# Trumpeter 1/16 Scale King Tiger



## SfanGoch (May 28, 2011)

I bought this kit back in 2009. It's impressive; but there are a lot of areas which require reworking due to accuracy issues.

*Metal Work in Progress* 


It's been almost seven months since I started scratch building the turret basket floor area, for my Trumpeter 1/16 KT, out of brass. Well, it still isn't completely finshed. Almost; but, not quite. 

Anyway, here are some pictures of the gunner's position. Everything, with the exception of the seat, backrest pad and manual traverse assembly, is constructed from brass and copper. The linkages for the hand operated hydraulic traverse mechanism are constructed from 1/32" brass tubing soldered to the heads of 1,2mm brass hex bolts. All of the parts were made using hand tools and a standard 20/40 watt soldering iron. I custom ground the tips to suit my particular requirements. Here are some pics: 










To make a comparison, the seat stand on the right is built with the plastic kit parts. The scratchbuilt assembly contains 28 metal parts. The backrest support tube was a real pain to make. Lots of compound bends to replicate accurately.



















Overhead. I didn't feel like waiting for the brass tradplate to make a new floor pedal; so, using heavy duty aluminum foil, I made an imprint of the kit floor panels and used gap filling CA to attach it to the pedal. Cheap and somewhat effective contingency, no?










The hand operated hydraulic traverse mechanism in neutral 











View of the linkage assembly 










Backrest swiveled up. Ignore the sloppy paint job on the backrest. It is a work in progress. I did mention that, right? 










Underside. The foot traverse even has the the spring assembly installed per the real McCoy. 


After all the work on the turret basket and gun carriage, everything else will be a piece of cake. 


Any comments (good, bad or indifferent) are welcome. So, let'em rip!


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## btbrush (Sep 20, 2010)

That is some beautiful work. Like you went straight off the blueprints. Can't wait to see more.


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## walsing (Aug 22, 2010)

Amazing work! Beautiful!


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## surfsup (Apr 19, 2009)

Ditto. Lovely work so far. Looking forward to seeing some more.....Cheers Mark


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## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

Great stuff!
Don't know if you're aware but AFV Modeller magazine in the UK have been running a series of articles on upgrading this kit and have also produced some resin sets.

Resin upgrades...
http://shop.afvmodeller.com/customer/home.php?cat=387

They also have downloadable PDF copies of the articles (for a fee) which appeared from Issue 45 onwards.....
http://shop.afvmodeller.com/customer/home.php?cat=263

The level of detail the guy is adding is unbelieveable but then again so is yours.


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## SfanGoch (May 28, 2011)

I'm a member of the discussion board. Anyway, thanks for the info.


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

I am in awe!  I'm speechless.

I'm just happy that I can buy some spare and separate 1/16 Tamiya parts for my R/C Tiger tank detail upgrades. 

Keep us informed! Looking very good! :thumbsup:


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Um ... wow!


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## ochronosis (Dec 29, 2005)

Looking good so far SfanGoch, can't wait to see the finished kit.

Simon


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