He looks good. I wish I was better at figure painting.

Thanks, Rob.

I'm a bit rusty right now. But I'll get back into practice. 

I've noted that, with myself, that if I'm not really invested in what I'm doing, I'm usually not that good at it. Perhaps it just doesn't interest you? 

Yes, you are likely correct. I usually omitted the figures when I was younger. As an adult, I hastily put them together and let my boys play with them like green army men.

I actually enjoy building much more than painting.

Rob Gronovius

Yes, you are likely correct. I usually omitted the figures when I was younger. As an adult, I hastily put them together and let my boys play with them like green army men.

I actually enjoy building much more than painting.

 

I understand. Some of the processes we use are not as enjoyable as others. I don't know what clicked for me, but eventually I found that I love how figures give you a feel of scale as a small human reference you can relate to. Now it's one of my favorite steps to do. I can't really explain it.

However, todays progress was good enough for now. I painted the inside of all of these dang road wheels with German Armor Brown for deep shadows later. There's nothing worse then being able to see spots I've missed between the road wheels later after I think I've got them all covered so I did this before assembly and sanding. I super glued some paper in the hull under the engine vents so they're not just gaping holes into the interior of the model. I should've found something black, but white is all I have access to right now so I drown the engine deck in thinned black paint for later. Hopefully the thin paint will soak into the paper and spread around some.

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

These deck screens were not too difficult to do except for the rounded parts around the turret circumference. Scisors and an exacto blade just kept pushing the screen around so I couldn't get it precise. I had to trim after I glued it and sand it down from there. I also sprayed those with the German Armor Brown to see how bad they are and they didnt turn out as bad as they first looked.

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

The tracks responded very well to super glue and I'll keep them on there temporarily until I can replace them with indy links later. I can see why the fenders are important if you have the rubber band tracks on. These looks terrible lol.

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

So that's enough for today. So now that all of the hard stuff is done it's just a matter of adding the rest of the little bits and then it's prime time.

Thanks for tagging along!

Today has been a good day. I've got all of the small bits and assemblies either attached or left off for painting now. I've added a few small omitted details such as the wire for the headlamp, the retaining bolt shafts for the jack, and an antannae. Not much scratch building going on with this build because i don't have access to all of my supplies yet.

I trimmed the front and rear mud guards because i really want to show off the tracks later... and I glued the hull halves together so I wouldnt be able to properly add them later without a ton of problems anyways. Besides, I like the fenderless look on these monsters.

so, again I give you lousy phone pictures to view, but its better than nothing.

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

1/35 Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

It's prime time, baby!

It's coming along nicely, your just getting to the fun parts.
Your figures came out beautifully

JoeSMG

It's coming along nicely, your just getting to the fun parts.
Your figures came out beautifully

 

Thank you. I've been out of it for a while. I'm priming now, so the fun(er) parts are coming up very soon.

Yeah, she's coming along really well! 

And love the commander figure. I'm a decent figure painter but not that good! 

Hey Mike, this KT is coming along very nicely. I hope you get your indy tracks soon and I like the look of the zimmerit. BTW your figure came out great. Good job all around.

Thanks guys! Figures have become my favorite part. The TC for my Panther turned out well after a lot of work as well. But I had to repaint his face several times. This one was just a wash for the face and a little trickery with the pallette.

There are no washes or dry brushing on this TC's uniform at all. Just three colors (Black Grey on the jacket and hat, Black on the headphones and boots, and Granite coveralls) for the uniform. 

Painting the tank itself will have to wait for next weekend. That will give my primer plenty of time to cure up.

That's coming along nicely,and the figure looks great.

Great work on a great subject. That figure looks amazing, Mike. Glad to have you back.

Thanks guys. I'll have an update later this afternoon. I've got pictures of the paint I've got on it now.

Those stupid poly screens turned out horrible though. They looked better before paint and I ripped them off after I glued them on before I painted. All blemishes have been adapted as chipped paint or flaked off Zimerit using red oxide. It's kinda stark right now, but it will look better after some weathering effects. 

Armour is so forgiving in that way lol.

Pictures!

Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche) by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

I'm not sure what I'll work on later today, but I'll post progress at the end of the night.

Oh cool! You're on a Tiger obsession Mike! 

Camo looks terrific! 

Thanks, Gam!

I haven't made any progress in days, but I should be doing more this weekend maybe. I'm not sure if I should toss the decals on already or not.

Camo went down well

Thank you, Tojo. I guess I just have a eye for it. I didn't use any references or patterns. 

and last weekend I did get distracted by dusting off my old Panther Ausf. A, the one I call "The Veteran" and added some yard finds to it. It doesnt look any worse, but I'm seeing all sorts of mistakes I didn't address before. Oh well, it still looks good from a distance.

Tamiya Panther Ausf. A by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Tamiya Panther Ausf. A by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

I'm off to do some yard work. Hopefully I'll feel like getting some bench time in later.

The Panther looks good, the foliage looks just right! 

Thank you. 

I like the added foliage camouflage on the Panther A. As you commented on some faux pas, on your Panther tank, then the foliage hides a multitude of sins. LOL. Overall, it looks very good.

Thanks, Tiger. That was one of my first few posts on Finescale. I still remember brush painting that entire thing with craft acrylics mixed by hand before I weathered the crap out of it with old Testors enamels.

That feels like so long ago now. It was collecting dust at my father's house for years. I felt like dusting it off and finishing the gun tube travel lock and I started gluing yard finds on it.

Like I said above, it looks good from a distance lol.

I will admit that if you painted that Panther with craft acrylics, you did a fantastic job.

It's all I had at the time. That and a collection of old enamels from when I was a teenager.

I found some lost treasure in my stash.

IMG_20230807_175531237_HDR by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

I've already begun to assemble the bottom runs of track but I won't be puting it all together untill I get some weathering done under the skirts. Since this will be another display piece I'm not going wild witht that part, but I am still getting all of my supplies centrally located for once in my life. Might be a while lol.

Neat!!! 

Eureka! You've found the golden idol, per se. Those tracks will definitely throw your KT over the top.

TigerII

Eureka! You've found the golden idol, per se. Those tracks will definitely throw your KT over the top.

 

I've finally finished those tracks. I glued the upper and lower long runs together months ago and to my surprise and my advantage the track runs bowed over time. That allowed me to get a great sag effect that otherwise many of you know can be difficult to achieve without pins to keep them together.

I took the time between the links curing to cut up the fenders, thin them out, and add the brackets back on with sheet styrene. I believe these will look great once I've got them all weathered up.

Sorry about the 8 month waiting period between updates, but I've not been completely idle. I've just been somewhere else.

Today I will weather up the tracks before I add the "tinworks" to the hull. I think I need to spruce up the paintwork a bit as well.

Coming along nicely