Hi Michael,

Great job so far. The King Tiger is fantastic. I'm following...

Cheers

Thanks Mark and Giovani.

I appreciate your words.

Received some dry transfer vehicle numbers from Archer just recently and spent near an hour yesterday applying them onto the side of the vehicle. The spare tracks also have also been glued onto the track hangers.

The tiger has been completed with detailing, chipping and washes...etc.
The hatches and external components are being painted and glued into position today.

Photos to follow shortly.

Michael

Hello again

Happy New Year

Here is the 95 percent completion of the Takom King tiger

There is still some further shipping with a combination of oils blended down with Mig's odourless thinner



The Tiger will have the rear engine deck off with the engine suspended in the air from the crane jib


The series of images are still WIP with some very minor detailing.







Michael

HNY Michael - yum, it’s got that essential mean & deadly look, excellent work. I’m sure it isn’t but it looks like a socking great knock-out pin dent in the front wall of the engine compartment – what’s its real purpose? Hmm odourless thinner eh – is that like zero-alcohol vodka?

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your words. The recessed circle on the front engine wall is what I can presume an access panel of some description into the engine bay. The round recess hole will be painted black.

There are some many things you can achieve with the odourless thinner apart from described as a zero-alcohol vodka

Michael

Hello Again,

Head down trying to complete the King Tiger before heading back to work tomorrow.

Here are the completed images of the king tiger. Will sit behind glass before being placed onto the diorama.

The Tiger was predominately painted in Mig Ammo acrylics with additional Vellajo, lifecolour and Humbrol enamels.

Weathering was made with Ak Earth filter(wash) to distress the paint from new.
Oil paints for the chipping.

Now back to finish the Famo and trailer :good














Michael

Brilliant, fantastic especially knowing it's fully kitted out inside. Might it have had a bag over the muzzle under maintenance? What do I know, just a thought. Looking forward to Famo progress

Thanks Tim

I left the cover off as I was contemplating using the Miniart tank repair crew cleaning the barrel.
Then decided against it as the Mini art figures stand a little taller placed beside a 35th scale Tamiya or Alpine figure.

That and the fact that the diorama scene was leading to having too much going on around the tiger. A critical trap we all fall into with a large diorama area to work to.

Finding the correct visual balance as there will be a number of figures around the bilstein crane at the rear of the tiger with the engine ready to be placed onto timber supports.

Michael

Next project

Quite a few hours taken up for all the crates and bottles to be glued,painted and decals applied.
They are all going to be positioned in the bottom corner of the house with other stores.



It may be awhile before I post again

Michael

Brief update

All the wine bottles have the decals applied.
The decal sheet has 2 less than the number of bottles in the box, lucky Archer come to the party with wine bottle labels.

Ripped 2 decals out of the total , I can live with that.

I may need a break to do the beer bottle crates, there are a lot there.

Now back to the Famo and trailer .


Michael

Corkscrew anyone? Hic

Thanks Tim and Hello again,

Just dropping a quick update to let you know this thread has a slight delay at present with close off on the Tamiya famo and trailer as the tractor and trailer are near 97% completed with the kit to be pinned to the base and small parts to be glued into place.
And sadly to say I have torn into another project.
The HK Models B17 with the AC Models aircrew.

With the famo tractor and trailer near completion a large scale plane and crew is a nice distraction to building Amour.

Once the aircrew are completed I will venture back into closing the Famo and trailer off.

Without boring you all with the details I will show the progress.

The B17 Memphis Belle is my first large scale plane.









Other images in the Tamiya Famo thread



Michael

I love big dios, great job Michael!!
Moreno

Thanks Lagumiles.

The work is slow but there are more goodies being released from Miniart which can be used in the house. The house will be next to finish off. Filling up with all the extra items, tables, chairs, furniture and small items like crockery and a couple of figures to make the scene.

Looking into the house and the back yard will be a second diorama story with the wall and the gates being the separator.

Telling 2 diorama stories in 1 with the farm gates linking the 2 stories.

Here is the link for the items to be used in the house.
http://miniart-models.com/products/35584-east-european-home-stuff/

Michael

Michael
Your idea(s) sound great, I'll be following as well.
The beast turned out excellent

Regards
Dave

G'day Mike

Just an observation - between the two vents on top of the engine access hatch and up against the edge of the hatch is a semi-circular object moulded solid. It needs to be drilled out, as this was where the crew would insert the crowbar to lever the hatch open - the hatch was about 40mm thick, so it was bloody heavy.

Regards

Rob

Thanks Dave,

Rob,
Yes, the middle section on the engine hatch needs drilling out. Noticed it on the build but did not see it as a high priority. The engine deck and hatch are going to be sitting on the ground on timber blocks and will be done at a later stage.

Have been head down completing the B17 aircrew before going back to the king tiger dio.
Aircrew are done and it's on for the famo and trailer.




Michael

Hello Again,

Well after a year and a half break finishing off the Famo and swinging over to do some modern armour for a year I have moved back onto working on the diorama.
Firstly I need to complete the beers that will be sitting inside the house beside the bottles of wine.
The beer bottles are going to be more labour intensive to complete than the wine bottles.
Here is the completed work.

Most recent work this year



The beer bottles.12 crates and a lot of work
The work begins





Michael

better truth was never spoken!

G’day Michael

Interested to pick up your thread as I have started something similar but not as sophisticated as your diorama and I have come into the idea much later. I think I am just following Takom and Miniart releases of detailed subjects focusing on field maintenance and recovery subjects. My builds centre around the Takom Bergepanther Ausf A (Demag) and Panther Ausf D, both great kits. I am also using the AFV Club Bussing-NAG with Bilstein crane hoisting the impressive Maybach HL230 but have factored in the Takom Strabokran to be removing the turret. The Bergepanther will be hoisting the Panther transmission.

How are you having the NAG hoisting the engine? My research has shown a cable looped continuously around the lifting eyes on the engine block, chains to the eyes and then to the crane hook and a fabricated lifting frame with four short cables to the eyes, similar to that used with modern AFV power pack exchanges. I’m leaning towards the latter.

While I am fascinated by the interiors, I have chosen to create a separate vignette of the unloaded ammunition to one side using the Tamiya ammunition loading crew set. I felt this was necessary given the exposed interior in my case with the transmission, turret and engine out. I understand that it was SOP to unload all ammunition prior to maintenance work. I have made a major blue though by fixing the turret traverse race to the hull - not sure if this was ever done. My references only show the race in that position in wrecks

Looking forward to seeing more of your progress on the diorama.

Christian

Hello Christian,

The Bussing NAG will have a D Shackle on the the lifting hook with large chain coming from the lifting eyes to the D shackle.

The small problem that exists through test fitting is the plastic engine may be heavier than the plastic lifting arm on the crane and it may need to be strengthened with metal rod as the intention is to have the engine suspended in mid air being moved.

The work on the crane and engine is going to be further down the track as my focus is with finishing the house, farmyard and ground work before any vehicle or figures are set in place.

Similar to creating a movie set before the actors come in and act in a scene.

It's been a long time between diorama's so it's full steam ahead.

Michael

Thanks Michael.

The location of the front right lifting eye on the Maybach HL 230 is a little obscure from the research I’ve done. I’ll be interested to see how you do this.

Yes, the AFV Club molds are very fine and may require some strengthening. Although, the small crane on the Takom Bergepanther had no trouble supporting the weight of the completed engine when I gave it a test fit - it will hold the transmission assembly easily. Not sure how this will go over time in the display cabinet though.

All the best with the rest of your build.

Christian

Hello Again,

Another year passes with many project crossing the modelling desk. The work is sparodic but rest assured this diorama will be completed along with the other projects on the go
Like the 1/35th Schnellbooot at the Modelshiprights site
Here https://modelshipwrights.kitmaker.net/forums/284500

Annnnd another diorama to sink the teeth into
In time will be blogged on Armorama but I would like to get further into the build before blogging it.
Here
https://planetarmor.com/t/somewhere-on-the-russian-steppe/40

The Miniart Beer Bottles and crates are completed now awaiting a coat of Satin Varnish for the bottles and a coat of flat clear for the crates.
Here is a semi close up view of what the labels look like.



Still contemplating whether or not to use all the bottles and crates in the diorama. All the decals in the kit have been used and I understand once the bottle is in the crate the decal may not be seen but wanted the experience with applying the decals onto the bottle.

By the way they are harder than the wine bottle decals because they are smaller and harder to apply around the bottle.
Miniart did an excellent job in reproducing the logos but the decal paper needs to be something similar in quality to the Tamiya decals. The decal Material needs to be softer to manipulate around the curved surface. A lot of Mr Mark Softener by Gunze was used to help conform the decal.

With the other diorama under work at the same time I managed to have most of the figures prepared for priming. There are some 60+ figures along with horses. The figures are mainly for the Russian diorama with a small percentage of figures for the King Tiger diorama.

Once all the figures are primed they will be individually hand painted with a combination of enamel and acrylic paints with oil paints used for the face and hands.
The Figure Brands are a combination of Tamiya, Masterbox, Dragon, Tristar(Hobbyboss), Stalingrad, Bravo 6, Riich, Legends with a Couple of Alpine Figures tucked away in the corner.

Have never painted horses so that in itself will be a challenge. The horses are from Riich and Masterbox.
Here they all are







Michael

Nice work on all these different things!

What are the horses for?

Thanks Phil,

The horses are for the below.



Michael