Cyber Hobby Pzkpfw VI Ausf. E Sdkfz 181 Gruppe Fehrmann Tiger I (2016)

[Bill Plunk]

I spent some time today working on the main deck tool arrangements. These are dealt with mostly under Step 10 but also Step 12...and in a weird omission, the instructions have no Step 11. I think that sets a new standard of strangeness when it comes to Dragon kit instructions.

I filled in the mount holes for the S-mine launchers and added the kit-supplied PE mount plates as called out in Step 12. I also opted to use some generic Griffon PE clamps for the various tools as they are only 2-part vs. the kit-supplied PE clamps that are 3-part. I tested out each individual tool's placement and filled in a couple of open mount holes that weren't needed with Squadron White putty in different spots.

It may not look like much, but it's an important hurdle to clear. I still need to add the driver's and gunner's hatches along with the Bosch lights to round out this area.

[Bill Plunk]

Managed to sneak in a little bit of time today on the Tiger and knocked off the rest of the main hull details. I decided to add the tool clamps for the glacis-mounted large shovel but won't be installing the shovel itself. For that, I used a combination of the kit-provided PE and the Griffon clamps as well as some scale diagrams in Achtung Panzer to help with their placement as the instructions are a little off in their suggested arrangement. All of the tools are removable from the clamps and are just dry-fit for now to show how tight it all is.

The hull hatches were added and installed in the closed position. I used some small blobs of blue tack to mask the periscope front faces and painted some Testors Non-buffing Metalizer Steel to their backsides to create a slightly reflective surface that will show through after they are fully painted/detailed and the masking removed.

In doing my features & dates research, I came across an interesting detail that indicated the right side Bosch light was deleted in August 1943 but the conduit and rosette 'plug' into the hull were left in place. I thought that would add some character and it also fit in with the later zimmed hull features timeframe that the F13 reference photos suggest, so I left the right side light off entirely. I used the kit-supplied pre-bent steel wire for the right side and would've done the same for the left except it pinged into oblivion while I was working with it. Out came some 0.5mm solder so I could scratch a reasonably similar replacement. To install the light itself, you have to remove the four molded-on bolts on the mount plate (the instructions neglect to mention this), easily done with the trusty old #11 blade.





Next up will be moving on to the turret!

[Bill Plunk]

Started in on the turret and main gun today now that the main hull had all of its goodies completed. The Atak resin set includes two different zim options for the turret, one that's a wider pattern than the hull and one that matches it. I chose to go with the wider pattern as you see that a lot with the Tiger turrets and it has the added bonus of emphasizing another subtle difference with the hybrid hull.

After removing the pour plug from the Atak resin mantlet, I added an RB Models MG34 brass MG in place of the kit part. It's just the end of the muzzle and not the whole gun, but it fits perfectly in the opening with the right length protruding as well, so a two-for-one!



Step 14 pulls the main gun and mantlet together and the kit includes the option of a solid aluminum barrel or multi-part styrene parts. I opted for the aluminum barrel and used the spring that's in the kit to keep it in the proper length alignment. While it's not very clear in the instructions, part A9 serves as a retaining ring that fits over the end of the barrel inside the breech. That means you've got to think through the assembly steps carefully before committing to glue. The spring actually helps with this as you can push the barrel in further than needed, attach the retaining part, then install the recoil mechanism halves around it to get it all snug. Even though I'm not going to have any of the hatches open, I went ahead and added the recoil guards and basket called out in Step 15 to add some weight to counter the barrel.

The muzzle brake is a three part assembly and has a d-shaped opening at the base that is meant to match up with the styrene barrel parts. The metal barrel has a full round mount pin though, so the opening was modified with a round needle file until it would fit correctly. The instructions note this as well so it's not a surprise, just a necessary evil that goes along with the metal barrel option. I added the recoil sleeve to the mantlet as well but the brake has to be left off until after everything is ready to go together, otherwise it can't fit through of course from the back as I deliberately put it together to do. Why, you might ask? I found it easier to do that way to ensure that everything lined up correctly and it gave some added flexibility in ensuring the muzzle brake went on straight.





Step 16 pulls the turret halves together and the fit here was decent, I ended up using a small amount of putty at the front join. The mantlet has a tight friction fit into the swivel points and I think that created the slight gap. Not a big deal. I added the interior insert for the escape hatch and had to do some slight sanding and trimming for the Atak hatch part to fit correctly with it, nothing major. Turret roof went on next and the view port was added to the left side only as the right side will get a resin zimmed version later. The pistol port was also left off temporarily as I need to cut an opening for it in the Atak zim panel first.



Since F13 didn't have a turret bin, I needed to fill in the spots on the turret rear that were meant to take it. I used some sheet styrene to fill the large rectangular hole combined with some putty and light sanding. While the Atak zim panels are designed to fully cover this area, it's clear in the photos that F13 didn't have zim where the bin attached, so I'll have more trimming to do there too as the next step.



Things are moving along on schedule, always a good thing!

[Bill Plunk]

Today's mission was all about getting the rest of the turret done and ready to go. Building on the previous effort, I used a mechanical pencil and traced the outline of the pistol port so I could see it through the semi-transparent resin panel. This would help with determining what areas needed to be sanded/trimmed down later on. I also used the kit-supplied storage bin and outlined its edges to serve as a guide for where I needed to cut out the zim panels to show that bare area.



I started on the right side of the turret first since that panel was going to be left fully intact. Unlike the flat hull panels, the curves here plus the section I cut out for the exposed area at the rear made it more challenging to get it glued down. For these, I used a combination of CA gel and liquid glue along with clamps in different spots to get it to all snug down.



Once the glue had set, I added the Atak resin viewport in place of the kit's non-zimmed part.



Now for the left side. This one was trickier as I would be removing a lot of the panel in multiple spots. Before taking it apart, I took advantage of the fact that it has the slots already marked out for the spare track holders. This is something missing from the kit-provided turret because on the Late Tiger kit, there are molded-in depressions that take them, but that turret isn't used in this kit due to the hybrid combo. Mechanical pencil outlined the openings for the two holders that wouldn't have zim around them to create placeholder marks. The rear bin section was removed as well and some damaged area created at the top edge of the turret side.

After gluing the main chunk down with CA gel and liquid glue, I used the port opening in the turret side to cut out a matching opening in the zim panel so the port could install. The pencil outline created earlier let me know where to sand down the raised zim with a round needle file so the port would sit flush without having to cut a circular opening to match it. It's worth noting here that the kit instructions don't tell you about adding the port's plug, part A3, to the port itself (assuming you want to show the port closed like I do). I used some of the left-over zim to apply a pattern to the port itself after cutting out openings for its mount bolts and then installed the whole port into the opening with liquid glue. Worked like a charm!



Now that I was done with all the clamping and handling involved with the zim application, I added the remaining turret details called out in Steps 17-18 dealing with the hatches and ventilator. The commander's cupola is conveniently provided as a one-piece deal as a new part but it didn't quite match up to the opening in the turret roof. I had to trim down the 'legs' around its base so it would sit flush. I didn't bother with adding the clear glass or other interior bits since it would be closed up. I also added the bottom portions of the spare track holders, the top parts will get added later when the links are ready to be installed. The instructions can't make up their minds as to what these parts should be numbered as (first they are R4s, then one becomes G28, then they all switch back to R4s) in three different designations in the same step...I went with them all as R4s, so hopefully that won't cause an issue...it will be minor if it does. Last but not least, I used some scrap zim to create a small chunk on the forward turret area that more or less matches up with what shows on the reference photo as a little added detail.





And a quick little test to make sure everything is playing nice, I dry-fitted the turret to the hull.





Next up will be starting the painting process!

[Bill Plunk]

Got the first round of paint work done today on this beast. First up is the ubiquitous 'wheels-on-a-stick' phase that is a requirement for any German WW2 tank project. Toothpicks + blobs of blue-tack poster putty and a block of foam sure makes life a lot easier. I used Model Master enamel Italian Dark Brown as my primer coat.



The turret and hull received the same primer coat treatment. Once that had touch dried, I used some small pieces of blue painter's tape to provide general masking and airbrushed a custom mix of enamel red oxide. The mix is one I keep on hand for needs just like this and is essentially a combination of Insignia Red and Flat Black at a roughly 90/10 ratio if I recall correctly...it's been around for a while!



This will get a chance to cure as I will have to do a lot more masking to preserve these areas with the follow-on coats of dark yellow and camo pattern colors. Definitely a start, though!

[Bill Plunk]

Round 2 in the painting department! This time around it was the dunkelgelb base coat went on. I used a custom mix of 50/50 MM Panzer Dunkelgelb and Light Gray and applied it in thin coats to build up the finish. The zimmerit dramatically increases the surface area in its own way vs. the normal flat panels so it also took a little longer than usual as a result.

Wheels-on-a-stick got their treatment first for the wheel surfaces that would be visible.



The red oxide areas on the hull and turret were masked off with a combination of blue painter's tape and poster blue-tack putty as needed. The masking is going to stay in place until after the camo is applied and faded, so I needed masking that was both flexible and durable.



Lots more paint work to come!

[Bill Plunk]

I started in on the details for the hull and turret today with the focus on the spare track links. I didn't have enough links left over from the MK set to fully populate the hull spare runs and the individual links on the turret so I decided on a hybrid approach. 6 MK links would go on the turret (the photos of F13 show one of the turret holders empty, otherwise it would've been 7) and I would use the kit-supplied links for the 16 links mounted on the hull. The kit links come with separate guide horns just like the MKs so they were duly cleaned up and assembled. I used a micro-drill to drill out the empty link-pin holes on the front and rear links where needed for a little added detail.



Then it was time to have some fun with Burnt Umber. I airbrushed a coat of MM enamel Burnt Umber on the main track runs as well as the spare links to serve as their base coat color as a foundation. This will get a chance to cure a bit before I can move on to their next steps to get their final look before installation. The main tracks will, of course, get a lot more weathering attention as well but they have a different road to travel vs the spares.



While I was in a Burnt Umber mood (and because they will also get a similar weathering treatment as the spare tracks), I went ahead and applied the base coat to the exhausts as well. This was done by hand with a detail brush due to the tight quarters.



Detail phase is always about the little stuff and multiple steps!

[Bill Plunk]

After looking at some reference photos of damaged zim and knowing that the zimmerit coat itself was a kind of ochre color, I decided to add a weathering layer to the exposed areas on the turret and hull. I used a 50-50 mix of MM enamel RAL800/Light Gray that I had on hand from a previous build and which was a close-enough approximation for my needs. The zim was added to hulls wet, then raked/patterned, and the torch-dried to get it to harden...so it would make sense that when it was knocked off, it wouldn't go cleanly, and remnants of the pattern would remain behind. I used a 000 sable brush to create this kind of residue by combining wide dry-brush strokes and also stippling in random places to break it up a bit. I also used a pointed detail brush and repainted the 'edge' areas of the surviving zim to show it exposed and provide a slight contrast to the exterior painted surface. This, of course, will get more weathering treatment later on.



Spare track runs were also weathered up using a combination of washes, some light Steel drybrushing, and some orange pastels.



The exhausts received a wash of MM enamel Leather followed by both orange and black pastels to get them where I wanted.



Spare tracks were mounted to the hull along with their holders. I trimmed off the ice cleats from their faces to increase the contact surfaces and used CA gel to give me some work time to get them positioned correctly before adding their racks or holders. The two runs for the driver's plate were a little challenging since their holders are just two small pieces of PE and the top of the plate slopes down at the sides. Some careful test fitting got it sorted out, but you can't just place them flush with the fenders or the PE has no place to attach to.



Then came the trickiest part of the afternoon's effort, mounting the spare links to the turret. There aren't any guides for the top holders, so I worked one link at a time, glued it in place to make sure I had the right alignment, then added the top holder to match up with it. The 4 links on the left side were added first and then the 5th empty holder was added last.



Rinse and repeat on the other side but just with 2 links there.



Still much more to do with the on board tools up next!

[Bill Plunk]

Managed to get the rest of the hull equipment and details done today. The kit included empty PE holders for the track-changing cable but these are of the earlier design type. The kit includes a cable as part of the 'not for use' parts in the kit and it features the later holder arrangement that was adopted in the August '43 production which matches with the other hull features I've put in, so I opted for the cable to be there vs. the empty choice.



For the rear hull, I assembled the multi-part jack and a note of caution is in order here. The instructions are vague at best in how the jack's brackets install relative to the support hooks and the jack itself. The key is that the handle of the jack has to line up with a retaining clamp, so that's what you need to use to determine where the jack should sit in relation to it. I added it along with the engine starter crank and replaced the molded on clamp handles with extra Griffon PE handles that I have laying around.



The main deck stuff came next. All of the tools were hand painted and detailed before being permanently placed into their holders. The tow cables and gun cleaning rod combinations are tricky to get lined up together given the tension involved with all the different contact points and slightly different elevation surfaces. I opted for the pre-molded cables as trying to shape the stiff steel wire that is provided in the kit is its own kind of hellish torture. Definitely a case of pick your poison!



The Dragon instructions contain an error when it comes to the placement of the spare antenna tube (part K6 or MD2 if you use the brass version). The diagrams show the thicker end as being at the rear when the reverse is true. I had initially installed this the wrong way trusting to the instructions but David Byrden's sharp eyes found it and pointed it out to me. I had used CA to attach it, so some care was called for to remove it and flip it around. Here's how it looked before the correction:



And after. Got to love those Dragon instructions, they never cease to amaze!



Last but not least, I extended the camo pattern onto the front hull's spare track holder rack. It was bugging me that it didn't line up so I had to do something about that.



This clears another major hurdle, now I just need to tackle the wheels and lower hull to get things ready for the weathering stage.

[Bill Plunk]

The past couple of days were spent focusing on getting the wheels ready for installation. The bare metal contact surfaces on the wheels, sprockets, and idlers were given a base of MM non-buffing Metalizer Steel followed by dry-brushed MM enamel Burnt Umber. The DY areas were treated to a multi-step process that involved some stippled Burnt Umber to create chips and wear, followed by an overall wash of Ammo DAK Wash, and then some dry-brushed DY to tie it all together and bring out some of the raised detail.



With that out of the way, I installed the wheels permanently onto the working suspension on both sides of the hull. They will get additional pigment weathering later on but the foundation has been laid. The sprockets and idler remain movable at this point to facilitate the track installation still to come.