Impessive looking tracks, Dave!

Mike: I just had a look a t page 96 and I like what I see!

I ran into a problem and I hope you guys can help me out:

I want to use Eduard's PE fenders on my kitten and I had a look at the instructions. Nothing special. I have to sand/cut off all the mounting points for the fenders on the hull and fill some gaps at the rear of the vehicle. That makes painting my KT impossible before I get my fenders (which could take another weeek!) Should I just use the molded on mounting points for the PE fenders (I don't know if they are going to fit) or should I simply wait for the fenders to arrive?

Hi gents,

Wonderful build going on here. I got started on my entry a few weeks back only to be badly disturbed by the real world. But, things are going forward finally. I've never made a tiger before so I'll help make everyone else look better than they already are.

I've chosen the new Cyber Hobby Kursk Tiger I. A few weeks back I forwarded some sob stories about it and when done I'll give a detailed build log in the armor section. Suffice it to say, the kit is very new and appears to me to be a dumbed down version of the CH “Wittmann Tiger Kursk.” The kit has little PE, DS tracks, plastic cables etc. I don't think this was Dragon's finest hour and it proved a tricky build. But here it is:

Great stuff there guys, nice to see things in the last two weeks going out with a BANG!

Excellent work, Eric! I really like those stripes on your kitten as well as the color modulation on the Dunkelgelb!

Complete photos - taken early evening so let me know if you want some more photos with more lighting. Its been a fun year getting this one done. A lot of great work on steel cats GB. Armor86

Wow, really nice job! Love the weathered washed-out paint!

Armor

I like that kit a lot. I'm keen on the "Spanish School" of armor heavy weather but think too often it's used to show rust, mega chipping etc. Certainly appropriate for some tanks in service - heaven knows combat was hard on machines. But considering the relatively short "shelf life" of a WWII AFV of any type, I'd look for fading, dust, grime and a lot of dust which I think would be picked up very quickly. So heavy on the fading, dust, grime, streaking and oil stains is just the ticket and that's what you've got. Thumbs up in my humble.

Eric

Eric, glad you made it to the party. That camo is striking and will look even better when weathered.

Dan, thank you for sharing your amazing Tiger build. Some great detailing and weathering on it. I will get pictures posted soon.

I've got both volumes of Mike Rinaldi's "Tank Art" which are large, very sweet to look at, and crammed with interesting "Spanish School" weathering techniques. (The volumes are widely available now and a steal for about $25.) 

I was going to let Rinaldi be my weathering muse on this project but like an idiot I thought the deadline was the end of September and not the beginning. So I doubt I'll be able to use some of his techniques which I think would be pretty time consuming. (Lots of oils, but used almost like enamels and actively combined with pigments. Lots of things to try.)

Below is one of them. Rinaldi calls it "thinner chipping." If you have more than one coat of acrylic on your model (which you will if your using any of the modulation techniques made popular by Mig Jimenez and Adam Wilder) Rinaldi advises taking some kind of thinner (he uses Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner - it's probably ideal for any water based paints: might need something stronger on Tamiya - I'm sure ISP would also work on water based paints you'd have to be careful) , moisten a stiff brush in it and gently remove a little of the top coat of paint. The contrast doesn't really look like a chip to my eyes (Rinaldi's better at it than I am - of course he gets paid for modeling and I don't) but is an excellent emulation of a kind of grimy area that would result from lots of boots crawling around. You move slowly until you get the hang of it. But if it goes down to primer the area will be small and you've got a place to put a normal chip. This doesn't replace chipping, but is a very interesting addition to it. Look on the hatches below and the discolored areas on and near them comes from this technique - it's pretty evident.

Eric

Dan - great job on this GB's third Tunisian Tiger.  I was a bit concerned early on when I saw how light you went with the yellow ocher (RAL8000?)  part of the tropen camou, but it all came together in the end.   Love the blotchy look you achieved.

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Eric B - you seem to be quite busy this year with builds, or is this your normal pace?  Look forward to what you will throw at the Kursk Tiger.  

Dave - epremium job on those tracks!

Ernest - welcome back, what have you planned with the remaining 2 weeks till deadline?

IBuildOne48 - if the base is any indication, you should have one heck of build to show us.

regards,

Jack

Dan-Outstanding, to say the least-very impressive build all the way around   .

Eric-you're off to a great start-looking forward watching the build progress.

Hi all, back from a hard day's grind at the uni -- well, a couple of classes. I'm delighted to say that earlier I got the KT underway again, I fired up the AB for some fineline spraying and went over the camo I did last year. It has always seemed too dark and drab, as if the balances were off, so I firmed up the DY component, increased the relative proportion of DY, then went over the green to clean up overspray and splotches. It "feels" better now, and I'll inspect it in daylight tomorrow before, hopefully, going on to the fade and shade coats -- an ultra-thin application of buff for the top aspect, and dark earth for the underside and behind the running gear. All being well, that should conclude spraying for the project and get me to the wash and drybrush stage.

Pictures soon!

Mike/TB379

I have plenty of bench time today, so you guys can expect an update of some sort tonight (finally)!

Well I cant stop looking in to tis GB now. Still some gorgeous work going on!

A86, your finished Tiger looks just the part! Perfect for a North Africa vet.

EB, You are making fast work of that kit. I want to do another early Tiger somewhere down the road here, GrossDeutschland division at Kursk.... one day. That kit looks tempting.

Sparten, I look forward to yout progress pics here of your build.

And I thought you guys here would appreciate this tidbit of information- the Tiger Group Build that Southern California AMPS Chapter (mine was part of that) entered at IPMS Nationals this past weekend took first place in the "Chapter/Group" entry catagory. The Tigers won another battlefield.

Ok gents, here's the update I promised you:

First of all, look what I found in the mail today:

The fenders are here!!! Now I just have to make some changes to the hull to mount them...

But now to the update itself:

I glued all the suspension arms to the lower hull:

I had a lot of trouble lining them all up, but I think I got them to look right. I won't know for sure untill the model is completely assembled though...

I love every aspect of this kit. It has a great fit, really nice details and includes a really small amount of parts for a Dragon kit. There is one thing I utterly dislike though: The suspension arms. They are really hard to line up when attaching them to the hull (no big problem though), but there is one thing that makes them really bad IMO. The way they are attached to the sprue makes them a pain to clean up:

You can't really tell by looking at the pics, but the sprue gates are right where the steps on the parts are...

I also started to modify the hull according to Eduard's instructions, so I am able to mount the PE fenders:

I sanded the mounting points off, but left just a wee bit of the raised plastic, soI know where to mount the PE brackets later on.

This pic shows the other side of the hull (I didn't remove the brackets on that side yet):

Then I started work on the hull roof and front:

I also taped/stuck the tank model together to give an Impression on how it's going to look when everything is in place:

I think I can finish most of the construction work tomorrow. Here's a list of the tasks that are left:

• add PE engine grills
• add a few tiny parts to the hull
• make some handles out of wire and attach them to the model
• attach muzzle brake
• glue the upper hull and rear plate to the lower hull
• add missing weld seams to the rear plate
• modify the hull for PE fenders
• bend PE fenders
• sand roadwheels

All of this should be done untill Saturday, so I can apply all the paint this weekend and still have the next week for weathering...

I hope you like it.

Cheers. Clemens

SS -- you're a modelling machine! I look at that list and think maybe a week! Excellent work, BTW, she'll be a beauty. I must try my hand at busted up fenders one day too!

Mike/TB379

I like the camo and your off-ed piece on camo.

Its always interesting on all the differant takes on how the gemans did things with paint.

You are a madman Sparten!  11 days to go... this is gonna be good!!!

Hi all, pics as promised, or the refined/cleaned up camo. First in natural light, then properly set up. Lighting conditions are a bit tricky in our new place, I might have to shoot after dark with artificial light only. Also, I'm not sure about the fluoro tube, I think it's daylight strength but that's no guarantee at this point.

I know it might not seem like it, but I'd say it's some of my most tightly controlled airbrushing ever, on a par with the camo on my Panzer Lehr StuG IV.

The shade and fade coats come next, then the wash and drybrush which should hopefully tie it all together.

Right, I better get the AB fired up...

Mike/TB379

And here she is with the shade and fade coats. The former was a 5% mix of Buff misted onto the upper surfaces, lightening them progressively to accept the darkening effect of the washes to come, while the latter was a 60% mix of Dark Earth applied to the underside, behind the running gear and under the bow and transom (doesn't show in the pics...)

M/TB379

Clemens-your KT is coming along nicely-gonna be fun to watch this one.

Mike-great job on the camo-I like it!

Looked into Rinaldi's book more closely and there's no way I could go into that much foreign territory and meet the deadline. (Real world will be annoying next week.) So I had to fall back on more familiar techniques. Anyway, filters, washes and chipping are done. Still to come are the tools, some serious fading, wheels/tracks and pigments. Should get it done though.

Eric

Thanks a lot guys! I'm glad I didn't choose my Panther for this GB. That kit has 2-3 times as many parts...

Mike: Very nice work on that camo!

Eric: Your tiger is looking really impressive! You make me want to start mine as well...

Clemons: Yeah, week and a half to go but at the rate you're going you can make it! Nice work on all that PE!

Eric: Looks cool! I picked up those books too and am a bit over my head. I started a little work on the techniques on a cheapie kit. Your results look waaaaaaayyyyyy better than mine!

Mike: Great looking camo there too, the mist coats really help tone things down and give her a battle-weary look.

Thanks, guys! I'm hoping to start the wash process tomorrow evening, after I get home from work.

Technical question for those who have worked with zimmerit before -- do you apply a wash over the zim to let the colour gather in the recesses between the ridges? Does that even work?

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Cliff, would you mind ansering a question re Dragon's Tiger 2 kit?

I saw your Porsche King Tiger on the front page and I really like it (it was actually inspiring me to do a Tiger 2 instead of the Panther I have in my stash).

Dryfitting of the hull parts revealed a noticeable gap where the upper hull attaches to the lower hull (above the tracks). How did you solve that problem on your kit?

Mike: I generally just put a thin dark brown wash over zimmerit to accentuate the shadows and I figure dirt would accumulate in the cracks making it darker. I'd use a heavier wash on the rest of the tank for any pin washes.

Clemons: This was their 'Smart Kit' and didn't really have any gaps anywhere. Being a brand new version they may have fixed any problems. Do you mean the gap under the hull side overhang just above the tracks? I've had kits that didn't fit well there, you can tape or use rubber bands to hold it together and then run a little bead of cement down the seam.

Yep, I was talking about the hull overhang. Thanks a lot for answering my (stupid) question!

My Tiger is the original release of the "Battle of the Bulge" kit. I got it really cheap at my LHS (prepare for a kinda long story):

One of my friends wanted to build a diorama with that kit about half a year ago, but couldn't find it anywhere (it got re-released now, but was OOP when he wanted to get one). I went to my LHS after he told me about his problem and told him about that lone Bulge KT I saw there. After buying it, he had a look at the parts and found out that all the figures were missing. We brought the kit back to the shop and the owner gave my friend a refund. He couldn't sell the kit anymore because of the missing parts and I simply decided to buy it. He gave it to me for half the price! (25€ instead of 50€).

Ah ok, no problem. The nice thing about that is that's where dirt and mud accumulate so you can cover any seam with whatever you use for dirt so you don't even have to sand it out.

For 25 euros - half price I'd say you really got a great deal. The figures won't be that expensive to replace assuming you want to use them.  

Yep, that's one of the advantages of my project:

I want to build my Tiger with winter camo and a lot of mud on the lower hull...

25€ is a great deal indeed! Most HobbyBoss/Trumpeter kits are more expensive

I didn't build many armor models before (only two Tamiya Shermans), but I like it a lot! I got some more Dragon kits already: a Pz.IV Ausf.J and a Pz.III Ausf.M