Armortek

That looks very good Brian. What tool are you using for the zimerrit? I see you are not going to apply zim to the upper front panel.

Vince

I’m using the sixth scale iconsize 2

Good to know as I have the same tools but never used them.

Vince

I agree with Vince, the zimmerit looks great. Keep pressing on!
Bob

Looks great!

Zimmerit was an interesting material. The Allies considered using it (and did experimentally on a few of their own tanks) but magnetic mines were not a major issue in the European Theatre, so it wasn't pursued with much vigor. Mag mines were more of a problem in the Pacific, as there were probably more Japanese willing to emplace mag mines as part of their suicidal charges.

It seems Zim was just as effective as part of a tank's camouflage as it was a protective measure against mag mine threats. Even though the Germans applied it in factories, they also sent barrels of the stuff to the field to be applied by crews onto the base paint or primer. Consequently, you find all kinds of patterns including criss-crossing, angular, and more precise horizontal and vertical patterns.

Initial instructions were to apply zim to only the hull sides and frontal glacis, and not the turret. But, orders were pretty much ignored and so, you might find it on turrets, fenders, etc., anywhere a crew thought it would be effective.

cheers... Tom

That’s interesting to hear. It makes sense they would send the barrels with the tanks since you see it chips and falls off easily. Just another over engineered aspect of German heavy armor.

Hull is all Zimmerit up now!

New sprocket rings installed. I gave the originals too much chamfer.

Great job on the zimmerit Brian. Hopefully I can get mine as good as yours.

Vince

Thank you Vince!

You are a great Teacher Brian!! Wonderful technique.. and your tank is looking SO CHOICE!

I agree with Vince, great zim job, Brian.

One thing I would offer is, before painting or finalizing the zim, and if you plan to install the side skirts, you might want to remove any zim from the attachment points as it's much easier to attach the skirts onto primed or bare metal.

During the war, they didn't bother applying zimmerit to the skirts, at least at the factory. Who knows what they might have done with it in the field.

I'm glad to see you have new drive sprockets. It might be a lesson for Armortek to add a note about how much to chamfer them as part of their instruction manual.

BTW, some components of the tank were cast. For example, the front right hull machine gun ball (I believe). Another example is the heavy exhaust cover on the back panel. You can use the same material you use for zimmerit to give cast components that cast look. Just a light coat, and when drying, go over it with a flat tool of some kind.

cheers... Tom

Thank you Tom. I am working my way through the fender attachments now. I covered the holes with masking tape. The pieces with the threads for the fenders attachment are a nice tight fit. I just test fitted one fender and it is a perfect fit without removing any material.