Hi Guys,

This is the King Tiger I am building for the axis of armor campaign. I'm just looking for some feedback on my camo colours. Im not sure If the colours are too dark?







Heres the top of the turret which I have tried some oil fading but it seems to barely make a difference. Any tips would be great!



Cheers
Matt

Looks good, Matt. I'm no expert on German armor, but the colors look good to me.

Chris

Looks pretty good to me!

Now... the photo is a little dark, so the colours come across maybe more distinct then you might be hoping for?

But- here's a couple of ideas:

IF you want to blend them together more, AND you are seeking something "average lighter" over-all, I would consider layering on some lighter hues- maybe a lighter yellow over all. This could be a a simple over-spray of a well-thinned yellow (dunkelgelb) mixed with white or deck-tan. It would make the vehicle look more faded and help unite the colours beneath a bit.

IF instead you want to darken it while blending, make a darkened yellow brownish mix or even an oil sienna wash, maybe. This approach will darken the over-all vehicle, and pick out some of the texture and detail while merging the colours some.

It pretty much depends on what you are looking for... a lighter, faded paint-job, a darker over-all paint job, etc.

Other approaches could be to make some darker or lighter shades of one or more of your colours and spray some centroids in some patches of a colour - say green blotches, or conversely spray blending zones or lines around edges of patches- the effect would be to grade each a bit more into its neighboring colour area. More work then an over-all wash or spray coat, but also more fun (my opine, of course ) and more control over varying your colour contrasts between adjacent patches. The goal would be to diffuse the patch boundaries- "smudge them out" a bit.

I sort of assume that you will follow up with some dusting or maybe pigments to reflect dirt and dust, plus some washes or pin-detailing... If so, these treatments will also tone-down the apperent slightly stark-looking colours?

I like the Tiger! Got one on my shelf and will get to it pretty soon- be the first Big Cat I will have done!

Cheers! Post some "fixed pics", please!

Looks great Matt. Very nicely done. Great job on the paint scheme.

One day I'm going to get that kit. Ever since getting back into the hobby, I've been eyeing that kit, but haven't gotten around to picking it up yet.

I think the colors work as is... like Bob said, as you proceed with your weathering, you can make it light or darker depending on your taste.

I like to use very thin Tamiya Buff for an overspray to tone down the contrast of the colors while giving the entire thing a dusty look, spraying it heavier on the bottom.

Matt,
May I suggest a filter? Use aprox 15% light tan to 85% thinner. PLEASE TEST ON BOTTOM OF HULL OR SCRAP!!! Also, MIG Filter for tri-tone cammo is effective! Also, a dust coat of highly diluted Tamiya Buff would do the trick. Like mentioned in earlier rsponses, weathering will darken things up a bit so know is the time to lighten up the colors if you are not pleased with them as they will alomost surely get darker with your weathering.

matt,

nice king tiger. use some lighter colors and take your time.i also built this kit and i'm still trying to get the weathering done. once again nice model matt, can't wait to see it done.

respectfuly yours,

nick morgan

Hello everyone,

Thanks for all the kind comments and tips.

I managed to tone down the camo by spraying light yellow all over. so it looked like this



However I then had a slight disaster!

I carried on with all the weathering and washes etc and then I tried to seal it with matt varnish. For some reason it all misted up and turned white and ruined the finish . So now I am going to do no. 121 form pz. abt 509 in hungry

Here it is stripped of the tracks and side skirts for a repaint. Quite annoyed I have redo everything again but its better than the kit being completely written off!





I've never really tried a white wash so this sholud be interesting! any tips?!

Cheers guys
Matt

did you use tamiya flat base? if so thats not a varnish it must be mixed with glossy colour to make a matt finish.
id say personally go for te tritone again. looked awesome.

Are you sure that the tank from the 509th Abteilung had Zimmerit? The last battalions issued with King Tigers that had the coating were the 506th and 503rd in August/September, 1944. The 509th did not receive their full complement of tanks until January, 1945, and all the tanks I've seen photographed were later models without Zimmerit. Of course, there is a possibility that they received a repaired and rebuilt tank originally issued to another battalion, but again, I've never seen one. The 503rd served very near the 509th in the Hungary campaign, and over half of their tanks had the coating. Any of the tanks from the 503rd's second company seen in the famous photo sequence taken in Budapest in October would have received a whitewash finish a couple of months later. You will also need to add the hooks on the turret for the spare track links, as all the tanks issued at that time had them.

Hi guys,

I decided to stick with the white wash and see how it came out. After a few hours on the hull this is the result. Still some cleaning up and detail work to do and i need to detail the rear plate. I have not touched the turret yet









Gerald, thanks for the info, looks like i'm getting my units mixed up! thanks for the tip on the track hangers, i was going to leave them off as it will be a pain to mount to the zimmerit but i will prevail!

Matt

Hi Guys,

Well its pretty much finished. Just the mud etc on the lower hull/tracks to do. Im going to wait until I have got my ground work done first though. Its going to be a small diroma of an abandoned king tiger with russian soldier having thier photos taken in front of it.

Im going to use this kit for the soldiers
http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/product.php/13073/339/soviet_russian_infantry_wwii_photo_for_the_newspaper

Heres the pics of the king tiger











What do you guys think? any improvements I could make?

Cheers
Matt

Real nice about face from your initial 3-tone job,which also looked great.I think this came out good,maybe a little more dirt and muck on the road wheels,but thats it.

Looks good. I'd suggest you take a needle and clean out several clogged squares in the engine deck screens, where the paint has blocked them.
The commander's rough sight could be added with fine wire. The rear sight is a vertical wire welded at the center of his front periscope housing, and the foresight is an L-shaped piece of wire mounted on the little square block on the turret roof ahead of the cupola.

Very nice work. I like the subtly of the worn through paint, as well as the rust stains.

I'm a fan.

Looks great, Matt. Too bad the first three tone camo got ruined. But now you know what to do for your next panzer

Your winter camo looks nice and very neat with subtle weathering.

The misting of the varnish could be caused by:
- Using Tamiya flat base, which is not a varnish at all as pointed out by James.
- Using a normal varnish in damp and/or cold conditions. Or if the paintwork has not been allowed to dry completely - at least 24 hours at mroom temperature. Been there, done that.

Hope that helps for the next project.

Hi Matt,

Good recovery from the earlier boo-boo and personally I think the winter camo looks very good indeed.

Just one thing (and perhaps it's a cast light effect from the picture?) but what looks like heavy black muzzle staining ruins a good build as cordite / muzzle blackening is something of a myth and artistic licence dating back to the "Verlinden School" of the 80's. Look at any pics of tanks, even those in heavy combat, and it simply does not build up like that. The tank's barrel would wear out or even melt before it became so blackened! Plus, most artillery & tankrounds generally use smokeless powder.

It's a matter for you mate and it's your model but so many good models (IMHO) are ruined by this inaccurate feature - especially great builds of even modern MBTs showing huge amounts of black powder staining.

HTH Matt and I am just trying to give some constructive feedback. Other than this minor issue, I look forward to seeing the end result.

Great K.T!

Cheers.
Gary

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your nice comments and feedback.

Jesper, I didn't use flat base but a humbrol acrylic spray varnish which has worked perfectly in the past but I think you are right about the conditions in which I sprayed in! It had just been raining and all the windows were open so thats probably why the varnish misted.

Gary, would it dust up at all? I could tone it down to be more accurate. Or would it be more realistic to eliminate this completely?

Thanks

Matt

Hi Matt,

I would eliminate it all together.

As mentioned, the heavilly blackened muzzle brake is a throwback to the 1980's school of AFV modelling when Verlinden used to do it (along with placing discarded empty shell cases everywhere) for all his tanks and it was adopted by all just like modern techniques are these days without question. I also used to do it myself until a number of ex-tankers (inc. one bloke I knew when I lived in German who was an ex- tanker in 2nd SS Das Reich) commented on this error when viewing my old models.

Just give it an overspray of winter finish so it blends in with the rest of the vehicle. Even in wartime, ANY spare time is spent keeping equipment in tip-top condition and working order - especially weapons! Perhaps just a small amount of wear on the tip of the muzzle itself where the (frequent) scrubbing action of the gun cleaning rods would rub any whitewash or even camo paint down to cause some wear/tear would be suitable.

Cheers Matt and look forward to seeing the KT in the proposed dio!

Gary

Hi guys,

Well I have finished the base and ground work. Just need to build the figures now and make a couple of adjustments which you guys suggested.

Hope you like it

Great build!!!!Not to nit pick...but if your KT isn't being depicted as stationary after awhile,you shouldn't have added snow to the exhausts,and if it has been stationary for a bit ,maybe add a little more to the top surfaces of the tank.
Don't mean to be annal,just an observation.
I love the ground work and track weathering very much.Excellent build!!!!!
Ron.

Nice build Matt. The whitewash and snow look particularally good. Id remove the snow from the exhausts though.

great job with the base, and loving the snow but what did you use for it?