Did I read that right "Hand painted"? While the paint job would have benefitted from being airbrushed (and not by much) I find it incredible you produced that finish by hand! Excellent work.

Thank you Sir!

I've been practicing my technique for years. First on smaller scales and then on 1/35. I'm still working on my Panther and have been for a couple of years now, on and off again. There is much more detail put into the paint on it than this little guy including using textures appropriately. Dirt, rust, chips and such.

I will rarely have a can of air for my brush and that's so inconsistent that it doesn't make it worth the trouble to use it. So I just hand paint things.

Lately I've been focusing more on color transitions, fading, modulation, and streaking. So thank you for the compliment. I've been working hard to get such results.  :)

Very nice. Clean build,they don't all have to have rust and mud all over.great job

The Rust is on the exhaust and the mud is in the tracks.  :)  But seriously this is a pretty clean tank, unless you were to see the underside. I've got mud all over down there.

That's really a nice paint job. Honestly, I couldn't help thinking that you'd be a whiz with an airbrush if you could just get youself a small compressor and end your air supply woes!

I haven't seen a KT with a mostly green-red finish before. Nice to see something different!. Also, lots of the BoB KT's didin't have zimmerit, so you're in the ballpark!

Fantastic job on tank and the 1/48 figure is really outstanding.

Great job all round! 

Had the scale not been revealed in the title, I'd have assumed it was 1/35. 

Though it's true Tiger II's continued to leave factories after zimmerit application ended, all Porsche type should have it as their production run ended in mid June 1944, while zimmerit was stopped in early September 1944.  Only exception is a few of the early prototypes.

regards,

Jack

Brush painted?!? Wow, I can't get results that smooth with my airbrush! Kudos sir, great job all 'round!

Wow. Thank you all for the kind comments.  :D

jgeratic has the truth of it though. It should have zimmerit and I should have done a lot more with this kit, but until I opened the box I didn't expect much. There is so much I could have done with this kit that I didn't because I enjoyed just building it so much.

And thank you for the kudos on my painting skills! I've just been doing it by hand for so long it comes easy to me now. What little time I've gotten from my AB has been nice though. I will be saving up for a compressor eventually. It's at the top of my list.

Figures however, were my worst and most dreaded of things to paint for most of my life until recently. I realized they are no different from anything else. Now they are my favorite part and my specialty.  :)

This looks super! Like you, I also use brushes only so I have a question: how did you achieve that soft transition/borders between colors? That is one thing I always struggle with.

Many thanks for sharing.

Cheers...

Its taken me a loooonnng time to get it "mostly" right, but a mix of dry brushing and stippling. The trick is to keep your paints thin for the blending. You need to keep the paint thin enough to almost be translucent, but not so thin that they won't cover over the bordering colors.

But to say that's all you have to do would be setting you up for failure.

The blending process actually takes more than one application, and it takes a ton of patience to get the results. After you get some slightly rough blends from stippling the colors they need to be further blended by dry brushing to get the colors to start blending over each other like a transition you would get from an AB.

Its not complicated. It just takes patience and time.

After you get that far the blending is further established by using some color modulation and weathering effects. Making the paint look a little sun faded or bleached by adding a little white to your paint mix will help a little also. Filters can change a shade so subtly that you can't even tell they were altered, but they also help blend the overall scheme.

IMO the best effects are those that don't look obvious or forced. If you can't see the modulation on my model then I did it 100% right. It should just look like the light is falling on it naturally and you shouldn't see the effects at all.  :)

If you need any further clarification, just ask.  :)

Exceptional workmanship Mike 

Thank You.  :)

MB. this old T C does good to spay'em w/OD green #2. I stand amazed at the skill & craftsmanship I see in your's & all others. I salute you & sll others here.      73   dt

Even though it lacks the necessary zimmerit for a Porsche-turret KT, the hand-painted finish more then makes up for it. My only pet-peeve is the lack of engine screens which I feel is important. That's just how I feel and is no reflection on your final choice of execution.

Very nice work on the camo,really like the 1/48,got me started in armor 9 years ago.

Hard Stripe, thank you very much! This was really the first completed build I'd done in over 10 years.

Tigerman, coming from such a renowned Modeller such as yourself, Thank you very much! The kit was completely OOB except for the TC. I didn't know about the zim when I started the build and did my research after it was completed. A mistake I've remedied for the most part lol.

Tojo, thank you sir. O.D. is a mighty fine color and one of my favorites.  :D

That is a beauty indeed! I would never have guessed that you hand brushed and not air brushed this build- beautiful camo job! These Tamiya 1/48 armor kits are real gems. But you must not have looked too far back for another build as I did build a 1/48 Panther G of theirs late last year ;)

If only they had started their 1/48 line in the late 80s and expanded it to include postwar & modern armor...

That's a nice looking Tiger there Mike, certainly hard to believe its hand bruised. We do have these 48th Tamiya kits pop up now and again, they do look nice kits.

stikpusher

If only they had started their 1/48 line in the late 80s and expanded it to include postwar & modern armor...

Yeah, I only have two real gripes about the Tamiya 1/48 Armor line. One, as I already said, is the selection. There is a whole market of Cold War era and Current vehicles almost completely ignored in 1/48. and Two, the cost- much of their 1/48 line costs just as much as their 1/35 kits. But the kits are very very nice.

Much respect to you gentlemen. Much respect. Thank you.

I agree. I had a chance to pick up a KV-1 or KV-2 that I passed on and now regret having done so. I love the scale and the detail is pretty dang good right out of the box. I also wish they were cheaper and an expanded selection. I just wish the Porsche turret wasn't out of production. I'd love to have another shot at it now that I've learned some new tricks and ideas.

Keep modelling gentlemen.  :)

Model on Wayne

Model on Garth

M. Brindos

Much respect to you gentlemen. Much respect. Thank you.

I agree. I had a chance to pick up a KV-1 or KV-2 that I passed on and now regret having done so. I love the scale and the detail is pretty dang good right out of the box. I also wish they were cheaper and an expanded selection. I just wish the Porsche turret wasn't out of production. I'd love to have another shot at it now that I've learned some new tricks and ideas.

Keep modelling gentlemen.  :)

Appreciate it for what you've done. My biggest mistake is building for accuracy instead of fun.

That's quite stunning for a 1/48th scale kit. Very nicely done.

BTW: I just saw a listing on Amazon, asking $79.95 for this kit. Yikes!

Yeah that doesn't surprise me. It is an out of production kit.

Understood Tigerman. My builds are usually not accurate these days. I had a hard time finishing kits in my past because I didn't have the ability to replicate things, or just didn't have the money for AM parts to finish them accurately.

I decided I really like finishing these things more than I care for complete accuracy. Except for that M-103 build. That was on commission and had to be accurate. There wasn't a lot of creativity that went into it besides the paint job. Funny how a simple green paint scheme could end up being so elaborate lol.