Tamiya Late Version Tiger 1 update 5

It has been some time but progress has slowly progressed.

Some paint on the figures

Some more paint and some tracks and weathering on the tank. also Some bridge of a diorama in the background

Oh shiny metal look. pencil rubbing and more grime

Some blocks on the back of the bridge. They are made from red das clay

The front of the bridge..no blocks yet. but the beginnings of a base

Cobblestone roadway from the white das clay.

Its all a bit of a mess still but I have some idea of where I`m going with it

The plan is to have some railway tracks running on top of the bridge, if I can successfully scratch build them

Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung Update 8

Doing a bit more with the diorama base, added some static grass and some sand as little rocks. The bulrushes are in place, some moss for small bushes and a different moss for the first layer of foliage on my twig tree

The plan is to have a little pond/stream with the tank running through it. I have to finish up painting the tank and tracks before adding the water as it will hopefully be a little submerged into the water.

I have run into a little difficulty with my matt varnish, it no longer dries matt more of a satin\gloss result( I have stirred, shaken, even prayed to the many tentacled devourer that lives in the carpet but all to no avail). It has put a little delay on my plans until I can get some replacement

Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung Update 7

Started a bit of work on a base for my panzer, an old picture frame to start, built up the rough contours with some Styrofoam, coated it in pva and put some das clay on top, added some thin slips of wood around the edges.

Added some stones half buried in the clay and tried out some bulrushes that I made a while back,started shaping the wood around the edges.

I had a little brown paint left in the air brush after painting the camo on my tiger so I sprayed it on. finished shaping the wood on the edges and painted it black.

The star in doing a rehearsal.

Tamiya Late Version Tiger 1 update 4

Sprayed on a bit of camouflage red brown

Then a gloss coat and decals, they have had 3 coats of micro sol so far to try to settle them down on to the contours. 

Tamiya Late Version Tiger 1 update 3

The continuing tale of a Tiger that has gone to the dogs

199 tracks glued up 99 on the right and 100 on the left

I decided that cleaning up the plastic tow cables was not worth it so I cut them out, drilled some holes and and replaced them with some wire

Primed with matt black And covered with Dunkelgelb/ Dark Yellow.

Added some browns to the tracks and a touch of steel they will need some more work once they are in place.

You can hardly see through the forest of wheels

I am debating whether I should add camo colors to the wheels. Probably not though.

Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung Update 6

Got the micro set/sol in the post. My first time using them and they are great for settling down the decals.

Painted up the tools and some other details

I added some white oil paint, blended it in with white spirit. I left it a bit streaky to suggest the after effects of rain.

Working on a muddy colored enamel wash.

Most of these effects do not show very well in the photos.

Tamiya Late Version Tiger 1 update 2

Things are proceeding. nearly finished with the zim sculpting, drilling back out the covered holes and playing with the figures  :)

I even got back to sticking some plastic again.

Tamiya Late Version Tiger 1 update 1

As a little break from cleaning tracks and sculpting zimm I put the crew together. To me they looked like they were having a smoke break so I added a couple of wire cigs and a tobacco pouch for the guy with the pipe. The pouch is made from the metal off a tube of gel.
Still trying to figure out what to put in the hand of the guy on the right

Tamiya Late Version Tiger 1

While waiting on the delivery of some chemical marvels in the form of microset/sol for my Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung
I decided to move on to this tiger model a Christmas gift from the missus. So I started out to do a little research
There is just so much out there about Tigers, I soon realized that I didnt even know what I needed to know to ask questions about what was known. Its going to be mostly Out of the box for me.

The obligatory sprue shots.

Started organizing and cleaning up some bits.

Trying my hand at some zimmerit. I may be putting it on a little thick. But once its painted hopefully it wont look too out of place.

Just in case you are wondering its an anti-magnetic coating to stop mines and suchlike from sticking to the vertical surfaces of the tank.

Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung Update 5

I have made a little progress with the painting though.
I decided to use the only bottle of airbrush primer that I have MIG black. I had not had much success with it previously.

It seemed to go on a little better for me this time.

I went ahead with some painting on the figure

I realised that i had forgotten about the eyes

A quick coat of German Grey on the tank with plenty more to do yet

Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung Update 4

My shoulder locked up a bit on me and it slowed me down. But here are the photos of the track links that I was talking about

This way tends to knock the previous links loose

This way is not as bad I find

The "boom box" installed

All the construction apart form a couple of lights finished. I popped in a figure from a Tamiya late tiger. I wonder if the uniform would be suitable for use in this tank? If anyone with  the Knowledge is reading please let me know.

Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung Update 3

This is I think called the jack block. It didn't look right to me with the chunky triangles of plastic sticking out the sides. I spent some time looking for reference photos of this tank but there is not a lot of decent shots out there that i can find
http://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/31348/Pz-Kpfw-I-M-G-mit-Abwurfvorrichtung-zenijne-vozidlo
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/4426/29134428.20a/0_7016d_4b37bf53_XL
I couldnt find any thing on the jack block so I looked at the cover of the box, and those chunky bits a notable by their absence. Just straight straps running down.

So I shaved them down to leave a much thinner strap behind. I added a couple of wire handles which seemed fairly common of similar tanks.

I scraped out a little opening in the exhaust using a home made tool. A compass point ground down to a semi-triangular profile.

The cable included in the kit seemed to be too large and would not fit through the holes in the plastic so I made a replacement with some find copper wire.

Its a little untidy here but I hope to tidy it up once the glue has cured fully.

A quick note on the tracks for any one planning on this build. When placing them together this seems to be the easier direction to fit them with out them knocking apart every time you add another. I'm not sure if I'm being clear there if not let me know and I`ll do it with photos

Nearly done with construction now

Most of the tools attached Hull glued and a tiny bit of filler here and there.
Now back to work.