KURSK VETERAN

SdKfz 181 PzKw VI TIGER I E MID-PRODUCTION in 1/35th SCALE

Two 1/35 th Dragon kits combined into one!

I have an affinity for the German Tiger tank, although I don’t build many models of them. When Dragon announced a new series of Tiger tanks, molded to their excellent standards, I was naturally excited. Dragon did not disappoint, and after receiving and building the Initial version of the tank, I greatly anticipated a Mid-production version. Dragon instead decided to release a late version, with the steel wheels and cast cupola typified by that model. Of course, I picked one up, but it and a second Initial version languished in my closet. I really wanted the mid-production version, which to me typifies the best example of this tank. I don’t know if it’s the drum cupola, Feiffel air cleaners, or copious spare tracks, but the Mid always seemed like the “ultimate” Tiger tank to me. Maybe not historically, but “artistically”, if such a word can be applied to a tank! This version didn’t seem to be forthcoming, so I began investigating the possibility of combining the two Dragon kits to create the one I wanted. After examining and test fitting the kit parts and reading a few references, I thought it was doable. The only major parts lacking were the air cleaners, and I did not want to purchase one of the Tamiya models for just those parts. But fortune smiled on me and I found the Kirin conversion set, which is long out of production, for a low price. This resin kit was meant to convert the older Tamiya late Tiger into a mid, but its parts were perfect for my needs. It included the air cleaners, tool box, hull smoke dischargers, and other small parts, all cleanly cast in resin.

My goal was to produce a replica of a veteran of the Kursk battles, a tank which showed the effects of war without excessive damage. I decided on a mid-1943 production vehicle assigned to the sPzAbt. 503rd, with a Heere crew in camouflage uniforms and kit.

I started by sorting the two kit’s parts and making notes, along with carefully perusing my references, particularly Ampersand’s Modeler’s Guide to the Tiger Tank, which proved invaluable. The models are beautiful, truly state of the art, with the only thing lacking being open guide horns on the “Magic Tracks” provided by Dragon.

I have made a list below of which parts were used from each kit.

Tiger IE Early Version, kit 6252

Roadwheels (E1 thru E-4), drive sprocket and housing (B25, G11, and B23), and idler (B2 and B3), Suspension arms and idler mount, Rear hull starter plate (G2), Hull top (K-12), engine hatch, and top glacis (P-8), Track support (E12), Front glacis and MG (F20, B18, B16, J-28, B 13 thru B15), Driver and RTO hatches (J22/23, L4, J3), Notek lights and mounts (J5/6, J7/8), Gun barrel and muzzle (MD 6, A20, A11, 18, &18), Turret top (C20), Drum Cupola, loader’s hatch, and air cleaner cover (all parts), Turret smoke dischargers (MD13, 14, 17, and 32),Most of the tools, with the exception of the long pry bar and track plate.

Tiger IE Late, kit 6253

 Lower hull and hull sides, Rear hull plate (F4), All exhaust parts, Tow pintle, Rear fenders (P7), Jack and mounts, Cleaning rods and tow cable mounts and ends, Front fenders (brass), Mantlet (D11), Turret body, Stowage bin, Escape hatch, brass side skirts

Kirin Conversion

Feiffel air cleaners, Engine hatch attachment point, Tool kit, Front hull fillets, Hull smoke dischargers, Large shovel head, Turret pistol port

Tiger Model Designs

Spare track mount set (apparenlty out of production?)

I also used the smoke discharger grenades from the Model Kasten Stug III detail set, replaced the kit tow cables with Karaya copper line, and bought a set of tracks from Hong Kong based Lion Marc Armor Workshop (more on these later).

HULL ASSEMBLY

I started with the lower hull, filling the front tow shackle attachment points, which had the earlier cut-out pattern, with Kirin parts and filling them smooth. I wanted to get the major assemblies in place, so I left off delicate parts like tools and small details. The Late version hull sides fit nicely onto the early hull, as does the rear hull plate. I filled in the tool attachment holes with styrene rod on the upper hull and rear plate. The Kirin set includes a complete engine hatch, but it does not fit on the Dragon hull, so I sanded off the air cleaner attachment box and fitted it to the plastic part. All the hull smoke dischargers got wiring, and for the rear pair I built proper mounts, as these are not provided by Kirin. I also built securing mounts for the intake tubes, along with adding a thin plastic circle to the tops of the cleaners to better depict the real ones. I used the Early kit’s starter plate and Late kit’s exhausts, which fit perfectly. The brass guards are pre-bent, as are the engine grills! Doesn’t get much better that that! I soldered the brass skirts together for strength, along with the brass front fenders, enabling them to be bent up later. I resisted beating up the skirts too much, choosing to have one of the front fenders raised, perhaps from a minor “accident”. The track guide cables on the hull side were replaced with Karaya copper line with the Dragon ends. I also bent and attached small brass strip for the track cable guides and added MK wing nuts for detail. The front shovel had its resin handle replaced with plastic rod. Throughout the model, I did not use the Dragon PE tool clasps, instead using the better detailed Aber parts. This is just a pick of nit-pickiness from me. However, I applaud Dragon for providing tools with and without clasps! I scratch built the hull MG cover attachment points and added small chains to the air cleaners.

I have included a number of pictures showing the model before painting.

 

THE TURRET

The turret’s early top fit very well onto the late turret sides, with only a small amount of filling needed at the front edge join. I added a Kirin pistol port to the left hand side of the turret. One note on the turret, the Late version has a smaller diameter than the Initial’s hull. I shimmed the traverse ring with thin strip plastic for a better fit. I had to modify the escape hatch’s hinge, as the Late version features a simplification in the form of only two bolts and a cut off bottom edge. The bottom edge and missing bolt were easily added with a bit of styrene cut to shape and a punched hex bolt. The stowage bin is a work of art and includes PE latches and even tiny locks!! One of the many mantlets that Dragon provides in the Late kit matches the vehicle I was modeling, with reinforced armor and dual sight holes. The spare track mounts are from Tiger Productions and are great, and even include casting numbers. The gun parts are all from the early version, and I chose the turned aluminum barrel. Before assembly I gave the aluminum barrel a coat of Tamiya primer to give the subsequent paint layers a better surface to grip. I added the discharger’s control lines that lead to the turret, forming them from soft solder. I also added a bit of rough cast texture to the muzzle brake with green putty dissolved in liquid cement.

TRACKS

The tracks are from Lion Marc's Armour Workshop, and are billed as cast resin workable links. They were well detailed, with open guide horns, but had a lot of flash to clean up. When I began assemble them, I found that the mounting pins were not strong enough and many of them would break off. The pins that did hold would “let go” under any kind of handling. This led me to just glue them together. I was disappointed with these and would go with Fruil in the future.

 

PAINTING

I always use a base coat of Tamiya acrylics so that later uses of oils and lacquers will not affect it. I use an Iwata HP-C brush powered by a really loud but cheap air compressor I bought from Home Depot. My goal in painting a model is to add depth and dimension. I began by separating the model into subassemblies; including roadwheels, lower hull, turret, and tracks. I started with a coat of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black on all surfaces as a primer. On Dark Yellow vehicles I typically follow this with another coat of a custom dark brown mixture. I started by lightly misting Tamiya Dark Yellow (XF-60) on the surfaces, carefully allowing the darker colors to show through as shadow accents. I also sprayed a lighter tone of the yellow onto the upper surfaces as a highlight layer. This was followed by the camo pattern in a custom green mixture. The dark yellow on the wheels was painted by using a circle template on top of the black base-coated “rubber” parts. I finished the base coat by carefully adding thin lines of highly thinned Tamiya Clear Brown in shadow areas and recesses, and along the lower hull. After allowing several days for drying, I assembled the model as a whole and sealed the model with Testor’s lacquer gloss coat and prepared to apply the markings. The turret numbers and the symbol from Abeilung 503 are from an older Tamiya sheet. The numbers were just black outlines, which I later filled in by hand with yellow paint, not being too careful as I wanted a “hand-painted” look. The crosses are from Archer dry transfers, a standard of mine! I then followed by sealing the model with Testor’s flat lacquer. The model (except the tracks) was coated with Burnt Umber oils mixed to a thin wash with Turpenoid, just as a weathering filter to “age” the paint. This was followed by “richer” washes of sepia and umber to recesses and panel lines, done with a pointed brush. I tend to do this in several passes, with drying time in between. Very minimal drybrushing with Humbrols and oils followed, using the matching colors on the Yellow and Green patterns.

Now the fun part! I had bought the very nice MIG Abteilung 501 oil paint collection and had mixed washes of yellow, rust, dark brown, etc, and began placing small amounts of these colors onto the surface. The idea was just to modify the underlying colors to add dimension and depth. Later, I added small spots of various colors of the oils, working in small areas, to the model, brushing them out as stains, tints, and rain marks. This again adds variation to the tones and depth to the finish. I painted the detail parts, such as tools, cables, the leather head pad in the cupola, and the spare tracks, treating them in much the same way as the tank. Scratches and abrasions to the paint were all done with Berol Prismcolor pencils and kept to a minimum. I was not depicting a battlefield wreck!! I kept this technique to areas of high wear, such as the cable ends, hatches, stowage bin, etc., and the edges of panel lines After a few more very specific pin washes and a couple of days of drying time, I did a final seal coat with the Testor’s flat. The tracks were drybrushed with Humbrol steel over the dark brown base coat, treated with MIG rust washes, then placed onto the model.

WEATHERING

When I refer to “weathering” I mean adding the effects of the terrain the vehicle is moving through, be it mud, dirt, dust, or sand. It consisted of MMP powders mixed with alcohol and applied in highly thinned layers to the vehicle. The powders are now out of production, unfortunately, and are very strong in color even when thinned. I also dabbed thicker layers of the powder onto areas wetted with alcohol to create accumulated dirt and dust. I followed this with a mud pass of a mix of acrylic gel medium, MMP powders, static grass, brown poster paint, and small grains of dirt mixed into a gooey paste. I try to apply this logically to areas that would accumulate mud, as you can see by the pictures. A final touch is a few footprints stamped in powders on a few surfaces. I always try to add a touch of color to every model, either on the vehicle or figures, so I used the provided Dragon bucket from the Later Tiger, finishing it in a nice beat up yellow. You know, someday I’m gonna do a nice clean vehicle…

FIGURES

The crew figures consist of Alpine’s magnificent Waffen SS Panzer Crew (commander and loader), and two Dragon bodies with resin heads. All were painted with an acrylic base, detailed with Humbrols and finished with oils. Flesh tones are all oils. Figures are NOT my strong suit, but they turned out OK. The hardest part was working out the camo pattern!

CONCLUSION

I can’t give Dragon enough credit for producing these kits, with their excellent level of detail, great value, and an almost complete lack of the need to purchase after-market parts. Of course, while I was building this one, Dragon announced a Mid-Production version from Cyber Hobbies, now valued at several hundred dollars. I’m pretty sure that the total I spent on this project was not more than that kit’s cost, and I gained a great deal of satisfaction from it. I now have most of the parts I need to build some kind of Tiger, but I’m not sure which!

The yellow shaded parts show, more or less, the parts used from the Late Tiger kit