Hasen- Missed your post of close shot of Zimm... outstanding!   Are those decals or were they painted on?  

Carl- Nice touch painting barrel Panzer Grey as a replacement! 

Guys- Another update on my Tiger... I have been on roll since Saturday.  Hope it stays that way over the long holiday weekend... completed steel cable on the other side. 

This is how it looks now... 

Almost done with the hull... I only need to add the front fenders then I can finally start building the turret.  Thanks for looking! 

Hey Andy - Looks soo good.  You're gonna be at that point soon like Carl... the "man, I have to paint over this?!?" stage.

The post of the close up zimm was actually to show the outcome of the stenciled cross and division symbol. Ghost had asked about them a little bit ago. I had just edited my post to include pics this morning. At the rate things move on this GB it's no wonder you missed it. 

Carl - What? that took you all of about 30 mins to make it look perfect. 

Thanks, Gamera! I really appreciate the compliments. I've tried to do the Green Putty thing before. Actually on the last Steel Cat I built about 25+ years ago... IIRC I pressed the pattern in with a small screwdriver. Ha! Geez, check out those ejector marks on the spare tracks... and all that dust from moving from place to place. Dry brush city. The pic itself is pry 6 or 7 years old. I think this Tamiya kit was fairly new on the market back when I built it. Trip down memory lane complete. This one hasn't quite made it to "experiment/test on me" status, but given how much I've improved because of these forums it pry won't be to far away.

Andy , all of the brass and copper is looking so bright and sparkly ! Man i really like all of the details . You are the P.E. Master !!!

Dave , was it 30 minutes ? I hadn't noticed the time but i thought it was longer . I used some Mig pigments smoke , sealed that with a Matt coat and then dry brushed with medium gray ......in case you were wondering . Good ole Tiger . Improving our skills i think is the challenge that keeps this hobby interesting .

Andy Jeez Lo "freakin" uise.. That's nice metal work.

Dave, That look so nice.

Holy crap what a PITA this was.  Once I tone it down with a buff filter so it is less stark it will look better.  But I am pretty pleased with the outcome.  Couldn't have done this with anything but Vallejo.

Marc: Your KT is looking fine!

Like the camo Marc .

Marc - Well it certainly looks as though it was worth the effort.  from me!

Andy, loving all that brass. I think I need sunglasses as it's so shiny.

How do you paint the fine details with everything glued down?

WOW...  the quality builds being shown so far are OUTSTANDING. I might have to cover my Tamiya Jagdpanther with a few cam nets and bushes when it's done....

Marc: Sharp looking camo there!

Andy: Love all the PE, wish I had the patience to add all that detail.

HP: Nice work on the old Tiger, I'd be scared to post what my stuff looked like when I first started 25 years ago!

Guys- Thanks everybody!!! 

Gamera- Sometimes my patience is about to run out... LOL  For sure my next build will not have much PE I can say... 

Eric- I agree... it takes more time to paint tools glued to the hull.  Because I am using PE, they require CA and they don't stick every well on paint you know so I have to glue them first before I can paint.  Once I am used to it not too bad now.   Drink couple of  or  helps along with very good paint brush! 

Marc- Again great work on camo... I can not do any better hand brushed! 

Marc, that camo turned out real well.

Ghost, you ain't kidding.

Carl-barrel looks good-the grey will be a nice contrast to the camo

Marc-very nice job on the camo=my air brushed efforts should turn out so well.  Will be buying some Vallejo soon.

Andy-PE continues to look great-I was going to ask about painting the detail items attached but Eric beat me to it.  However, do you do any masking or such to assist?  Maybe I need to switch from coffee to beer when I'm painting....

The wife & I are in Alabama visiting in-laws & our son for the holiday.  He came up from the University of Alabama...Roll Tide-for the holiday.  Needless to say, no modeling for me but I did get to step 8 of the instructions on my Panther before we left yesterday.  Will post some pics when we get back.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Bob- LOL!  Thanks!  Sometimes I use thin piece of paper to mask the tools if possible.  

Guys- Another update... worked on more PE last night.  One of front mud flap... I was not impressed with kit part so I opted for Voyager again. LOL 

Instructions were not clear but it wanted me to create several loops.  That part had me scared... 

With alot of help from my little The Bug... can't live without it now. 

Also used the Bug to hold the pieces so I can create loops...

Using one of drill bits to help me create loops... 

Then used smaller drill bits to make loops smaller until I am happy...

Improved look... Voyager set on right... kit part on left.  Two loops were damaged when I created them but now I like the damaged look.  Flap was bent of course... felt adventurous last night. 

Hope to do another flap tonight... Happy Thanksgiving everybody in case we don't talk before tomorrow.

Bob , thanks . Have a good one .

Andy , thats some nice detail . If i get into doing p.e. i could see where a tool like the "Bug" would be handy...nothing like having the right tool for the job . I should know cause i never do !

Bob, stay safe on your trip. Can't root for Bama you know. 

Bob, what exactly is thanksgiving? Not something we have here in Australia but we hear of it in the American TV shows we see

If I may... only because I Happen to be here at the moment..

When the pilgrims first came and settled things got pretty rough for a while.  Near starvation the indigenous folks came to their aid with food and helped the colony survive.  We now "give thanks" to that out pouring of  family and friendship and food by symbolically recreating that event.

Then we thanked them further by slaughtering them over the next few hundred years and taking their land.  We just don't have a holiday to celebrate that.

Carl- Thanks! You will like the Bug but if I had the chance to order again, I would have gone for bigger set.  

Marc- Very good response!!! 

Guys- Another update... like I said I finally found my m o j o!!!  Can't believe we can't use this word... 

Wife spent the night at mother's to help prepare for Thanksgiving leaving boys with me.  No rules at the Lefflers house... anarchy rules!  

Hull is finally complete I think...

Those tiny clasps for mud flap hated my fat fingers...

Kit part for turret MG was ugly... Aber AM set to rescue!

The gun...

Like I said no rule... stayed up late to finish this bucket.

Thanks for looking!  Everybody have great Thanksgiving... try to go easy on the gravy! 

Andy-you continue to amaze me with your PE skills-the fender clamps would have had me running away screaming!  Great work.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Andy my man!  Awesome.  Diggin' that little bucket.  Or as Voyager likes to call them... Backets

If I may...  in the 2nd pic... are the ejector pin marks going to be covered?  And there is slightest little mold line to the left of the minuscule little clamp.

A very quick pic of a step I was able to take while I wait for the oven to free up for my next batch of food.  Yup... I am the cook!

Sprayed with a buff filter to homogenize the overall look.  That's 5 coats at a 5/95 paint/thinner mix.  

Great work Andy. Came out perfect. I'm with Bob on this one...

Couple comments:

Your muzzle brake looks a little "skewed" haha 

And it looks like you made "backets" - according to Voyager anyway. (How'd you roll those so nicely?) Do you solder everything or use CA?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. (Can't promise to go easy on the gravy, Andy )

I'll edit this since you posted while I was typing Marc... looks sweet now. It really brought it all together nicely. I really dig the camo scheme.

Andy: That's just amazing work on the PE, again you're making my head hurt looking at it. 

Marc: Great job there on the camo and tying things together. 

Anyway here's my humble contribution, not the greatest photo but this how I'm going to try to arrange the figures adding a commander sitting on the turret with a pair of field glasses: 

And Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US! 

Marc-the filtering worked well.  Looking forward to seeing future progress pics...And is dinner ready yet-I'm hungry.

Gamera-looks good-very nice job on the figures.

Andy, beautiful man, but yes, the muzzle is 90 degrees off. I assume, it's not glued in?

Maec, the washes made a big difference.

Cliff, that looks great, but the pics are a bit dark.

Canadians also celebrate Thanksgiving, though it arrives a month earlier - the second Monday of October.  It is mostly tied in with harvest time, but there is some associated historical anecdotes that can be found here.  It is interesting that American loyalists that left the newly independent  States brought us some of their traditions, such as turkey, pumpkin, and squash.

Andy, nice work with the PE and I like that bucket.  I need one in 1/48 so that fret image you provided gives me an idea of how to possibly scratch build one.

regards,

Jack

edit...

well did a little browsing and found a Hungarian manufacture that makes buckets in both 1/48 and 1/35, now just have to find a site that carries them.

Thanks guys, thought the photos looked bad, looking at 'em now and they look friggin' awful - sorry. Will see about grabbing some that don't blow.

Jack: Yeah, thought you guys had already celebrated so it was kinda pointless to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, unless it's really early for next year!

Jack, those buckets look insane. Good luck on them.

Gamera, it's all good - so  Happy Thanksgiving to my American neighbours.

Some further searches on 1/48 buckets finds examples from Hauler and Plus Model:

regards,

Jack