FL King Tiger: Initial Review (1 Viewer)

[Hunter Rose]

Htet requested my review in the other thread so here it is:

My FL Konigstiger arrived and overall I am very happy with them. Been waiting for these for awhile now. Initial impressions:

- Very nicely detailed. Excellent representation of a King Tiger. FL does not always get enough credit for the detail on their tanks I think. Everything is correctly scaled and all the little details like barrel thickness, hatches, hatch handles, cupola vision ports etc. are correctly proportioned for 1/30.

- the hull MG is correct now and has the optic sight added that was missing on the Tiger and Panther. FL does listen! I get that these type of details are lost on most collectors, but these are the things that set FL apart IMO.

- for the rivet count, the only details FL missed were the small semi-circular cutouts on bottom of the turret sides and the small track pin securing tab in the middle of the track hanger hooks on the turret sides.

- love those historically accurate unit symbols/turret numbers! B) #221 was one of the Tigers that made it to Le Gleize with Kampfgruppe Peiper and fought until the end, so it was not one of the tanks that just broke down or was immediately knocked out without ever firing a shot.

- much has been made of the green. It's the same shade as the stock FL Panther. It falls within the spectrum of Olivgrun and represents thinly sprayed on camo IMO. There is modulation in the color and some patches are darker than others. The darker patches are extremely close to LifeColor Olivgrun which is identical to the green on JJD's Jagdpanther that everyone seemed to like.

Pics below show a JJD schurzen panel and a FL Panther that I've been tinkering with and repainted with LifeColor Olivgrun. Let's you can see the difference in the shades of green (not a lot in reality).

- extra track links are metal for those with a fetish for metal tracks and hang well on the turret sides. I like the ability to change the appearance of the model

- the camo and weathering treatment looks good overall for a factory job. The rust streaks on the top of the turret are much too large/uniform; same for the large uniform streaks on the turret sides

- camo is a decent rendering of soft edge for a King Tiger. Changes I would have made would have been to add a brown patch to the front hull and have used brown for the countershading on the top of the barrel as that's more historically accurate.

Overall very pleased with it. Best 1/30 King Tiger in the hobby so far hands down. Nice model and definitely one of the better factory tanks that have been released. It looks like a shrunken down Konigstiger in pics and comes across as very realistic.

But enough what I think, now for the pics:

 

[Panzer ace]

Hunter:

Thanks for the pics and thorough review. I appreciate and value your opinion.

I am really looking forward to getting mine.

-Jason

 

[joesgis]

Steve,

Thanks for the review, photos, and for your time. She sure is a beauty!

Joe

 

[katana]

Great review and excellent photos. I agree with your comment regarding more brown on the barrel and glacis. The Oliv Grun on the barrel and mantlet is definitly brighter/thinner than on the turret and hull. I really like the repaint of the Panther G. the colors and pattern are superb. You should post a photo with your repainted K&C BBG 016 next to the FL KT. The size comparison would be very interesting and it would demonstrate the effect Zimmerit has on paint color.

Htet requested my review in the other thread so here it is:

My FL Konigstiger arrived and overall I am very happy with them. Been waiting for these for awhile now. Initial impressions:

- Very nicely detailed. Excellent representation of a King Tiger. FL does not always get enough credit for the detail on their tanks I think. Everything is correctly scaled and all the little details like barrel thickness, hatches, hatch handles, cupola vision ports etc. are correctly proportioned for 1/30.

- the hull MG is correct now and has the optic sight added that was missing on the Tiger and Panther. FL does listen! I get that these type of details are lost on most collectors, but these are the things that set FL apart IMO.

- for the rivet count, the only details FL missed were the small semi-circular cutouts on bottom of the turret sides and the small track pin securing tab in the middle of the track hanger hooks on the turret sides.

- love those historically accurate unit symbols/turret numbers! B) #221 was one of the Tigers that made it to Le Gleize with Kampfgruppe Peiper and fought until the end, so it was not one of the tanks that just broke down or was immediately knocked out without ever firing a shot.

- much has been made of the green. It's the same shade as the stock FL Panther. It falls within the spectrum of Olivgrun and represents thinly sprayed on camo IMO. There is modulation in the color and some patches are darker than others. The darker patches are extremely close to LifeColor Olivgrun which is identical to the green on JJD's Jagdpanther that everyone seemed to like.

Pics below show a JJD schurzen panel and a FL Panther that I've been tinkering with and repainted with LifeColor Olivgrun. Let's you can see the difference in the shades of green (not a lot in reality).

- extra track links are metal for those with a fetish for metal tracks and hang well on the turret sides. I like the ability to change the appearance of the model

- the camo and weathering treatment looks good overall for a factory job. The rust streaks on the top of the turret are much too large/uniform; same for the large uniform streaks on the turret sides

- camo is a decent rendering of soft edge for a King Tiger. Changes I would have made would have been to add a brown patch to the front hull and have used brown for the countershading on the top of the barrel as that's more historically accurate.

Overall very pleased with it. Best 1/30 King Tiger in the hobby so far hands down. Nice model and definitely one of the better factory tanks that have been released. It looks like a shrunken down Konigstiger in pics and comes across as very realistic.

But enough what I think, now for the pics:

 

[tdubel]

Honestly speaking that is one helluva review from someone who took the time to look over a lot of details. Much appreciated,
Thanks
Tom

 

[egonzinc]

Thanks for the thorough review. Interesting what you have done with the FL Panther. Will give it some though not sure if I can build up my courage to do it!

 

[bradleyl30]

I guess it is OK...

I am constantly refreshing the USPS site as my delivery date changed from Monday to today!

 

[katana]

The Figarti Panther G is great for repaints and far less expensive. Preserve the FL as an investment in pristine condition.

Thanks for the thorough review. Interesting what you have done with the FL Panther. Will give it some though not sure if I can build up my courage to do it!

 

[Hunter Rose]

Honestly speaking that is one helluva review from someone who took the time to look over a lot of details. Much appreciated,
Thanks
Tom

Thanks Tom.

I enjoy doing it and the discussions it always opens up almost as much as I enjoying playing with the tanks and figures!

 

[Hunter Rose]

Thanks for the thorough review. Interesting what you have done with the FL Panther. Will give it some though not sure if I can build up my courage to do it!

First time is the hardest! :salute::

It's a little nerve wracking the first time you attempt to improve one of these tanks, but once you get over that, it's a ton of fun. Most basic weathering techniques are pretty simple, and with a little practice it's pretty easy to get good results. It helps to start with cheaper tanks! I started with just basic washes/weathering on Thomas Gunn vehicles and the Figure 007 Tiger that was $165. Now I'm to the point where I feel comfortable doing some weathering, mods, and paint modification.

The fun is you get a custom tank and exactly what you personally want. Here's a FL Tiger I modified into a s.Pz.Abt. 507 tank. Turned out pretty good.

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[katana]

Nice repaint! The colors are far more vivid than the understated Figarti colors. Can you post a photo of your BBG-016? You did an excellent job with the colors on that repaint IMO.

 

[Lo1863]

Thank you for the fantastic review, Hunter! Even though I can't afford to get one of these at the moment it's nice to be able to admire your pictures of it. I hope you and others who are lucky enough to get the King Tiger enjoy it for many years to come.

 

[Htet]

Thanks Hunter for taking your time for the review. Appreciate it very much :salute:::salute:::salute::

 

[egonzinc]

It took me about 2 minutes to give it a go.
I did not repaint, I just went iver the green areas with the green color (Tamiya) I use on my 1/6 builds.
Basically wanted to tone down the brightness of the stock green color.
Then drybrushed and weathered and blended a bit, and I'm very happy how it turned out. Thanks for the inspuration! :salute::

 

[Hunter Rose]

It took me about 2 minutes to give it a go.
I did not repaint, I just went iver the green areas with the green color (Tamiya) I use on my 1/6 builds.
Basically wanted to tone down the brightness of the stock green color.
Then drybrushed and weathered and blended a bit, and I'm very happy how it turned out. Thanks for the inspuration! :salute::

Post some pics, I'd like to see how it turned out.

That's pretty much all I did, used thinned LifeColor paints, almost like a wash, to even out the camo and get it to look how I wanted. Some of the weathering and streaking still shows through, so to me it has a decent effect of a newish factory tank.