BIG CATS GROUP BUILD 2008

It looks really good Mike.

Everything you mentioned sounds like it can be knocked out with a few hours of dedicated work. Gotta love the sprint to the finish. Good Luck!

Regards,

Jeff

Well, guys, the tracks are mounted, the tools are disengaged from the sprues and undergoing cleanup, I've done some bare metal drybrushing.

Remaining tasks: touchup and mount the tools, add the engine deck brackets over the tow cables, paint and add the spare track links on the turret sides, make and mount a radio antenna, paint the bow gun, add the carbon staining at muzzle and exhausts, and add the Feifell linkage hoses.

It's New Year's Eve here in Aus, I have a family dinner then an evening out, and I'll be home mid-dayish tomorrow -- Dec. 31st in the US. I'm really hoping I can complete the beast tomorrow afternoon!

Cheers, and Happy New Year,

Mike/TB379

Hi Panzer88 --

It's either patience or dogged determination...  I must try the marker technique, it sounds like it'll save a lot of hassle. I was going to try it on a 251 where the rubber rims are teensy in 1:35.

All wheels were pre-dusted with MiG Europe Dust, and have now been assembled to the axles. Here's the first rank, retaining caps installed:

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Second rank, drive and idler installed:

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Third rank:

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And fourth:

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Finally, here's the animal up on its wheels at last:

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I knocked off an S-mine ejector during handling, will reattach as I add the external tools. My next job should be some subtle bare metal drybrushing in enamels, including the drive sprockets, after which I can add the tracks.

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Nice panther Panzer88! the light weathering looks very vool.

Hi Stickman, Glamdring, Panzer88 and Scott --

Thanks for the kind words and info on the cleaning rods, they're in wood finish and drying as I type this. Today I production-lined the finishing tasks on all 48/32 roadwheels. They're wash-weathered in broad-mode and pinwash, including even the boltheads on the inner wheel rows and the backs of the inner row which might conceivably be glimpsed from an oblique angle inder the belly. I've touched up the sprayed tires (MM Interior Black, the Tamiya acrylic NATO Black absolutely did not want to know about brush application, no matter how thinned), and have added the subtlest bit of bright rust around the centre bolts. And it took well over an hour to clean the masking solution from all the mating surfaces, clean them up with a file and be satisfied that the glue will do its job. Here's the job about half complete:

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I'm uncertain how much of this detai will actually be visible, this is my first Tiger after all. I might have wasted a fair bit of time here on embellishments that won't be seen!

I'll be mounting the running gear tomorrow, completing all detailing and dirt/rust on the tools and cables, and mounting them also. The tracks were sprayed and weathered a long time ago. Powder pigments should be about the last job at that point, along with the radio antenna. It's New Year's Eve tomorrow on this side of the dateline, I might go a day over in the last detail touches, but that would still be New Year's Eve in the US -- how do folks feel about that?

Cheers,

Mike

PS: Panzer88 -- The Cyberhobby Panther F turned out absolutely fantasic! The subtle mud job is excellent, you can feel splashes onto the fenders as she's heading up a muddy road to the front. Heavy metal!

Here is what the gun cleaning rods look like on the StuG III Ausf. G, which would be similar to those on the tiger but more rods.

Nice builds guys. That tigger is looking good, can't wait to see her all done. That baby whitewashed panther is looking pretty sweet also. Well I'm calling this one done. I went light on the weathering as to show a late war vehicle fairly fresh from the factory, no chips or heavy scratches, just dirtied up from heading up to the front. I added a coaxial mg42 to the turret since the kit didn't supply anything and the empty hole didn't look right to me. I also had to modify the spare track links to get them to fit on the rack, a real pain in the a.. ,but worth it. Other than that , a pretty enjoyable build.

Nice Tiger you have there Thunderbolt.  I have the same Bison Decal set laying around here somewhere.  To answer your question on cleaning rods, I believe they were wood, and I have always seen them depicted as such.

Thanks JMart, I agree the wash really brought out alot!  Now that I've actually done it, I'm confident my next will be much better.

Very nice TB! the weathering on the turet is realy good I can't wait to see ther reast of the build!

Guys: 4 days to go, keep at it!!!

Several builds still going as the end nears.  I like the way the Tiger is turning out Thunberbolt379, and thanks for the heads up re: Bison decals since I just purchased some for a Panzer IV build that I'm planning to start. 

 Don

Boba Fett - yes, nice detail for 72 scale but the hull/fenders fit was very iffy. I had to clamp the parts down and tenax them into place. Small space in between a febder and a hull but I dont have time to fix it.

I hope I have time to finish her up... currently away on vacation and with the flu (great combo RIGHT!), had to postpone our return home until tomorrow Monday. I can paint her up Monday, assemble the wheels, tools, etc Tuesday the 30th. I can risk silvering and apply decals without a Future basecoat, and weathering will be minimal... maybe I can pretend the Russians just painted the captured vehicle so it will appear new and shiny ;)

Glamring - Looks good, winter camo looks better now

Thunderbolt379 - great progress, looks good. Great info/tips on the bison decals.

And a Happy new year and holidays to everyone in here!

Hi again (three posts today is it? Another record for me...)

Not a bad session today. I didn't get to the running gear or the pigments, but I did get to:

• Burnt sienna rust enhancements
• General wash weathering essentiallyfinished
• Decals applied (Bison 35023)
• Tool painting about half done

Here's the turret:

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And in closeup:

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Whatd'ye know, it actually looks like a Tiger turret...!

Bison decals -- excellent quality, very thin and lay down over a flat finish with zero silvering. Only hassle, they like to stick where they touch, you need to just about float them in MicroSet to get any slippage whatever, so you gotta be accurate. In retrospect I'd have cut the rearmost digit away from the side turret codes and applied it separately, as while the decals will conform over the raised disk at that point (with a few applications of MicroSol) the designs are visibly distorted -- i.e., the decals were created symetrically for a flat surface, not a 3D one. It's not a huge issue, but a lesson learned for the future. Also, the Bisons are very glossy: I overcoated with Gunze clear flat before applying them and they're still brighter than the surrounding paintwork. A little dust will help blend them in.

Cheers,

Mike

Yo, guys -- technical question...

Were a Tiger's barrel-cleaning rods metal or wood? And am I seeing them stowed correctly inside the loop of one tow cable?

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments -- this is only my second oil wash project and I was far from certain of it. The Tiger is not so 'rugose' as the StuG, there's fewer natural corners and edges for rust to develop at so the runs seemed less natural too. The StuG, with all its bolt heads, was a rusting paradise!

Panzer 88 -- It's Academy 1:35 #1386, it's the same molds as the complete interior version, but without the interior. There are parts on some sprues for the interior, such as the torsion bars and the ammunition stowage. I would very much like to do the full interior version, and I'm sure there are excellent AMs to amplify ans accurise the detail. They go for about $60 off the shelf in this country, which is about the same price as a Hasegawa 1:32 Bf 109. Cheaper from Hong Kong... I got this one (mint/sealed) on eBay a couple of years ago and paid a lot less.

Stickman -- glad you like it! The chips were stippled on one at a time with a sable 000 brush in burnt umber oil paint. The challenge is not to go too heavy, I was worried the overall wash had darkened the paints too much but the contrast with the black wash elements now seems fine under most lighting conditions.

Bufflehead -- thanks, man! I'm confident I'll have her done in time for my badge.

Today I'll switch to burnt sienna to subtly amplify some of the rusting, start touchups and weathering on all the running gear, apply the Bison decals (three turret numbers, two hull crosses) and start painting the on-vehicle tools. I can pull the masking solution out of all the locator holes, and very carefully from the spare track hangers.

Cheers & thanks,

Mike/TB379

Glamdring, your little Panther is turning out to be a winner!!  I love the winter whitewash, great work!  I need to finish mine sometime!

TD379, Tiger's getting close to the finish line!  Its amazing how much a good wash and some basic weathering can improve an "anemic" looking paint job!  Keep it going...just a few days left!

Man, I'm dying down here in SoCal!!  I won't return home until tomorrow and I've got SOO much modeling to do before the 31st!!  I really want to finish up my Jagdpanther.....the wait is killing me!!

Very nice job TB, how did you make the chips on the turet?

Hi again,

Here are the promised WIP pics. I've done a general oil wash weathering in both broad and pin-wash modes, plus used Promodeller Dark Dirt panel wash in some areas. First up, here's the unwashed Tiger alongside my StuG III from The Hunters. The pristine Tiger looks somewhat anaemic!

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Here's the beast plus the tools used on the job:

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And some closeups of various parts, with the dirt and rust, chips and spots well along:

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As always, comments and suggestions from Die Panzer Experten on this forum are more than welcome, and I look forward to moving on to the MiG pigments for the dust of the Kursk Salient, carbon at the exhausts and gun muzzle, and -- possibly --  a little dried mud in a few places, remembering that Russia is a very wet country, even in the good weather. Still, before I move to the decals and pigments, I'd welcome your comments and I've plenty of time to tweak the details at this stage if necessary.

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Oh no! The pictures have disappeared from Lu's Tiger painting tutorial on pages 18-19! ARGH!

Mike/TB379

Hi guys,

With five days to go before the end of this build, I am delighted to report that my Academy Tiger I is undergoing wash weathering. For the first time I've used an overall oil filtre -- it sure darkens the beast, a lil more than I had intended! Pin wshing at this time -- photos later.

Mike/TB379

Double post, of updated pics.

I am extremely close to done, I just need to do some minor touch ups and stick the MGs on the Panther.  Then I'm calling this one complete!  Someday I'll may put mud on it, but I'm quite content with it as it is right now.  Many thanks to SMJ for guiding me on the weathering path, my results aren't as fantastic as his guide, but I'm definitely filing that away for future use.

Outdoor snow terrain pics will be taken on the morrow, hopefully the rain won't melt all the snow....

SMJmodeler wrote:

Glamdring: Whitewash is tough...go check out my Winter Camo Tutorial I did for my SU-122 for tips and techniques.  Keyword search it...It will help.

Great guide you have there.  Thanks for the tips and I will be implementing some of your ideas to make my whitewash a bit more worn.

If it ends up like garbage, I hold you responsible for planting such ideas on my head. 

Guys: Sorry I've been sparse here lately...thanks for the post about my life keeping me busy dupes.

Boba Fett: I added you to the participant list!

JMart: I'll make the build change, nice work so far!

panzer88: You're on a roll dude...first that Stug, now this kitty...AWESOME camo!

firesmacker: You're camo' looks good too, especially for your first try.  The dirt looks a little off to me though...not sure why.  The color is right but it doesn't feel random enough...take another look and see what you think.

Glamdring: Whitewash is tough...go check out my Winter Camo Tutorial I did for my SU-122 for tips and techniques.  Keyword search it...It will help.

bufflehead: Good looking Jagdkitty!

JMart wrote:

Boba - I also withdrew my first entry and started my second without "approval"; hey it happens! :) Real life gets in the way at times.... lets just build, post and see what happens! :) For mufflers, I have only done ONE WW2 armor kit before (2 total lol), here is the recipe I used from wbill76 (Bill), but I use enamels: basecoat MM nonbuff metalizer Gunmetal, dry for couple days. Thin wash  (10;1) of MM enamel RUST, let dry. You can add shavings, talc, powder to give some texture. Dry brush burnt amber with or witout black pastels. Or add some red brown pastels or pigments if you want more "rust" firesmacker - I also see the smiley face of a Pace spray booth? I have one too...

Thanks JMart for the tips! I also have a pace booth! I love that baby, but unfortunately, the mother doesn't. At least she goes to bed early, and I can sneak in a couple sessions of AB in!

Jmart - that's some good work, buddy. Happy to see you breaking into the PE arena!

Now you have a week to finish her up...

JMart,

  There is PE in  there somewhere?  I need better glasses... 

 Don