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Tiger 1 Ausf E

Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausführung E by Tamiya (35216) has been reissued in 2008 as a ‚Limited Edition’ with added metal barrel, PE-meshes for the rear deck and pre-assembled (!) metal tracks by Friul.

Assembling

The inclusion of Fruil tracks was the reason for me to build in a workable suspension provided by Atelier Infinite. At first I soaked the styrene which had to be removed inside the hull with glue by Revell. Its aggressive properties helped to soften the styrene enough that a simple knife was sufficient to cut it off. Then I fixed the resin parts using superglue with attaching the static parts first as it was simply easier. Finally I glued the moveable parts and assembled the upper hull onto the lower one.

Painting

First thing was to apply a prime coat, then I shaded edges, panel lines etc. with “Flat Black”(XF-1) and applied thinly the base colour “Dark Yellow”(XF-61). In accordance with Adam Wilder’s colour modulation I painted several sections like some of the Schürzen or the hatches of the upper hull with colours which are similar to “Dark Yellow” e.g. “Desert Yellow” (XF-60) or “Deck Tan” (XF-55). Next thing I did was to alter the base coat by applying small oil dots of yellow colours by Schmincke and MIG. Then I have filtered the edges only with oil paints “Prussian Blue” and “Karmin Red” by Schmincke.

Weathering

The first fading effects were achieved by adding dots of white oil paint. A gloss coat followed to ease the washing followed. The mixture consisted of Tamiya’s enamel “Flat Black” (XF-1) and “Red Brown” (XF-64). I let the wash dry for a few hours, and then I used a soft brush and enamel thinner to remove some of the washing mixture which results in further fading to give the tank a more weathered look. The tracks were painted with “Flat Earth” (XF-52) and “Khaki Drab” (XF-51) and painted/dusted with oil paints and pigments mentioned below.

Then I began to weather the Tiger with oil paints “Light Mud”, “Industrial Earth”, “Shadow Brown”, “Buff” and “Wash Brown” by MIG. Finally I applied MIG-pigments “Europe Dust”, “Brick Dust”, “Concrete”, “Light Dust” and “Dark Mud”. These pigments were not only used to simulate dirt, they were also useful to post-shade edges and panel lines with e.g. “Dark Mud”.