Heng Long 1:16 Tiger II makeover

All things being equal and the mail works okay the Tiger II from Tank Army should arrive during next week. This will again be gutted and I will bring it up to Berlin 45 specs. I've chosen to model tank 100 from der sSSPzAbt 503 in Berlin. Although this is a later Tiger II it doesn't sport the final drive wheels and tracks. This means that it will be fine to use the existing running gear. I will pull the tank apart as per usual and then see what aftermarket gear I will need. I think this will only include the mess covers for the rear deck and more spare track. 100 has a nice simple camouflage. It appears to be a put together with all dark yellow hull and dark yellow/ green turret. The camouflage is hard edge as with most Tigers of this period. From the shots it is heavily chipped and weathered. There will be plenty to do on it. I may try a turret interior depending on whether it is possible to open up the rear turret hatch. Stay tuned. I will post shots when it arrives. Here is the Tank Army shot. It is not small, the hull alone being 440mm long. 6cm short of half a metre. I don't think it will fit into the book case This will definitely be the last. There is no room left.



Here is a link to a beautiful interpretation of the vehicle. So much potential

www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/german/tiger_smizuno.html

Nice one !
Looking forward seeing your magic on this beast .

I have seen the real thing .....and it is the best looking tank ever build (its big)

Agreed, there is something about the Tiger II that has never been matched. The Germans knew how to make something look cool as well as work well, well at least as well as it could under the circumstances. It is amazing to think that this tank is as heavy as the Merkava IV. 68 tons a piece. The second is clearly far superior, but the first wins on looks. It was an amazing achievement when one considers that the same country was turning out the not so good AV7 only 25 years before.and the Pz I not 10 years before.

I am informed that this is now in the mail so we are now waiting.

Should be here Tuesday. Waiting, waiting. Not doing any modeling this weekend. Having a break before this arrives. Also doing lots of research about it. I still can't get over how the Germans managed to develop these from the ground up and make them work in any satisfactory way. Also can't believe how many they made in such a short space of time. Only the bombing of the factory slowed them down. They still managed almost 500. They managed the Panther I D, A, G, and initial production of the F,and one Panther II hull and the JagdPanther and BergePanther. The Tiger II and JagdTiger, the Elephant, the Grille, the Maus, the E100 including unfinished Turret, just to name a few. They were huge tanks and a major draw on production resources, but they still managed to maintain high quality and improving reliability to the end. Scary what we can do under pressure.

olive drab wrote: Sorry Bishop the comments about the Kingtigers and jagdtigers don't bear up to historical fact. Poor power to weight ratios, most were lost in the last months of the war due to mechanical breakdown and were either blown up by their crews or left abandoned, let alone their fuel consumption. or the inability of them to move due to the weight on Bridges, Peiper in the Ardennes refused to us KTs due to their inability to manoeuvre.
The allies had or were developing AT rounds to deal with the mainstays (Tigers and panthers) US HVAT 76mm round could and did destroy Panthers and Tiger 1s at standard operational ranges, while the US 90mm was superior to the 88mm and accounted for a number of German tanks front on.
The British Centurion with Sabot ammunition would have dealt to any late war German armour had the war stretched on while in the east the Soviet JS series in shear weight of numbers already showed the KT to be out of date, even the profile of the KT showed it to be out of date by 1945.

I didn't say that they were brilliant, I said it was a miracle that they developed so many with anything like any success in so short a time. Some of what you have written is also conjuncture as the war finished before a lot of this came about. There Germans were also continuously developing these tanks so the a prolonged war would have seen new counter advances on both sides.

In reality these larger tanks were not what Germany needed, but are a remarkable engineering feat. Of course others made better vehicles in the end as they weren't being bombed into destruction. The Russian stuff was still being blown apart by the German stuff at the end, and there were only a few US 90mms available. They really came into their own in Korea. Now the really interesting one would have been the Centurion, again it came to late to do anything, but its proved to be one of the outstanding AFVs developed so far. You are quite right that most Tiger IIs were blown up because of mechanical and fuel shortages, not that many were shot up by other tanks. Still a super cool vehicle. Just reading Jentz and Doyle's book on it's development at present.

Well. it has arrived. Christmas in July. It is very large as you will see. As Darth Vader would say, it is most impressive, and my research has shown that there is a lot of work to do. Very glad I got hold of it as there is a big demand for them. I imagine that it runs, but this afternoon I will gut it and go from there. I will make another order now with Tank Army for mesh grills and extra tracks for the turret sides. The tracks will need one more set each side and that will only leave me with one spare set of double links. No dramas. Hats off to Tank Army. They have emailed me with tracking updates right up to the day of delivery. A GREAT LOT TO BUY FROM.
So pictures. I've never done the big reveal stuff before so here goes
Christmas in July





What scared me for a moment was the picture with the early turret on the other side of the box!!! They sent me the wrong one I thought. It was the first thing I saw when I opened the box



But no

Next some size comparisons. The Tamiya 1:35 (yet to be completed ) is about the same size as the turret

It only just fits in the book case.
Now some shots of the major outside work to be done.
Opening these front hatches and adding correct details



Creating a new interior for the MG ball mount (as per usual) and fixing the front of the Notex light



Opening the rear hatch and MG port and adding correct detail



And the big fix, adding the lower part of the hull sides. To cut costs the fenders are only attached to the hull at the very top so there is a great strip of hull side missing. Sensible people leave the fenders on, but the example I'm modeling has reached the stage where the fenders are long go. I prefer the fenders off look in any case. The great thing is that one can measure up and prepare the extra pieces using the fenders on as guild. Then its bog and sand bog and sand until you are there.

Apart from the major stuff there is the usual detailing of everything front to back. What I also want to do is make the turret interior, at least the top half (I'm still deciding about the enormous detail in the turret basket. I don't want to rush this one as it really will be the last. As much as I like their KVI and Perishing, one really has to draw the line somewhere.

So first thing is to adjust the tracks so I can be sure about how many spares to get and to make the parts order. Then its time to pull it all to bits

Gee that ain't small is it?
What do you do with all the RC stuff, Do you just turf it or do you on sell it to people who want it or what? I've always wondered while looking through your 1/16 builds and never thought to ask.
I'm surprised how big the Panther is to the Tiger 1, I always thought the Tiger was bigger but as your pic shows, it's actually not...

Yes you're right the Panther is longer, but not wider. The Tiger II dwarfs them both. I confess I really like seeing the Tigers together. Actually I have lots of stuff just sitting there. I'm not sure if most of it ever worked. This and the first Panther are the only ones I've bought that might actually work. I've never worried about it.

Nice!
A razor saw will sort those hatches out

Dads Army wrote: Seriously cool collection and projects Tony!!
Have you had a drive around with it before you pull it apart?

No I just pull them apart. Most I got cheaply because they didn't work. This is now in a 100 bits. I'm working on the hull sides filling in the gaps. I also need to move the idlers forward 2mm. Otherwise all is expected.

Still deciding about the front hatches. There won't be anything to see underneath.

Bishop wrote: Still deciding about the front hatches. There won't be anything to see underneath.

What ! ...... no full interior

Nah It would be a huge undertaking though not impossible. I actually need some of the hull "pillars" that join the top and bottom of the hull (via screws), to maintain strength. All the cutting and shaping will take some of that away so the pillars will keep things nice and strong. Still thinking about the turret basket though and that would require removing the battery box as I did on the BergePanther.

So first update. I have removed the side skirts with only minor difficulties which are easily repaired. I've created and trimmed the next side pieces and have tried to fit the upper hull to the lower, only to discover that the way things were constructed with missing side sections meant that I needed to trim the edges of the sponson floors. Having done all this the hull pieces fit together like a glove. Some days it all really does come together. There will be some repairs to do as I said, but all will be well. This has meant that I've been about to bog up the sides. I am really missing my Green Signal putty. Tamiya doesn't cut it on these large beasties. Anyway, there will be lots of sanding to get the side panels all nice and flat. They aren't at present.

The other frustration I've come up against is that adding extra tracks makes the tracks too long so I've checked the position of the rear idler and have discovered that each one is about 2mm too far back. I shall move the mounts so this should allow the tracks to sag properly as is. It is a straight forward job, but will mean that I will use nuts and bolts to hold the idler mounts on rather than the screws and glue. Though they will take little weight they still need to be able to cope with the track tension.

Photos so far of the cutting and pasting.'
Fenders off



And double thickness plastic strips added, being mounted to other plastic strips CAed to the hull interior

Strips in place and the sponson floors adjusted so everything fits together

Yes I do indeed, but there's a small think called money.

Looking good so far Tony!

Is that a jar of Mr Dissolved Putty I spy on your bench there? If so, how do you find it? I have some and I've only used it a couple of times because I find it either nevers dries or does a little bit but as soon as I start sanding it it all comes off. Not sure if I have a bad jar or what but I have seen others use it to great effect. I'm definitely giving it enough time (nearly 2 weeks in one case) but I just can't seem to make it work.

I've never really learned how to use it either. Only just getting the hang of Mr Surfacer. Speaking of which. Three sand and fills later I've finally got to the point where I've been able to cover the hull front and sides with Mr 1200 Surfacer. The idea is to hide any seams without creating a cast metal look (ah la 500 Surfacer). I'll wait till its all dry and sand it back. This will also get rid of the heavy sanding marks along the sides. Everything fits nicely so that's good. The other major win is that the idler mounts are now successfully relocated in the correct position. I've done a test with track and some wheels and the track now has an appropriate sag. This now leaves me in the position where I can start making the list of things to be done all over the vehicle.

The way I will model it 100 has almost no tools left. This will mean modeling brackets and lots of them. Some of them I can get from cutting up cables etc, others I'll have to make. The vehicle is a Dec 44 vehicle. The jack, mounts and jack block are now no longer part of the set up. The biggest area of construction now that the fenders are gone will be the Ball mount for the MG. These are consistently terrible on the big Heng Long cats. Everything on the rear plate is actually pretty good so will just need detailing.

The turret is complete as we know it with track hangers, pilsen sockets for the gantry welded to the roof, the blade sight for the commander, the 40mm loader's hatch, the gas detector plates (three on the roof), the bolted rather than welded cupola and the armour covers for the rear hatch torsion bars. The tank has just about all of that as standard with only a few things to be added or remodeled for more detail. The biggest deal will be cutting the hole in the turret rear for the hatch.
Of course, this is only the outside, the main event will be on the inside I'm just having fun first before I start to tackle the interior. I'm feeling a lot better about it having picked up the DML gun today. It makes all the difference having something you can upscale.

Oh and I've made a great discovery. I can't get Squadron Green putty anymore, but I can get Humbrol grey putty. Very impressed so far.

Gee this thing is big.








Photos

And
The rear of the side plates now all matching thickness. This is only for show as the sides are no where near as thick

The last shot with 1200 surfacer has the bottom section of armour notching coloured in red. I can draw straight lines, the surfacer has covered the some of the red at the bottom. Looking at the photo it reminds one just how thick the 150mm armour is on the glacis plate. I will actually scribe the bottom notich details in on both sides. They weren't included as they were hidden under the front fenders.