Bish- Your funny looking tank looks GREAT!  Dig how tiny the turret is on huge body...  I am with you about DS Track.  My Tiger kit came with one and there was no way I wanted to use it.  Managed to sell it on eBay for $10 which surprised me.   Used Friuls instead... I'd rather for Dragon kits to come with Magic Tracks than DS Tracks...

Malone- Work on the turret is stunning!!!  Keep it coming...

C'mon guys... DS tracks are impressive...  when I compare them to the tracks provided in my old Tamiya kits...

...against Friuls though, a whole different story. lol  

Well done Bish! Very nice camo to go along with the dusty used look. I appreciate the unique subject for sure. Also appreciate your knowledge in this build.

Malone, you are a patient man sir. Love the PE on your little cat.

Not sure if anyone's noticed, but I have been adding the finished builds to page 1. When I go to post this in the Armor Forum, I'll just send the link and voila! It will save a lot of time.

I just looked at it Eric ..........some good looking builds !!!

Thanks all. This is on of those subjects i have wanted to do ever since i became interested in German armour. So when CH brought this out, i just had to snap it up. And really glad i had the chance to build it.

Andy, i will second that. And when it comes to these expensive CH kits, i would have thought splashing out on Magic tracks would not have been asking to much. My CH Tiger has them as well.

Dave, its been years since i used Tamiya tracks, so my memory of them is probably wrong. These DS tracks did paint well and were easy to join together. I thought i would give them a try as replaceing with Fruils can get expensive. Maybe its just me being a bit of a snob and a Fruil freak. But i still don't get the fuss. But each to his own, right.

Eric, i do like the unusual. I have had a lot of help with this build. So i have a big thank you to jack & Dave for the help with the uniforms and with the ifno on the vehicle. I may have got that book a bit late for the vehcile, but the info and book will come in very useful for the Dio. Thanks guys.

And a very big tahnk you to Ben for all the help and advice on AK's stuff. I am now hooked on this stuff and will deffinatly be getting some more.

As always, the build is as much down to the help, advice and encouragment of the great people on here as it is to me at the bench.

The front page is looking great Eric. And compareing mine to the otehrs, i realise how un tidy it looks with all that clutter in the background. I think i need to get somthing plan for a backdrop.

                To all involved,great looking builds.fsm will have to expand to get all of these in,hey thats a great idea,why dont they feature a G.B. every issue. Anyway.

               Malone ,just a looking at that braille scale turret is causing undue stress on my optics.If I may,it appears the barrel looks as if it is in partial recoil,could be my eyes though.

               Well always lurking in the shadows,although I noticed a brand new Alfred Kurzmaul Tiger 1 under the tree.Hehehe.See yas.

                                           Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

Yeah, great work guys!!! 

The front page looks fantavelous!!!*

*I couldn't decide on fantastic or marvelous, frankly it's a lot of both... 

May be a few little tidbits that can be added before prime/paint but after painting all that stuff already on the little KT, I am going back to my old MO and all that will be done off the machine.

Got some wheels adjustments to be made once the track install is permanent... bend a few axles, glue tracks to the tops f the tire... that sort of stuff.

Filled the chipped areas with Bondo, wiped most of is out then stipple it with a stiff brush. Some will show primer exposed and other will be as if they occurred before the white was was applied.

Bish, if you take another picture without the background stuff, I'll repost it for you. As far as DS tracks go, they saved my life on my elefant. I do believe that I'm much better with indy tracks, but the Elefant's weren't  magic tracks and they were really hard to get around the sprockets.

Greg, would love to have your King Tiger!

Mark, slow down bud. I haven't got my camo finished and you're almost done with your third build! Digging those weld beads on the turret.

I am going to get some light blue card on Monday. And have been reading a couple of threads on taking photos. So finally going to make an effort and learn to use my camera right, so should have some better photos during the week.

Marc, ye what Eric said, your making the rest of use look like snails. A great looking build once again.

Bench time... the plus side of insomnia.

Deafpanzer (Andy) - final have some paint on - color modulation looks great.

wing_nut - Panther zim looks great, like the missing patches

Malone Duke - PE adding extra detail to the turret ... slowly progressing along on the tiger, finishing up the air filters, starting the engine deck, tools, tow cables. Armor86

That is some sweet work there Armor86. Wow.

That looks great Armor86! 

Btw: couldn't find a Christmas Tiger or Panther 

Merry Christmas guys!!! 

Marc-you are flying.  I hope I can at least do a little more work on my Panther before you finish #3.  btw-looks great.

Armor-your PE work is insane-very impressive.  That is going to be one nice Tiger.

Gamera-thanks for the pic.  Someone in our area has done the same treatment to a cement mixer....just not the same though.

Armor 86 - That is an insane amount of detail! Wow! Very nifty work there.

Andy - Modulation looks sweet. You painting this similar to your StuG you built for the Pz III GB? The figures?, Well, I need to take lessons... I'm watching.

Marc - Where have I seen that tank before?  ha ha - just messin' with ya man. I'm looking forward to seeing it in a cool winter scheme. I also find it impressive you can get so much done... I think it took me 3 weeks to accomplish what you have done in a matter of days (zimmerit). 

Hi guys -- it's been six weeks since you heard from me, three of which were spent in the UK (I was following the GB but had trouble logging on from my netbook) and the rest have been dominated by a backbreaking house move here in Aus. I've got a workshop in the new place but am only partially unpacked, my painting settup came in today but my striplights won't be here this side of the holidays, sadly...

May I say the work here has been among the best ever -- Ben, Carl, Dave and Bish, your tanks are absolutely show quality, they belong in magazines with how-to texts! My KT will be a much more modest affair, I'm sure! The models in this GB are the sort that one learns from, and I say that with appreciation for not just miniature engineers, but artists.

My KT is packed with the rest of my finished and in progress models, I have a tall stack of boxes on my bench waiting for a display case to be assembled in the New Year. I'll carefully transfer everything from boxes to glass shelves, then I'll be able to resume my various projects. The KT needs some camo touchups, followed by a dust coat, a dirt coat on the underside, the tracks get sprayed and detailed, then its on with weathering and the fine details.

I had hoped to do a Jagdpanther as a companion piece but I don't think I'll have time, especially as mjy main stash, some 70 boxes, now fills a whole room in the new place and will need to be fully reorganised if I'm going to get access to any particular part of it, not a job I'm looking forward to...

Cheers, happy hols, and I hope to complete my contribution to the build when the new year gets underway.

Mike/TB379

Glad you made it okay Mike. Looking forward to the King Tiger.

Thanks Mike,

That's a really generous comment buddy - really appreciated

I'm looking forward to seeing the piece of old junk that Andy put's together! LOL!

Ben

Panther take 2. Got some blue card today, and its amazing how much of a differance this alone can make. Also finally got around to playing with the settings on my camera rather than just leaving it on Auto. O ye, and added some chipping to the muzzle, thanks Dave.

Looks much better even if i do say so myself. 

Bish

Panther take 2. Got some blue card today, and its amazing how much of a differance this alone can make. Also finally got around to playing with the settings on my camera rather than just leaving it on Auto. O ye, and added some chipping to the muzzle, thanks Dave.

Bish - looking really good.
Smart move on using a monotone background - depending on the camera and if you rely on auto focus, the camera will not focus as well on the main subject when there is a cluttered background.   
If your camera permits it, adjust the white balance to the lighting you are using.   It will likely take a few test shots to zero in on the best setting.  If not, you can correct it somewhat, in a paint program.   

Hope you don't mind, but I took your first photo and manipulated the sharpness, as well as the brightness/contrast and finally decreased saturation by 8% just to give you an idea of what else can be done.  

regards,

Jack

Jack, thanks for the kind words and the advice. No, i don't mind at all. I wanted to get this one done as soon as possable, so only played with a few basic settings. That does look a lot better, apart from anything else, it shows the dusty look off which my photos lost. Thanks for the advice, i deffinatly need to work on this.

Well the models looks terrific Bish.  And I too hope you don't mind but I played with the colors a bit.  It appears to have a orange/yellowish cast. And since you said the card is blue there is a definite green hue.  So I took out some red and green (they make orange in "light'... different than pigments) and added a touch of bluie.

Can be very tough to get the correct color balance with the camera settings.  A lot of times the color need ot be fudged with a photo editor   nearly all my pics I post have some combination of adjustments to hue,  saturation, brightness, contrast,  and sharpness.

With your permission Bish, I will swap out the picture Jack manipulated with the current.

A86 the intakes look awesome.  Are those black pipes part of an AM set?  If not.... what are they?

Now I am off to my "brother from another moethr" house for some holiday cheer.

Merry Chrimats and Happy Holiday to all you Cool (Steel) Cats.

Eric and Ben, thanks, guys! Only telling it as I sees it!

Bish -- yes indeed, working with the coloured background does make a difference. I ususally shoot my gallery pics against both blue and white to provide that variety, as each will bring out different subtle aspects to the model.

Cheers, Mike/TB379 (And Merry Christmas, it's the 25th here in Aus!)

Eric, ye thats fine.

Guys, thanks for all the help and advice on getting decent pictures. I will deffinatly be playing with the camera and my photo editor over the next few days. It makes a hell of a differance.

Merry Xmas to you all.

wing_nut - they are the original parts in the Tamiya Kit - Tiger I Initial Production No. 227 Afrika - the AM / PE Voyager Set provides numerous fasteners and hose clamps as seen on the intakes/hose, the metal collar that the hose fits into slid into the hull housing and was hand made since neither the kit or AM didn't provide that small detail. Need to fill the Feifel air cleaner cans top side and sand .... Armor86