Italeri Tiger I Initial Production - COMPLETE! Aug. 9th. Photos page 7

Thanks! I am about ready to start painting in a few days. I am SO wanting to start that

Well first up, the main thing I have been doing over the past couple days- working on the Tristar crew figures.

I did some painting on them but at the moment can't seem to find the photos after they were uploaded to Photobucket...

ok, this is real odd... these ones are showing on and off on my PB home page but not in the assigned area where I put all my WIP photos

anyways I primed the figures in Tamiya Buff

and then since I have a real preference for Gunze's Flesh, but it hand brushes badly and come out too glossy due to it's semi gloss finish, I airbrushed it on. I have never airbrushed any base colors on figures before so this will be an interesting task...

and the other side shot of the turret is floating around on and off PB as well... shades of that Star Trek episode where Kirk would appear and disappear...

Very nice looking build so far. It's also good to see that you don't necessarily need a state of the art kit to make a nice model. Spraying 1/35 scale figures sounds like a bit of overkill but I know what you mean with trying to brush paint with Gunze, although they aren't the worst ones that I've tried to brush paint. I've found Citadel paints to be the best for brush painting, and they offer a good range of different flesh tones too. They are a bit more expensive though, but I only use them for flesh so one pot goes a long way.

yes, it definitely borders on overkill to airbrush on the flesh base coat here. Being my first time trying this, I honestly cant say if I will do it again. but for now the experiment is going well. At least the color came out far less glossy this time and my follow up washes should be good on that semi gloss base...

Carlos, for great skin tones, get Windsor &  Newton artist's quality acrylics in a tube. Use white + Raw Sienna. These acrylics are as smooth as butter, and those two colors get you a great base to work from.

I keep saying that I am gonna try oils one day... I am sure I will get hooked once I do... I presume they are found  at most art supply stores, and possibly even Hobby Lobby?

Stik, Windsor and Newtons are indeed found just about everywhere hobby and art supplies are sold.  They are pretty much the standard oil sold to artists.  Depending on your desired application, they may have a bit more linseed oil in them for your purposes, and if so just lay out a dollop on a piece of cardboard square and the cardboard will draw out the excess linseed giving you a thicker pigment.  

I recently found *** Blick sells the tubes at a real nice price ($3.50 per 37ml tube) and picked up a bunch to replace the dwindling supply.  Here is the website if you are interested:

www.dickblick.com/.../winsor-and-newton-winton-oil-colors

OK, I will have a look at Hobby Lobby, there was one recently opened about 3 miles away from my home. And in the opposite direction a little closer to home is a full stocked mom & pop type art supply store. They are a bit more pricey but definitely serious about their art supplies from the few times I have been in there. The local community colleges recommend that place to their art students.

Thanks for that info and advice NH.

Tiger gang looks right at home for this one Stik, looking forward to seeing this one progress.

Thanks Bill! the next 36 hours or so wont have too much time for progress pics, but Monday I should get some more photos up on line... I was able to swing by the LHS last night after work for one more crew figure and the strip styrene that I need to scratch the headlight brackets. Still waiting on those PE grills to come in though...

Good progress for me today. All scratch work done. I built the brackets for the headlights based off of photos and drawings. I even used those Academy shave off details for the bolt heads 

and since my photos of the spare track brackets did not come out well the other day I took a couple more to better show the work...

and here is the part I added to the TC hatch for the pad on the inner surface

here is how it looks overall now. I still need to glue on the tow cables- there are only pressed in place for this photo... gotta wait on those grill screens to arrive

and my continuing work on the crew figures

and a new Tamiya figure that I bought the other night for this tank as well...

Today was mostly paint work on my big cat- using the same improvised approximated RAL 8020 Braun I airbrushed it on the area around the exhausts- I figured that when they repainted the Olive Green in the field in Tunisia, they were were not too thorough and some of the original exterior Braun base color would still be visible there...

I am gonna tack the exhaust guards in place for the Green, but will remove them to paint the exhausts after the Green is on

and I primed up the head light/front plate area with Tamiya Panzer Gray and re did the inner surface of the TC hatch

some close ups of the painted work there...

and I primed up and began work on the Tamiya crew figure

and the Tristar figures are a getting there

It's getting there...

She is coming along great Stik!  I will admit to have been watching this build come along mostly because as you build this Tiger I initial I have been paralleling with a Tiger I Late/Final.  Alas I had a setback in my build......after all was said and done I just did not like the way my tri-color camo came out.  So she is sitting in a bath of Simple Green as I have hit the "reset" button.  Alas I think you will be finished long before I will.

Thanks NH. Yes, I am at a pause point  now myself. I can paint most of the upper hull tomorrow, except for where the tow cables and engine screens will go...

At least your setback was just a simple matter of a repaint... no cats or special orders involved ;-)

Since my LHS is having extreme difficulty getting my engine screens to arrive in a timely manner, I sidestepped, chose an alternate makers PE screen, and ordered them from Sprue Brothers late last night. So I am hopeful they will be here by Tuesday so I can get her all painted up. In the meantime I have been working on painting the crew figures...

You really have shown that there are no bad models,Stik,if one is willing to put in the effort. I saw from the early pix that you used Humbrol adhesive when doing the tracks.My :HS has every glue but that,hence I've never tried it.I've always used Testors liquid w/the pink label on indies.Does the Humbrol give you the extra time while still keeping it together.If it's a better choice,I'll source some from somewhere.Great work[especially on the turret interior].Looking forward to seeing the end result. Kieth R.

Thank you sir. That is exactly the philosophy I try to follow in model building, to paraphrase 'the riddle of steel', what is plastic compared to the hand that wields it? ;-) I stopped using Testors liquid cement about a year and a half back due to some quality issues with the last few bottles of that stuff that I had  used. The Humbrol stuff gives about the same time as the Testors does when it is working right, but it is just a tad bit "hotter" I think.  But these tracks are actually workable, if you are careful in applying the cement. So drying time with the glue was not really an issue this time. Hopefully by the end of this coming week, I should have the basic painting all done.

Today I got an email from Sprue Brothers saying that my purchase shipped on the 6th. So I am hoping it arrives tomorrow so I can get basic painting completed. Today was mostly spent working on flesh tones on my crew figures and some detail work on them too... but I gotta admit, the DAK bug is biting me hard working on these guys and researching them... must... be... strong....  

and posed in the turret...

But I have not been too strong... I had these old Italeri guys that have been WIPs for many may years and since I was doing DAK figures and had a few (much nicer) extra heads laying around, added them to the party... extra practice on flesh work and new decent heads had drastically improved them... the pith helmet is from Warriors and I hollowed it out with my Dremel to fit it on the new head..

and some old Dragon and Tamiya DAK figures that are "not quite finished" either for detail work have come to the party...

am I really gonna paint the splinter pattern on the tent...??? 

At least you're keeping busy stik! Nice work on the figs.

Nice work on those figures, Carlos! They always add so much to the presentation!

Just wanted to chime in, mention that I am enjoying following your build here, Stik. Educational to see how you're doing it.

Hope to try a tank one day myself. Have vague memories of one in the distant past. Not sure if it ever got finished or not and it was all working in the dark anyway.

Thanks for posting and updating this informative WIP thread!

Thank you guys! 

Bill, since my pacakge did not arrive yesterday, it was a cross between busy work of passing the time doing the small things on the figures that need to be done if it is going to be displayed with them, and fun work trying out new technique there...

Karl, you are very right about adding to presentation. And I really gotta give praise to the Tristar set, they are probably some of the best figures I have ever seen molded in injection plastic! I think I might be able to pull this off properly...

Greg, I am glad that you are following this and if it is educational for you, even better! I just knw that this is a fun project that is very enticing to me. I had planned to do lots of Modern Armor for my near future, but now this thing is calling me back to WWII North Africa... I think you might enjoy an armor build yourself...

Sorry that I was not able to update here sooner... yesterday morning my package from Sprue Brothers arrived in the mail with my PE grills, and more DAK figures...

so with what little time that I had left before work, I installed the grills

and then the final bits needing to be added to the engine deck

then it was time to get ready for work.... no more time left today so it was a smoke break for Hans und Franz

today, after running errands in the morning, I finished the Olive Green base coat- Model Master Enamel Italian Olive Green

Now Dieter is quite happy with how his ride is starting to look

Ja!  Das ist gut, Stik mein herr!

Alles Klar Herr Kommisar! ;-)

So yesterday morning I got some more work done. First up I took some shots of the green in overcast natural light

and a better shot of Dieter and Rolf under the same light

then I airbrushed on a coat of Future

and a shot with the crew how I am thinking of displaying them

Crew looks right at home!

Thank you Bill. I think so too...

Yesterday before AMPS I was able to get the decals on... yeah pretty rough, turret numbers and hull crosses  but those turret numbers had me worried for a bit... until they dried completely they looked like they would be horribly silvered... thankfully that did not happen