Started this a few days ago. I soooo prefer building this scale compared to 1:72! At least I can grab whole parts with my fingers!

Ok, so last time I painted everything first before glueing.... didnt really like that. Got quite messy with the glue attacking the paint! So glued on the wheels and tracks to the hull. Left the outer wheels off for now. Will fix them later. It took almost 4 hours to do two sets of tracks... pernickity but once on they look better in the flesh.

Wont be assembling the hull fully until I have painted the engine in black/browns and engine bay in red oxide.

Looks good so far. You did a nice job with the pieces parts tracks. Those have always been hard for me. Haha. As for the paintjob, were you planning on following the paintjob on the box?

-Joe

No, I'll do my own three tone camo paint job probably. Not decided which though.

Great start. I particularly like the sag you got with the tracks. How is the fit of the kit parts?.,

Hi

Nice work so far

I just finished one of these as well, they do make a nice simple build as every thing goes together nice and easy, once painted you will be happy whith what you have.

And at the fraction of the cost of a Tamiya or Dragon kit, I think I paid £18.99 for mine in the UK and that included some PE as well.

Paul

Yeah I am finding the parts go together ok. At the seams, I may need to use putty to fill in the gaps. Another first for me but will be good to see how it pans out. Here are a few more images of where I am so far. Painted the engine, just to get in some practise with paints, pigments and varnishes. Once this model is complete, the engine will be locked away, never to be seen again, so I will taking as many pictures as I can of it. I will be applying primer once I get the side skirts on. I painted the engine bay in an off red colour. Standard colour of the red primer I use.

Very nice work so far, and great in progress photos. Keep 'em coming!

I think that's called "learning from your mistakes", LoL.

Nice clean-looking build so far. Thumbs-up from me.

- Steve

So true! So I'll see how it pans out this time! Going to buy some very fine brushes to paint the small intricate parts.

This Saturday evening I bring you the latest with this model. Been over a week since the last post... I was away holidaying in sunny Cornwall! Got back today and couldn't wait to get my hands on this as I still managed to read the Armorama forum. Today I finished off gluing the spare tracks to the turret, primed the turret (primed the hull before I left for holiday), fitted the photo etched metal exhaust heat shields, painted the tank tracks with Tamiya NATO Black and tried a bit of preshading. Also 'primed' the outer wheels with the remainder of paint I had left over in the airbrush.

I have to say the PE Heat shields were a right pain in the butt to fix to the rear of the tank. Tried both model cement and super glue. Got there in the end with super glue, but had to hold it in place with my fingers for almost 30 minutes. I've added a bullet hole to one of the PE heat shields by using a small drill bit.

The areas I have preshaded, I hope to add a bit of depth to the initial paint scheme and also add some grains of sea salt to some of the black areas. The plan is, once the camo colours are applied, pick the grains of salt off to create a chipped paint effect. Will this work? I don't know! But worth a try anyway. Below are the latest images.

Here is the latest.... up until the point before I spray Dunkelgelb (Dark Yellow) all over the model. I was quite surprised how the salt grains stayed on and didnt fall off. The mix of thinned wood glue and water worked a treat! Managed to get the photo etched side skirts on. Much nicer than the alternative plastic choice in the box. These stuck on very easily using super glue compared to getting the heat shields on. Again, couldn't resist putting a couple of bullet holes in. The seems around the front hull I put some putty in to tidy it up a little. More to follow soon...

I've tried my hand at Tamiya and Academy Tigers in the past and have never completed them. Sold em as junk. Your thread has convinced me to give one last try with the Itaeri kit. Looks great, so far. I'll be leaving my tracks and road wheels as part of the final assembly, though. Looks like this will turn out to be quite a beast.

Nice job Rob. Good clean build. Will be interesting to see how the salt method works out.
Italeri was my first introduction to zimmerit, about 7 or 8 years ago. I built the Bergetiger. I suppose compared to Dragons recent zimmerit, it didn´t stand the test of time, but was the only cheap alternative in those days.

Matt, Frank, thanks for the comments. Regarding to the tracks I've not developed the skill to build them off the hull yet.... Will be my next challenge for the next model. came across 'magic tracks' but not really sure if they can be bought separate or only come with Dragon kits.

Very cool build. Alot of people don;t think tanks need a toe truck! Its cool to see modelers thinking out side the box and doing stuff thats not thought about. Tanks break down all the time and to see a recovery vech like your Tiger makes me think of a dio with a replacment engine pak being put ito a broke down tank some where in the big sand box. maybe abrams and a 88 dio! keep up the great work

Well not much more to report in that I have sprayed a base coat of Tamiya dark yellow.... Next will be the camo scheme.....

Got up a wee bit early before I go off and see Kings of Leon. Added the first part of the camo scheme. Tamiya Dark Green. It could probably do with a touch up. I plan to take the turret off so I can continue the green spray up to the the turret mount on the hull. I actually quite like the green only.... I am not sure if spraying red brown would be over kill....

Got the camera issue sorted...... So just blitzed the rest of the model. Up until the stage before I apply decals and try some weathering. I thought, best idea to have the model almost at factory finish stage with 'new' cable tows fixed, tools etc and some light rubbing with a dry brush using Vallejo oily steel on 'new' tracks. Still some touching up to do and splashes from the air brush (yes still need to get better at it) but I can hopefully hide that with pigments and what not..... The salt grains are still attached and I will probably chip them off with a tooth pick before applying a clear gloss coat to seal the acrylic paint in. Some of the pics, you can some of the salt has fallen off already, so gives an idea of how it may turn out.

Looking to do an oil wash on this tank next.... To be honest, not sure if that's the best thing as last time on a 1:72 scale model I did.... Didn't turn out well, just smeared oil paint all over. Maybe the oil paint was thinned enough.

At the moment I've got 502 Abteilung wash brown. If I were to use that again, is it 50/50 or 20/80 paint to thinner ratio? Do I need to spray an acrylic clear gloss, two coats to protect the camo paint?

Thanks

Definitely you will want to put down something to protect your work so far, far to nice to have it messed up from the effects of the wash . I would recommend Vallejo Satin varnish, you can't go wrong with it. The best thing about a satin varnish is it will allow your wash to flow most efficiently, a flat protective coat will tend to make the wash puddle up. After you have done your washes and filters then hit it with a nice dull coat. Hope that helps.

Rick Cooper

Oil wash done. Used about 80% thinner ( turpentine essence) and 20% oil paint., 502 Abteilung dark brown. Came out not too bad and no paint has run!! Will get pics up in the next couple days..... then tamiya buff and pigment time

Ok... so next I picked up the chips of salt to reveal a chipped paint effect...

Applied gloss varnish, applied decals, applied more glass varnish left for 3 days or so then applied an Oil wash all over with very thinned out Wash Brown 502 Abteilung oil paint.... Latest pics.. Any tips would be most welcome. Looking to maybe put a flat varnish on it next then a pin wash. Still trying to work out how to best use Tamiya buff to fade the paint..

Rust. If it has been in the field long enough to pick up some bullet holes, the tracks would have some rust on them. Looks excellent.

Ok so here goes.... first attempt at fading paint using German Three Tone Fading oil paint. Tried a bit of a pin wash too on the wheels. Let me know what you think so far. Still do rust, pigments etc. Tracks will be done last.

The latest so far.....Added some MIG Pigments for rust and dust. Tried a dab hand at the tracks too. I feel I am still missing something. I am not sure whether to try and use Tamiya buff along the sides for a further dust effect or so. This is the first time at 1:35 scale armour modelling and having a try at all the techniques that are posted on here. What are your thoughts?