SPA Modeler

Reporting back on the success or not of the Tamiya Zimmerit. I cut all the necessary pieces from the sheet, then eschewing any of the YouTube tutorials, I forged ahead. I used my Waldron punch to remove the circular excess from the turret sides. I then cut just outside the line markings of the right hand side, removed the sticker from the backing and lined it up as carefully as I could. It did take a couple of removals to get the positioning correct (and then I am a bit too far back). I then burnished the sticker around the turret using a variety of tools including some metal ones I found in the drawers, a cotton bud (Q tip), tweezers and the good old Mk. I thumb pressure:













I worked my way around the turret and the multiple pieces of the gun mantlet:







Still some more on the mantlet and accessories to go. The adhesive quality appears quite good at this stage, with the stickers conforming to various curves and bumps with the application of a burnishing tool or pressure. Once completed, I will trim a few errant pieces and then probably use CA to seal the edges, particularly the escape hatch and mantlet. For reasons known only to themselves, Tamiya hav left the underside of the turret rear stowage open. It will be visible so a piece of thin card glued to the offending area and a trim should see that rectified:





Thanks for tuning in.

Regards,

interesting....

How are you planning to open the mantlet binocular vision ports?

I never knew that this stuff existed for 1/48 armor builds. Any other aftermarket stuff available?

mustang1989 wrote:I never knew that this stuff existed for 1/48 armor builds. Any other aftermarket stuff available?

There is TONS of stuff out there for AM in 48th Scale. Just have a look at the various armor suppliers. Resin, PE, turned metal barrels, you name it... just like in 35th.

speedgraflex wrote:Lookin’ good! I almost bought a Waldon punch awhile back but chose the ubiquitous RPToolz instead... although the compact nature of the Waldon was appealing to me as an apartment dweller. Having to put everything away at the end of a session has actually made me focus more; I don’t work until totally spent, I stop earlier and focus on cleaning tools and putting tools away.

Enough ramble! The additions look the proper business. Did you consider cutting sections from Milliput and using a scraping tool? Also, good for you to put aside youtube, and go for it! That’s definitely led towards these superior results.

How will you apply CA? What tool? I moved from toothpicks to scraps of Bristol board to my Dad’s trick of matches (the ones from matchbooks).

Thanks Bruce,

The Waldron set and its accompanying mini punch set were an expensive outlay a few years ago but they have returned their cost many times over. When I purchased them, they were the only game in town. RPToolz looks to have some nice sets and I have only heard good about them also. I ensure the punches are occasionally oiled as I live near the ocean and always put them away straight after use.

I had the Tamiya Zimmerit set included so it seemed a shame not to use it. Whilst I have not used them, I think it superior to the PE route but probably less authentic than the Milliput and associated pastes method I saw in my YouTube excursions. I would consider Milliput for a build in 35th scale but for 48th I am happy thus far. As far as applying CA, I use an applicator from Radu Brinzan, the end of an old no.11 blade or sometimes an old cut off sewing needle mounted in a piece of balsa. I’ll add some photos shortly.

The years old home made CA applicator:



It’s mass produced cousin from RB Productions. You only get the metal applicator in a sheet of about 6 from memory. It mounts into a standard blade holder or in this case an unused micro drill:




Regards,

Stikpusher wrote: interesting....

How are you planning to open the mantlet binocular vision ports?

As the later Tigers had a monocular sight, I was per chance hasty in sealing both of them as the position for the monocular sight would be about where the inner hole is. However, I shall mark the position (probably central to them both) with a punch and just drill out a suitable sized hole.

Regards,

Stikpusher wrote:

mustang1989 wrote:I never knew that this stuff existed for 1/48 armor builds. Any other aftermarket stuff available?

There is TONS of stuff out there for AM in 48th Scale. Just have a look at the various armor suppliers. Resin, PE, turned metal barrels, you name it... just like in 35th.

As Stik said, there is a whole world of 48th scale AM, possibly not as much as in 35th, but still plenty to go around. Most manufacturers simply scale down their 35th scale products.

Regards,

The number of AM items out there in 1/48 is proportional to the basic number of subject kits out there. Tamiya has a decent size line up of WWII era kits, but really no Cold War stuff in 48th, and only a few current/modern items. Hobby Boss has some WWII vehicle type families, but not much else. Airfix has done a handful of modern subjects. And that’s it. Everything else is old OOP stuff like the long gone Bandai and Aurora lines. There are a few 1/48 wire remote control kits out there that are more toys than scale models, all sharing the same chassis suspension running gear.

It’s a market just waiting to be tapped.

I have culled the choice of schemes to either of Wittman’s last Tigers from the H Models decal sheet:







The scheme also features in as one of the OOB schemes but bears no mention of Wittman nor the fact the scheme is for an SS unit:



I also decided to change up the commander figure from the 3/4 one supplied and drew one from this set:





Not mentioned in the instructions but clearly evident are seats for the Commander and Loader which attach to the turret ring, allowing a full standing figure to be positioned through the hatches:







You can also see the newly attached turret rear storage bin with the opening now covered with plastic card and trimmed.

More soon.....