I need PURE CRITICISM here please...(with 'the I'm listening' update pics)

Ausf,

SMUDGE it !


Make your whitewash around the numbers not so perfectly straight. Smudge the white onto the numbers alittle. Make it look like somebody washed off the excess by hand around the numbers


Other than that - It looks great - great mud on the wheels and track !

Best I can do is 90% criticism with about 10% of inconsistant rhetoric. But it looks great, I cant tell from the angle so I dont know if youve drybrushed the steel on the track cleats but thats all I see missing.

Ausf, I think it looks great... I have to agree with build22 though. If this were an end of winter whitewash thats wearing off the brush strokes might be a little less obvious. Smear it around a bit add a bucket full of dried dirt on the sides and I think you have a winner.... I like the look of it very much. Your right the white was does hide detail doesn't it. Its a shame because white washes look so cool... Maybe one of these days I will get up the gumption to do a white wash... I'd like to.

Keep us posted

KC

I would agree with KC a little here and say that unless the section of skirt on this side "just" came off, there should be a little more dirtiness up the side in this area. Overall, I think you've hit in pretty close to the mark. To me it actually looks like the first thaw of the spring and the mud looks very good on the lower hull.

Beautyful model !!
Both the mud and the wihte wash looks great.
Top job

ausf take this and remember it is from someone who is a newbie to the darkside. (never thought i would say this) it is too clean yet. everything ive seen of "winter" schemes show the tank as more grimy than anything ive ever seen. the details of the tank are sort of lost but the overall of the tank is ...............well.....................better. dont know if this helps but there you go.

joe

maybe some more mud build up on the underside of the fender skirts. But right now it looks good. I like the white washing. The "box" aorund the vehicle number is a little too crisp for my liking but other than that it seems rode hard.

You've done a wonderful job on this one ausf.

looks good to me!!!!!!

I think the others are on the right track, smudge the whitewash a little to take off some of the harder edges. I think it looks great now and just a little tweaking here and there will make the whole package even better.

Makes mine look like CRAP... AHHHHH, oh well, I will keep plugging away I guess...

Thanks for the input guys, since no one has tried to talk me out of it I'll proceed.
I hope you weren't just being kind.
I'll tighten up the whitewash then give it a good working over with dirt, soot and grime.
I'll post some pics as I go.

WWIIsoldier, don't be so hard on yourself. Your work is fine, keep asking questions and it will only get better. I've learned so much here in a short amount of time, and the Tiger your looking at is 1/35 with PE and about four months of prodding.
Besides.... although I'm only back into modelmaking for a short time, I've been working in one form of art or another professionally for over twenty years now and have access to more materials and equipment than you can imagine. Makes things a lot easier.

Ausf. If you want PURE criticism, don't ask us 'sullied' guys. White wash is very hard to depict right, so congrats on what you have achieved so far. Takes courage to do these.

The side view doesn't show much so I thought I would just say a couple of things that might help, rather than relate to specific aspects of your tiger.

Whitewash was easily removed, and more so on high traffic areas - areas where crew got in and out and where routine maintenace was done. So boots, tools, etc would scuff that area quickly. First to go was the stuff around hatches, etc.

Fuel spills and the like would really show up on the white, a substances that actually absorbed the oily fluids.

Crew climbing tracks would show much higher wear and larger deposits of mud and grime from boots, etc than other areas. The frozen temps and low rainfall prevented a lot of the mud from being washed away.

White wash stayed longest in crevasses and grooves and was worn off in raised areas and areas of large flat planes where the crew walked. The hob nails were murder on the wash.

The only direct thing I could say is that the build up of mud under the guards was extreme in Russia. The amount of mud where the skirt is missing on your kit should be extended all the way a long and especially the rear mud flap which should be coated right up to where the tracks rub past it. If not to be so muddy, maybe remove a bit you have done. The skirt after the missing one would have mud thrown over the forward front as well, if the amount of mud where the skirt is missing is a guide.

Looking forward to more pics when you are happy with your tiger.

My first impression was "He wants criticism on that?" After Looking I have to agree with some of the other, the wash has to crisp of lines around the numbers. The other thing would be that there should be runs were the wash got behind the fender before it was ripped off.

Looks great. I got to agree with petat.

Now you're talking.....Thanks!
I just finished some work on the weathering of the whitewash. I added some soot around areas I think would be used to vent when heating the interior with oil lamps.

Still plenty of more work to do but I'm too tired to start working on mud. The tow cables are just there for fitting, not painted yet.

Here's two pics just so you guys know I'm listening...

Looks awsome thanks for the pics.

Ausf,
Its looks KA! I like the partial WWash. Has that...."Screwit...just paint what they are gonna see" look to it. I like it a lot. The weathering is suitably dingy no doubt....

Peace

Great looking wash, Ausf!
I like like it just the way it is..
Regards, Dan

Excellent! I like the way you've "thrown" some mud through the gap of the missing skirt up and onto the lead skirt. Very nice indeed!

ausf youve hit the nail on the head. it looks very authentic now. well done.

joe

How did you make the tow cables ??? they look great.

Thanks guys,
There's still plenty more to do, I just wanted to get some thoughts on the direction. I will start the real mud work when I'm done with the whitewash.
Keep the critique coming, be brutal, you're only helping me. I think it looks so much better already and that's due completely to you.

Monrad, the tow cables are picture frame wire. Someone had posted the idea a long while back, it's brilliant. They are available in an array of sizes and the strand looks precisely like the kit piece. I really should have figured this out myself, I worked as framer for two years. Just had to open the work shop door and I was in tow cable heaven.
Just be warned, they are a pain in the to work with. They are really rigid and I had to wire them down to the hull, then give it a basecoat. It took about two hours to get them where they are. I used the kit ends drilled out.
As you certainly know from your 'library' of Tiger books, no veteran ever stowed their cables, no good unless they're hooked and ready. My only problem is I can't permanently hook these to the u-bolts because the top has to come off for the RC unit and batteries.

I think the whitewash and weathering are very well done. I can't offer any criticism there.
One thing I did notice in the pix, which may be just because it's the RC Tiger: The tracks never make contact with the tops of the road wheels. You've got a nice Tigeriffic sag there, but no contact. Maybe you just didn't pat 'em down when you took the pix?
Anyway, that was the only "hmmmmm" spot I could see in your pix.

Good work!

The progress is coming along very nicely. Just practice.

Hey Ausf,

Man, that's nice, especially for the 1/35 kit. I have that one as well and I just left it in Panzer grey. You're doing a terrific job. I would continue the white wash on the topside of the turret and deck though, just because the Germans were not only trying to break up their outlines and hide from other tanks on the ground, but also from Soviet aircraft above. If I'm not mistaken, this kit comes with the rubber tracks. Is that what you used, or did you buy aftermarket tracks? Rubber tracks would explain the lack of track sag.

Okieboy

QUOTE: Originally posted by okieboy [ Rubber tracks would explain the lack of track sag. Okieboy

So I thought!
But they do actually have a nice sag to them. They just don't ever land on the road wheels! No biggie, just wondered why.
Plus, it was the only criticism I could think of!

Gentlemen,
It is indeed the rubber tracks and they must have a certain tension to stay on.
The sag issue was something that bothered me a little as well.
So.....About 10 PM last night when exhaustion kept me from starting to paint, I decided to take a look at the problem. The kit supplies a small 'guide' that influences the track a little on the return near the drive sprocket. An expanded idea of this would hold it closer to the roadwheel but would be too bulky.
So instead of going to bed, I built and installed a styrene roller bearing right above the first recessed roadwheel. I'll see how it works later today when I get a chance and let you know.
If it works it'll be pretty cool.
Thanks again for the comments, it will only make this build better.

Okieboy, I'm debating the whitewash on the deck. I read Carius' book, this is his tank, and I can't remember him ever mentioning Russian air power. He covers everything you can imagine regarding living and fighting in tanks. He talks about Arty, mortar, AT and Russian Tanks but the only planes are Stukas. It must not of been a concern in his area of battle, at least when he was in a Tiger.
Plus he was a bit of a renegade. I'm still looking into this.