3 hour build session that went by in a flash.

if you want to build a tank, I would recommend a Tamiya kit to start with. Pretty much anything in 1/35 scale that was released from the 90s onwards. Satisfaction virtually guaranteed.

[Stokesy44]

The zim is going to be interesting. I'm wondering as to fit and will it stick.

Hey Digger, I've used Tamiya's stickers before and they are very good.



They stick really well and if the piece is really fiddly, a little CA holds it down nicely.

[RangerNeil]

The zim is going to be interesting. I'm wondering as to fit and will it stick.

Hey Digger, I've used Tamiya's stickers before and they are very good.



They stick really well and if the piece is really fiddly, a little CA holds it down nicely.

I'll second that!! I used the Tamiya Zim stickers on the Elefant and had no problems with them.

[Stokesy44]

It was out with the scissors and a brand new blade and the Zim sheet was at my mercy. Quite happy with the results.















I'll check the edges properly when I prime the hull. If any filler is needed, I'll apply it then

[digger303]

Zim looks perfect.

[Tomcat64]

Nice work mate - those zim sheets are a great addition.

I remember before they made them I tried my hand at making zim from putty... the results were less than impressive!

[Stokesy44]

Zim looks perfect.

Nice work mate - those zim sheets are a great addition.

I remember before they made them I tried my hand at making zim from putty... the results were less than impressive!

Thank you gentlemen, a little bit of fettlin was required in a couple of places but other than that, the Zim went down as advertised

[Stokesy44]

Once the Zim was on it was time to complete the build phase with all the remaining greeblies.

Track hangers and track links. They're a different plastic than the remainder of the kit and come from the set of indy link tracks Tamiya released at the time if you didn't want to use the rubber band tracks. The plastic seems harder, which is great as the hangers are quite flimsy looking.

I had worked hard to make sure the holes in the Zim sheets matched where the track hangers were to go on the side of the turret so I was pleased when they all seemed to fit nicely.





The big square marked on the Zim is for if you do the version where a big unit badge was shown on the turret. For some reason this was left blank on the turret side, not sure why given the whole purpose of the stuff was to protect against magnetic mines. Why leave a great big square where a cheeky Ruskie could attach a mine?

Very nice looking rear end. Ooh err Missus







I think there should be a cable for the light. I have some wire somewhere so will get that sorted.



PE grill set went don nicely and I managed not to glue myself to the engine deck



Hauptmann von Klinker stands nicely in the turret. The detail on the figure is very nice given its age and there's a set of headphones to be added. If you look closely you can see the radio leads detailed on the front of his tunic.



The kit comes with a small sheet of mesh for these parts (dont know what they're for!) and a template in the instructions so the mesh can be cut to the correct shape. Little bit of CA and fettlin and the job was done.



Glamour shots to finish











I'm still deciding what to do about the fenders. I may show them as completely ripped off or attach parts of them. I will not be putting the whole lot on, that's for sure.

[digger303]

Will be hanging out for for decision. I guess if you going to leave some off at least one or 2 will have some damage.
Figure looks good and detailed despite a little bit of finger flash.

[Stokesy44]

I'm back in painting phase again!

As mentioned on the thread for the Flakpanzer I took advantage of several of the winter builds having a gelb base coat to get stuck into painting 2 of them today. Here's the progress on the base for the big Kitty.

I have to say, I love working with Tamiya paints. I know they dont do sets and their range is limited but the quality is just great. It seems to suit me so If I can get the colour I want, it has to be Tamiya. I base coated in XF59 today.

I'm please with the way the Zim has been covered. There's a worry with stickers that they will look like what they are!











Here's the 2 kits together. That Tiger is a big SOB!



Next up is highlights then a yellow filter, then camo, decals, oils and weathering. CANNOT WAIT

[digger303]

Is there any filler required at the corners where the zim sheets come together ?

[Stokesy44]

Is there any filler required at the corners where the zim sheets come together ?

Potentially where the sides of the turret meat the rear panel but other than that it looks ok, even then we're looking at a tiny bit of filler if at all. The ball mount for the mg on the front glacis will need a bit of CA to glue back down as the wetness of the paint caused it to lift a bit.

The slab sided nature of the KT means most Zim stickers are independent of each other so not much in the way of pesky joins to deal with.

[RangerNeil]

Lovely job with the zim. I used it on the Elefant build - there were a couple of spots where I had to add an extra bit of adhesive but on the whole, as you say, it went down well.
Ref the hole in it on the turret side - the Zim was often applied in the field so would be omitted around markings already on the vehicle and - having stood by a King Tiger in the Musee des Blindes at Saumur - those pesky russians would have had a hard job getting a mag-mine that high!!

[Kevthemodeller]

I'm very late to the party here mate. Good to see you've restarted this kit. I made one of the motorised versions Tamiya used to do back in the 70s as a young lad. When putting it next 2 the Panzer 2 and 3 I'd made before you could really see just how big the Tiger 11 was

Lovely Zim looking forward to seeing it future up dates

[Stokesy44]

I'm very late to the party here mate. Good to see you've restarted this kit. I made one of the motorised versions Tamiya used to do back in the 70s as a young lad. When putting it next 2 the Panzer 2 and 3 I'd made before you could really see just how big the Tiger 11 was

Lovely Zim looking forward to seeing it future up dates

Thanks Kev. I only realised recently the II had a better gun than the earlier Tiger. Same caliber but a much bigger shell, giving it roughly 30% more killing power. As if the gun on the Tiger I wasn't enough

I have a 1/16 Pz1 and they are about the same size

[Kevthemodeller]

Thanks Kev. I only realised recently the II had a better gun than the earlier Tiger. Same caliber but a much bigger shell, giving it roughly 30% more killing power. As if the gun on the Tiger I wasn't enough

Yer Tiger 1 had the 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56 the Tiger 2 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 the same gun as fitted to the Nashorn or Pak 43 Anti tank gun. Probably the most power/accurate gun of WW2 but it was big with a large recoil and was 1.3m longer, hence mounting it to the non turret Nashorn first, it wouldn't fit into the Tiger 1. They had to wait until the Tiger 2 was ready much bigger turret.

[Stokesy44]

Thanks Kev. I only realised recently the II had a better gun than the earlier Tiger. Same caliber but a much bigger shell, giving it roughly 30% more killing power. As if the gun on the Tiger I wasn't enough

Yer Tiger 1 had the 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56 the Tiger 2 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 the same gun as fitted to the Nashorn or Pak 43 Anti tank gun. Probably the most power/accurate gun of WW2 but it was big with a large recoil and was 1.3m longer, hence mounting it to the non turret Nashorn first, it wouldn't fit into the Tiger 1. They had to wait until the Tiger 2 was ready much bigger turret.

As Mr Spock would say - fascinating.

I always thought the design of the Tiger II turret was to add room for shell storage but of course its to allow for the recoil too!

I remember reading about the lethality of the Nashorn although the crews were less impressed by the thin sides of the fighting compartment! Rather them than me.

[Kevthemodeller]

I always thought the design of the Tiger II turret was to add room for shell storage but of course its to allow for the recoil too!

Same problem with the Firefly and why it took sooooo long for the Allies to get a really effective tank gun. Designing turrets take time and production space Allies just went for numbers and modifying/shoehorning guns into turrets with obvious trade offs

I remember reading about the lethality of the Nashorn although the crews were less impressed by the thin sides of the fighting compartment! Rather them than me.

It was a real tank killer just slow, very high profile and little to no protection for the crews. But when in prepared positions you wouldn't want to be on the end of it, same with the Pak 43, big heavy and hard to move but dug in, real killer.

[digger303]

I'd hate to be the crew in any of the tanks or TD's firing those things, being inside a small box when that much powder detonating within 2 feet of my ears.

[Stokesy44]

I'd hate to be the crew in any of the tanks or TD's firing those things, being inside a small box when that much powder detonating within 2 feet of my ears.

Good point. Whenever I see a documentary on WW2 AFVs I'm always struck by how awful it must be to crew one.