Fixing the Eagle Design King Tiger (Replacing Cannon and Modifying Mudguards) (1 Viewer)

[Hunter Rose]

I think the Eagle Design King Tiger is a bit lacking in its stock form. However, with a little work, I think it can be brought to a very acceptable level and fix what I dislike about it.

My two main complaints with the ED King Tiger are:

1. the stock barrel looks way too thick and out of proportion

2. the mudguards look atrocious when viewed from the front


I started with the barrel. The extra grey barrel from the JJD Jagdpanther will serve as the donor barrel. I think it is appropriately sized for a 1/30 King TIger. This mod was relatively straightforward and I had no issues, despite it being my first time doing something like this.

Steps were:

- break off rear portion of two-piece barrel, so only the gun mantlet remains
- file down the front of the mantlet
- drill and appropriately sized hole for the JJD barrel to fit in

Here's some progress shots. It turned out better than expected. I almost don't even need to touch up the paint. I was going to glue in the barrel but the drill hole was so perfect it doesn't seem to need it.

 

[Hunter Rose]

Next was assembling the barrel assembly to turret. The stock barrel assembly is hinged with a relatively small plastic protrusion. It snapped when I was breaking off the rear portion of the original barrel, necessitating gluing the barrel assembly. I loose the ability to elevate the barrel, but that's not a huge deal to me. Pretty straightforward using my standard JB Weld 4200 psi epoxy method.

Here's the assembled turret:

 

[Hunter Rose]

Next came the mudguards. They look atrocious from the front. The shape is wrong and they are way too thick and hang too far off the sides. The same issue as the TCS King Tigers. Plan was to remove the front outer sections and some other random sections to give it the look veteran King TIger.

As noted in the other thread, when I tried to pry off the mudguards I discovered the entire side section including the hull is one molded piece. Unfortunately, it snapped part of the hull. I left the other side attached.

Removing the mudguards also turned out to be very straightforward. All that was needed was a hobby saw. Starting very slowly and being extremely careful led to the sections coming away cleanly. It was no issue sawing off the side that was still attached.

This turned out very well IMO. It opened up the tracks to be seen and eliminated the thing I hated most about this tank.

Looks a million times better when viewed from the front.

 

[katana]

Great fun Hunter! Darken the Lime Green a bit and add some Dunkel Gleb dots and you will have a Hinterhalt-Tarnung King Tiger. I used Tamiya Acrylic paint on mine and it worked well. XF-60 Dark Yellow, XF-65 Olive and XF-64 Red Brown will work well out of the bottle.

I look forward to seeing your finished piece.

 

[Hunter Rose]

I'm going to leave the camo pattern as-is.

Work still to do:

- remove turret numbers and remark the tank (still deciding which unit this will be)
- repaint tracks
- prime/repaint exposed white plastic of mudguard sections
- wash the green camo with LifeColor Olivgrun
- weather where needed to blend everything together

Here's some shots of the tank together.

 

[Vezzolf]

Well Done Steve....like it alot.... :salute:::salute:::salute::.....MUCH IMPROVED.....looking forward to you finished product.

 

[katana]

Hunter I think using 1/2 inch Aluminum Angle for the mud guards would be better; as the material is quite thin and its available at any hardware store.

Are you going to paint the new barrel?

 

[Hunter Rose]

Hunter I think using 1/2 inch Aluminum Angle for the mud guards would be better; as the material is quite thin and its available at any hardware store.

Are you going to paint the new barrel?

Gonna leave the barrel grey, as I like grey replacement barrels. Plenty of the early issued King Tigers came from the factory with grey barrels as well.

Aluminum would likely be better if I was going to scratch build replacement mudguards, but that's too much effort for me. Once the mudguards and tracks get painted, it should blend in nicely and won't be something I notice.

The thick individual mudguards on the K&C Bulge King Tiger never bothered me.