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

A bit more progress today- detail painting done on tow cables, OVM tools, spare track shoes, exhausts, and bow M.G.

then I built up the new set of Dragon DAK figures that I bought from Sprue Brothers along with the engine screens

and two panzer crewmen

one of whom I think will go good with the other figures for this build

Today I was able to get the wash work done on my Tiger.

My god, mother of lords!  This is awesome!  I'm never posting another picture on here again!  I have saved this thread to my "favorites" bar for its wealth of info.  Maybe now I won't have to annoy you so much with all of my questions . . . but I doubt it.

So you did your wash over Future?  Do you wash the entire thing or just the details?

Here's to you, matey!  Drinks all around! 

Thank you  much, but you are far too kind. It has flaws, but I'm not telling where... Yes, I did a coat of Future over the base color- painted the tools, cables, etc. w/enamels, applied the decals, drybrushed bare steel highlights on the tow cables and tool steel w/ enamels, then sealed it all up with another coat of Future. Then I did this pin wash with Model Master Enamel Burnt Umber. The reason for the Future coats in between is for clean up purposes. Any excess enamel paint I can clean up with a thinner moistened brush and the thinner won't attack the base color because of the Future. I did a pin wash on all raised detail except the suspension, not an overall wash.

Looking good under the washes, always the fun part on a build, the weathering!

Yeah, the next bit of mud is gonna be fun.... getting it on the tracks, under and on top of the fenders, etc...

"I used dirt from my front yard garden- ground down and sifted until i have really really fine dirt, then I mix it with a few drops of water and some Future to give it better adhesion"

You know, I tried when I was like 17 but wasn't smart enough to figure out how to make it stick.  Now I know.

Well today was good for me, I got some "cheater" detail items- a PE fret of straps to use, and a decal sheet of AfriKa Korps (and SS) uniform insignia

and I have been painting up some stowage items- stahlhelms and rucksacks

and mainly doing figure painting... I still need to do another wash or two on the newest guys face and paint the center of his epaulettes black to match, but he is almost at the same point as the other two as of now...

well figure painting has been both addictive and spreading for the past 3 or for days... since there are other DAK guys in the sets I am using I had to work on them too

and since Model Maniac posted a DAK figure set with Rommel in another thread on here and mixed up a batch of the brown for the trench coats...

and since the Rommel figure came in a set with Monty, and he has been sitting in my sidelined area half painted, I resumed work on him...

and since I mixed a batch of flesh for Rommel and I had these Gebirgsjaegers primed up sitting on the sidelines and I did not want to waster the rest of the Flesh color...

and since the Gebirgsjegers came with a donkey and I wanted to try my hand at airbrushing an animal for the color variation...

next thing you know my work table is covered in figures being painted... so to return my focus on the Tiger.... things are now back under control...

tomorrow I will apply the insignia decals to the figures, do the painting that  I mentioned above, and do all the mud work on the lower hull...

LOL Stik I know how you feel about a ton of extra projects on the bench. I am trying to put out a Tamiya Tiger I Mid with CMK interior and driver set but also am trying to finish up several Japanese IJN WWII ship builds at the same time. Then I still have 2 1/16 scale Tamiya figure kits to finish off as well.

More awesomeness!  Where are the decals from?  I could use a few of those.

The decals are Tamiya.

bitbite

More awesomeness!  Where are the decals from?  I could use a few of those.

I'm sorry, but I can't tell if there are any SS helmet decals on there.  Do you know?

I just found out that ones I had from an older kit that I'm using on a current build were all off center and they look bad.  Need to replace them.  Thanks.

BB, you can have them if you want the SS helmet decals. I am not a fan of most SS units...  yes the decals are Tamiya and they are sweet... but on that beautiful sheet they give you enough decals for three DAK tankers headgear (pink piping), side caps or field caps. And they provide for three Panzer Grenadiers (green piping), three artillerymen (red piping) and three Regular infantry (white piping)... but I love this decal set (and want to marry it). Now I need to get ahold of the Heer continental set.

Mike, this sidetracking is my weakness... oh this is fun, I can go that way... oh those guys need this color... oh that thing needs some work... it's insidious... MUST FOCUS!!!!

Woohoo!  I'll take 'em!  We'll have to set up a way that I can get them, and you can get your paints, your gin, your tonic, your beer . . . am I forgetting anything?

Really want to get this sidecar done with so I can start my new kit. I only do one at a time. *shrug*

OK my friend, no worries there... and one kit at a time is a wise method... stay focused!

Yeah, considering my lack of skill that's probably the best course.

Skills... nunchuck skills...

well today was a two stage day... first up I spent the morning doing the decals on my crew figures- more difficult than aircraft stenciling!!! But they look better than anything I could ever paint...

then I spent awhile sifting dirt out of my front yard for some real nice stuff to do weathering and my base with... separated into fine and coarse. Afterwards I took a break and watched a movie so that I could relax a bit...

the mud was still drying when I took the photos

"Battalion is sending us thru the Kasserine Pass... you're going to choke on Panzer fumes.."

Megawsome!  Yes, I just invented that word. 

Thank you sir!

Nice progress with the figures and of course nothing looks quite like dirt as well, dirt!

Thank you Bill. Here I am 48 years old and still playing with mud, army men, and toy tanks...

I still have my old Marx Guns of Navarone playset if you wanna come over.   hehe

So I spent the morning doing intricate work- cutting up lead foil to make shoulder straps for the stowage rucksacks and chinstraps for the helmets. Then I painted them up, took a break while the paint dried and afterwards glued the straps in place. Then I attached a piece of thread for rope on two of the rucks and then super glued/tied them into place

the forward rucksack had a strap run thru the smoke mortar mount and was glued in place, and helmets had chin straps glued on then were draped/super glued appropriately..

If this doesn't win something at the contest there is something very wrong with the world. 

Well it's part of a GB entry at Nationals next month and it wont be judged individually. Not to mention there are are many less than perfect things in this build... but I am not telling where... I am just worried about it getting there and back intact...

Carlos,

Good work so far, but let me give you some advice to improve the look of the mud a bit. It's a bit unrealstic with how it's SO dirty on the bottom hull, but there's no splash or spatter on the "clean" parts of the upper hull. Look at this photo:

What I'm doing here is spraying a stream of air through a larger brush that has been loaded up with dirt, pigment, even paint, and basically blowing junk onto the model in a realistic spatter-effect. PRACTICE THIS TECHNIQUE FIRST to learn the distribution characteristics of whatever medium you're using and the right air volume to use with it. LESS IS MORE at first. Use the same stuff that you used for the lower hull dirt on your model, and spatter it onto the hull and wheels and upper surface. It will help to blend in the dirt and will look a whole lot more realistic.

Then, use a darker shade--think "wet mud"--to go OVER what you've got already. It will add depth to your dirt. You can also use a big stiff brush or even a toothbrush and spatter this stuff on using your finger to "stroke" the bristles and make the load spatter onto the model.

Go for it, man. You can do it!

You are very correct Karl. Weathering is not done on my kitty... yet.... I still have a few more steps to go on that. I like that idea of the airbrush blowing thru the hand  brush. Quite innovative

Hi Stickpusher,

Very nice attention to detail and very cool execution!

Brave man to take on the discussion on the Tunisian "Green" Tiger as well.

Thanks!

Johan

Hey Stik,

I just bookmarked this thread to use as a learning aid whenever I get around to trying a tank.

Looking fantastic! The detail work from Mon 29th blows me away. As does your attention to detail overall.