Fujimi 1/76 Jagdtiger

Whilst at the MAFVA Nationals in July and fired by the success my dismembered Tiger II model had in the competitions, I purchased an old Fujimi Jagdtiger kit as a future project.

I can remember this kit being reviewed in Military Modelling as a kid, and the (then) excitement it caused as it had a “Full interior”!

The kit with the ammo racks still in place. There were a lot of "Sink" holes in the outer surface - hence the filler. I eventually decided to dispense with them and sawed them off.

I now now that the original moulds belonged to Nitto and the model was released in the early 1970’s. Over the years it has been reboxed several times and “upgraded” with various extras like cast white metal spare track links and link-and-length injection moulded track to replace the vinyl offerings.

The start of the simple fuel tank build

My kit had the latter but not the former and was reduced from £9.99 to £8 from a visiting trader.

Now it’s a long time since I built anything other than a fast build, wargaming type kit and this one presents a few challenges!

The radiator fans simulated here by the addition of a sequin

Kits from the 1970’s were very different to what we get today. The fit of parts was by-and-large pretty good. The moulding was, again, pretty good with hardly any flash. However, the instructions were not the best. Nor was the location of parts. Some of the bigger issues were -

• There were a lot of "Sink" holes and ejector pin marks
• It not being clear that the link-and-length tracks were “Handed” so would only fit on one side or the other.
• There being probably 1 (or maybe 2) too few links each side to properly fit around the running gear
• Many of the smaller parts had location pins moulded on, but no corresponding holes in the hull to locate them.
• Biggest of all, the rudimentary interior detail was far from complete and was also inaccurate.

However, I persevered and the model itself build into an overall impressive AFV. I didn't take enough pictures though. Most of the pictures are from the finishing stages, so I apologise.

Addition of some left-over 88mm round from the 1/56 Tiger II

As there was just an engine block for the rear, I scratch built the partitions and fuel tanks etc. so I could display the hull with the upper armour separated. I also choose to remove the ammunition racks that came moulded to the lower hull sides as they would block the view if the interior. At this point I realized that at best, I would only be able to present an impression of what the interior should look like, so I added some surplus 1/56 88mm rounds left over from the Rubicon Tiger II to simulate the Jagdtiger’s ammo storage. Not strictly correct as they were single piece round whereas the real thing should be two pieces. However, they look the part.

The Gunner’s seat was missing, but easily recreated using spare parts from one of the sprues that clearly was intended for both the Jagdtiger and Tiger II. Also missing was the drive shaft running to the front differentials. This was easily replaced with a length of sprue.

Additional crew seats and drive shaft added to the hull floor

The kit came with two basic standing crew figures. One I reconfigured into a seated position to act as gunner. The other, the commander, is stood on his seat as if looking out of his cupola.

The driver, co-driver and loader were cast metal figures I found at the show from Wee Friends (The manufacturing side of Friendship Models). This consisted of a set of two full German tank crew figures (one standing, one seated) and a half figure. All had one separate arm to be attached. Not the finest of sculpts, but serviceable and as if by magic, the seated and half figures fitted the driver & co-driver’s positions perfectly!! The other figure would stand in the fighting compartment as the loader – I need to find another figure as I’ve just found out the real crew was 6!!

The upper hull was really well detailed. Better than many 1/56^th examples! All the stowage was separately moulded and all the hatches could be open or closed.

I decided to give the model an Ambush Scheme finish so started by spraying it overall in Dunkelgelb. This was shaded with a coat of brown wash followed by a heavy dry-brush of Dunkelgelb + White.

When dry this was over-sprayed with Olivegrun and Rotbrun patches. Then the darker patches received Dunkelgelb dots and the Dunkelgelb areas, Olivegrun & Rotbrun dots.

The decals were applied before, the shadows were picked out using Dark Tone wash. Then, when dry, everything was dry brushed with Iraqi Sand before a final matt varnish.

The extreme left-hand figure was reconfigured into a seated pose to act as the gunner.

The interior was mostly painted white with shading from Dark Tone Wash. The figures were painted using GW Contrast paints.

The display base was to be similar to that used on my Tiger II. A simple two-layer design was drawn up in 3D Builder and printed out on my printer. This was assembled with super glue and then sprayed gloss black before adding the ground texture. The name plate was printed out and laminated before being added with double-sided tape.

So, there you go. A troublesome little model, but one that, I think, has built into a really nice representation of the real thing. If I’ve learnt anything it is that older kits can still deliver good, finished models, but don’t expect them to go together as easily as something manufactured today!