ARMOR - Tamiya 1/35th Tiger 1 MID PRO Group build

Thanks, Frosty, but I don't smoke, cigars or anything else. So we'll just have to pass all three along to Shermie!!

Have a great day;

Bill

QUOTE: Originally posted by Moses with the wife being 8 1/2 months pregnant, I am avoiding the airbrush for the time being.

admirable restraint, commander !
and may i offer congrats and best wishes to u both in the home stretch ?
stock up on sleep over the next couple of weeks and don't forget to let us know about little mo' when s/he arrives ( u can give my cigar to wipw or shermanfreak, tho !)...
off -thread frosty

I don't have much to report. I used the friscut cut with the circles cut out to paint the inside of the road wheels (man am I looking forward to an all steel wheel vehicle!!). It worked okay to do it that way. The big problem I had was that the friscut stretched a lot when I was putting it over the wheels. I had to kind of fold it together to make it fit. But it still seemed to work pretty well. I put the wheels on the hull and managed to get most of them on still turning. It may make it easier when it comes time to put the tracks on. (The idlers and sprockets still turn also.) I will probably put a drop of super glue down the back of each wheel to lock it all together when I'm satisfied with the tracks.

I got a set of Karaya Tiger tow cables in yesterday. They look real nice and I've read great things about them. I'll let you know how they turn out.

I bought a set of Tamiya photoetch grilles for the grates on the rear deck. I'm not sure I like them. The Aber, Fine Molds, and Eduard sets all look better to me. I'm just having trouble finding any of them.

I'm still working on the side fenders. The brackets that go under them are not an easy thing. There just isn't a lot of glue surface for them.

Well, that's about it from Utah (Southern Canada!! LOL) I hope you're all doing well and getting lots of fun kits to build.

Bill

QUOTE: In the meantime I have been working on a secret project that will even make Shermie's mouth drop to the floor. I guarentee it.

A 1/35 scale Buffet !!!!!!!!!

I know I know Eric...my Tiger I is all built, just haven't had a chance to get a primer coat on yet. with the wife being 8 1/2 months preganant, I am avoiding the airbrush for the time being. In the meantime I have been working on a secret project that will even make Shermie's mouth drop to the floor. I guarentee it.

OK, break-time is over here....

Get Back To Work!

I haven't been posting because I'm very close to being done with mine too. I've started thiking about making a simple display diorama for it. I work at a millwork company and have been scouring the bins for scrap wood but so far nothing good.

Sounds good Bill, good luck with it. I have not posted any more here because I am done with my project, but I would love to hear how the rest of you are doing.

Well, where are all the posts to this thread, fellow 1/35 tiger'ers??

I bought the circle template I was talking about. It's made by OLFA and is called a Compass Cutter. It costs about $10.00 and comes with 5 blades. and will cut a circle as small as 1cm diameter. This should handle most 1/35 wheels (return rollers excepted), I think. I measured diameter of the raised portion of a wheel with a divider, divided by 2 to get the radius, set the cutter to that size, and cut circles out of a piece of Badger Friskit. This weekend, I will put a wheel in each of the holes and spray the dunklegelb on the hubs. (Friskit is tackey on the back and is used for masking). I really think this is going to work well. It virtually eliminates the problem of the circle template being too thick and thereby not being able to paint the edge of the rims.

Have a great weekend. Hope it's a three day for most of you.

Bill

oops, Pardon the slip up. May I be boiled in tiger grease!

Thanks for word on the template. I could go buy a circle cutter from the RC hobby shop and cut an exact match out of ffiscut. Maybe that's what I will do.

Good days to y'all

Bill

QUOTE: Originally posted by wipw Hey, I saw one of those Ampersand Publishing "Modeling the Sherman" on E-bay for $15. Thinking maybe I sould bid on it. Bill

Hey, Bill said "Sherm** in y'alls Tiger post!!!!!!

Bill, I did find a metric template somewhere (can't remember, I've slept since then ) but it still doesn't match up exactly on anything I've checked yet. I think the model makers use some archaic formula in developing a 1/35 model wheel.

Eric

Supposed to be a great book ... don't have a copy myself ... maybe one of the days.

Gee, imagine that. Why would you think they are so prevelant there??

Thanks, Robert. I'll call some of the bigger houses. It's getting tough to find drafting stuff here since CAD has taken over what mechanical drawing used to do.

Hey, I saw one of those Ampersand Publishing "Modeling the Sherman" on E-bay for $15. Thinking maybe I sould bid on it.

Have a nice one.

Bill

Check out a drafting supply store Bill, they should have some.

Funny, these metric templates are all over the place here in Canada.

If you can't find one, let me know, I'll take care of it for you.

Has anybody found a source for metric circle templates?? I've got one that's in fractional inches, but they just don't ever seem to fit! (Hmmm, German tank originally made in metrics, Japanese model company who use metrics as standard measurments...that could be the reason!! LOL) Anyway, I've checked around here and all I can find locally are the inch type.


Thanks

Bill

Rob, Great new sig. line! (Especially from the king of Zimm!!) lol

Well, I used a bit of Saturday's modeling time to go to the regional IPMS convention. I was pretty disappointed, over all. I was expecting to find a bunch of retailers from out of the local area, and was hoping to find some MK tracks for the Tiger, as well as some tools for precision gluing. (I Can't remember the name. They are made by the same company that makes Flexifiles and are long, glass tubes with needles in the ends.)
There were several of the "local" shops there (although the two big shops, Great Models and Douglas) didn't bother to show up, and there were a few "privates" selling off some of their collections. There were virtually no after market parts. What there were, were aircraft parts from Aries, nice, but not what I was after. I did manage to pick up a 1/72 Revell M1A1 and a 1/72 Revell Panther D/A (that won't make up anything acurate but a late A (from my box perusial).

Having said all that, I did drive the 50 miles to Great Models and back and picked up one of the 2" Hold and Folds. I wanted the 4", but they were out of them. I used it to bend six of the eight (two were already done by hand) brass side fenders, and one of the exhaust shrouds with it. And it worked very well. The instructions tell you how to bend all kinds of "structures", including z bends, u bends, boxes, etc. I chose to do things a little differently for the fenders and they look pretty good. In fact, all the bends came out so closely matching, that two of the fenders stuck together so well in the lacquer thinner cleaning bath that I thought I'd lost one of them. I like the fact that the two inch tool is so small, I can hold hold it in my hand when aligning the parts for bending. I don't think I'd like to try it on anything longer than a two inch bend, though. So it will be relagated to 1/72 and smaller 1/35 parts. It ought to be great for bending tool brackets!

Anybody have a good way to bend the exhust shrouds? I used a dowel and #1 Xacto knife handle to "roll" them, but they still seem to spring back a little too wide. I got kinks in both of them, but was able to work them out.

Hope you all had a great model building weekend.

Bill

Thanks Edog... I'll have to give them a try. I think I'd like painting the numbers more than decaling.

Thanks Edog. The zim on teh manlet was definately a pain in the butt. I like Eduard, and it was ok for this kit. I like almost all of eduads fret excpet for its tool clamps. I mean, nothing comes close to Abers offering. I went with teh kits side skirts because I wanted a nice neat build..and didn't want to kill myself with the brass . Thanks again Edog.

Cheers

Rob

First, thanks everyone for the kind words about my Tiger. Sorry I have not gotten back to you guys sooner, I have been VERY busy.

Kumakichi,

I used Eduard vinyl stencils for my tiger, and was quite impressed. They were like $3 and can be used multiple times. The only slight problem I had was getting them to stick to the zimed finish. I HIGHLY recommend them. I airbrushed the paint over the stencils, but I’m sure using a stencil brush would look just as good.

Moses,

What can I say man? GREAT job!!!! Very clean build. Everything looks superb. What did you think of the Eduard PE set? I had mixed feelings about it, but in the long run was happy with the parts that I used. The fenders were the biggest problem I had with the Eduard set, and I think I understand why you went with the kit ones. Oh, by the way, excellent job on the zim, especially the gun mantel.

As for a Panther build, I just got the Tamiya late G. I am looking forward to starting it, and would love to try a team build. I think this one is going to be SOOTB for a change. Only problem is that I won’t have any spare time to get much done for another month or so.

Look forward to seeing more pics from you guys. Happy modeling,

edog

Bill, Aber now sells the cables as a seperate product. I walked into my Armor hobby store, and they were there..so I bought up a few packs. They come in one long piece that you need to cut to size. They also come in different sizes. The price was about 10 to 12 bucks US if I am not mistaken..but not bad considering the look they give.

I have a set of late model castens that I bought for my Tiger but didn't use. They are really nice tracks. Hopefully I'll do another late Tiger with all the goodies on it.

I wish they had those kinds of modeling things near me. I end up surfing for them [:0]

I'm gonna try to find a lower cost alternative to the cables. I read a really cool suggestion

Well, they sure look nice. It even looks like they have the correct left-hand twist to them. I'm impressed. I haven't seen them outside the "super" detail kit, though.

Where did you find them? And about how much??

I'm going to the region 10 IPMS convention this Saturday, and I hope to find LOTS of goodies for some good prices. But we'll see.
If I can just get my hands on some Model Kasten tracks for this beastie, I'll be happy. (Oh, and maybe a DML Nashorn or Hummel, while I'm at it!! LOL)

Have a good one;

Bill

P.S. If you're ever in the neighborhood (thank you, Mr. Rogers!!), how about stopping by and giving me some hands on zimmerit lessons!! 'Cause mine sure don't look as good as yours!!)

Thanks guys.

Bill the cables are from Aber. I have also used them on my Konigstiger and I will get pics of them up soon, as I just finished the build on it also. They are very flexible, and are very easy to work with, but are quite expensive.

Moses;

What did you use for those cables?? They look terrific!

Bill

Terrific job Moses. Looks great and you sure know how to do zimmerit! I like the cables too. Nice touch. Can't wait to see it in paint

Moda;

I notice you keep saying you "have to get in and fix the zim"! Where??? I can't see anything wrong with it. It looks fantastic. I wish mine looked half as well. You've done a great job. I should give you the laural wreaths as you are the Emperor of Zim!!

Looking forward to seeing the rest.

Bill

Sweet Rob ..... excellent looking build so far.

Ok Moses, my opinion. The other day you said you were ready to throw it across the room, well if you do...I'm gonna smack you..hard!!! That looks absolutely great!!! Especially the zim. Keep it up, can't wait to see it finished

Eric

OK, after working on this Tiger I for a while, I think I am ready to post a few pics. Everything is done, including the drive sprokets, idler wheels, road wheels, etc..but I didn't picture them (because we all know what they look like ). I paint my wheels and tracks seperate from the model so, I haven't attached them yet. I still have some cleaning up of the zim to do on the gun mantlet, as well as fill in some spots on the rear end. The zimmerit was made in the usually way...with Tamiya Polyester Putty. I didn't go with the etched brass side skirts because I am not aiming for the battle damaged look some have been shooting for. These pics are definately still work in progress. Any opinions are very welcomed..it makes us better modellers



























Cheers

Rob

I believe they have the late A in stock at Great Models...providing you want the one for the Tamiya and are not looking for the one for the DML.

Cheers to you;

Bill