Dragon #6253 Tiger I Late Production-Complete 12-20-13

Cheers Bill. Glad to see a WIP again, and of cool subject no less. 

Bill, I've built this kit a bit ago and I found really good fits all the way around, I can't wait to see more progress and see how you finish it. Love a Tiger build...  

You know i'm with you Bill,great start.I'll be starting Wittman's 007 soon,so this should help.

Tagging along Bill. I like they way they have designed the pins with the ability to insert 4 or 5 at a time. I do love MK tracks!!

Eric

Anthony

Jester

Ahhhh the good old Tiger.  I think the reason so many are built by modelers is because....THEY ARE AWESOME!   I have to say modern armor, like the Abrams, Merkava, etc., have these elegant utilitarian lines that make them look rather aggressive in a beautiful way.  But for sheer "I am here to kick *** and chew bubble gum....and I am all out of bubble gum" attitude the Tiger has the lines and the reputation, to back up it's own version of beauty.

As usual, can't wait to watch the show progress.

Brian

Hard to argue with you there Brian! Glad to have you along.

Hi Bill,
You have been saving up on this one just to tease us...
I don't mind 

This thread is firmly tagged 

Very Best Regards
Johan 

Count me in for the ride, always a pleasure watching you build. This will be fun.

Johan

Glad to have you along for the ride as well!

I want to watch it since I'm building the same model this winter. Only I'll use Friuls.

Appreciate the interest KC, glad to have you along!

Another weekend means another update! Work continued on the Tiger with attention given to the rear hull plate. The kit part received the corresponding Atak zim panels using a combination of Gator Grip glue to position them and then running liquid glue under the panels to tack down the edges and ensure the panels bonded to the part underneath.

Dragon deliberately molded the hull with a slight warp in the hull tub as a design intended to allow for a snug fit with the plates. The rear plate is big enough and strong enough to force the hull sides into the proper alignment using just regular glue. Once the plate was in place the lower-most zim panel was added around the base of the tow hitch to round things out.

The front of the hull however needs a little help to overcome the warp, so a piece of sprue was cut down to the necessary size and glued in place to brace the hull and help it hold its shape better.

I dry-fitted the glacis plate along with the hull roof and the front plate of the fighting compartment. This not only ensured that the bracing length of sprue was providing the right level of correction, it also ensured that the brace held its position correctly while the glue set.

Then I sat down to deal with the remaining 2nd track. 2 football games and 93 links later, the second one was completed.

Next up will be more work on the hull side panels and other similar details.

Looking sharp Bill!!  I believe the inward bow on the Tiger hull is an "issue" or "an on purpose" design with the Dragon Tigers right?

I'm on board Bill. Always enjoy your WIP builds. Always learning something from you.

Love that zermmit!

Jester75

Looking sharp Bill!!  I believe the inward bow on the Tiger hull is an "issue" or "an on purpose" design with the Dragon Tigers right?

That's right Eric, the bow/warp on the hull is an intentional design element in the Dragon kits. It's supposed to make the fit tighter for the modular hull plates that build up on the 'frame' of the tub and it fulfills that purpose very nicely. The tension on the front plates though is pretty strong, I was able to actually get everything to attach and align correctly without the sprue brace but it created so much stress that parts would pop off with the slightest shift, so I added the brace to make life a little bit easier when it comes time to permanently attach them.

IB48

Bill, Dragon ought to just put a link to your builds in the box.....

RBaer

Bill, Dragon ought to just put a link to your builds in the box.....

I'd be happy if they just proofed their instructions! Always glad to have you stop by my friend!

wbill76

 

I'd be happy if they just proofed their instructions!  

Amen!!!

This round of effort focused on getting the remaining zim work done on the hull. First up was the left side. The kit includes pre-formed brass fenders with PE braces that need to be added to them to construct each fender portion. Dragon designed them to sit on the little mount tabs and the Atak zim set sits flush around them, so it's necessary to cut the Atak panels to allow the fenders to sit correctly. I decided to leave one of the fenders off on this side to show the detail and the zim extending down the full hull side for a little variety.

Because the hull side integrates with the front plate, I went ahead and installed it along with the glacis plate so I could get everything lined up. The three fenders were installed and some Squadron White putty used to fill back in the gaps on the zim panels where needed.

The front hull plates received their zim panels as well and the ball MG mount installed along with the driver's visor. Just a little bit of putty was needed to match things up with the zim and fill a couple of gaps.

Then the right hull side received its zim and fenders using the same approach as on the left side. 

Next came the details for the engine compartment as called out in Step 7. The kit provided PE frames for the fans are a very tight fit into the space available and they also make it impossible to fit the radiator hoses (parts G13), which isn't a big deal for me since all of this disappears under the hatches and screens regardless.

I installed the roof plate for the hull next, working at the front using liquid glue and moving slowly toward the rear to get the hull to close up properly along the edges. The engine compartment hatches were assembled and installed. It's worth noting that the part numbers in Step 11 for the fan hatches are reversed in terms of which side they belong to but nothing that isn't easily figured out with a test fit. The kit supplied larger intake PE screens were bent so some careful straightening with pliers was required before they were installed.

Rounding things out for the day, I added most of the rear hull details outlined in Steps 5 and 6. The tools and other remaining gear will be installed later on after painting.

Still more work to do on the hull before heading over to the turret.

Smooth work with that zimm Bill! Going to have to try that one of these days..

Thanks Eric! Atak's the best stuff to work with IMHO, give it a shot, you won't be disappointed.

WOW, Bill----COOL to see you doing a mighty Tiger! I think I can't help but echo what everyone else said about being excited to see what it's going to be in the end!

I predict....an FSM cover?!

That odd-shaped plate between the mufflers; it should be aligned vertically. Everything else looks good.

David

Karl

David

Up to your usual standard Bill,Metal looks great.

Thanks Anthony, Dragon packed this kit to the brim with all kinds of goodies. Ah, the good ol' days!

    Bill, looks like a good day for a Tiger.

(Of course, any day is good for a Tiger)

I hear you there DM! Thanks for dropping in.

I still want to get some of that Atak Zim it seems really easy to work with. The rest of the Tiger is coming along nicely too.

Thanks Clint! Atak's the way to go IMHO. Not only do they typically include the zim panels but they also provide full resin replacement parts for things like the gun mantlet that would be very difficult to zim otherwise. Well worth the price to produce a zim finish.

Dang Bill!  I had no idea you were building this kit!  I've had mine in the stash for 6 yrs....I think it was the 5th kit I bought when I returned back to the hobby.   I was too intimidated back then to build it and it still intimidates me!!   Some day I'll work up the courage to attack it, but for now I'll live vicariously through your top notch blog!

Hi Ernest! Glad you found it, still in the early stages yet so you're not far behind. This one was also one of my early stash-building kit acquisitions that has been sitting patiently waiting its eventual turn at the bench. You shouldn't be intimidated by this kit, it's got options of either styrene or PE for most of the parts in question so there's no reason not to tackle it whenever you feel the urge! Happy to feed your Tiger-fix needs until then though.

More progress in the hull details in this session. First up was the front Bosch headlight and platform. The kit part doesn't accommodate the addition of zim, so the little tab on the back needed to be notched at the top for it to sit properly. The kit-supplied pre-bent steel wire for its conduit falls into the same trap, so I replaced it with 0.5mm solder bent to shape and installed with CA gel.

Then it was time to work on the tools. I used the kit-supplied 'clean' tools for the most part, the only one that wasn't usable was the pry bar, TA2. That's because this is a generic tool set sprue and the pry bar there is a much shorter bar than the one used on the Tiger. Griffon PE clamps were used in place of the kit clamps because I find them easier to work with. For those tools with molded-on tool clamps, I removed their thick handles and replaced them with Griffon handles. The kit-supplied brass tube antenna holder was attached with CA gel to round things out.

The tools that attach to the rear hull were also dealt with, receiving Griffon PE handle replacements. The jack is a multi-part assembly and beautifully detailed but the handle has to be placed just so to line-up properly with the mount hole in the rear. I also cleaned up the large tow cables and prepped the cleaning rods. The rods had their solid ends drilled out with a #76 finger drill to create the 'female' ends where appropriate.

Next up will begin work on the turret.

I want MORE

I want more

Tex give us MORE

Tony lee

YEAH!!  

Looking good Bill!  Thanks for the heads up on the parts that need mods or replacement due to the zim!

Tony

Ernest

Looking good bill.

Nice build, watching your WIP.

Thanks Bish!

Panther G

Work moved on to the turret in the latest round with efforts focused on Steps 13 and 14 to build up the main gun and mantlet. The kit includes a metal spring to allow for 'recoil' but it's not essential and I left it out deliberately. I opted for the kit-included turned aluminum barrel. The small locking piece that secures the base of the barrel into the breech and recoil housing, part A9, is shown in the instructions installing upside down. The 'open' end installs down and not up, otherwise you can't get the recoil housing halves together.

The Atak set includes two different resin replacement mantlets that have the zim pattern, The 'monocular' sight version was introduced in April '44 so I went with that one. I replaced the kit coaxial MG34 barrel with a turned brass item from JB Models. I used a small amount of ApoxieSculpt putty to provide something for the brass barrel to hold onto and also blank off the open port since the JB barrel's base diameter was smaller than that of the kit part.

The rest of the gun was assembled per the instructions. The kit provides a choice of muzzle brakes but has the part numbers backward on the instruction diagrams. Parts A11-A17-A18 construct the larger type brake used before April '44 while parts E7-E10-E11 construct the smaller type seen after that date. I used the smaller type to match with the mantlet type selected previously. The brake has a 'D' shaped opening that has to be opened up to a full round opening to mate up with the aluminum barrel, so that was carefully drilled out with a small drill pit and pin vise.

Step 15 adds interior details that I skipped since I'm not showing any of the turret hatches open. Step 16 addresses the turret roof, I chose the roof style used after June '44 and added the hatches and other details. The clear periscopes were left out for now since they can be installed into their spots from the turret underside later after painting.

Step 17 assembles the turret but before I could do that, I needed to add the zim. The Atak set includes the choice of small or large ridge patterns panels and I opted for the larger patterns often seen on Tiger turrets vs. the smaller pattern used on the hull. Panels were added using a combination of CA gel and liquid glue since the curves of the turret put a little more stress on the panels in terms of the surfaces they needed to conform to. Strategic use of some smooth-jaw clips helped get everything to stay put until the glue set. The Atak set provides a replacement resin escape hatch as well as zimmed parts for the view ports on the turret sides. The view port parts aren't the same size as what is molded on the turret, so the turret ports were carefully sanded down until the resin parts sat flush with the zim panel. Then just a little bit of white putty to join everything up to round it out.

Turret roof was then installed in place and the rest of the details added in the form of the spare track holders, the rear turret bin, and the MG AA mount.

Test fit with the hull showed that I needed to adjust the placement of the shovel clamp installed earlier to allow it to clear the bottom of the mantlet. Otherwise everything else played nice.

Next up will be starting the paint work.

Looking impressive Bill.

Sweeeeet!!!  The Dragon kit and Atak zim is going together very nicely!  But what are those "white" spots on the zim?  Different glue?

Nice clean construction Bill

I'm ready for some color.

Tony lee

Eric

Ernest

Tony

I guess I always thought the white spots were a result of no glue in that spot. I learn something every day.

As always Bill things are looking stellar.

Tigerman

IB

WOW!!! This is one great build and an absolute "clinic" for modelers.  I am proud to be following this. Damn, it's good to be back and see this. Thanks for this!!!

Hey, very nice, its the kind of pictures used to make on "how to...." book or magazine.

My pleasure Scott!

Garzon

Hi Bill,
Super blog as always 

Your comment about having to cut the side zim panels to allow for the mudguards to sit correctly made me think...(don't laugh )
Got the same ATAC set and I was simply going to cut it off under the mounting brackets. I was not sure if they would have ever applied zim under the side skirts...but they sure did.

The brackets where high enough to allow for a good connection even with the coat applied.
If I am not mistaking the skirts are bent in an U shape at the top allowing for some flex when the bolt goes through into the threaded bracket hole. Need to check tiger1.info.

Very good fix - the cut is not visible at the missing skirt.

Very nice progress - thank You for sharing! 

Very Best Regards
Johan 

No worries Johan, I went through the same thought process myself and considered the same solution! But, as you discovered, the zim goes all the way down the hull. On the real vehicle the mount points were raised out from the hull enough to allow the fender panels to sit properly once attached but Dragon designed theirs to sit flush to the hull, so that's why the surgery and putty work was necessary for them to sit correctly.

Thanks Bill!

And I was wrong - no U bend but still some flex...

tiger1.info/.../Side-skirts.html

Very Best Regards

Johan

Bill, is there room for one more passenger on this bus?

Looking very good, and great tips along the way.  One question about the second use of glue on the zim sections, do you have a special tip on the liquid glue bottle, or some other dedicated tool to apply it?

regards,

Jack

Of course Jack! Glad to have you along for the ride. As for your question on the liquid glue, I typically will use the bottle's built-in brush to let the glue flow via capillary action under the panel. For smaller pieces, I use a smaller ordinary paint brush to do the same trick. HTH!

I had a couple of small details to attend to on the build before paint work could begin. Those details involved the spare tracks. The 7 links that mount to the turret were missing their individual pin details so I used some 0.8mm diameter styrene rod to recreate the pins on each link. I also drilled out the exposed end of each link to show the empty pin hole at the top that's exposed once they are mounted in their holders.

For the front spare track run, I used the remaining links I had from the MK set for the 12 links required there. There weren't enough links left over in the MK set to do this and the turret links and since the workables are better suited here, that's where they got used. The instructions for this little addition are in Step 12 but they parts callout for the support bar is wrong, it should be K3 and not C15.

With that done, I prepped the vehicle for painting by masking off all the suspension arm mount points with blue-tack to prevent paint build-up from causing an issue with the wheel fit later on. I also mounted all the wheels, sprockets, and idlers on toothpicks with blue tack to make it easier to deal with them, fitted a temporary handle to the turret in the form of a cardboard toilet-paper cylinder cut down to size and let the paint fly.

First up was an overall primer treatment using MM enamel Italian Dark Brown. The zimmed surfaces exponentially increase the surface area so more paint than usual was required to get complete coverage.

Next came the base coat using a custom mix of 50/50 MM enamel Panzer Dunkelgelb and enamel Light Gray.

Same treatment was applied to the road wheels, sprockets, and idlers. Since everything's all steel wheels, that sped up the process here a little bit but I still have to paint and detail the contact surfaces for them before they are fully detailed.

Then the real fun began with the application of the camo pattern. First I applied the rot-braun elements using a custom mix of 50/50 MM enamel Military Brown and Leather and then the olivgrun elements using MM enamel Khaki. Final step involved spraying a mist coat/filter of the original base coat highly thinned from a distance of about 12 inches to help tie everything together.

Top down view shows what it would've looked like from the air.

This will get a chance to sit and cure up thoroughly before moving on to the next phases. Still a lot of work to do in the details department as well with the tools and suspension.

That camo looks sweet Bill.

Thanks Eric! Had to work a little at a time to avoid getting to repetitious with the squiggles...that's the trouble with trying to create something that's supposed to be disruptive, the mind's eye wants to set a pattern with it!

"Here comes the paint, do do do dooooo"

It all starts to come together.  The best part of every build!

Brian

Man that's looking soooo good Bill! I better make sure to renew my FSM subscription!  This one is sure to be in a future issue!

Thanks Brian! Always a huge hurdle to clear to get the major paint work done.

Ernest

Hey,that camo is making me dizzy,it does look good Bill

Thanks Anthony! Don't stare at it too hard or your eyes will stay that way!

I really "graben" that camo scheme Bill!

Thanks IB!

LOVE your base-DY color, Bill! That's a nice pale Tigger!

The camo is very imaginative and well-rendered, too---should look great under some weathering!

OOOhh that cammo is going to look great!

Great steady hand, so nice the flow of colors.

Liked it!

Thanks Karl! I've found the 50/50 mix for the DY makes the ideal foundation for later weathering and such, there's still a lot more to do with this one in the details department for sure.

Garzon

Not a lot of photos in this update round but definitely a lot of progress. I got the tracks ready for more work later on by airbrushing a base coat of MM enamel Burnt Umber. This is just the first step in their finishing and weathering process of course.

Attention then shifted to the details for the hull. All of the tools and tow cables that I'd cleaned up earlier were now hand detailed and installed. The larger tow cables proved more of a challenge than I expected as they kept wanting to lift up out of their mounts on the rear deck. Some finger pressure and liquid glue provided the necessary persuasion to get them to ultimately settle down.

Next up will be continuing work on the remaining hull and turret details before moving on to the suspension and tracks.

The little details are making it come to life Bill!

Thanks Ernest! It's always one of those stages where so much time goes into little things but it's all worth it in the end!

She is getting two thumbs up from me so far Bill!

Brian

Thanks Brian!

Bill, great application  of that camou.  Do you have a separate airbrush for fine lines, or a fine tip set you would interchange with?

regards,

Jack

VERY COOL

Love that scheme bill, she's looking great.

Jack

Thanks ps1 and Bish always good to see you drop in and comment!

More progress to report in the details department. Following on from last week's efforts, I turned my attention to the remaining hull details first. The spare track run for the front hull and the turret individual links were given a light dry-brush of MM enamel Steel followed by a wash of MM enamel Rust. Then some burnt orange and raw umber artist pastels were worked into their finish to add some additional depth/layering. I also detailed the hull MG and coaxial MG in the turret using a base coat of MM non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal followed by a light dry-brush of Steel. Rounding things out, I also detailed the exhausts using a base of metalizer Gunmetal followed by a heavy wash of enamel Rust and then some artist pastels using the same colors as the tracks as well as black for some soot staining.  

The rear hull also received some attention. The tools were installed in their respective positions and the rear Notek convoy light added. I used Tamiya Clear Smoke for the light's body

Efforts shifted back to the suspension and I detailed the road wheels using MM non-buffing Metalizer Steel for the wheels contact surfaces as well as the idlers and sprocket teeth. Some enamel Burnt Umber was stippled on the wheels to simulate scuffing/wear in anticipation of more weathering to come. The innermost wheels were left in primer since they get hidden away and the middle wheel pairs were installed in place while the outer wheels were left off for now to make it easier to weather them separately prior to their installation. Sprockets and idlers are dry-fit only at this point as well.

Tracks also received some attention as well. Dry brush pass with MM enamel Steel followed by a wash of MM enamel Raw Umber to tone things down and get them ready for the pigment weathering later on.

Next up will be dealing with the markings!

Love those tracks Bill, this one is gonna be sharp!

Thanks Eric! Got to love the advantage that workables bring to a build.

Nice, great work on the tracks.

Thanks Bish! Happy belated b-day btw, hope you had a good one!

thanks, ye it was. Got two new kits and went to the village pantomime sat night that my other half's daughter was in, again.

Its looking good Bill, as always.

Question---How do you get the painted tools on after you have painted your armor? I either use elmers or blu tack to hold the tool clamps in place.

Curios as to your technique.

Thanks

IBuild148

Its looking good Bill, as always.

Question---How do you get the painted tools on after you have painted your armor? I either use elmers or blu tack to hold the tool clamps in place.

Curios as to your technique.

Thanks

Thanks IB! If I understand your question correctly, it depends on whether I'm using PE clamps or not. If PE clamps, they are glued to the hull with CA gel and then painted along with the rest of the hull. The Griffon clamps I prefer allow the top portion to be bent over and locked in place without glue after the tools are installed which makes life much simpler. When I'm not using replacement clamps, I glue the tools directly into place using regular Testors glue (or sometimes liquid glue depending) after the tools have been painted/detailed. Because I work with enamels, the glue will bond with the painted surface and once dry the tools are secure in place for the next stages. HTH!

Hi Bill,

That scheme is a true nerve wrecker, but you have managed it very well  

Congratulations 

One thought - would the pattern towards the missing side shirt be a sharp edge or continue down to the bottom of the side armor?

And would the spare tracks have been taken off, over painted or painted around?

Looking forward to see how those primed inner wheels look behind the rest of the road wheels and some weathering.

Super blog as always - dropped everything else and pulled out 6383 in pure excitement 

Very Best Regards

Johan

Thanks Johan! You could have the pattern go either way depending on your view of the crew's thinking. My view here is that the skirt is gone and the crew didn't have time to repaint the pattern down to the hull or replace the skirt, so the pattern cuts-off where it would've normally been continuing on over the fender like you see with the other skirts that are still in place. This adds a little bit of visual variety and character to my Tiger I think, that's why I opted for that appearance. Since these camo schemes were field applied and the skirts were in place when vehicles were delivered, there's no reason to believe the crew would go to the trouble of applying camo under existing/in-place fenders on the off-chance that they might lose one down the road.

The spare tracks question is one that depends on what particular scenario or vehicle you're modeling I suppose and what photos do/don't show for a particular vehicle. The only times you see tracks typically over-painted to match the hull or camo pattern is if those tracks are fixed in place as add-on armor as opposed to being true spares...since of course, spares did often get used and you didn't want extra paint interfering with the ability of spare links to fit in with existing tracks, blocking up track pin holes, or other similar issues when you needed to repair a track in a hurry. Lots of photos out there with Tigers with the spare links on the turret showing they weren't blended in with the hull color or camo pattern from what I've seen.

The innermost wheels will all but disappear once the outer wheels and tracks are fitted, so you won't see much of them unless you behave like a 1/35 mechanic!

Yes, I was intending to mark this one as #213 with the sPzAbt 101.

Bill, very adept work here, and have to comment on how pristine the surfaces are, which is so crucial in the final stages.  Do you wear gloves or have some kind of special apparatus to hold the model when working on it?

regards,

Jack

Thanks Jack! No gloves or anything special when handling the model. One of the advantages of working with enamels I suppose, there's no real worry about potential for flaking paint or other issues once it's applied and fully cured.

Love the camo, and the choice of red primer in the inside wheels, Bill!

I like the lack of camo in the missing shield too! I see this alot in some old pics.

Myself being a cammo handfree challenged I can surely appreciate when this is done so nicely,

Those lines are clean!, and perfectly laid out.

Cant wait for the finished kit!

Karl

Garzon

A minor mishap occurred in the Tiger's progress today. It seems that one of the idlers managed to go missing and as I was searching for it, my 75 lb. Boxer named Brenda found it before I did. Here's all that was left after her adventure!

Thankfully the kit includes the larger idlers as additional parts but doesn't provide additional mount arms. Old kits in the closet to the rescue! I salvaged a mount arm off a previously built Tamiya Tiger and made some slight modifications to it so it would fit the Dragon parts. Installed the rear-most outer wheel to help serve as a guide for the idler's placement and did a test-fit with the MK track run. As expected 1 more link was needed due to the larger idler. Once that was added, the idler was glued permanently into position and left to set up and will get painted later to match the rest of the suspension. So now my Tiger has a little extra character courtesy of Brenda's 'assistance'!

Now back to work and what was actually scheduled for today...the markings. ;)

Nice save BIll! Dogs will be dogs wont they.

thankfully you have a well stock parts box

YOW!!! At least you had a replacement.

With me it is my 3 yr. old. A while back I was at the bench and he wanted to see if one of my planes could fly.

Yes indeed Eric, Anthony, and IB! Thank goodness for Dragon's overstuffed box of parts and the 'graveyard'  of older kits to bail this one out.

Despite the minor disruptions yesterday, there was a planned effort on the program that dealt with getting the markings on. First up was a sealing coat of Future to protect the paint work from the weathering stages. This was allowed to air-dry for about an hour or so and then the markings were applied. The kit-supplied markings provide the turret numbers as individual numbers so you can create your own chosen vehicle, mine is 213. Decals were treated with multiple passes of Solvaset and gentle prodding with a wooden toothpick where necessary to ensure they settled down correctly into the zim pattern. This is a time-consuming process that involves lots of waiting for the Solvaset to do its work. If you rush it, you can easily damage a decal beyond repair so lots of hurry-up-and-wait involved.

In between some of those hurry-up-and-wait sessions, I worked on the road wheels some more. They had gotten the Future treatment as well so I had the chance to apply a pin wash of enamel Burnt Umber to bring out their details before installation.

With the decals set and ready to go, the wheels were installed on both sides and a 2nd sealing coat of Future applied to get things ready for the weathering stages ahead.

The Future will be allowed to fully cure for at least 24 hours before moving on. Since this is a holiday week, expect more updates sooner rather than later hopefully.

Ooh, its getting close and looking soo good!!  Sorry about your canine altered idler Bill, but as usual, you've come up with a solution!  Question on the MK tracks:  I noticed on the replacement link that the guide horn is missing...are those added separately?  

Thanks Ernest! The doggy 'PaK of doom' could've been quite devastating! A new secret weapon...

The guide horns on the MKs are indeed added separately. I added the guide horns using some of the Dragon separate horns for the spare tracks since I'd run out of the MK supplied horns doing the hull front spare run earlier. The Dragon horns fit perfectly to the MKs without any issue.

That just looks great with those bright numbers, Bill. Those wheels are nicely detailed too.!

I dropped a seat from a Jeep the other day and my lab instantly retrieved it. Soft mouths my eye!

You have my sympathy.

Bill, looks you barely skipped a beat with that mishap, nice fix there.  It will lend to an interesting conversation piece if anyone ever notices the different idler.  

Those turret numbers do look bright, almost fluorescent.  No doubt the weathering will take care of that.

regards,

Jack

I like the pop on the wheels. Nice save on the idler too.

Really nice Bill,

  I MEAN IT!

  REALLY NICE!

Karl

Subfixer

Jack

Steve

Excellent work on your Tiger wbill76, after getting back into building I'm starting work on my Dragon Tiger I Late Production w/Zimmerit.  Along with five other tanks.  

Thanks FMS Model! Sounds like you've got a good production line going yourself.

Weathering process is under way with the Tiger, the first step being the application of an overall wash of MM enamel Raw Umber.

This was followed by a dot filter process using MM enamel Flat White, Raw Sienna, and Panzer Dunkelgelb.

Some additional blending and fading was added by dry-brushing the 50/50 base coat mix using a wide square-tip brush.

Then a pin wash using MM enamel Burnt Umber to bring out more of the details.

After touching up the pin wash a bit, everything was sealed in with a dull coat using MM Lusterless Flat in the spray can. The remaining clear parts were detailed and added for the turret and hull crew periscopes.

Next up will be working on the pigment weathering for the tracks and hull.

Well that toned it down rather nicely,looks great

OK...it appears you knocked the "stuffing" out of this one. The "gravy" weathering is excellent. Once you get the "drumsticks" on the road wheels you will be ready for desert. Things going forward should be easy as "pie".

Rounds Complete!!

Looking like it should, Bill! Nice way to soften it up a little and get some *** going!

They blocked out my "m o j o " reference?!?!

Anthony

Mike

Karl

Always like your paint blending tips and visual applications of which ive used. Your Tiger is looking good as always..

Thanks IB! Glad to hear the painting/finishing tips have been helpful for you on your own projects.

Made a lot of progress in the weathering process with the Tiger. This round of effort focused on the pigment weathering. First up were the tracks. I applied a wet mixture of Mig Productions Dry Mud pigment combined with tap water (adding a drop of dishwashing soap to break the surface tension) and applied with a brush.

This is allowed to air dry and looks a bit of a mess, but the next step corrects that. Using a round stiff-bristled brush, I adjusted the dried pigments working one link at a time.

This treatment is applied to both sides of the track run to get the overall effect.

Then it was the hull and suspension's turn. Same approach but the wet mix here is Dark Mud pigments and has a couple extra steps involved.

Excess pigment is removed with a larger brush vs. the one used on the tracks.

More pigment is removed/adjusted using Q-tips, dry for the most part but using wet ones were the pigment was more stubborn.

Until finally the end result is achieved, producing a nice layered result working off the earlier washes, scuffing/chipping, etc.

Then it was time to mount the tracks. The sprockets and idler were added and the tracks installed to both sides.

And that's where the Tiger sits for now, just a few small details to work on as the last elements to complete it.

Excellent job, Bill---that's lean and mean looking. Really nice job on those wheels, too. :)

nice work on the running gear Bill

Hi Bill,

In addition to everyone's positive comments I would like to add I find it quite interesting to see how close your build is to the Dragon box-art, always thought that was very convincing!

The effect you are getting with the pigments is xlnt - -and you make it look so easy 

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your blogs here 

Very Best Regards
Johan 

Karl

Anthony

Johan

Bill, lovely work as always. And love the little tut on pigments as well. I haven't tried any of those yet, but have them on the shopping list, and now I don't need to ask how to use them.

Lovely.

Bill,

Nice job!  I've been waiting for this weathering step because I couldn't remember whether you fix your pigments or overspray after application?  If not, do you just keep handling of the finished model to a minimum?  I seem to always end up smudging pigment weathering when photographing, and attempts to fix or spray with dullcote significantly lessens the effects.

Don

Bish

Don

Bill, looking sharp!

Interesting technique with the water applied pigments... I've used Florys wash in the same manner, wiping off after application.

regards,

Jack

Thanks Jack! Pigments are a very versatile tool and their behavior changes depending on whether you use them wet, dry, or in combination. Lots of room to play with and have fun experimenting!

Managed to get the finishing touches in on the Tiger and get it across the finish line. First things first though, the remaining details included some additional pigment treatment for the running gear and fenders. I applied some dry Mig Light Dust pigments to further blend in the previous efforts and tone down the reddish effects a bit as well as tie things back in with the rest of the vehicle.

Using the same pigments and approach, I also added some dust tones to the spare tracks on the turret and the hull tools/equipment.

The turret was added back to the hull for the final time to allow the antenna to be added. Once that was installed, it was no longer possible to remove the turret due to the clearance issues with rotating the turret to the other side to line up the tab/notches in the hull...so that's why this was saved to the very end. An RB Models brass antenna filled the role here and was detailed with MM non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal.

After a few minor tweaks here and there, it was off to the photo booth for the walk-arounds.

Me liked it so much!!

Those colors and cammo are amazing, light weathering and rusting gives it a perfect, out of a book look!

Great build and photo and explanations are worth of magazine report.

Cheers!

Another outstanding effort as usual Bill! Thanks for another WIP- more tools for my techniques toolbox

Dave

You kept this one pretty clean,another great job,your website and logs are so helpful

PS,just getting to the camo tonite on Wiitmans,pics soon

Bill, exquisite build and an uber job on that camou!

regards,

Jack

Garzon

Anthony

Really nice, Bill.  The thin line camo is done perfectly.  You have a distinctive style; a very clear attention to detail and an approach to depict a weathered but not abused vehicle.  Just curious if you have considered modeling a wreck or severely weathered vehicle (ala DisasterMaster).  For me, it would be a very interesting build to follow.

wbill76

The turret was added back to the hull for the final time to allow the antenna to be added. Once that was installed, it was no longer possible to remove the turret due to the clearance issues with rotating the turret to the other side to line up the tab/notches in the hull..

After a few minor tweaks here and there, it was off to the photo booth for the walk-arounds.

So this was an error in this kit or something that occurred with the 1:1 vehicles? 

Don

Thanks Don! I have thought about doing a wreck but in my mind that would require a base to show the context properly and that's not something I have the display space for, so haven't done it as a result.

I'm not sure I understand your question about an 'error in the kit', are you talking about the turret rotation? The radio antenna on the actual vehicles had a rubber base that allowed it to flex so that the turret could traverse but the gun barrel would prevent a full 360 degrees unless the antenna was dismounted. The rear turret bin clears the antenna just fine though regardless of direction. The clearance issue I have is a small one regarding the height of the shovel on the front and the mantlet, not one with the antenna. I found that if I started the turret with the gun pointed to the rear and rotated it counter-clockwise, I could get it to clear by lifting up on the turret after the tabs had engaged every so slightly but the clockwise rotation would snag on the shovel every time even with the lift attempt...no real explanation for why other than just a fractional mm difference in how the turret 'floats' in the ring I guess and interacts with the shovel from one direction vs. the other.  

Another beautiful build Bill. You nailed the camo and as others have stated, you have a unique style which is easily recognized.

One more fine effort to add to the collection Bill!  Two thumbs up.

Brian

wbill76

The rear turret bin clears the antenna just fine though regardless of direction. The clearance issue I have is a small one regarding the height of the shovel on the front and the mantlet, not one with the antenna.

Ah.  I misunderstood.  I thought the problem was that the turret bin didn't clear the antenna.

Don

Eric

Brian

Puuuuuurfect!!! Another winner!

Will be using your track weathering techniques.

            Super Job Bill!

        A great way to finish out the year.

Yep, its another beauty. Always a pleasure watching your builds, and always something to learn.

Have you ever thought about doing a base or even a diorama for your builds.

IB

DM

Bish

Beautful work, BIll, a real "classic" Tiger!

A little late here Bill!  You've produced another beauty!  I really like the freehand camo job you applied, it looks quite realistic!  That Dragon kit sure builds up nicely, one of these days I've got to work on mine, but until then yours will serve as inspiration!

Merry Christmas to you Ernest! Glad you were able to stop by and catch this one. The kit is a lot of fun to build, look forward to yours when the time comes!

An absolute Killer Tiger and awesome build!!!

Thanks Nic!

Pretty late chiming in here but she turned out great Bill, just gorgeous!

Missed your reply before the New Year's stuff Eric, thanks for the comments as always! Hope you have a Happy New Year in 2014!