Tiger 1 build

This is the tiger after the main assembly and cleanup. The kit had been started by a previous owner, but only a few hull pieces had been assembled. This mean that cleaning up this parts was tricky, but most of that will be covered by the running gear. There are also a few parts missing. I used some super.glue to fill a few seam lines and injection marks. Then the running gear was assembled (which on a tiger is no small job). After cleaning up all the road wheels and track segments, the wheels were test fitted to the hull and cemented to each other, excluding the outer set of wheels. The tracks were cemented together and to the wheels. Once dry this whole part was then slid off of the hull's suspension, and the outer wheels removed. Now I am left with four sub assemblies, hull, turret and left and right running gear ( also some outer road wheels). This means I have n easy time when painting, and I have full control on painting the outer wheels which will be most visible. The kit so far has been good, the track are nice to have in plastic and you have some freedom on how to fix them in place. 

 

The turret hatches and cupola are quite simple kit parts. I have replaced the handles with wire ones for better strength. The liftarm which supports the commanders hatch door when opened is not long enough to fit to the hatch when closed (maybe I have it on wrong somehow), but is a nice detail to have as a separate part. I replaced the bar with a piece of wire through some drilled holes, then extended the arm with a piece of styrene strip. 

With some micro drilling and florists wire assembled the second hatch to be opened and closed. There is little detail inside the turret, and what is present is not very good, so I might not bother with painting it but at least me options are open. 

Some front armour texturing. The weld seams is a bit weird as these weren't quite glued straight originally. 

At this point I have applied a few more PE and modified parts (front fenders, a few tool clamps, 2 of the tow cables and clamps, headlamps, basket hinges, and grills. 

The wood block piece was sanded to a flat finish, then scribed using a mini saw blade to create wood grain texture. PE parts were then applied and it was fixed to the hull.  

I fancied trying to make my own cables for this kit, as the plastic ones are a bit soft and I would be replacing the clamps with Eduard ones anyway. 6 strands of thin wire (with a black coating) were spun together in a drill to create a consistent weave. The plastic cable hoops were used from the kit. The rear eyelet clamp was taken from another Eduard kit one short. 

The lower clamp is the one from a different kit (the Tamiya upgrade kit) which is better quality and has a bracket that the lamp is mounted to. 

The larger tow cables were made in a similar way but with only 2 strands of thicker wire. I could have done with using a smaller gauge wire but had none. These fitted quite nicely into the PE parts, along with some plastic rods which were drilled to make the ends hollow. The excess black CA will be removed later. 

Apart of the wire has been clamped to let the CA cure as it was standing proud of the engine deck.