Tiger I last production
Started with the camouflage. As I'm terrible with the airbrush, I tried something new (at least to me). I painted the camo with a brush, and then toned it down by overspraying it with RAL7028 Dunkelgelb. The goal is to get blurred edges and and a somewhat lightly applied colour, to get a slightly cloudy effect.
The exhaust shrouds will be placed when the exhausts are painted.
After burnishing, I treat the tracks with diluted pigments, Gulf War Sand and Europe Dust in that case, to have a little colour variation.
After drying, I remove excess pigment with an old toothbrush. Finally I go over the tread with a sanding stick to expose the chevrons. The inside of the tracks is treated with black pigment, which is really graphite powder, applied with a rubber brush.
The camouflage after painting with the brush. Looks quite ugly in this state and much too stark.
Blurred edges.
And the final result after filtering with dark yellow, applied with the airbrush.
The correct 600mm idler wheel from Modelkasten. The kit only contains 700mm idler wheels, which are not correct for a Tiger of this vintage. The kit didn't contain any polycaps, or I lost them long ago, so I used spares from a KV tank.
The spare track links were primed with panzer grey. In the weathering phase they'll get some rust treatment. Sometimes these links were painted with camouflage, but on all pictures of sPzAbt 510 I found they were dark and rusty, even the ones welded to the hull front.
The RH wheels now have steel rims, applied with my True Metal wax. Now it starts to look like a Tiger.
The wheels are not yet glued on, next I'll put on the tracks. The fit of the sprocket wheels is very loose, so I guess I'll have to them on for that.
Just wanted to share this unusual perspective.
The wheels after pinwashing but yet without pigments. While trying one track I managed to break off two mudguards.
I put the kit's idler wheel next to the correct one to show the difference in size.
I put the kit's idler wheel next to the correct one to show the difference in size.
The 1st track fitted. I had to shorten it by 7 links.
2nd track also fitted, also shortened by 7 links.
The damaged mudguards back in place.
Next will be rust treatment of exhaust mufflers and the spare track links.
Some rust effects on the exhaust mufflers.
The shrouds now in place. As they're PE, I was able to replicate some damage seen on the original photo.
Next I'll add all the small parts like tools and other fittings. For the tool clamps I'll probably go for 3D-printed ones.
The clamps for the jack are incredibly poor, and the supports are missing altogether. I had no choice but to use the PE set for that. Lots of fun with the wing nuts.
This is the Dragon kit for comparison: no need for aftermarket replacements as far as I'm concerned.
For some reason, the handle is outside the tool clamp on the original picture, so I used an open one in 3D.
These are the other tool clamps, if you can call it that. They'll all be removed and replaced by 3D-printed ones. The sledge hammer will be placed on the engine deck, so I used open clamps where it would otherwise be.
And this is how it looks with 3D-printed tool clamps and some PE from the Aber set. The jack block is WIP, and the C-hook will be "is use", so I'll have to add the mounting pegs. This is very tedious work with tiny parts and I wish this was over.
To bring these parts together: C-hook, shackle and tow clable grommet, I had to saw open the latter two. After inserting the C-hook, I glued these parts back together.
Коментари
16 7 November 2023, 19:06
Jean-Christophe ZeusThank you! The front of the vehicle is more or less conjecture. The pictures of 132 only show the rear. But other pictures of s.Pz.Abt. 510 show that this unit used a unique method of holding the spare tracks on the lower hull front: they welded a U-shaped bar between the two hull side extensions. These bars were additionally stabilzed by two more short bars welded to the hull front. So there was space for nine links separated into groups of three. I used Evergreen U-profiles for this.
The track links welded to the drivers' front plate were often attached in this fashion.
All in all chosing this kti for a return to the hobby turned out to be a mistake. The guy who sold me the Tamiya kit was well-meaning, thinking I wanted a hassle-free build out of the box. That I became a rivet counter he couldn't anticpate.
Lots of things wrong with this kit. Most egregious is the 25mm roof plate and the 700mm idler wheel. The tracks are single link, but the guide teeth are solid. I tried my best to correct the turret roof.
20 November 2023, 16:19
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An old shelf queen started ages ago. In fact it was my 1st project after restarting the hobby. Somehow I got bogged down in details.
