Tamiya Tiger 1 with loads of bling.

Very cool work Bodge and nice to see you back posting again. Looking forward to the next and future installments!

Youve been a busy boy aswell havnt you Bill. I have seen your builds in the magazines along with Karls. Congrats on the publishings bud you havnt gone un noticed

Another tagged Tiger build in 2 weeks.
Looks like a solid start, I am looking forward to all the "bling"
Thank you for sharing

Svenne

Bored?  Hell no!  That PE zim looks like if fit really well.  Nice work on the distressed fenders. 

Looks great so far. I will follow this to the end. Please tell me about the loctite superglue. What are you useing it on and how well does it work.

Bob

Ah, one of my favorite all-time builds. The poor Tamiya kit has gotten left in the dust since the newer releases by Dragon. I thought by adding a few AM's, such as you're doing, would the needed spice that this kit needs.

Nope, won't be bored with this one, as I look forward to your weathering magic.

looks really great,I like those banged up fenders.

Cheers you guys, good to be back on here again. 

Bob the super glue is what i use for the Photo etch details and the metal zimm.

Thanks Andy, production for me has slowed down a good bit in recent months due to a variety of factors (all positive) but I'm starting to get back into the swing of things at least for now. Have to echo the others on the fenders, going to be a nice distinctive touch when it's all said and done for sure.

Ah man, this is just so distressin'......

       ...................... and in such a good way!

My nasty Sherman needs a mean ol' Tiger to beat up on it.....    

Lookin good Andy ,can you give a quick lowdown on the brass zim? Building the Tiger initial myself ,but its slowww going.

Good job.

Glad I saw this. I've got a Tiger waiting to get started and I have Eduards Zimm for it, this thread should help me when I get mine started. Please keep posting undates.

Andy - Nice to see you back.....that PE Zim is some real good looking stuff. The banked up fenders is a perfect touch.

Rounds Complete!!

Thanks for lookin guys, Detail that zimm is ok but has a very fine texture to it and very neat. Saying that a mate of mine also has a set for a tiger 1 from Eduard and his texture is a lot more random. A bit better than this one really. It is nice and thin and not too bad to put on. Make sure you rough up the back of it so as to give it a key to grip. I have used super glue to put mine on so i have to get it right first time. However i would recomend a type of super glue that gives you 10-20 seconds really. I have just gone with what i had to hand.Instructions are clear to follow and i will be using again so thumbs up. I allready have a set for a stug 111 and 1V so it cant be that bad mate.

Next installment for you.

Finnished fenders for other side, less damaged than the other ones.

Then made up those fiddly tool clasps , man i hate doing them, they are too small. I love the look of them though and if you only update a model kit with these then you bring it on a long way. I also made up the shovel from the PE part and some plastic rod for the handle.This along with other tool fixings.

The mesh for the engine grills went on next and after glued i ran a paint brush handle along them to sit them down in the grooves to give the impresion that they have been walked on and had things put on them. All the examples i have seen in real life are well imprinted to the cover and never have i seen a perfect flat mesh. This does look far more realistic than just glueing on a mesh and leaving it perfectly flat.

I made up some brackets to hold spare tracks on the hull front next from parts of cool clasps.

With the metal fruells put on the front this gave me the look i was after.

The drivers hatch next. This is a nicely molded kit part from Tamiya with nice details. This hatch i have fixed in the open position for a crew member later in the build.

Well thats where i am up to at the moment on  this one.

Hope you like it , Andy.

I agree with you Andy, the PE clasps are a great improvement. My being somewhat frugal and lazy, prefer PE engine grills as an absolute upgrade in most cases, primarily because they are so much more prominent then smaller pieced upgrades. Hey I admire other's work on the little details, but I'm more lazy then anything else.

Looks great Andy.  Settling the grill down looks geat.  It knid of stands out when it's not done.  Keep it up.  Makig me wbat to pull out my initial produiction Tiger.  Yes, I know, it's out of production.  But I got 2

Devil's always in the details Andy and you've added quite a bit with the tools makeover and other goodies. Keep the updates coming!

Welcome back Andy.

It's looking good and thanks for showing us how "to get bent"

Seriously this will be a nice feature to the build.

Thanks guys for the input.

This installment is i have bentup and shaped a piece of brass wire for the light plumbing

.

fixed the wheels in place.

Next i have started on the turret. this i am not going to go overboard on details inside as the hatches are going to have crew figures in them.

I have gone with the kit part for the gun and i have glued it together ,filled sanded and primed it until i cant see a join. See you can still use a plastic gun

I textured some cast pieces next with Mr surfacer 100 for added texture.

And last but not least on this build to date is i have got 90% through the turret zimm.

The only thing that i find wrong with the zimm is the turret has exactly the same texture as the hull which is not often the case as they were applied in separate factories. The turrets are usually slightly more crude than the hull in texture and slightly less refined in the pattern.

Well thats it you are up to date with this as it stands on Friday the 28 th

   That surface texture.......

If I can get back to the glue. Dumb question, what are you using it on. I was more intrested in how well it works. How long for it to set up. Any way nice work.

Bob

boy that is really looking good,and you are moving very quickly

Wow, looking impressive Andy. Keep it up man.

Graet progress and excellent up dating of this kit   Really like the pushed in engine grills, easy way of adding a bit more realism.  The texture looks great also.  Keep the up dates comeing, have been enjoying your build.

Looks fantastic. I love a nice AM-filled build. But I'm a bit leery of that PE zimm. I am looking forward to seeing how it looks painted up.

You and me both.

Any updates?

    Great looking Tiger Andy,really enjoy watching your builds progress.