Hey ripcord

Welcome to the GB.  And what and honor to have it as your 1st armor build too.  Without knowing how accurate the scheme on the box is a 2 tone camo would be pretty easy.  The broad flat surfaces should make masking easy or even brush painted as I did.  At this scale a feathered edge can be done as a hard line on the model and look just fine.

BTW. with regards to the thread about the AM tracks in the armor section.  No need for you to apologize for anything.  Yours was the only answer that had anything to do with the question.  Thanks.  I didn't want to make a big deal in that thread.  I made my point.

Hey,  Never built armor before...  Can I get in with this?

and if I do, is there a solid color panther.  Also what color is it?  I dont think I ready for camo yet.  This kit came with some earth and bricks...

Marc- Like what your doing with the tracks. Very nice indeed.

Marc - looking good, it's amazing how a few little flecks here and there of exposed paint help convey the look and feel of metal.

Dave - great update and I have to admit that I too for a moment thought I was looking at a period war photo.  That is actually a neat way to test the progress of a build, at least in a tonal way.

Tony - good progress and nice to see another 1/48 Tiger on the go.  I see you have the same slight gape as I have between the front hull plate and forward hull deck/roof.  

Ben - coming along nicely, but clearly see the problem you have run into with the AK chipping.  Honestly I sometimes wonder if some of these techniques are a bit too technical and are more about selling new products.  From what I see with your skills you should be able to wrestle it down.  MiG seems to have something similar and their website  has a video tutorial on their chipping product.

Also ran across that escape hatch photo in a book with some interesting info provided in the caption. Apparently the hatch could not be closed from the inside (too heavy?) and when in the opened position obstructed the traverse of the turret.

Much more work to comment on, but yes Bish, Gamara, Malone and Joe - it's all looking very good.

Myself got in about four hours bench time.  Ran into a snag with having to scratch build the bases for the lights.   The 1st company Tigers of 501 had them moved down from atop the hull to a position located against the front hull glacis plate.  Voyager PE set does have the stands for this, but I couldn't save the base plates when they were shaved off the main hull.

regards,

Jack

What the...?  Don't know... Don't care.

I started to work on the tracks. DS tracks are not my favorite. Are there AM tracks in 1/72 scale?

Anyway... mixed some hull red and NATO black for a burnt sienna(ish) color and painted the extra tracks for the turret. I want to get a bit more of a rust patina on them.

One of the reason I am not a fan of the DS tracks is the test fut process. There are instances where the DS tracks are too long so you gotta try 'em 1st with all the road wheels on. These little buggers would not stay on so I glued them. But I had not yet done the steel rim so that task will be a real joy.

For the main tracks I turned them inside out and hit that surface with some metallic gray. The area that the wheels rid eon was taped off and the the whole thing got the same color the turret tracks got. I only taped the outermost section as the inner scraped areas will be hidden by all the overlapping road wheels.

I started to work on the tracks.  DS tracks are not my favorite.  Are there AM tracks in 1/72 scale?

Anyway... mixed some hull red and NATO black for a burnt sienna(ish) color and painted the extra tracks for the turret.  I want to get a bit more of a rust patina on them.

i7.photobucket.com/.../P1160700.jpg

One of the reason I am not a fan of the DS tracks is the test fut process.  There are instances where the DS tracks are too long so you gotta try 'em 1st with all the road wheels on.  These little buggers would not stay on so I glued them.  But I had not yet done the steel rim so that task will be a real joy.

For the main tracks I turned them inside out and hit that surface with some metallic gray.  The area that the wheels rid eon was taped off and the the whole thing got the same color the turret tracks got.  I only taped the outermost section as the inner scraped areas will be hidden by all the overlapping road wheels.

i7.photobucket.com/.../P1160697.jpg

i7.photobucket.com/.../P1160698.jpg

Dave, thanks. And now you menation it i can see what you mean. A bit BMP 3ish. As for your Panther, what Greg said. Stunner.

Thanks guys, it does look better with some colour on it.

BTW: Guys just looking at the Sprue Brothers website and they have a Cyber Monday deal going with 15% off all armour kits...

Jeez guys!!!   Nice stuff

Bish the camo looks great.

Ben, like what you've done with the hatch.

Tony, nice tonal quality in a "sinbgle" color

Dave, the is just awesome.  Until I actually read some of the text I was thinking that your model had the best camo matching to a photo I had ever seen.  Now I know why

Bish - That is a superb job you've done on the camo.

Andy - What can I say, Your patience and effort certainly paid dividends. Those tracks are just remarkable.

Tony - Excellent start. It's looking right nice there.

Dave - Wow! What an oustanding Panther. That it definitely something to appreciate. I know I do.

 Discovered something a bit disturbing yesterday. While fiddling with the spare tracks on the turret it came to my attention that there are no lower mounting brackets/pins. Not in the kit nor on the PE set. Now, I certainly could scratch those but, for the sake of expediancy is anyone aware of an AM set that may have those?

Thanks for all incredible builds gentlemen and for all the excellent skills and knowledge you are all sharing.

Carry On.

Dave: Wow, that's beautiful work! And I love the photoshopped photo! 

Dave: uhmmm...I really don't know what to say....other than....holy crap....WOW!!

Dave-Job well done!  Weathering looks great and the Photoshop pic is a nice touch....you should be proud.

Tony, I imagine that the preshade looks better then the photos. Probably a bit too much light on them.

Ben, the Friuls look good as always.

Bish, great to see the camo on it.

Dave, you're almost home. Swell looking Panther.

Hey guys - loving all the progress and great work!

Gamera - the new photos look better. The KT looks pretty darn good to me. The figures look great and the whole deal should make for a cool final scene. I'm really dreading painting my commander. It's been awhile and I've never been too great at figure painting. I'm really hoping I can learn some things from the forums, etc., and practice a bit first.

Joe - That PE zimm looks sweet! It's gonna be crazy seeing that Tiggy all brassed up when it's done. And yeah, ya made me almost spit out my coffee this morning. Mad badgers. LOL. Filling those ejector marks will be worth it. I'm with ya on the whole tracks though. They will most likely be hidden anyway.

Bish - Very nice job with the camo. I'm really looking forward to seeing this one progress. Is it weird that tank reminds me of a BMP?

Ben - Congrats on finishing those tracks. It always seemed like the never ending pile didn't it? They look great on the Tiger. Sorry I can't help ya with the AK chipping stuff. I know Andy has used it though, so he'll probably have some advice.

I didn't have as much time as I would have liked. Too much social time! -haha- I got a little further on the weathering. I also either fixed or test fixed the tools and such. There is a lot of touch up to be done there, I know. Some of the stuff still needs paint. But it's starting to look closer to being finished. Then the dreaded figure...

Here she is:

And for fun... some mild Photoshop action.

Tony-you're off to a good start....very nice build in progress....looking forward to more progress pics.

Bish-great work-very nice camo scheme-can't wait to see more.

Hi Everyone,

I've made some more progress on my 1/48 Tiger.

Here it is, primed, with some pre shading.

Then I sprayed with Tamiya XF-62 German Grey, in three shades. The natural XF-62 for the undersides, wheels and lower hull sides, with a bit of buff added to lighten it for the upper vertical surfaces, and still more buff for the upper surfaces. Lots of detail painting and weathering to come yet.

Certainly not perfect, but I'm trying to learn/practice new techniques to improve the realism of my armor models. The difference in shades or more obvious that I am able to show with my basic photography skills.

Cheers

Tony

Very nice work Ben, loveing it.

Hi guys,

A quick Sunday update:

Finally both sets of Friuls are on and are looking good. They can stay on for the minute but will have to come off again soon so I can add my Friul washes and take the file to the guide gorns and raised areas on the tread sections.

• Somehow I can't get this AK chipping stuff to work properly so ignore the tatty finish as I need to back to it. The label says to airbrush it on but I'm not airbrushing that tiny section! I painted the hatch interior off-white and let that dry overnight. I then brushed on a couple of layers of AK Mild Chipping Solution which was totally dry after 30 minutes. I then brushed on the Dunky which I intended to chip to show some white underneath. I let the DY dry for about 2 hours. I then humidified the hatch with water as per the label and took a toothbrush to it to show some light wear BUT it hardly had any effect? I then tried it again using the Heavy Chipping stuff as I'd bought both types but hardly any effect? I mean VERY little!
• I know this stuff works so where did I go wrong? I'm sure it has something to do with drying times maybe? How long should the top coat be on before I chip it. Does it need to be left overnight to cure or just for a couple of hours until it's touch dry? No problem - I'll sort it!

Anyway, Friuls are on so weathering can begin in earnest next weekend!

Photos from today:

I hope you like her so far guys - comments very welcome!

Have a good week fellas and take care!

Ben

A bit later than planned, but finally have something worth up dateing. I got the rest of the camo on and then gave it a light misting of very thin DY. After that, thge marathon thgat was the decals. All 3 of them.

 I have just ordered some weathering products from AK. I have never used these before but been wanting to give them a try. So next step is a couple of coats of future and then wait for the postie.

A bit busy today, but I hope to get some painting done later in the day. Perhaps start in on the tools as well, but i'm not sure that is a good idea yet.

Marc-your weathering on your KT is spot on-especially more impressive is that it is 1/72 scale (that's right, isn't it?)

Ben-your Tiger continues to impress-the Fruils will be a great addition.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the helpful info.

Pyrman64 - Re the painting on my Tiger, so far all it has had it the basecoat and cammo application. I'm going to start painting little details like the gun ring (I'll drybrush that) and the hatch from now onwards. I'll be fitting both Friuls later and will then start the full weathering process.

I've just this second painted the round hatch door interior using my basecoat shade (I used a brush to make it look like the crew had hurriedly slapdash painted it to hide the white). I painted the off-white last night and then left it overnight to fully cure. I've applied the AK Mild Chipping stuff and as soon as the DY cures I'll chip it up.

These damn Friuls are taking FOREVER! The links are so big and all my 0.5mm - 0.65mm drill bits for the pin vice have blunted badly which is slowing me down but I've only got about 40 links to go so not much left.

Update later!

Ben

OH BOY! Am I ever having fun now! Yeah, and I also love gluing mad badgers to my head. Trust you me I am only going to do this to the spare links. If I attempted to do all 200+ links the GB would long be over before I would. Delightful.

To me the hatch appears to be the exterior colour, definitely not white.  I also copied the photo and viewed it in a paint program.  It is interesting that both with an eyedropper tool and  crop comparisons the lightest parts of the hatch are still (ever so slightly) darker than the bottom right hand corner of the tool bin.

Not sure when the official directive went out that eliminated "white" hatches, but it stands to reason that by this stage of the war when the Allies had air superiority, you definitely would want to hide your presence from air patrols.

Marc and Andy, good question about the detail on the front bow.  This is the best pic I can find, but when looking at the Bovington Tiger, the area is smooth and devoid of any detail.

regards,

Jack

Well i'm back on the forums !!! Looks like everyone has been busy . Some of you guys are getting close to finihing . I went back a couple of days and looked but i didnt see any new completed builds . I have the tracks assembled for my KT and will be getting some paint on them now . I see the debate about the escape hatch is still being debated . Interesting , these little details . Too bad them German tankers didnt take the time to take more photo's of the details ................and in color!!!!

Ben, Dave, Bish & et al: My posting is not theory, it's actual orders from the defense ministry to the manufacturers.  Also, what you are seeing is not the difference in colors, but a difference in light reflection/refraction.  It's not about whether a hatch will be open during combat, it's about a hatch being open in a combat zone, where light reflection can give away a vehicles location to the enemy.

Ben: nice Tiger you've built there   just one suggestion, you might want to add a bit of bare steel to the air defense gun ring.

cheers!

Nice work there Ben. And I don't have any clue what colour to paint the hatch insides but like the idea of painting them exterior mustard yellow and then chipping them to expose the off-white underneath.

Hi guys,

Right - I've just painted the hatch interior and the round doorframe with Gunze 'off-white' and will leave that until much later to set hard. I may need to leave it overnight so I'll get up real early, paint a few coats of AK Chipping Solution on it and will then paint the basecoat colour on top of the white. When that's dry I'll gently chip the edges of the round door to show wear where the door has been been opened and closed exposing the 'off-white' underneath.

I've painted the whole interior in 'off-white' including the locking bar so after chipping I'll go back with a fine brush and really detail-up the sliding bar and handles which lock the hatch door. I'll probably paint the metal squared-off bar in a simple bare metal colour and the handles will be black to add contrast.

Paints for the job - the Gunze Metalcolour will be used on the sliding bar lock:

Now - thest's get these darn Friuls finished!

Update tomorrow - a 'proper', decent update!

Ben