I have seen a few vehicles with interiors, but have thought about purchasing a aftermarket kit of resin for an interior, as I have never worked with resin before. Instead of using a aftermarket kit, I decided to get a Academy Tiger I early version with a interior, as the kit is cheap, but has some inaccuracies. So I intend to fix some of the inaccuracies of the kit and scratch build missing components. Some of the changes that I plan to add the missing reinforcements between the torsion bars, modify the ammunition racks to have four casings per rack, instead of three, add gun elevation and missing linkages for the traverse wheel.

I also intend to convert the model to a cutaway. I will be removing the left side sponson, and possibly the lower portion of the hull and cut the road wheels in half, to expose the interior, and a portion of the left side of the turret.

1/35 Tiger I early by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

some basic progress of filling pin marks, and dry fitting the upper hull.
1/35 Tiger I early by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Picked yourself a fun project. Can't wait to see it come together.

Here's my plans so far for the model, as I will be drawing it out on the vehicle to confirm that I won't be cutting out any areas that are wanted. I plan to keep one of the ammo racks on the left side, and keep the front glacis plate unaltered.

Tiger I cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out
keep posting updates

Good luck

Academy Tiger I early version modifications[/urr.flickr.com/people/100480897@N07/]Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr
Well here's some progress I made over the last week on vacation, most of the upper hull and interior components are complete, I will post some photos of them later. The hull has been painted too, I used Tamiya dark yellow for the exterior, and hull red with a little buff to lighten it. For the crew compartment I used Vallejo light grey.

I found these references to be very helpful for fixing the mistakes of the kit( and there are lots of them...).
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/mmtiger/mmtiger.htm
and
http://www.tiger1.info/
Academy Tiger I early version modifications by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

ammunition stowage bins were lengthened.

Academy Tiger I early version modifications by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

under turret basket floor ammunition storage, and storage bins below floor plates.

Academy Tiger I early version modifications by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Grease points and side ammunition bins mounted.

Academy Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Some preliminary painting has been done, but the rest of the painting will have to be finished by hand to avoid overspray.

It's looking amazing! Looking forward to the next update!

That is going to be a really cool Tiger1...always did like cut a ways.
Cheers,
Joe

Hi Tommy,

Great project and nice subject. I'm following...

Cheers

Giovanni

Looks good, Tommy. Nice idea.

Loking forward to see more.

Any Tiger build is a good build! Great idea and nicely executed! Keep the updates coming!

1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

A little more progress, I painted the cut away areas with insignia red, I still need to do a lot more touching up of the paint.

This is looking good.

You should consider to make frontal armour thicker and show thicknes of armourbin general.

I don't think I will be able to do that, as the scale thickness would be an addition of at least .08 Styrene to it, I think there would be issues with the transmission's location, and the transmission is affixed with CA glue...

I was just going to make the same suggestion about scaling the cut sections for thickness, though it is a bit late to do it on this one. Maybe next time?

Tommy,

I'll be watching this. Good reference for when (if?) I ever get to build mine!

A small update, the paint has been touched up around the model, there still is a couple areas that need to be repainted. I had a couple issues with Vallejo light gray and Tamiya paint not depositing and affixing to the models surface by brush, this was rectified by applying thick coats of paint.
1/35 Tiger I early by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

well it has been some time since the last update, but I have a lot of progress, and school is finished, so i can finish up this model in the next couple weeks.
1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I early version by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

I know very little about Tigers, but I thought that the interior was panzer buff(like most other German tanks). It's coming along very well.

Pretty cool looking build,I would agree with Matt's question.

It has been some time since my last post, but I finished with the road wheels ...all 48, I made the mistake attempting to make it easier by airbrushing the entire wheel black, then making a stencil out of styrene and painting the center. This didn't work out as well as expected, so I re painted all the rubber by hand. I am pleased how this build turned out, it isn't a perfect replica, but it's cheaper than buying a full resin interior, and Tiger, and I think I had better results for the torsion bars and struts in the hull than a drop in resin piece. The only issues I have with the kit is that the hull roof seems to have a fit issue with the hull, it doesn't rest flat on the hull, another issue is the air filter's tubing not connecting entirely, this could be because of the hull fitting, as the entire hull roof/engine deck can be slid forwards 2mm from the rear of the vehicle. Another minor issue with the kit was the decals, it seems like there was a misalignment with the printer as the Balkan kruz has the black and white are not properly centered, so I had to trim off the excess, also the decal placement suggests the two decals on the front glacis should be mounted between the driver's viewport and the MG port, but there isn't enough space with the placement of the hooks for the deep wading gear over the MG.

This was a fun kit, it offered a lot for the price, and with a little extra time I was able to replicate the missing components.

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

1/35 Tiger I Early cutaway by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

I have seen a from a couple others that have built a early Tiger I, that the color should be a green/gray color, I just picked a color that was similar to it, so it isn't exactly the proper color.

Nice! You have inspired me to try something similar!

It's your model and you choose how to represent it. However: