1:35 Tiger I Mudguards (tamiya)

The real subject

The Tiger I was a German heavy tank of the Second World War. Above the tracks it carried fenders of thin sheet, which were to protect the superstructure from mud and stones. It was precisely for that reason that in the field they were often bent, broken out or missing altogether, and in photographs the machine therefore almost never has its fenders in their original shape. For a model it is a rewarding area: it lies on the edge of the outline and the viewer looks at it from the side, that is, from the angle a tank is most often examined from.

What photo-etch can do

Photo-etched parts are of thin metal sheet, so a fender comes out in a thickness that cannot be achieved in an injection mold. The difference tells mainly on the free edge and on the small brackets, where a plastic part has to stay thickened. The set is, according to the name, cut for the Tamiya kit, so the parts seat into the places prepared. How many parts the package contains and in what order they go is described in the maker's instructions.

Building and painting tips

Separate the parts with a sharp blade on a hard surface and sand the remains of the fret tabs down. Make the bends in a bending tool or between two blades, always at once and along the whole length, or the edge will ripple. It is glued with cyanoacrylate glue applied on the tip of a wire, not straight from the bottle. Degrease the metal before painting and cover it with a primer suitable for metal, or the paint will flake off at the first handling. Sheet will take bending and breaking out, so wear can be suggested that a plastic part is not up to.

Who it is for

For modelers who build the Tiger I in 1:35 scale and want to replace the thick plastic fenders with metal. The kit, paints and glue are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.