BIG CATS GROUP BUILD 2008

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

Mike/TB379

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

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

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!!

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

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 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

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!

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

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

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

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.

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.

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!

Nice panther Panzer88! the light weathering looks very vool.

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

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

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

You know the old saying... Time flies when you're having fun.   Well I must have benn having one kick butt good time since I have not looked in here since August.  So I just back and looked at all the stuff that has happened since then and all I can say is "Holy gargantuan felines Batman!" Way to many to single out so I will say that all great stuff.  Like that braille scale stuff. But try a 1/144 aircrft and scrath build the cockpit and an engine plug

Great GB SMJ.  Hope life treats you, and everyone else too, better for the New Year.

panzer88: I'll look at your Panther a bit more and give you some more comments, but from a first glance she's looks fantastic...I'll get back to you when I get more time, OK?!

Tbolt: Stay with it, 12 hrs is plenty of time!

wing_nut: Glad to see you back here, I've curious to figure out how many of us actually did finish our builds.  This was a big GB, 20+ participants.  I'll be putting together a gallery as a separate thread (probably in armor) so everyone can take a peek.

Thanks for the well wishes for 2009, hope it is a prosperous year for you too!!!..hope to see you at AMPS Natty's in...April, I think...you going!? 

Here is the latest and almost last update...

Here is the construction, sans wheels, tools and paint. Fit was so-so as mentioned. Couple small parts went flying and not included.

Tracks were a major pain; do NOT use any type of liquid cement on these types, they melt COMPLETELY. I had to anneal the tracks as best I could with acrylic-based glue. Spare tracks and muffler painted, tools painted on sprues.

Painting - My AB booth is in an attached unheated garage. After painting, I was cleaning up and forgot to bring in the model... overnight at near freezing temperatures had an effect in the painting, you can see some paint dimpling and orange-peel like effect. Normally, I would re-paint, but lack of time prevents that course of events. Will have to touch up if possible.

Back assembly, with tools, spare track, etc. Will touch up after installation.

After paint touch-ups of the tools, spare track and muffler.

Decal on.. had to coerce it with some microsol. Tracks on...very tight, about 6 wheels broke off... some are distorted now..ugh...

Pinwash with burnt umber, some slight dusting.  Tracks dry-brushed steel after burnt umber wash.

Letting everything sit and dry for a bit. Will end up this afternoon with some pastels weathering, maybe a touch of a sludge wash, not sure yet...

Ok, mine is done... few pastels and Tamiya mud weathering stick for weathering it a bit. Wheels still look like crap, but will have to stay that way.... not very happy with the end product, probably last 72 scale I attempt! but if I can bend PE hinges at this scale, should be ok at the larger ones... good learning experience! I am "moving" my original Panther build plan to the End Game GB. Thanks SMJ for hosting a great GB! And Happy New year all....  

The New Year starts in less than 2 hrs and I only have time to celebrate the completion of my 1/72 Dragon Jagdpanther!!    Talk about going down to the wire!!!  WHEW!!

Apologies to all those who have completed theirs recently!  I've just been too busy to respond as I should.  Comments will be posted tomorrow at work (yep, have to be in at 6 AM!!)  I just want to say what great company its been to be in this GB!  Great work all and special thanks to SMJ for hosting the GB!

OK, enough yakking!  Here it is.  I didn't have time to do any serious weathering on it, but since its so small I'm not sure a whole lot more could be done.  I screwed up painting the side skirts so I left them off.  Oops it looks like I completely forgot to do the tow cables!!  Darn!  Oh well, I'll add them later.  Enjoy!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Hey!  I can claim my badge now!!!   YIPPEE!!