I've wanted to build a Tiger for years so spur of the moment this week, after watching part of a fairly crappy doco on youtube that featured some Tigers, i bolted off down to the local model shop to see what they had. Funny story, i'm in the shop looking at the armour tossing up between Italeri and Tamiya kits and in waltzes this older guy who starts pulling American armour off the shelf and arranging them on the floor. He has that look of an old wizened modeller so i ask him.'Tamiya or Italeri kit for the Tiger...?' Twenty five minutes later after we have gone through interior or exterior kit/ scale/ how much detail do i want etc, what paints to get, what brushes, a few weathering tips and what is my online nick is so he can blow me up in War Thunder (Seriously!) i walk out telling the lady behind the counter i'll be back for the Tamiya kit. 3 hours later i walk back in and the lady goes..'Here he is..come over here lad' Daryl, my new modelling buddy and possible online executioner has put aside the Tiger for me, the paints i will need and a weathering kit. He has also paid for and left with the lady a little set of modelling pliers, Tamiya 3 brush kit and a sandpaper nail file kit for me! What a guy. His time, advice and even putting some of his money into an interest for someone he met for less than half an hour, blew me out:)

Anyway, so thanks Daryl, now onto my crappy build ....that i hope he never sees!

Tamiya Tiger 1/35, no interior (thank god) The kit comes with six different unit options meaning earlier or late production options like different mantlet, air cleaners, sprockets etc.I'm going to build the box art pic that belongs to the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, mainly because it looks clean..and i don't want to worry about intricate ammo schemes






I'm already into day two of this and realised i may never do another tank again, wheels man, so many wheels! No rush, but very repetitive. Spent an hour sanding down all the sprue leftover on the wheels and then worried about how i was going to paint the rubber part of each wheel without them looking like crud.







Tamiya German Grey. Did a couple of the larger parts along with the wheels. Daryl told me to paint the tracks black but i was undecided on them so let them sit unpainted as yet.










Nice to have a beautiful warm sunny day, the night before (above) was freezing and i was trying to enjoy the outside world but having no luck. Painted a few more hull pieces..in reality i was just putting off painting the rubber parts of the wheels. I am going to seperate the one piece skirts in this picture to to try and get a used look to them.







As sloppy as this works looks so far, and it is sloppy, that was more than an hour of painting just the rubber part of the wheels. The ones sitting in the chassis i had mucked around the night before with some weathering and what not.








I decided the easiest way, as i am just not good enough to finely paint without going over onto the rim, was to clean up my shoddy workmanship after i have weathered each wheel. So the two on the left are with just the rubber painted, two on the right with the weather/rust colour and the next pic is nearing completion. Cleaned up the rim edge with a blade where it meets the rubber. I still might muck around a bit more with them, not sure if am sold on how they look yet. I want to see if i can get a bit of a grimy look around the center/hub and the nuts and knock back that coppery/rust look around the middle.










Tracks. Decided to dive into one with just the weathering dust mixed with water (i'm sure it's just Tamiya selling eye shadow) and then finished off the feet and pins of the track with gunmetal grey. Looks better than i thought it would turn out honestly.










Tonight and tomorrow i will be, hopefully, finishing the wheels to my liking

Maybe went a bit to rusty and worn on the sprocket and idler. I like them and the effect, just looks like they have been sitting in a field for ten years is all.

Crazy idea maybe... As you went a bit excessive on weathering for an operational unit... How about a Diorama of a shot-down Tiger sitting in the field where the crew left it?

Not a bad idea, but I would like my first Tiger to be operational Colonel Maybe in a couple of years when i get tired of cleaning the dust off it.


Wheels on, the pic looks fairly crap, i need to take them during the day and not under a #%&*$# yellow bulbed lamp.






Top deck with a bit of light weathering so far, front panel and mg and mg mount added.







Main turret pieces and the engine hatch.







Deck resting on the chassis after letting the tub sit all day while the wheels set. Looks like it drove through a fire with my (once again) probable over weathering of the front panel. At least it is just the Tamiya soot compound so i can knock it back fairly easily.




Good news is i did a trial fit of the tracks and they look pretty smart combined with the wheels:)

Really nice work. I think your weathering is great. The tracks look really nice. If you're concerned about the amount of rust an little dust / mud will knock the effect back a little, and blend it with the painted surfaces.

Gareth

Geez Ajay...

For a guy who was trying to come across as a rank noob you are sure are catching on.

Great work so far,

Looking forward to this build. I remember saving my allowance to buy this kit in 76. I do not remember if the Flak 88 or the Tiger was my first Tamiya kit. I have been hooked on tanks since.

I'll take some tips on wheels and tracks please Aldo! I threw the tracks on today and they look crapola because of the lack of sag. I was going to try the hairdryer trick on them but decided i didn't want to wreck my first tank build so went with glue and shoving in card and cotton buds, I'll give them 24 hours to set and then see how long they stay. I need to touch up the track pins as well, the ones i painted on both tracks are the inside pins you never see. I need to grab a few more colours as well for weathering and rust.










Nixer, trust me, i feel like the biggest noob modeler ever. Remember when you were a kid and it was fun? This feels sort of like work, but for some reason you thought it would be fun! Nah, it isn't really that bad. Put some music on, grab an iced coffee and clear the table outside for a chill couple of hours and it is quite enjoyable.

@ Goon, definitely need to knock back the colour i ended up with on the tracks and wheels. I think i played with them too much and it does now look more goldy coloured than anything. I'll give it another crack tomorrow

I dunno if you looked at any color pics but here are some good references
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/65020788349317211/

I think you got it right

I was going to say that if you ever make a mistake with painting road wheels, make sure it's the road wheel color over the black rubber.

It is not uncommon for a road wheel to be touched up with paint, and the rubber painted as well.

Thanks for the out Dart

U r doing great.

LOL Ajay,
I built that kit in 5th grade. You are doing a better job then I could do now ( Though I won the school clubs competition with the diorama in 6th grade). Please remember that I am an anal, analytical personality. I see flaws quickly and believe "looks good" is an insult.

For road wheels, Dart makes a good point. Also remember that the wheels are constantly spinning. Cyntrifical (spelling) force will always push the weathering outward and the contact surface of the wheels will be the cleanest.

The kit track is rubber. Rubber has a memory. Your only choice with that type of rubber is a chemical process that will shrink it in all axis, or wait out the years for gravity and age to overcome the elasticity. You could use a fine, clear thread to tie it into place, but can you find a fine enough thread? With as nice as your build looks, you may consider buying an individual track link kit (if they make one).

Seriously, I am impressed with your build.

Edit, after reviewing your pics, you may be able to use some type of adhesive to hold the track where you are trying to position it.

You make good points Bri44. Also, any metal to metal contact should be bare metal.

When I was building whether airplanes or tanks I always built as 'factory fresh'.

I went with the glue option Brit. If it fails i will look at the heating of the tracks or drilling the inside of the tub to put some pins through that should be able to be hidden in the track cleats to hold it down. My fingers are not skilled enough and too fat to do the thread trick



Looks good so far, just got to see if the glue holds.






The tracks have a lot of contact glue points as i glued the top of every wheel to them, just need to do a light coat of the rubber black over the glue that can be seen. Still need to take more of that 'weathering' of the wheels though. Grrrr.







Not completely unhappy with how the mufflers and shields turned out, waiting for the shop to be open tomorrow so i can get a couple more paint colours to add some chipping. Have definitely over sooted the muffleer shields. Maybe my next model should be an old rusty, battle scarred and burnt out machine of some sort.





Did a bit of work on the rear mount pre cleaners and piping to what looks like another air cleaner on the rear deck. Pretty interesting setup much like a lot of the trucks still use today, Western Stars etc. Also sanded down the 88 join and gave it a lick of paint, did a few fiddly bits like the U shackles and front spotlights/driving lights.

That's crazy good.

Before you de-weatherize, think again. That looks more like road and dirt grime than rust to me. If you're going to dirty up the base for the tank, simply use the same color for the ground - that middle road wheel doesn't look rusted to me; it looks like mud.

Yep, that middle road wheel looks the way they look when you get some grease on them that then gets dirty. A greasy muddy smear.

What they said...

How about some clumps of muddy/grassy crap hanging from the tracks?

Mud and tanks go together like Hollywood and phonies.

Do I see some chunks of rubber missing from a road wheel? If not, do it.

The exhausts are AWESOME.

Ajay,
If you are not trying for factory fresh, there are many stories that explain an odd road wheel. Later in the war, it was not uncommon to see steel wheels mixed with rubber wheels. Was it damaged in battle? Was the original worn and this was all the pool had available Mudpigs are only perfect when they are new.

As too over sooting the exhaust, the same story is true. You are dealing with war time diesel (Tommy cookers use gasoline). It could have been a cold week. The driver could be a replacement. etc.

Aircraft have a separate crew that maintains them each time they return from combat. Tanks are only repaired by the pool when the crew is out of action or they are not operational.

You build does not look good. "looks good" is an insult IMO. She looks like she is well on her way to be beautiful.

Edit: IMO The wheel closest to the drive sprocket looks exactly what I would expect from a weeping grease seal.

an observation.
If you were displaying this with the maintenance crew that is available, you could replace the back 2 sets of wheels with factory fresh ones. It would look like they had replaced battle damaged wheels.

Looks great Ajay, I think your weathering looks fine.

Have this kit and also the bigger 1/16 Tamiya Tiger I full option RC kit too that I've actually made a start on along with some after market decals and parts for it ... its a beast of a kit! This is its state of build so far, suspension bars installed, gearbox and motors installed ... it will be quite the big boy toy when finished.



and the RC parts I bought separately

Everything so far looks darn good to me Ajay.


Wheels

Thanks guys, i am starting to really enjoy the build now, managed two hours on it tonight after moving the bulk of the house (moving) outside onto the rear patio in anticipation of Fridays big move. Needed to do something to slow my brain down I tackled the muffler shields again because they were just annoying me. Hit them with another light coat of the German grey so that some of the original gunk still showed through then used a thin couple of streaks of flat aluminium. Once that was dried i scraped the silver back a bit with a blade and applied some black soot and rust weathering dust.







I gave them a light dust off with a fresh brush and the harsh scrapes in that pic are now nice and smoothed. Loving the weathering dust kit!




Got to put the first decal on, one of the tow wires runs over it plus i didn't want to weather the side and have a pristine decal over the top.







Pristine factory fresh mud guard against the beginnings of the weathered hull.





Hopefully i can dive back into it next week when i will be able to set up a nice little area in the carport with a really cool old solid long desk with shelving i just managed to come across this week. Cheers all!

Ajay, the more I look at that the more I like it. Road wheels usually will not all look alike. Some will have a grease and absorbed earth that another wheel won’t have. One or two may have some embedded mud from a pivot turn that isn’t on other ones. Same for other things like exhaust shields. One may be battered from backing into something while the other may look fine. Operational stuff will have imperfections and irregularities. Nature of the game.

And some will get replaced in maintenance.

I like what I see. I have nothing negative to add at this time..

Another possibility..

A Tiger after a bad day.

Man, shrapnel, .50 cal, and main gun rounds on that thing.

^That got to be a picture from a test range?

Pretty sure that’s one of the Tunisian Tigers captured by the Brits and used to test their AT shells in ‘43.

I notice that the front armor doesn’t look similarly affected.

I googled the pic and there wasn't any info where it was taken. Looks like a range to me also.

That said, a badly shot up tank being passed by the one that killed it would make a neat diorama.

Yep, concur....range target.

Ok, house move is all done. Old house is all spic and span, yards done etc. Fridge issues, hot water issues, internet issues..but at least the move is done and the fridge got a new sensor this morning so down to just getting the gas hot water sussed out and the internet sorted. Cats and Dog trained withe the animal door, fence opening plugged so the dog doesn't escape. Managed my best sleep in 7 months, in a nice new bed..not a couch. Absolute luxury!

Got the pc and model/workout room nearly done and managed a nice relaxing night last night just chillin' with the Tiger:)








So, progress, tow cables. Two for on top and one for the left hand side above the skirt.








Dirtied up.








Pre cleaners with piping








Glued and drying.








Looked average, i wanted some sort of clamp for the piping so came up with this below. Once i cleaned the material ends and made the widths all even it looks good once set on the Tank, you'll have to trust me on that one and wait until i do my next series of pics.







Put the top onto the hull, it's starting to look tanky!









Exhaust system on, need to touch up under those rear mudguards.









Turret hatch nearly complete, side decals on.










Smoke dispensers and driving/spot lights, so annoyingly small for my fat fingers but got them done and ready for paint and called it a night at about 1.45am

Sweet.

Big kudoes for not rusting up the exhausts.

I see this on models from time to time, and it makes me immediately move my eyes over them. Most wartime vehicles aren't in service long enough to get rusted mufflers and exhausts.

Looking great Ajay. I like your work space - very tidy and disciplined compared to mine! (I need to have 10 minute tidy up at the end of every session because I use a myriad of tools and materials without putting them away.)

Dart, if i could have made the rust realistic i would probably make the same mistake

I get a bit antsy when things get messy Goon, as my old man used to say, a place for everything and everything in it's place, must have sunk in over the years lol.



Crappy pic but got the tools all finished and glued on. Dirtied it all up a tad since this pic as they looked a bit to new, as did the driving lights and smoke thrower thingies.









Pre cleaner system sitting on the rear ready to go on.






Side view before and after adding skirts









Turret nearly done, just the hatch and the man, i've decided to call him Hans Gruber but yet to paint him..my skills in that area will be extremely lacking so i may close the hatch yet.










Also, found the tank that i am building, looks like i could have made it as muddy and dirty as heck if i wanted












edit- Adding Hans...

Finished. Rolling Hans out of the shop..










Hans has some sort of war facial injury so doesn't really like the close ups.






Pretty happy with whole the whole thing turned out and learned a fair bit to take into another model.




















Hard to catch the colours as they look without the grey seeming to blob everything out and the tow cables appearing brighter than what they are, tried a couple of outside shots but now it looks to bright. I'll leave the photography to the experts









and Hans, off to the front!







Thinking about a T34-85 as a companion piece to sit next to the Tiger, going to mull on that for a while because i really like the look of the Sherman Firefly but feel like the T34 would be better suited to sit next it. Thanks for all the kind words as well guys, it ended up being a pretty fun build

Excellent work! It's been great following your progress on this project.

In the past few years, I've been trying to get back into modelling, but I find that I might start something, and then lose the enthusiasm for it. I know it sounds like a cop out, but in many cases this happens to me because I purchase kits, and they seem to lack quality. Added to that, quite an expensive hobby nowadays. Wondering if I have to break some mental barriers to get through this, or maybe it's just age and family making me feel deprived of time............

Thanks Fish All up i spent 80 on the kit, 42 on 11 tins of paint and the one can of German Grey, 13 on the fine brush that i hardly used, 14 on the weathering kit and 12 on the magnifying glass with clamps. 161 bucks (Aus) all up plus the 20 Daryl spent. Next kit which will also be 80 smackas, which i will have to buy a single tin of paint for the main coat and that should be it, hopefully. I can't see myself needing an air brush setup or a plethora of weathering kits and what not (yet lol) although there is a heap of models i would love to get stuck into, Tempest, Sea Fury, Fw190A4 and D9, Bf109G10, Tiger II, Panther, Sherman variants, Su 152 etc etc..i can manage to hold myself back and plod along doing one every now and again. I can't really justify spending 80 dollars every month on a kit atm so the next one i do build i may have to stretch it out a bit longer for the enjoyment.

Ajay, what site are you using for hosting your pictures?

Ajay,

Currently waiting for a large scale Hawker Typhoon or Tempest. Wishing somebody would also make a large scale clipped wing / bubble canopy Spitfire. We can hope.....

That came out grand! Looks great all around.

Looks great.

Don't sweat the cables - just about any color, other than rust, is acceptable.

One can never truly clean a cable, so they wind up looking grimy in some parts, shiny in others, etc., and troops are always trying to get them to look better when they're bored. Yes, gentle reader, a Private will paint a cable in a heartbeat (right over grease and dirt after giving up with a brush) and proclaim it "clean."

Great Job!

A burned out T34-85 with a couple of 88mm holes in it would indeed compliment it well.

IMGUR

Nixer, you're a savage

Sorry to bother you Ajay, but I also use Imgur and am having trouble posting pictures here. Are your pics under 1MB ? If I use the Full Editor and then the Picture import I have to reduce to 1MB or less to get it to work.

I'll have to check on file size when i get to my pc Grog. The pics are 8mb off my phone then cropped on my pc and resized to 1176 width so they are all the same. Upload to imgur, copy each pics imgur url then use the full editor picture icon above to post the imgur url

Ok, just checked, every pic is under 1mb.

Airfix make a 1/24 Typhoon. Bubble Top and car door types, Tamiya make a 1/32 clipped wing Bubble Canopy Spitfire.

Typhoon

Spitfire Mk XVIe

Super looking Kit

Nicely done Ajay! Nice weathering style. It's cool that you found a period picture of your subject.

Gareth

Thanks chaps:) and yes definitely Goon. I'm grabbing Tank Crew this week and going to have a crack at doing that skin for the Tiger. Been many years since i have done a game skin though so i expect average results.

Cheers.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this!