1/35 Tiger II construction

Katya Hodgson
Today's progress, stopping now as it is too cold and dark to work.

Ingo F
Looks good so far. 👍

Katya Hodgson
Ready for painting now.

Katya Hodgson
I said sod it to the air brush, and used a real brush.

Katya Hodgson
Update on the 1/35 Tiger II, I have nearly finished painting the large parts, and will soon be able to finish assembly, hopefully finishing the entire model tomorrow.

This post is also an apology to my airbrush/airbrushing in general. I was able to get ahold of some Vallejo air paint today and... just wow, I am blown away by the results. It works perfectly, almost effortlessly! A thanks to everyone for their input and advice on airbrushing, I now know the problem was simply my own poor attempts at thinning enamel paint. In future when air brushing I will stick to Vallejo. 🙂

Katya Hodgson
Just got tools/equipment, decals, and a few last little details to put on tomorrow, and it is done.

Peter Jenssen
Looks good!
You might also want to put a layer of clear over eventually, as acrylics can be a little less wear resistant than enamels.

Daniel Klink
good and important point Peter 👍

Katya Hodgson
I do have some gloss and some matt, but they are enamel so I am worried about sticking them in air brush after all the problems I have had with enamels...

Ingo F
You can also use acrylic varnish on the model. If you want to weather the model later you have to use weathering products on enamel base.

Peter Jenssen
I must say I have had some bad experiences with Humbrol clear, (even on enamel) staying tacky indefinitely.
I don't use specific weathering products. I have used oils and pigments with acrylic thinners, directly on acrylic paint without problems on a tank build I did a couple of years ago.
Just as long as the paint has dried for a couple of days first and weathering is done carefully, I didn't have any problems.
A coat of Tamiya X-35 on top of decals and the first weathering, and some finishing pigment weathering after turned out fine for me.
As usual try new techniques on a test piece before trying it on the model.
Especially true when trying coats of paints/varnishes of different types on top of each other.

Ingo F
Usually i am going like this: Paint job, glossy varnish, decals, glossy varnish, weathering, matte varnish.

Peter Jenssen
Yep, that's how I go on my Wingnut aircraft builds, -plus some weathering touchup afterwards.
Other kits, especially vehicles, I couldn't be bothered with all the clear coats (I'd like to minimise the airbrush cleaning! 😉 )

Peter Jenssen
Here's my tank build.
I had loads of fun with just pigments from some cheap pastels from the local art shop and some Tamiya acrylic thinner.
strv 103C | Album by jenssen (1:35)