Kingtiger w/ Zimmerit (Porsche Turret)

Manufacturer: Jadar-Model ARMO (Kit AR72519)

by Faustnik

What you Get:

• 9 Parts moulded in yellow Resin of good Quality
• Packed in a cardboard box.
• No decals, assembly instructions or painting information

Evaluation:

My first impression, on this model, was very good as for the price of a simple resin conversion you receive:

• A Wegmann/Krupp turret, already with Zimmerit, as all operational versions should have;

• The monobloc barrel - for a later version you should use a two piece one, perhaps using the kits original (awful) gun, or a new one in turned aluminium (available separately from ARMO);

• Upper and lower hull parts closely moulded around the ESCI/Italeri Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf. B, with Zimmerit already engraved (and very well done I must say).

As a complement you also receive four links of extra tracks, corrected, as compared with the ones on the original model. These should be only used on turret hangars of very late models with these turrets.

For your part you must get a Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf. B, not a problem as the ESCI model has been re-released by Italeri. For my part I still have a couple of Jagdtigers from ESCI, that were just crying for this job.

As I started to prepare the parts for the picture, I noticed some problems, like small air bubbles/holes on the hull, one of them big, with almost 3 millimetres diameter, on the front plate, just above the frontal mudguards. The barrel is little warped, even with the casting block just there to prevent this. The turret, while at scale, has some inaccuracies, particularly on the correct position of several items on the turret roof, like the commander's cupola (to much on the right side), Nahverteidigungswaffe, to much to the rear and so on.

The castings, are of very good quality, and several reinforcing blocks/ribs, were cast in some parts to prevent their warping, a very good idea from Armo, but that in the case of the barrel simply didn't work entirely. As usual you must remove the casting blocks from the pieces, not a problem with the model, but even so use some care, a face mask, and handle those scalpels with care.

Assembling the model will take no problems, I hope. On the original model, you must correct some of their inaccuracies, particular those wheels, moulded in a block when they should be a pair. For these just engrave a deep line, all around their diameter, to simulate it. For further improving, just refer to a reliable bibliography, like New Vanguard 1, Kingtiger Heavy Tanks, by Jentz and Doyle, and Panzer Tracts nº 6, by the same team, just to refer the more affordable ones.

As final evaluation, I have a couple of problems with this model, one is due to the detail in the turret and another the warping in the barrel. For the later, I wonder why ARMO didn't go for a turned aluminium barrel, just giving a resin mantlet and the muzzle brake, as is common with 1/35. The dimensions of this model must permit it, and the price increase will easily justify the quality.

For positive points I must stress, that for the price of a fret of PE Zimmerit, you get a entirely new model, already with Zimmerit (if I remember ModelTrans also offers this conversion but without the Zimmerit…). [Note from Doug: the turret and gun in this set look identical to the Modell Trans set, but with added zimmerit.]

If you can live with the problems already stated, and if you wait eagerly for a "Porsche" Kingtiger I gladly recommend this model.

jose_ventura@portugalmail.pt