Opinions on a Tiger in progress please

that looks like a Tiger that lives in the mud to me lol... great work so far.. I just read a article not long ago about giving figures a cold eastern front look i think it was in a issue of MIM he hand brushed it all with oil paints to better blend everything in but it gave a real cold life like look

Just my one cent worth.  As long as it is not 30 below. The crews would still strip down while loading ammo.  Moving those heavy shells around, like your sence of loading the tiger, is alot of work.  The crews would strip down to prevent hypothermia.  The wouldn't want to get there heavy closes wet with sweat.  That would be the killer for anyone.

That and like everyone before your are doing great.  Little things would push you build to even better.

Kim

well i know i said pics in the morning, but Bob got me thinkin (darn you and thank you at the same time Bob lol) he said "...you are more likely painting a sloppy wet road and so he needs to dig into it. And wear it all over." and that last part really caught my attention. i have a '64 Chevy impala demo derby car and a '69 Charger dirt track race car that i built(you can see them in the background of some of the original pics), and, being that they run in dirt, they are wearing it all over...... and that got me thinkin: if i can pack "mud" and "clay" all over them in a fairly heavy and generous matter for a car that sees the dirt only for minutes at a time, why do i give the same level of mud and clay to a vehicle 50+ times their size that LIVES in the mud? so....... i decided if this Tiger is going to wear the mud, he is going to wear the finest mud coat there is to find. i brewed up my top-secret recipe for fresh mud(soon to be divulged) and  got to work.

I got out some dust bowl brown, grimy grey, black pigment powders, and mixed them in a jar (on the right) with some tamiya smoke and a little water and shook it like mad... the result was a jar of rich dark mud.

i decided to pack the tracks with mud, after looking at some reference pics, i noticed that in many cases, the only things you could see in the tracks were the very ends of the cleats.....

above is before.....

and here is after. i didnt want to completely pack the gaps with mud... the crew using them as steps would squish some out one would think.

being that this in the academy model with a full interior i didnt glue down the hull panels...lucky me:) this helps show the difference in "before and after"......

...as does this. the rest of the pics are what i did to finish up the side of the tank... i will hit the other side tomorrow. i took a few in different light to show how dark the mud really was... still a little darker in reality than the pics show.

i will revisit it tomorrow... the stuff on the front of the hull looks brushed on IMO.... unless u guys think it looks alright. look a little better now that i got a suit tailored to this Tiger?  well look at that, pics are technically up "in the morning" now lol. gnite fellas 

Regards, Logan

Nice work friend!

Regads!

Rodolfo

Thanks fellas! I hav done a little today to rectify the mud problem, first be "wetting" it with some Tamiya X-19 Smoke(pics in the morning) and it does a SUPER job of creating that wet mud over dry mud look.

Bob, since my crew figures are dressed for a little warmer temp, I was aiming for first snow or beginning of the thaw for a time frame, so the mud would be much squishier... Something I didn't take into account lol I may replace the futures with some in winter clothing.

Ben, I don't have an airbrush, but I'm experimenting with a way to use your method: ya know those really thin coffee straws? Well when u blow through them onto a brush with paint etc on it, the effect is pretty close to the same....

Hey guys, if I were to just do the remainder of this build as a WIP on here would you follow along? Just don't wanna be posting stuff for just myself to read lol

Thanks a bunch for the feedback!

Regards, Logan

Hi buddy,

Looking very good!

The guys have you totally covered but one thing that did catch my eye was the application of the mud up front and on the rims of the outside roadwheel walls - it looks a bit brushed on and hand applied (obviously that's how it's been done but it doesn't look quite right).

When adding mud I use AK's Muddy Weathering Washes loaded onto an old brush and I'll take my airbrush and shoot quick shots of air through the bristles - this works brilliantly.

Mixes of Mud colour Pigments & Pigment Fixer again soaked into a smaller brush and lightly flicked with a finger or again airbrushed adds some nice variety.

I know it's nowhere near complete but when it's all in place these little touches will make a big difference.

Either way it's looking really good - top job

All the best,

Ben

First tank, first dio?  SUPER good start!

Folks have hit about everything - crew members, glossing the mud, getting mud up onto wheels and tank-sides, ammo boxes on the ground, etc., that I might have suggested - were I any good!

It looks like a proper muddy scene - EVERYTHING should get all sorts of dirty in that case.  Maybe crew up top would have had muddy boots and tracked the stuff around on the deck!

Tiger was a HEAVY kitty indeed.  Even with those big, wide tracks, he would be sunk down into that mud.  Yeah - I saw that you have said that he is out of place for the photos... but be convincing whenever you place him into his final position.  Unless you are trying to suggest hard, frozen mud - which could be the case in a winter scene (and which can be indicated by adding some gray frost and some snow to your path... and also making crew look, well, cold...), you are more likely painting a sloppy wet road and so he needs to dig into it. And wear it all over. 

But it's all pretty neat, and will look super when done!  Using Celluclay was something I tried way back in 1971 with my first 1/35 tank!  Your's does look a lot better.  I did learn eventually to apply thin layers so things didn't crack and develop fault-zones! 

Looking forward to seeing it complete!

Bob

WC - For your first dio / 35th scale it looks darn good!

Tojo good call on the rust, in the pics, the spare tracks are still bare plastic lol. they will have some rust and a lil bit of a whitewash that "didnt stick". the pics dont do the whitewash justice, it is quite a bit darjer than the pics show, but im still going to "wear" some more on the whitewash off in high traffic areas.

Very good job,more then I have ever attempted,I would only say to show some rust on the spare tracks on the turret,they look too fresh,and perhaps the whitewash looks a little too white,maybe an overall burnt umber wash to tone down the white.

Again,these are just some thoughts and food for thought,not things that are necessarily wrong.

i will have to give that a try reserve, i do something similar with pigments, but as you can imagine, thats not cheap lol.

So ya fooled us, or me anyway, thought all elements were in place here. As for cinnamon, simply put your paint in a mixing container of some sort and start sifting the cinnamon in. Mix it up until it's thick enough for you, and then slap it on. Very simple, no glue needed, works with enamels or acryllics. Use an old brush, this tends to be hard on them.

 

Regards,

Mark

Also, the tank was NOT sitting correctly when I took the pics, it nestles down nicely in the mud when it's in the right place..... And the dicappitated man DOES have a head that will be in place soon.

Thanks for the feedback guys!
Darson, I will give the groundwork some wet effects, I've found that slightly watered down elmers glue dries to a glossy finish, plus it's cheap and a lot easier to clean up than clear varnish lol

Mike, for the winter finish, I brushed on a coat of primer, then some tamiya panzer grey. The whitewash is a mixture of three colors: model master panzergrau, panzer interior buff, and flat white. All paints are acrylic, you will see why in a moment. The MM paints are a little more aggressive than tamiya, and I used thisto my advantage: the white and buff began to eat into and mixwith the dry tamiya panzer grey, making it seem like melting snow had eroded the white distemper to reveal a slight shade of grey/white. The snow is from woodland scenics, it came in a "winter effects" kit(comes with snow powder, glue, and stuff to make "ice") I must point outi didn't make the tree, I bought it at michaels, I just thickened the shrubbery and added the snow.

Reserve, no offense taken at all. I'm a big tiger buff, so I know about the crew and things like that, I have a resin commander on back order and the man by the barrel will have a friend to help him lol. I have ammo crates and tons of ammo, the paint on the crates was drying when I took the pics lol. I agree on the running gear though, I've been focusing a lot of work on the interior(this is the academy kit with the full interior..... Picked a doozy for a first 1/35 kit lol) just to get it out of the way, and it has needed a ton of modification to be close enough to accurate. I have never used cinnamon before, does it take paint well?

You've asked what I feel to be a serious question, therefore I feel it deserves a serious answer. First-if this is your first diorama, you've nothing to be ashamed of. The composition is great, nothing parallel to the base edges. Your groundwork is well done, the vehicle also. Really nice job on the tree. It's the little nitpicky things that you need to concentrate on as they are what makes a good job great.

You've modeled an earlier Tiger I, so Panzer grey with no zimmerit is fine. The tank is in mud, and you've carried this up on the sides of the hull as it should be, but the roadwheels and tracks are far too clean. You should texture the mud on the vehicle, especially that in between the track cleats. Some guys use plaster, I just mix varying amounts of ground cinnamon in the paint and slop it on. Makes nice for texture, be it thick or thin. The two guys loading ammo are just fine, but it might improve things to have a stack of ammo boxes on the ground, some open, some closed to give a sense that these guys are not simply handling KWK L/56 rounds for the excersise. The guy climbing up on the glacis might need a companion, either on the ground or on the vehicle, as interaction between figures is very important in a diorama. One more thing and I'll shut my head, a Tiger I had a crew of five and it may not be a bad idea to have all five members represented.

Sure hope I've not been offending, not my intention, as said you'e a really good start here. Also hope this helps.

 

Regards,

Mark

Hi Logan, your dio is looking great, getting a realistic winter finish is really hard and you've just about nailed it.

One thing I would definitely do is "wet" the muddy road and the lower part of the hull.  You can do this by applying any sort of gloss varnish and even leave some little pools as puddles.  You can wet the lower hull and tracks the same way as well as applying some dark brown/black mud to the lowest points on the vehicle.

Keep us posted on how it turns out.

Cheers

VERY COOL Kitty Logan yup they need help for sure

Clay

Looks awesome! Only issue I'm seeing is the guy by the barrel appears to be decapitated   I'm doing a T-34/85 in winter camo just out of curiosity how did you do your whitewash and what did you use for snow? I've never tried anything winter myself.