Hi all, here is my completed Tamiya Tiger I build. I made the exhaust vents myself from mesh I had laying around the house. To be honest, it didn't turn out how I wanted and I'm not super happy with it. My airbrush broke so I had to handpaint the camo on and in my opinion, it would have looked so much better if airbrushed on....oh well. And for those of you who remember my other builds......I painted the roadwheels this time. Hahah Anyways, tell me what you guys think. Enjoy!

-Joe



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Definite improvement,you will get better with each build.I like the way the tracks came out.

I agree with Anthony, keep showing us your improved builds !!
An alternative way for your handpaint camo is giving a first coat of dark green with a spray can and then mask it with bluetack the use another spray can with dark yellow.

Looks good. As for the camo, you have to remember that several tanks were repainted in the field using a paintbrush. So, this may be closer to accurrate than you think. The tracks turned out very good. Practice makes perfect.

Thanks guys! Like you guys, the one thing I was happy with were the tracks. And Matt, that's interesting I did not know that. Also, could you guys give me input on my weathering? Too much? Too little? etc? Thanks!

-Joe

Hi, looking better with each model (esp the wheels, haha) The piled up rust doesn't look right on top of the exhausts. I would just rub that in. Also, where the side fender is missing, the area is clean and this area more then the others would have mud kicked up.

Keep up the nice builds

Allright, thanks for the tip.

Joe, the weathing on the tracks is great. Good attempt on this one.
BTW what unit is this tiger tank from.

Regards,
David.

@Rampenfest – Joe,

Good job on this one and very good photographs to boot. I couldn't help but notice that it appears that you've used an X-acto blade or some sharp object to create the chipping on the paint and you went right down to the bare plastic. That put a big smile on my face remembering that I use to do just that!

On your next build try using a small pointed paint brush and carefully paint the chipping with a dark chocolate almost black brown color. You could try and paint over the bare plastic on this kit just to see how it looks. Just remember not to overdo the chipping and place it on areas that are subject to ware either by the vehicle running into things or the crew climbing in and out of the vehicle. Let's not forget scares from close artillery hits.

Thanks for sharing and posting your build, looking forward to see more of your work here.

-Eddy

David, I was gonna put on the correct numbers for the unit, but derung the decal apllication I acidentally reipped one of the them in half. So I put on a different set of numbers, which I know, is technically inaccurate. And Braille, I tried the approach with the stif brush and it didnt work at all. I sprayed the model with hairspray over the grey undercoat, and then sprayed the dark yellow on top of the hairspray, and tried to chip, but it wouldnt at all. Thats why I used the Xacto knife. I was fairly dissapointed. Could you explain to me why the hairspray technique did not work? Thank you very much.

-Joe

@Pampenfest – Joe,

The idea is to use a paintbrush with a good pointed tip (not a stiff brush), the size of the brush is not important. Make sure that the paint is mixed well before you paint with it. I apologize for not explaining this better the first time.

Wish I could help you with the hairspray method for creating chipped and worn paint effect but I have not used this technique. I do hope that someone reading this post will come to the rescue. For now all I can do is direct you to this video. The video is around 8 minutes long so if you happen to have a slow internet connection let it spool (hit the pause button during play) for a few minutes and then click the play button again to resume. Hope this helps.

-Eddy

Joe - I'm no expert on the hairspray technique, but this link provides an excellent overview:

http://www.migproductionsforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3293

C[ ]

Hmmm ... for some reason that link doesn't work even though it does on my computer. Thread was on the MIG Productions forums ... Adam Wilder started it on 02/29/09 with the title "Could we please talk about the hair spray technique a bit?" Well worth a read if you can get to it.

Hi Joe.
Don't worry about the brushed on cammo, as Matt has mentioned, this was often how it was done in the field.
The green and brown cammo paints (also the white winter cammo) were supplied to units in the form of a thick paste in tins. The paste was designed to be diluted with either water or gasoline prior to painting/spraying on the vehicle.
As is so often the case with front line units, the stipulated mixing ratios, etc, were often overlooked or ignored due to pressures of time, availability of paint (the white seems to have been hardest for some units to get hold of for some reason) and doing things "by the book" was far less important than doing things to suit the circumstances.
A look at reference photos shows many examples of vehicles with brush painted cammo, some even look as though the paint has been literally thrown on and others look as though the crew were trying to produce a modern art picture!
One last point, as I said earlier, these paints could be diluted with either water or gasoline and depending on which was used and how much they were diluted by, would effect the final colour. Anywhere from a light redish brown or light green, to an almost black brown or green could be considered correct.
I hope this helps, and congratulations on a good looking model.

Richard.