Dragon Sdkfz 181 Pzkpfw VI (P) Tiger (2009)

[Bill Plunk]

Build log for Dragon kit #6210 Sdkfz 181 Pzkpfw VI Tiger (P) with MK replacement tracks, Lion Roar PE, and Atak Zimmerit.

[Bill Plunk]

While today is Halloween on the calendar, it's really just another Saturday and therefore prime building time at the workbench! This particular kit is one of the older kits in the DML catalog and the parts count shows that...the front of the box lists it as having 237 parts and even with that low count there's almost an entire sprue that's marked as not for use. Of course that's due to the fact that the tracks are one-piece DS tracks instead of individual links, otherwise that would add another ~220 parts right there to the total count.

Diving right in with Step 1, I assembled all of the road wheels and since I will be replacing the DS tracks with the MK set I added the necessary spacers to give the road wheels the correct width. The road wheels are originally designed to fit together using posts as you can see in the pic below and with half the wheels the spacer negates that so I held off joining the wheel halves together until I could use the suspension elements to help align them and avoid potential problems down the road.



Steps 2 and 3 assemble the suspension elements for both sides and I left them semi-workable by not gluing down the bump stop to the cylinder just yet. By doing this, I will have some flexibility with the wheels to insure a level stance when they get installed. This is even more important due to the addition of the MK spacers since the mount pins on the suspension elements won't make contact as originally designed by DML.



Step 4 calls for the installation of the suspension elements to the hull. This step also calls for the installation of the mud scrapers, parts B13 and B14, for the front drive sprockets but if that's done before the sprockets are installed, the sprockets can't be fitted correctly so I left them off for the time being.



Using the suspension arms as a guide, I applied glue only to the MK spacer disks and carefully assembled each wheel individually. After the glued had started to set up, I used small amounts of blue tack putty to mount the wheels on the arms and made minor adjustments as needed to insure the wheels sat level.



The wheels were removed and put off to the side to finish setting up. While I could go ahead and install them permanently at this stage since they are all steel wheels and there's no rubber rims to paint (even though the DML instructions indicate otherwise), it will be easier to paint the bare metal contact surfaces with the wheels off the vehicle. Continuing on with Step 5 and 6, I installed the front and rear sprockets. The front sprockets are designed to be static but the MK set includes an adapter that allows the sprocket to be adjusted. The adapter was added to the interior hull side and since the sprocket parts themselves can't rotate, this will be a key feature when installing the MK tracks and adjusting for tension.





Step 7 is a simple step that installs the horizontal front plate above the glacis. Some minor surgery is also called for in this step to remove features that were seen on the Elefant but not on the Tiger (P). These include the large molded on bolts at the hull side rear and some smaller bolts at the front. This needs to be done on both sides of the hull even though the instructions only indicate to do this on one side.



Next up will start the work of adding the Zimmerit panels and various parts to the hull. I need to check and see if that horizontal plate had zimmerit or not since the box art suggests it should but the Atak set doesn't include a panel for that area. If it's supposed to have zim, I'll have to do that section myself so some research is in order before I proceed tomorrow!

[Bill Plunk]

Continuing on from yesterday's efforts, today was all about the zim! I completed Step 8 which calls for the installation of the angled rear hull extensions as well as the rear hull plate. The rear plate has 10 holes that need to be opened up to allow the installation of the tow pintle and heavy duty rear towing points, easily done with a #68 finger drill. I glued the rear plate to the hull and then added the necessary zim panel from the Atak set using Gator Grip glue and tacking down the edges where needed with CA gel. The Gator Grip glue is an acrylic binder so it provides a good working time to adjust things before it starts to set.



Step 9 deals with the installation of the front hull glacis plate and the tow pintles there as well. The kit plate was replaced in its entirety with the resin part from the Atak set and only minor adjustments were needed on the bottom surface to get it to fit in place. This one has to be glued carefully so I did several test fits before committing to the CA gel. The nose plate also received its zim panel and the hull tow points were also installed.



Step 10 calls for the installation of the superstructure front plate for the driver and hull MG positions. The Atak set offers two options here, one with the extra plate over the MG position and one without, which is a nice touch since it allows some flexibility in terms of modelling #003 earlier or later in its service life. I opted for the extra plate part and drilled out the mount in the ball to take a ModelPoint MG34 tank variant barrel I had as a spare in the AM box. I also skipped ahead a bit to Step 12 and installed the angled plates, parts A14 and A15, since they need to mate up properly with the superstructure plate. Before installing it in place, I used the unused turret zim strips in the Atak set and cut them up to zim the horizontal plate and I will add cutouts later to take the fender support braces once I get to that point in the installation. I haven't decided yet whether to use the kit braces or the Lion Roar and it will make a difference in size.



That set the stage to finally add the side hull zim panels. I removed all of the molded on locator marks that were still present on the sides to avoid interference with the panels laying flat and started at the front. The angled panels were added first followed by the side panels and then the rear panels. The same Gator Grip/CA gel combination was used and there were some gaps that resulted at the panel joins. The gaps were filled with putty and/or small strips of leftover zim from the Atak set as needed to smooth things out. On the superstructure front plate where it joins the angled sides Atak didn't mold zim so this was added using small cut-down strips as well to carry the pattern over to those small sections.





That's as far as I got today and since I will be travelling to Sydney, Australia on business next Saturday, I won't get back to this one for a couple of weeks unfortunately. When I do get back to it the next steps will be add the upper hull plates and start work on the fenders and tools.

[Bill Plunk]

After being away for a while, it felt good to get back to the bench this weekend and continue on with this project. After some careful study of the remaining hull assembly steps, I decided it was best to go ahead and deal with the hull PE details at this stage since it would make it much easier to work with the zimmed areas. The first order of business was to assemble the brackets for the tow cables. The Lion Roar set includes some very nice working hinged brackets but they are small and require some patience to assemble. The LR set also includes a length of 0.2mm diameter brass rod and I borrowed a trick from James Bella over on Armorama on how to assemble them. I removed the full set of 6 front hinge parts and bent their hinge fingers to shape around the length of the brass rod. This made it much easier to deal with them instead of trying to work them individually.



I then did the same thing with the opposite half of the bracket, threading it's little finger through and bending to shape. The whole unit could then be cut free of its neighbor, slid down the length of the rod to almost the end, and then a small dab of CA gel used to glue the rod in place. The ends were trimmed with sprue cutters and voila! hinged brackets.

Since the Atak zim only provided cutouts for the large hooks at the front, the rest of the locations had to be determined using the kit part as a template. I used a pencil to mark where each needed to go to maintain the necessary alignment, then carefully trimmed out the zim with a sharp #11 blade. The brackets were then glued in place with CA gel and the hinges left unsecured until after the cables get mounted later.





Next came the tool brackets for the left hull side. The kit-supplied part is molded with all three tools and brackets as a single piece and this meant they had to be split up and the molded on clamps removed. Before doing that, I used it as a template to mark out the general locations for the two shovels and axe with a pencil. Instead of the 3-piece LR clamps, I used three 2-piece clamps from a Griffon set I keep on hand as I prefer them for ease of assembly and attached them in the strip cutout in the Atak zim panel. Due to the location and size of the larger shovel, I had to mount it in position to avoid problems with the tow cable bracket underneath it but the short shovel and axe will get mounted later.



With that taken care of, it was time to return to the instruction assembly order and work on Step 11. I installed the fenders and rear mud flaps to both sides using a combination of regular and liquid glue. The LR PE fender brackets were designed for use with the LR plates and didn't work with the kit fenders in terms of size/height, so I opted to stay with the kit styrene parts. The instructions don't tell you this but you need to open up holes at the front and back on the fenders in order for the brackets to mount properly since they have pins molded on their underside. This was easily taken care of with a #68 finger drill before the fenders were mounted. I had some slight fit issues on both sides where the angled hull side mates up and some putty was needed to fill small gaps.



Once the fenders had set up, I completed the step by installing the hull top plate. This fit well at the rear and sides but the front had a significant gap along the right side that no amount of coaxing and pressure could close. I opted to close up the left side with glue and let it set and then used putty in the gap on the right side, recreating the weld seam detail there with a sharp #11 blade point after the putty had dried. I also installed the spare antenna rod case on the right fender where again the instructions failed to indicate there are 2 holes that need to be opened up on the underside but I'd caught on to this by now and was ready for it! The grab handles for the engine deck were installed along with the large rectangular access hatch to round things out for the day.



There's still more work to be done with the engine deck and rear fender details but that will have to wait until next weekend.

[Bill Plunk]

This weekend was a very productive one but didn't quite get all of the construction complete, which means I'll have a little bit still to do this holiday weekend before I can start painting.

First order of business was to add the zim panels for the front and rear mud flaps that I didn't get to last time. These were attached using the same combination of Gator Grip and CA gel as the hull panels but a little bit more trimming was necessary around the edges to get everything lined up. With that out of the way, I continued on with Step 12 in the instructions and added the remaining front hull details in the form of the Bosch lights and the periscope guards. The instructions have an error regarding the bases of the Bosch lights, the parts numbers are reversed in the instructions from the way they ought to install. The bases also have a half-post socket but unfortunately the way the light posts are molded, it is necessary to remove the little step on the post in order to mount the lights facing in the right direction. I also added some detail by drilling small holes with a #72 finger drill in the base of the lights and in the hull panel and using short lengths of 0.5mm diameter solder to create the wiring conduits. I used the LR PE periscope guards in place of the kit supplied items and used some Squadron White putty to fill in the gaps in the hull roof since the PE items are thinner than the kit parts.



Step 12 also calls for the installation of the side and rear intakes on the engine deck. The rear intake is supposed to have two framed screens and the LR set replicates this beautifully using bent brass rod frames and PE mesh but their assembly is very intricate. To accomplish this, I used some T-pins and a piece of fiber-board as a set of "extra hands" to hold the rod frame and mesh in place and then used tweezers and the tip of a #11 blade to bend the mesh "fingers" over the rod and secure the mesh in place.



The screens were then glued down in place over the intakes with CA gel and the four small support posts at the front added by using short lengths of styrene rod cut to size and glued in position with regular glue. The side intakes were assembled and the DML provided brass screens added as well to complete the step.



Step 13 adds more details to the rear deck in the form of the hinge blocks, rear fender supports, antenna mounts, rear Notek light, the jack, and the sledge hammer. I drilled out the antenna bases with a #72 finger drill before gluing them into position in preparation for installing brass antennas later on. The sledgehammer mount was replaced with the LR PE cover for the head and a Griffon clamp for the handle.



Step 14 begins work on the turret and main gun so this meant my first order of business was to assemble the RB Model Tiger I initial barrel to replace the two-part kit barrel. Since the muzzle brake threads on just like on the real thing, it's important to attach/assemble the barrel completely first before mounting to the turret to insure proper alignment.



Since the Atak set replaced the turret in its entirety with a resin turret shell and separate roof, I assembled the mantlet using the Atak zimmed resin exterior mantlet and interior styrene mount parts. The coaxial MG's muzzle was drilled out with a #76 finger drill since it was molded solid and installed as well. The mantlet was able to elevate since I didn't apply any glue yet to the mount pins on the inside and the barrel was installed. The fit inside the outer sleeve was a bit loose and CA gel by itself wasn't strong enough to hold the barrel in position, so I mixed up a small amount of Aves Apoxiesculpt two-part putty and applied that in a thin layer around the base and then inserted the barrel into the sleeve, allowing the putty to ooze out a bit around the sleeve and trimming that excess away with a knife point to restore the small gap around the barrel for the recoil. I propped up the turret and barrel and let gravity do the work for me while the putty hardened over a couple of hours. This effectively completed the work called for in Step 15.



While the barrel was setting up, I worked on the turret roof. Atak provides a full resin roof part that accurately places the pilzen crane sockets and also has some very nice weld detail around the cupola and hatches. I assembled the commander's cupola as called for in Step 17 and also added the loader's hatch and fume extraction fan cover as outlined in Step 16. I didn't notice until just now that I forgot to add the grab handle to the loader's hatch, will take care of that shortly. With the gun barrel set, I did a test of the turret to the hull to determine what elevation the barrel needed to be at since it was too heavy to hold position on its own and then applied CA gel and liquid glue to the mount pins and let that set up. The turret roof was then installed to complete Step 16. I added the LR bracket mounts for the smoke grenade launchers from Step 17 and also added the LR PE strip that creates the small rain drain holes around the edge of the commander's cupola. I added the smoke signal basket to the rear of the cupola from Step 18 but didn't quite get to the rest of that step before having to call a halt for the night.



Not much is left, just need to work on the rear turret basket and spare track mounts before this one will be ready for paint.

[Bill Plunk]

Managed to squeeze in a little bit of work in between turkey and shopping over the holiday. The last remaining bit of business before painting was the rear turret details, so I proceeded to complete Step 18 by adding the spare track links and rear turret bin.

The Atak turret rear replicates the plate on the DML turret perfectly and I didn't have any fit issues, just had to be careful to place the links in the correct spot as each one is shaped a little differently due to the curve of the turret. I had hoped that I could detail the links and install them later but due to their placement and how they fit in with the turret bin that wasn't possible. I used a #68 finger drill to drill out the open track pin holes on the links at either end of the runs for a little more detail and then used CA gel to glue them to the resin turret and regular glue to each other to complete the runs.



Next I assembled the turret bin and used a #11 blade to remove the molded-on bin latches and replaced them with the 3-part Lion Roar PE parts. The bin was then installed to the turret rear.



Test fit with the hull showed the bin had plenty of clearance all-around and also helps balance out the overall look of the turret relative to the hull.



Tomorrow should see the paint work start if the weather holds up!

[Bill Plunk]

The weather held up as hoped for today so I spent a good solid 4-5 hours out in the garage getting the paint on this build. First order of business was to apply a primer/pre-shade coat of enamel Italian Dark Brown. This allowed me to check all the previous putty work, made sure I didn't have any bare plastic areas, and provided a solid foundation for all of the metal parts for the base coat.



After the primer coat, I mixed up a full bottle of enamel 50-50 Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb as I knew this one was going to require a lot of paint. The addition of the zim dramatically increases the surface area so I applied the base coat in a series of multiple passes both horizontal and vertical to insure good all-around coverage.



The camo pattern was applied next. I applied the Rotbraun first, using an enamel mix of 50-50 Leather/Military Brown and laying down the pattern free-hand with the kit instructions finishing guide and box art as a general template. The Olivegrun was applied next using enamel Khaki. I cleaned up over spray where needed using the base coat mix and then once satisfied with the pattern, I thinned down the remaining base coat in the paint cup to almost wash consistency. This was sprayed as an overall mist coat with the model about 12" away from the airbrush in order to tie the scheme together.





Depending on how things go tomorrow, I should be able to get the tracks done and installed along with the road wheels.

[Bill Plunk]

As the Thanksgiving holiday weekend comes to a close, I was able to get quite a bit done today even though the weather outside was cold and miserable! Yesterday when I painted the exterior I also painted the road wheels. These were mounted on toothpicks with small amounts of blue-tack poster putty for ease of handling and received the same primer-and-base coat treatment as the rest of the vehicle.



Since these are all-steel wheels, I needed to create a bare metal surface where the wheels contact the tracks. To do this, the first step was to apply some Non-Buffing Metalizer Gunmetal with a square tip brush to avoid getting any on the exposed exterior.



Next I dry brushed some enamel Steel with a round 0 sable brush to lighten the effect of the metalizer while still retaining the darker underlying tone.



The last step was the application of a roughly 90/10 thinner/Raw Umber enamel wash with the same round 0 sable brush. I applied the wash with careful strokes in the direction the wheel would travel in order to smooth out the previous dry brushing a bit and avoid lifting the paint in the process.



The wheels were then mounted to the suspension on both sides. Not much of the wheels are exposed once the tracks are mounted but what is visible has a very convincing look relative to the DY painted exterior surfaces and will provide a good platform for the later pigment weathering.



Speaking of that platform, I also added some pre-weathering preparation in the form of some dry brushed Steel to the sprocket guide teeth followed by some dry brushed Burnt Umber. I also lightly stippled some Burnt Umber on the lower hull sides and the road wheels to simulate some light scuffing/wear. The wear on the hull won't be too visible but it's there for the curious.



I had assembled the MK replacement tracks a little bit at a time here and there over the last couple of weeks and the MK-recommended 108 links was spot on. I test fit both sides just to be sure and while one side is slightly longer than the other, the adjustable idlers are able to take up the slack where needed vs. adding extra links.



The tracks were removed and I dared the cold in the garage to paint them. I applied a primer coat of enamel Flat Black by airbrush and followed that up with the main coat of Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal. The metalizer is lacquer-based so the enamel coat helps insure the lacquer doesn't attack the delicate hinge pins and cause the links to separate unexpectedly. The tracks were given the same treatment as the bare steel surfaces of the road wheels.



Once the wash had dried, I fitted the tracks to both sides and completed their installation.



It will now sit for the week until next weekend and that should give the paint plenty of time to cure up before I finish up with the remaining details and then start the weathering process.

[Bill Plunk]

Throughout the week I tinkered a bit here and there with adding the various remaining small details. For example the spare tracks on the back of the turret were detailed using Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal carefully applied with a detail brush, then lightly dry brushed with Steel, and given an overall wash of Rust to round out their look.



The remaining pioneer tools and tow cables were also added. The tools had their metal heads base coated with the same metalizer Gunmetal and lightly dry brushed with Steel to show some wear/use. The wood handles were painted with a custom mix of "wood" brown color I keep on hand and then given a light wash of thinned enamel Leather. For the tow cables, I used the kit-supplied ends and braided wire however I did run into a minor problem with the kit instructions. The instructions incorrectly indicate that the length of the cable, excluding the ends, should be 220mm when in fact that's the length the total cable, including the ends, should be. Careful measuring was required to get the wire cut to the right length and then added to the ends to make it all fit properly on the hangers. Once everything was the correct length, I applied the metalizer Gunmetal to the wire and then secured it in place by gluing the Lion Roar brackets closed with CA gel and securing them with the provided PE wing-nuts from the fret.





With that out of the way, I applied a sealing coat of Future acrylic floor polish by airbrush and allowed that to air dry before adding the decals. The decals required several careful applications of Solvaset and very gentle prodding with a wooden toothpick to get them to conform to the zim pattern but eventually they snugged down tight. Once the decals had thoroughly dried, I applied a 2nd coat of Future to seal them in and protect them during the weathering process.





If all goes according to plan, the weathering should be done this weekend so stay tuned!

[Bill Plunk]

This weekend was a good one for getting some time in at the bench and I started in on the weathering process as the next phase of effort. The first step was an overall application of thinned enamel Raw Umber as a wash. The wash is roughly 90% thinner and I applied it liberally with a round sable brush as the foundation for the next steps.



Next was the application of dot filters consisting of Flat White, Panzer Dunkelgelb, Panzer Olivgrun, Raw Sienna, and very very small amounts of Deep Yellow. Due to the nature of the zimmed surfaces, instead of using downward strokes, I used sideways strokes that matched the "grain" of the zim pattern on the different surfaces.



This was followed by a pin wash application of thinned enamel Burnt Umber to all the raised detail, weld seams, and panel lines.



Some minor adjustments were made using a clean brush and thinner here and there and then the entire vehicle was sealed with a coat of Testors Lusterless Flat in the spray-can.





All that's left at this point is the pigment treatment for the tracks and running gear. Almost to the finish line!