Rye Field announced a real treat for those who would like to show King Tiger's interior.
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/king-tiger-clear-version-from-rye-field
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/king-tiger-clear-version-from-rye-field
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Subscribing because I want to hear thoughts on clear models, or partially clear. Aircraft and Armor for sure, but could see Naval applications like Subs too.
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Yes, I wonder how good the transparent sections look having never seen one in the flesh so to speak. Clear parts generally can have a bit of a toy like look.
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Hmmm…
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Takom made a clear upper hull for their hetzer and it was clear as glass and had no knock out marks. No idea about this kit.
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Zoukei-Mura has released several of their kits – I know at least the Go-229 and Do-335A-0 and Do-335A-12 in 1/32 are done similar to this – with the ‘skin’ molded in clear plastic with a slightly frosted appearance to make them a bit translucent:
I have been unable to find them with a casual search, but there are photographs online of at least one kit where the builder has polished the skin pieces to make them fully transparent. In his “Old Man Blog”, the company president has commented on several of the issues connected with transparent parts – clear plastic is generally more fragile and crack more easily, you can easily see where glue was applied and any file work was done unless you take care to polish it out, and you can’t really repair any damage you do to a part and be able to hide the repair.
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A good example, but frankly I think the frosting kind of ruins the intent.
I have an oldish 1/32 Hellcat that has a clear cowling that also kind of misses the point, I mean the cockpit is more detailed than the engine right?
I’m really liking what I see in the box art of the KT. Would like to see one finished, up close.
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I always assumed most modelers would fully paint kits with these clear plastic parts. That’s what I do. I prefer cut aways, or exploded views, or just leaving part of the model unglued. I have a Rye Field M1A2 in the stash, and I’m pondering it now. The problem with exploded view is they are hard to store. With the cut away approach, you cut off detail. With the M1, I am considering magnets to hold the hull top down. I have to look at it first. Always thought it would be fun to put one of these together, then put it on a water jet cutter. Blast a cut right down the center. I bet it would work. You would loose a few parts, but you could patch things up afterward.
This tiger II looks great. I thought they were working on a Tiger I. I hope that wasnt a bad rumor.
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I think part of the reasoning behind it is to allow the builder to show off the internal structure if they choose, but I’ve only seen the one Go-229 build that had the skin polished smooth to fully show off the internal structure; all the rest of them either painted the exterior in normal (if hypothetical) Luftwaffe livery, used decals/masks to show the wood grain of bare plywood skin, or in a couple of builds cut away the skin to show the internal structure (with varying degrees of ‘replaceable sections’ to show the aircraft without the cutaways).
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