These minor points to be clarified;

1-The Bandai superstructure stretch on my model is more like 1/8 inch at the base and 3/16 inch at the roof, moving the rear plate backward.

If you try putting three columns of tracks on the superstructure side you will see they barely fit, unlike the real thing which has over a foot to spare.

2-The gun barrel is a 5/16" plastic tube slightly tapered but then fattened with primer/putty because the tapering made it look too thin.

The lenght from the last tiny disc at the front of the mantlet is 75mm in 1/48, but is approximate to 1mm because the reference photo I overlaid it to was too small, so this had to be cut out to overlay to the model with a cardboard backing. This is the only really excellent true profile photo of the Jagdtiger w/o skirts I have found that is shot from quite a good distance and is in "Panzers in the gunsight vol. 2". This should preclude major overall proportionnal errors, even if approximate. I always check models by profile photo overlay, either direct or reverse overlay. Most kits do fairly poorly in this way, unfortunately...

3-The Tamiya King Tiger turret error is not enough slope for the front roof plate and too much for the rear, and unfortunately the resin turret of Garfield's model does not help. The best choice for a Tiger 2 might be a Bandai hull with a Tamiya Porshe turret!

4-The Dragon 1/35 Jagdtiger is not terrible but is probably short in the superstructure.

Gaston, I see the problem with the roof plate slope on the KT turret, and I will make this correction on my two later KTs. It is easy work to do, just tedious. Note the low cast cupola is too high also. Cutting it off the roof without destroying most of the nearby roof details will be a bear, but that's what must be done if you want to correct this. Steve Faxon gave me two new cupolas as spares. As far as the KT hull depth, if this appears to be off to me, a correction is far easier to me than trying to get the inferior Bandai KT hull to fit. I have the Bandai Jagdtiger, and will be rebuilding it for my only JT, though I suspect I will get a Tamiya KT kit for the better detailing. Lowering the hull again is easy for me; we geezers had to chop up kits long ago to get some of them built, much less fix errors.....

Hello Bruce,

The only reason I insist on using the Bandai hull for the Tiger II is that the glacis has a longer more "shovel nose" appearance that is to me more typical of the King Tiger, whereas the Tamiya hull has this blunter nose with a deeper angled, deeper looking lower front plate that is solid metal, and to me strictly Jagdtiger-like.

If the Bandai's lower plate would be angled back from its rear edge, pulling the rear "up", so to speak, it would create a sharper nose that would be very noticeable as the camo wraps around it, as would the increased distance of the repositionned hull mg to the front edge compared to the apparent short distance on the Tamiya, which is again more Jagdtiger-like. In actual plate lenght, there is little difference, but the 2.6 inches further from the edge hull mg COMBINED with the more sharply undercut lower plate create a much more spade-like appearance that MIGHT make the Bandai a worthwhile "risk".

If not, contact Garfield if you have a Bandai King Tiger to spare, I would be interested as I call him regularly...

Gaston.

**** you lil bitch, ill kill u and, ur famnilly

Hi Gaston -

You have a nasty echo when you post and it says it's coming from your IP address. Methinks you are being hacked.

Malcolm

I have looked at quite a few photos and I have to add the following observations;

1-I was mislead by some photos and it now appears the Dragon 1/35th scale Jagdtiger is probably fine, better in fact than my own 1/48th scale example, at least where the rear deck is concerned!(I had to shave mine a sliver front and back to make it fit.)

2 The King Tiger cannot catch a break, and neither the Battalion bits resin turret or the Tamiya Porshe turret can provide an alternative. It would in fact be harder to change the front roof angle of the Tamiya Porshe turret which suffers from the exact same lack of slope as the henshel...

So my advice for a more "plausible" King Tiger is;

1-Cut and lenghten lower front plate of Bandai hull to increase its lenght to a scale 34 inches.(From a scale 25" or so!)This will sharpen the hull leading edge to a much better appearance, but you might have to "underscale" it a bit if it gets too sharp...The glacis is 53 inches which is quite good compared to the actual 51,6.

2-Relocate the hull mg. (Possibly replacing it with the Tamiya part.)

3-Replace tracks and possibly wheels with Tamiya parts.

4-Use Tamiya Henshel turret. Lower the front roof plate of the Tamiya Henshel turret at the front only. The rear roof plate could be left alone or slightly "flattened" out with a sliver of putty, raising its rear edge...

5-Find a slightly larger muzzle brake for Tamiya's gun, if it looks suspect to you.

I would be curious to see someone take this challenge on. It is a lot easier than a Jagdtiger, that's for sure!

Gaston.

**** youuuu

I think we have a little security problem here.....

Anyway, I still reckon it would be FAR easier to start from scratch!! Why the obsession with trying to sort out someone elses hash, when cutting all the plates yourself, to your own dimensions, would be so much more sensible!!

Tim



www.fighting48th.com

What the heck is that all about? I don't think that is Gaston. Must be some joker since I notice Gaston is not logged in. Wierdos abound in cyberspace!

I can confirm that is not me. Strange. It must be that I left the page on at the internet cafe that I left in a hurry. It was pretty late so that explains it... Sorry and I won't forget again.

You have a manufacturer's perspective, Tim, as just getting the angles symmetrical would require some sort of home made guide that would be an ordeal in itself.I had a hard time just getting my Jagdtiger's sponsoon outer edge symmetrical and even then had to resort to a mud finish because this line would wobble a little under some angles. True, this was in some part due to the mating of two tapering upper hulls, so a single piece for the whole side plates might be a good idear.(But a scary one!)

I just went to what seemed to me the path of least resistance...The only major flaw I failed to correct is the trimming of the rear of the deck plate caused by the unanticipated stretch of the superstructure (revealed when I tried to fit three rows of spare tracks!)This missing 2mm will be hidden by two riding troops and their gear plus some tarps on the rear edge...

I have to admit there are contradictory profile photos as to whether my superstructure/front hull deck are too long or the Dragon's kit's are too short.
The squarer angle photo in Panzer in the gunsigths vol.2 is with mine but I have to concede when the number of available photos is small there is sometimes room for doubt...I could not have assembled the Bandai and Tamiya parts any other way or the superstructure would not fit or the hull hatches would not open...

Even though it was much harder than expected, I still can't think of a better or easier way to use the slightly up-nosed Tamiya hull...Other than building something else! It WOULD be fascinating to see a full scratch-build though...

Gaston.