Tiger Ausf B,s.H.Pz.Abt 509 Hungary 1945

[Peter Rosenwirth]

Hi Phil
Really gorgeous and impressing to me!
What type of material did you take for the weldet joints or weldseams? It looks better when, like in your KT, the gaps between the aluminium parts are filled with joint sealer, which is able to coat with paint.

Peter

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Ciao Phil,
Congratulations on your progress.
I can ask you what kind of colors you use, and what tones you used for the Dunkelgelb and especially for the green?
Thank you!
Iacopo

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks Roger
I am sure you will be proud of your King Tiger and enjoy the build journey.
Cheers
Phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks very much Peter
I have used Milliput for the welds and where there are multiple runs of welds like in the
war time pictures I had to wait for a day for each weld to dry enough.
My Hull top is all fixed because I can get at every thing easy enough through the
turret hole and hatches.
The front hatch plate I am only fixing with 2 easy to get at screws.
My turret top is fixed in one piece and the weight hold it in place no problem.
The turret top welds I did carefully with thin paper in between the turret top plate and
sides.
Don't use masking tape the milliput loves to stick to it more than the plate.
The gap is very thin and the fit very snug so lifts up easy with care.
The gap is disguised a bit already with mine after using some textured stuff,more paint
and thin washes.
Hope the helps you a bit.
Cheers
Phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

Ciao Lacopo,Thank you
The Dunkelgelb I have used is Tamiya Dark Yellow spray TS-3
All other colours I use are Lifecolor Acrylic Italian made I think and use an
air brush.
Brown is UA205 Rotbraun Ral 8017
Green is UA002 Green Verde FS34102
I have used very thin washes as part of my weathering,using Brown Umber and a lighter one Dark Earth.
Plenty of dry brushing with all sorts of colours later.
In my latest pictures you can see that I have not yet done much on the Hull sides
with washes yet,so you can see it makes it darker on the Turret.
The runs in the washes are deliberate so it looks like dusty water running down the slopes.
Enjoy your Tank build
Cheers
Phil

[Peter Rosenwirth]

Thank you very much Phil. It does help and Miliput should be availble in our country.
Cheers
Peter

[phil fitzpatrick]

Elevation Gear,Recoil and Flash and Limits assembled

[Chang]

Elevation Gear,Recoil and Flash and Limits assembled

Hi Phil,
Beside the nice-building tank, the gun-barrel recoil system is specially intriguing to me! May I asking you a few questions:
(1) I can see you have done some modifications on the barrel pivot (CK0412). Would you mind sharing some details/photos?
(2) Beside the recoil module, are these rods, plates, brackets, etc custom-made?
(3) Is it necessary to sit it on the RH side and switch the elevation system to the LH side?

Thanks in advance.

Lerh Chang

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Lerh
I haven't altered the CK0412,it is fitted as supplied.
I have fitted the elevation motor bracket with 2 extra 5mm screws after tapping the
turret base.
The limit switches I fitted to my own bracket so that they are easy to adjust and I had
to drill a new hole in the recoil connecting rod.
Otherwise every thing is fitted as the manual.
Cheers
Phil

[Chang]

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the answer.
The elevation motor angled bracket,in my KT distorted whenever the motor was operating. Had it happened to yours?

Regards,

Lerh Chang

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Chang.
No I haven't been able to distort one yet,but on the three that I have done,I run
a tap through the brass nut to clean it out and the slotted bracket has always needed
filing out for the nut to run loose and also I try to very slightly round the edges
of the slot so that it cant dig into the nut.
The rest is just in the setting up I think and a bit if lubrication.
The King Tiger Gun movement from my books I think is -8 deg down and 15 deg up,I think
you would be a bit lucky to get this amount of movement with the slotted bracket.
The inner Mantlet can fit either way up I think and I think that I may have got mine
the wrong way up,because the barrel pivot was resting on the mantlet in the near
horizontal position so I reakised that I would not be able to depress any more.
But I wanted the full 15 deg height and I wasn't sure that I would get it by reversing
the inner Mantlet.
I extended my outer mantlet to fit closer to the front armor so it hid most of the inner mantlet.
On setting up the elevation motor screw with the barrel resting down about horizontal
I just screwed the screw into the nut until just a few threads stuck out the other
side,so the rest of the thread was all for raising the barrel and I stoped just short of
the extended mantlet hitting the front armor.
Now it will look like that famouse photo in the books and vidios with all those King
Tigers lined up in a field with the Guns full up
Cheers
Phil

I chose horizontal to 15 deg up

[Chang]

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the detailed explanations. What I mean "elevation motor angled bracket" is actually "elevation motor mount (see yellow indicator in your photo)"

, which bent a little while the motor is working.(See film):
Does it happen to yours?

Regards,

Lerh Chang

[phil fitzpatrick]

One of Steve'a MGs in the coaxial position gripped by a soft rubber block,push fit into
the hole and a bracket made and fitted to the recoil bracket so that the MG follows
the hole in the cast mantlet during elevation.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Chang
Yes I see the bracket that you mean with the arrow,I have just gave my elevation a few
runs and my bracket does not flex at all.
The only thing I can think of,if you have it all running smoothly is the limit switch
settings.
I am stopping my barrel short of the fully down and fully up position to make sure I
don't try and stop it at the very end of its travels.
If you check that the only thing is to strengthen the bracket,but I don't think that
should be necessary.
Hope you can solve your problem.
Cheers
Phil

[steve pataki]

Hi Phil and Chang.

Sorry to nose into your discussion,but I noticed the same flexing on my late Tiger 1 that Chang is speaking of.
My solution was to make a strap to support the end of the long elevation screw.
Can be seen on my Tiger 1 2012 build.

Phil,absolutly beautiful craftsmanship on your tanks!

Steve.