Malone - camou patterns look good.  As others have stated, I too am confident that weathering should rein in the vibrant colours.

deafpanzer

Found info while googling that the Germans pretty sent most of smaller tanks especially Pz IIs to Africa because they rather to keep bigger tanks for other fronts especially the Eastern front.  

I think this the first I've seen regarding the reason particular types of vehicles were sent to N.Africa.  It's true, once Hitler had decided on attacking Russia, he refused  to send any sizeable force to the Med. theater.

If Wiki can be trusted, the number and type of vehicles sent  to Libya in 1941 , Operation Sonnenblume: "...The regiment—155 tanks strong—consisted of 25 Panzer Is, 45 Panzer IIs, 61 Panzer IIIs, 17 Panzer IVs, three kleine Panzerbefehlswagens and four Panzerbefehlswagens."

Looks fairly consistent with the Panzer organization of that time. 

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Continued work on the Tiger - have all the rough paint sanded, and hope to have another coat sprayed on before heading out to work.

regards,

Jack

DAK Tiger Update - it has lights and cables installed - just a couple more tools to place and the side fenders  - pick up the Bison Decals #35161 - Tigers in Africa Set 1 and 2 provides early and later markings Pz-Abt. 501 and Pz-Abt. 504 in Tunisia 1942-43 with several suggest paint camo schemes the instructions are available online at (http://picasaweb.google.co.th/bisondecals) other references is Tiger im Fokus: http://www.tiif.de/ and Missing Lynx: www.missing/lynx.com. Photos below. Armor86

I have been using the following reference on the detailing out the Tiger ... Armor86

Dan, those metal wires really add detail to the headlights.

MD, A86... cracking good work.

The last couple of sessions were devoted to pin washes and starting in on the scratching. The washing was pretty straight forward. All of the scratches and chips, only the turret so far, are done with a fine pointed brush.

Marc, great weathering so far.

Were the numbers really over the balkenkrauz? I've never seen that before.

Thanks Eric.  When I was researching the /172 scale "222" i read there was some discussion as to whether that was the case for this vehicle.  It is definitely under the 22 in this photo.  There was 1 i saw that was cleared than this one.

Lovely work there Marc. I was just looking at that same photo and it deffinatly lloks like a cross under those numbers, i hadn't seen it before either.

MD & A86: nice work guys, please keep the photos coming!

Marc: Love the streaking and the chips and dings. If mine wasn't covered in zimmerit I'd try something like that.  Well, maybe next time.

Spending the day weathering. I finished the dot filter and am so-so impressed. I realized something late on about the technique, so I'll do a better job next time. I lost a piece and was all about to give up, but found it! Darn tiny too.

Dan-your Tiger is looking very good-the PE, cables & light wiring really add to your build.

Marc-the weathering on your KT is outstanding....very realistic

Eric-glad you got to spend some time on your Jagdpanther....and glad that you found your missing part.

I gave my Panther a coat of Olivegrun-I like it a little better than the Dunklegrun coat that I started with....now to decide whether to go with the hard edge Dunkelgelb camo scheme or the (what would appear to be) field applied brown stripes.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/H_Ackermans/wrcmrd.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/H_Ackermans/panthergirfin.jpg

At this point, I'm open for suggestions, input, etc.

I have yet to try a hard-edge pattern Bob, but I do like it on the panthers. MHO.

Here's a few updates. The numbers are sadly wrong, I couldn't get my hands on correct ones so I ad-libbed.

Eric: I like her! Nice camo and the wood look you did on the tools came out really well.

Bob: With hard edge like that I'd be tempted to go with Silly Putty. Worked well for me anyhow.

Looks great Eric-very good job on the camo scheme-nicely weathered-dot filter technique, right?

Thanks guys. I tried and see a few touch-ups. Dang close-in shots. It's hard to get further-out shots with that lang 88mm. LOL

Overall, a decent weekend of bench time. It's so hard to squeeze everything into so short of time. I'm not at all happy with the tracks, but will trudge on. Just glad to get some weathering done. No, you will not see a badly beaten up tank, because that's how I roll. 

Byoootiful, Eric! Love the look! Which kit is this, BTW? I was hoping to do one like this as well...

M/TB379

Thanks Mike, it's the older Tamiya kit without the bells and whistles. I added Tamiya grills and was trying to add Dragon magic tracks, but that failed.

You mean 35069? Dang, I have that one on my shelf right here, it looks like a quick, friendly build...

M/TB379

lol, no Mike. It's 35203, the late Jagdpanther. Compared to the Dragon kits, I'm sure it's lacking compared to comtemporary Dragon kits.

:-) To me, that is new...

I'm not sure, but it's probably close to 20 years old, but it's considered one of Tamiya's newer kits. haha

Real nice work Eric,looks great

Well, I'm about as finished as I'm going to get unless you guys can tell me anything I can improve without repainting the whole darn thing. She doesn't look like the rest of the stuff you guys have posted but I think she's the best German AFV I've ever done so I'm still pretty happy.

Will try for better photos soonish. All the side shots turned out awful. Still working on the base and figures.

Oh Cliff, you teaser you. I need a few more side pictures my friend. Like what I see so far.

Thanks Eric, took them in the same way but the lighting on the side photos turned out terrible. I'll try to get some better ones up Tuesday.

Sounds good.

Tiger man. She's a real gem man.

Guys I need some help. What would the turret numbers from a late period panther be. I have black with white outline and red with white outline.

Can't say with conviction Malone, but the black with white-outlines was popular late in the war.

tigerman:  Great to see some progress...I may have missed them while I was away but I don't recall seeing any pic's from you for this GB.  Great subject!  I'm a Tamiya kit fan and I'd like to build that Jagd someday. 

I really like the camo' work and the tools are superb!  What happened with the dot filter that you're not happy with?  Looking good from where i"m standin'...

Eric- WOW!  Great camo work... it is looking great!  

Gamera- Jeez, don't be too hard on yourself.  I think your KT looks very good too.  I recall you are into wingy kits and you did very well with your KT.  

Which dark yellow paint did you use for the base coat?  It looks little darker... one of things I have learned about using dark washes is to use lighter base coat of paints on my builds.  Am always learning new stuff...