Hi. This is my first tank that I airbrushed with camo colours. I made this around two years ago. After that, I put modelling on hold to concentrate on college stuff. Now, i'm about to graduate and I have a lot of spare time on my hands to continue my hobby.
Its a 1/35 Jagdtiger from dragon. You may notice the silvering and crooked tracks and the shine glossiness of the tank. I was hoping that maybe you guys could give me some expert advice and suggestions? I guess I'd like some advice on dealing with paint, clear coats, decals and individual track links. I'd really like to improve on my craft. Any advice you guys would give would be most helpful.

Oh, and FYI, this tank was the first kit where I dealt with:
camouflage colors
clear coats
indy track links
washing
drybrushing
weathering

all techiniques learned from reading FSM. I was hoping you guys could offer more personal advice.

Many thanks
Joe/Grimlock

Hello Joe!
Maybe I'm not an expert but you made really nice model.
Tracks look as they rode on cobble stone street and that fit to clean look of your model.
You did nice, clean work here.
I wouldn't worry about glossiness because it is bearly visible (at least at your pictures) and all WWII tanks were a little bit glossy.

Not bad.

Very, very nice! It has a good camo pattern and the track look realistic, though a bit too brilliant! I like it!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

err... must be the camera flash. thanks guys!

Nice work with that airbrush! - I have problems with juding the weathering from the pictures, but overall it looks very convincing.

A little suggestion - try some pigments on the tracks and lower parts of the tank to stimulate roaddust.

thanks. i'm still in the process of learning the subtle art of pastel weathering. :-)

Ciao Joseph,
It looks really great!! You can always say the gloss came from morning dew or it just got rained on. I think it looks fantastic.
Congratulations on your education. Good for you!!
Ciao for now
Rob

Hello to the Phillipines!
I've been there a gazzillion times, I love the land, the people and the beer!

I too have a problem checking out photos for comment, (laugh) the other day I thought I saw some exposed metal on a sub, so I mentioned that it would be rust, since the sub was in the salt water and all. I got a return letter back saying that what I was looking at was a reflection from the camera flash... hahahaha... Doh!

But, the one thing that I said I wouldn't do is fluff my comments, because I think if your like me, and you finaly get the courage to post your stuff, you really wanna know how you can improve right? Well, personaly, from what I can see I love your paint job. I think you did a fine job. Seriously. If its seems glossy to you, I'm sure that you can find an article somewhere on here on how to use dull coat. To me, it looks fine.

If I was to call any shots about the construction, in the last picture that you posted in the left hand corner where the hull meets the left side and the top it apears in the photograph like there's a gap there at that seam. If you went to like an IPMS show to compete, reguardless how nice the paint is, a judge would have to look for flaws like this to cancel out a tank to narrow down the field to pick the best tank of the day. I think that I also see on the last road wheel part of the sprue tree still attached to the center hub, you may want to carve them off the tree a little bit closer to the hub in the future.

Judges early evaluations are, seems, glue, alignment. If they see any of these basic construction problems and there's more than 4 tanks there, it will be over looked and they'll go onto the tanks that don't have any of the three basic problems showing.

That's just some basic advice that I can give you. I thought I was doing great and I was, my paint jobs looked fine, but after I joined a club they told me about the seams and stuff. I just wanted to pass it on. I hope it helps.

And, Congrats on finishing school!

EasyOff

yeah, thats what I get for using superglue at the wrong places

the beer...oh the beer... :-)

Take some pictures outside in the daylight, then it will show a lot more detail.from your photos i carnt see much,so carnt comment.look forward to seeing more pics.
cheers

Looks good to me. You seem to master your airbrush so far.
The only nitpick could the brightness of the tracks. You can weather them a little more.

olivier

Hi Joseph,
Well for this first time trying out so many new things, you have done a good job. I would like to see some pictures of the model taken outside if the weather permits, perhaps we would be able to see some of the detail better. The one thing that I see that makes an otherwise nice looking model not so nice is the decals, even in the blurry picture I can see the decal film. Unfortunately this is one thing that takes a lot of practice to become good at. When using decals try and trim off as much of the decal film off as possible, then put a gloss coat or future floor wax on the model where the decal will be applied, place the decal and let dry for at least a day. Once dry go back and put another gloss coat on top of the decals, let that dry put a flat coat on the entire model and whatever decal film is left should be almost invisible. Take a look at some of the aricraft modelers work. They are truely masters as applying decals. I look forward to seeing more pictures.

Here are a few pictures of the model I am currently working on, all but two of the markings are decals. I used the same process I just described to apply the decals.

http://armorama.com/forums/53673&page=1

regards,
Robert

looks like you picked up a lot of good tips from FSM. I saw you got some great tips on decaling here which should help. I think you have to learn weathering which can be a lot of trial and error, you'll just have to find what works best for you, me I use washes others use pastels. Watch the sag in the track....the track on the christie type suspension (no roller wheels at top) would not be as loose as you show. refer to some pictures to pick up how these vehicles looked. if the track were too loose, it would fall off when they turned too hard or went cross country (in the dirt and mud). Welcome to the site and soon you'll be buildig more tanks and drooling over new kit releases like the rest of us.

Lovely effort mate!

Hi Joe,

You did a good job with the camo using AB nice touch. The ambush scheme looks OK except for the spots..IMHO, they are a bit big and few. If you could post clearer pictures as others suggested we see more of the beauty you built.

If you can not take pics outside just use desk lamps (at least two).

Overall it looks very good...keep it up

BTW, is the DML Jagdtiger OK to build?

Cheers

thanks for the kind comments, guys!

anyway, I purposely took photos at that angle to cover up my boo-boos in the indy track construction.

sir arvin: the kit is very good. It comes with a detailed interior plus photoetched engine covers. It was too bad this was one of my earlier kits. I didn't appreciate it as much as i do now. Oh well, I can only get better :-)

thanks again!

Looks pretty dern good to me!

Seriously Joe, your doing a great job getting back into the hobby. Your jumping right in there and tackling some pretty complex stuff.

As far as superglue goes, pffff, you can look at my desk and still see perfect finger prints from me glueing myself to the desk.

OH HONEY! WHERE'S THE FINGER NAIL POLISH REMOVER THAT WAS ON MY DESK?

"Its in the bathroom why?"

CAN YOU GET IT FOR ME PLEASE?

"Get it yourself, I'm doing something."

OH C'MON BABY, PLEASE! CAN YOU BRING IT TO ME?

"You glued yourself to the desk again didn't you? You dumb ass." :-) :-) :-)

STOP PICKING ON ME! AND HELP A GUY OUT WILL YA?

"Ok, but I'm bringing the camera with me this time."

NOOOOO! (Rip!) IT'S OK HONEY, I GOT IT.