Got the Tiger started.

Cheers

Tony

Ben: whoops-pre-emptive yeah that's it!

Ben - Very impressive work.

Hasen - Excellent! You may not have got the camo pattern dead on but that is NOT the point. point is that you absolutely nailed the essence of that pattern. It looks awesome.

 Not  much progress but a liitle. Assembled the exhaust stacks. Cut and bent some PE. Moving along.  

Cheers for the kind words lads

Gamera - thanks for the Happy Birthday but it's NEXT Sunday (4th November), hence the reason for booking the Friday off at the end of this week - unless it was a pre-emptive Bithday greeting?

Dave - Panther cammo looking sweet!

Ben

Thanks guys for the compliments.

Carl, special thanks to you for the research and the pictures. These just further muddy the waters of course. The bracket that holds the Bosch headlamp on my Panther is a little different than the one shown in the pics you show. (See below). It is more like the Panther A in these pics. I can't determine if the wiring goes straight down into the glacis plate or not. But I have decided not to worry about it. (I like how you can read the stamped Bosch in these pics too.)

Other interesting things I noticed quickly looking through the pics from the link are that Panther has a Notek headlight on the right side. I don't recall ever seeing one of these on a Panther, but that is from memory and I know from experience to never say never. Also, maybe the exhaust setup seems to be reversed. In my resource material they don't have the stack of three on the right side ever, but the reverse.

Anyway, interesting stuff. I'll have to give the pics a better look through when I have some more time. Unfortunately, time to make the donuts....

Dave

A little disappointed. I got the cats paws on (wheels on the Tiger). the first 4 steps to the Tiger are finished. Slow, but steady.

Hasen ,Beautifully done camo ! You really matched the drawing . And your correct . No conduit . I didnt think that the electrical would be run down thru almost 5 inches of armor steele on the glacis ..............wow ! Seems like vulnerable area .

I found this photo of an ausf. A and it shows the electrical running down thru the glacis directly behind the light .

Here's the link with more pics of the Panther ausf A

http://www.worldwar2aces.com/panzer-tank/panther-tank/

Ben , looks like the decals snuggled down well over the zim . The mud build up looks authentic also .

HP: nice work! I like it a lot. Looks pretty darn close to the painting to me.

Alrighty then... falling behind again in the comments department. (Thanks for the kind words on the last post.)

Marc - Great job on your finished Panther G. I am hoping to achieve some of the same great weathering effects on mine...  Good luck with the 1/72 KT. I personally would go insane trying to master the microscopic scales.. so I'll leave that to you and a few others with high power magnification.  Looking forward to seeing how you tackle it.

Carl - Really neat finish on all your painting. I like the concept of the DY over the primer. I can't wait to see it all come together. And to answer your earlier ? about the conduit for the light... I'm not sure the conduit is visible on this variant. I think it runs straight down into the glacis plate from the mount. So... none needed! 

TB379 - Looking forward to your progress as time allows.

SMJ - Super job on the WW. I love how it came out scruffy. Just like the real thing. I can appreciate how much practice this must take as I'm nowhere near that level of expertise yet. (I've tried it once with not the greatest results...) So,  to you sir. Marvelous!

RBaer - Great idea for the Al tubing for the exhaust. Is it difficult to get the correct shape?

Ben - Camo and filter/washes look great. She's really starting to come to life. Trying to keep up with ya... and I have a 4 day weekend next week too starting Saturday.  (or I see you seem to prefer ...lol)

So, here we go. I've got the base camo coat on. The colors are a little lighter than I usually use... but it's growing on me. I am not completely blown away with what I've done... but I have to remember this is just the beginning. Now I get to try to apply all the neat things I've learned on these and other forums for the last couple years... and try not to get too confused in the process. It's GO time!

OK, colors are Nato Green with a touch of Flat White and Red Brown with, yes you guessed it, a touch of white. All Tamiya. All of the markings are painted on except the front 2 Balkan Kreuz. I made a stencil for the turret numbers and the triangle on the loader's hatch. The Death's head (x2) and rear Balkan Kreuz are stencils from Alliance Modelworks. This is the 1st time I've had the real estate to use them and they are - well, you be the judge. (I love 'em!)

And the comparison to what I was trying to emulate;

Any critiques, comments welcome... thanks for looking.

Dave

Marc: yeah, looks like a nice kit there. Even in 1/72nd the Tiger ll is gonna be a big model.

Ben: she's coming along great! The steel rimmed road wheels look good, going to aim for the same look on mine. And btw happy birthday sir!

I like the look Ben. I've made a start on my 1/48 tiger so I might use your method of adding muck behind the road wheels.

Cheers

Tony

Hi guys,

Just a quick update for today:

I'm supposed to be working from home today but it's been mega quiet so I've been able to get a nice bit done!

First off on with the decals and then and overall layer of varnish as I'm planning to keep washes to mainly pin-type washes. I thought I'd be marking her with a number '1' but it seems that I had 1, 2 or 3 to choose from and I thought that the 3 looked the best. It's not easy getting them to sit down on that Zim!

In brief I wanted to get the wheels on but that meant adding some muck build-up behind the wheels. I made up a mix using Plaster of Paris and Tamiya Earth coloured Acrylics to make a nice dry mud accumulation which I applied using an old brush and stippled it on lightly in a thin layer. I'll be able to add some additional colourations later.

Each wheel, which I had already painted with Dunky last week, had the rims painted with Gunze Metalcolour Stainless and then polished to a nice worn metal shiny look. The outer wheels I did the rims using a 2B Graphite stick as they are the ones that can be seen properly and the effect from the Graphite looks better than the Stainless paint imo. I drybrushed the outer faces to show worn metal on the raised areas and added some Mig Brown Wash to each wheel face - the effect looks great. I must have spent two hours on the wheel detailing and it was definately worth it!

Next week I want to paint the turret hatch interior and paint and fit the tools and the tow cables before I start on further weathering. I must start on the Friuls too. I'm using some of my holiday up so will have the Friday and Monday off either side of next weekend - it's my Birthday on the Sunday so a long weekend will be perfect!

Here's a few photos:

So, that's where I'm up to. I hope you like her so far!

Back to work tomorrow so updates a-plenty next week during my 4 day weekend!

Have a good week lads,

Ben

Cable spool came out great also .

Marc , nice looking kit .

Everyone is holding their breath waiting to see what "Sandy" wii do .........................

Eric: ok sorry mistook your meaning there.

Carl: thanks. And the storm photo was taken in Florida Friday evening as the hurricane heads up the Eastern seaboard. Didn't hit down here, I think it's still on to hit the mid-Atlantic later this week.

Clay the ocean looks a little rough , was that the storm in S.C. ? I was reading about the Yorktown . Looks like she was about ready to be scrapped . Glad she will be saved . Thanks for the pics .

I mean that I loved the Essex-class carriers.

I noticed the hurricane bow and that was the noticable difference,

Yeah, she's CV-10 the second carrier. The first York was sunk at Midway. In 1955 the second ship got an angled deck and enclosed bow to handle jets like the F9F Panther.

Ben- Sweet camo. It really looks the part.

Carl, I'm running out of words to praise you my friend. The wheel look sweet.

Cliff, love the York. That is an Essex-class carrier isn't it? It appears pretty modified, but I love the original class myself. My fave US carrier class.

Marc: all she needs is a dusty dirt road to drive down.

Ben: coming right along!

Carl: thanks for the photos. I'm doing steel road wheels and figured I'd just hit them with a little steel paint, love what you've done there- think I'll do the same.

Btw: don't have any postcards but what the heck:

Beautiful sunny pre-hurricane Florida. Thankfully it blew right past here and today was really nice:

Sorry she's not an AFV but I stopped by to see the second USS Yorktown:

Ben ........Good ! Let me know if you any problems / questions .

Hi guys,

Cheers for the comments!

Shellback - I'm going to try that method of yours - definately! I've got a couple of chunky 2B Graphite sticks and have just tried one wheel now. The effect is superb!

Ben

:-)

Ben, great job on the camou  - it really looks the part.  One method I found that helps with a busy pattern is to slightly water down the colour(s) and apply with a hairy stick.  Then go back over with an airbrush to get the feathered edges.  Not the way it actually was done out in the field, but at this scale it does make it easier to gauge the position of each portion of the patterns.  Since the surface is covered in zim, that might not work as well if you load the brush too much as it will run all over the place, so a pencil of the appropriate colour might be better.

Good question about the use of satin finish.  I think it's use is more for scale effect.  An example would be the WW1 fighters that  had clear doped surfaces - satin would look better compared to a high gloss finish, the latter making it too toy like.  As for sealing decals, I think gloss might be slightly better, but I could be wrong.

Steel road wheels - no doubt there is more than one way of painting these.  You can try painting them a flat grey with a hint of brown, and then rubbing on some graphite.

regards,

Jack

Carl, just saw your wheels - good stuff

Ben , i agree , yout camo looks authentic .much as a real camo from the time period would have been applied . Well done !

About the steel rims .........The last thing i do after painting the wheels is apply the "steel". I use a soft graphite pencil to "draw" the graphite unto the rim . Its tediouse . To seal the graphite i spray it with some "Future" . This will keep it from rubbing off or dimming when touched . I spray the "Future" at a right angle to the wheel face so as to keep the clear gloss off of the rest of the matt finished wheel .

Here's an exhausting couple ...............

I used Mig rust and a dash of smoke pigments in combonation with some MM (Model Master) leather with dry brushing of Pactra Mustard thrown in the mess to get the finished look .

Hi guys - all work looking spot on!

Marc - loving that Panther  but looks like the turret is sitting up as Shell has just said. Best get the camera set-up out again!

Todays work - apply some colour to the Tiger! I had wanted to replicate the instruction scheme which showed slithers of cammo and left plenty of basecoat visible so I tried applying Blu-Tack on some sections where one colour would go with the idea of applying the second colour later on. Unfortunately the applied paint didn't look right and was waaay too hard-edged for any realistic German scheme that I've ever seen on a Tiger so I decided to hit it with an attempt at free-hand which turned out really well. It didn't exactly match what I was attempting to paint but the scheme looked more realistic and I'd left plenty of basecoat showing so this will weather up very nicely. For the cammo I used Vallejo Model Air Tank Brown and Panzer Olive Green. The Dunky Basecoat is Tamiya Dark Yellow mixed 50/50 with Deck Tan and a drop of Buff then thinned 50/50 with standard Tamiya Thinner.

I'm definately getting the hang of freehand ab'ing now! I've put on a couple of light coats of AK Fiter (Brown for White Yellow and Brown for Tri-Tonal Cammo) which have softened the sheme up nicely. Tomorrow I'm working from home (2pm-10pm) so in the morning I'll put on the Gloss for the decal areas and when my shift starts I'll pup the decals on and then seal them with an all over coat.

Next weekend is my Birthday and I've booked off the Friday and Monday on either side of the weekend so I'm hoping to get a good chunk done next weekend. I've got the Friuls to start and the wheels to finish - not to mention assembling them Lion Roar Tow-Cables, painting the ivory interior of the hatch and painting and fitting the tools.

Two questions before photos:

• Gloss & Satin Varnish - When I've put the Decals on I tend to seal the whole thing with gloss varnish then I finish up with Flat Varnish to tone things down . What would happen if I were to use Satin? I've now got some Vallejo Satin but am still trying to work out where it fits into my modelling? When would I use Satin Varnish?
• Steel-Wheels - The wheels have been painted but what colour should I use for the 'steel' areas. A bare Steel colour painted on or drybrushed on? A stick of Graphite rubbed over the Steel contact surface?

I hope you are liking her so far guys - I'm super chuffed with the cammo!

I'd love to hear any feedback / comments that you have.

Cheers fellas - update tomorrow!

Ben

Have to agree with Carl. It looks like the turret is kind of floating on the hull.

Nonetheless, you've kicked off the completed builds with a doozy. Love it brother.

Marc , check the turret out in your pics , it looks like the turret ring is setting on top of the hull at the front of the end . You might want to retake some pics . Other than that the new pics do look better . Are you using flourescent lighting ? Buy a new camera ?

Eric the urge is getting stronger and I don't think I can resist

OK really done this time... I swear

Added the track hangers and extra track tot he turret and cut down an Aber antenna to the appropriate length.

Also new bulbs for the lighting + better camera = better pics.

Carl, before you ask... #3