Zvezda 1/35 Tiger 1 early version

[trekfanj]

Great job so far, Trek!

Thanks, Martin!!!

[trekfanj]

Looking good man, making me want to finish my 131 build

Thanks, Mannloon! I want to see the finished 131!

[felisbarcinonensis]

Good progress Trek

[AchtungPanzer]

Super work with wheels. All looks very well. Keep it up ! and go forward mate

[trekfanj]

Good progress Trek

Thanks for the compliment!

[trekfanj]

Super work with wheels. All looks very well. Keep it up ! and go forward mate

Thanks!

[trekfanj]

Get ready for a long-winded, photo-heavy update guys and gals!

Okay, for starters, I got my Friul tracks all assembled and washed up, ready for paint. Coen was helpful in providing a painting procedure that I, erm...sort of followed.

First, I sprayed them with Krylon "Oil Rubbed Bronze" rattle can paint


It felt kind of tacky when it was dry, but as I handled them the tackiness went away. Next step was to mix up Folk Art "Burnt Orange" and "Burnt Sienna" to get a really old, rusty look.


And following that I painted all of the raised ridges with Folk Art "Sterling Silver"


In the meantime, the Tiger was ascending "Junkpile Hill"

So I got the tracks painted, and this is when it came down to "make or break" the entire project; actually putting them on. I did everything to stall the task; wash dishes, wash the cars, make banana splits, you name it. Finally, sweaty and crazing out on sugar, I tackled the job. As it turns out, choosing the Friuls was the best decision. There was a lot of tugging and pulling that I don't think styrene tracks could have withstood.
Eventually, I got them on.


As you can see, they didn't fit the sprockets very well. A little more pushing and pulling got them more or less in position a bit better, but not much. So now I had a factory fresh Tiger 1 Heavy Tank.

Now to see what damage we could do. (cue sinister laughter)

First up was decaling. Zvezda decals look kind of crummy at first

but once they're soaked in water, they drastically improve.

The Balkenkreuz, though...junk. Well, maybe that's a little unfair, but the white edges are all sorts of different thicknesses.

Careful trimming could probably take care of that problem, but I didn't want to do that, so I ordered a set of Archer Fine Transfers Balkenkreuz (yes, I know they spelled it "Balkencruz") waterslide decals.


So, I had my Tiger all decaled up and ready for weathering.




I had this thing sitting on my workbench, and I realized that I had completely forgotten how to weather a tank! So, I watched a few YouTube tutorials and got to work.
First, I made a black wash and put it all over the tank

I tried drybrushing silver on the edges where paint would wear off, but I couldn't quite get the hang of it, so I used a hard-graphite No. 2 pencil to replicate bare metal. Forgot to take pics of it, though.
So after that, I made a mix of Elmer's glue, water, and brown paint to create a bit of dried mud. To simulate clods of mud, I used finely sifted dirt from my backyard. I brushed the paint/glue/water mix on the underside, the roadwheels, and under the fenders and then sprinkled the dirt all over these areas, mixing it in with the paint.









As a final last detail, I found a bit of stripped wire insulation and stretched a bit of sprue to make an antenna, which I painted flat black.





Finally, I decided to create a bit of dust with Folk Art "Camel."



I got a little carried away with it, though.



And so, I sat back to admire my beautifully weathered, completely finished Tiger tank...and realized I had forgotten the spare tracks on the turret! I looked all over my workbench, the floor around it, the trash can, everywhere; they were just gone! Maybe they fell into the black hole that the bow machine gun fell into?
Well, the Friul tracks came to my rescue again. I had to do some major cutting and hacking to get them to fit. The reworked track is on the top.



I followed the same painting procedure for the main track runs, only after the coat of rust, I ground up some pastel chalks and worked it into the paint to give them some extra-heavy rust.





So there it is, my finished Tiger. In spite of all the issues I had, I had a lot of fun with this kit. And I still stand by my opinion of this kit; it's really not all that bad, it just needs a little TLC, and what modeler hasn't filled and sanded something? After building this, I'm actually looking forward to Zvezda's upcoming Panther G (online reviewers are already jumping on the "just the old Italeri kit" bandwagon ) coming out in September.

Till next time!

[UKguyInUSA]

Nice job, mate!

[trekfanj]

Nice job, mate!

Thanks, Martin!

[Ozzie21]

Excellent job Trek . I'll move mine from the "I'm not sure if I'll touch this" pile, to the " I think this will be okay" pile. The tracks and the paint turned out really well.

[trekfanj]

Thanks, Ozzie!
I'm glad I could help someone else reconsider their opinion of this kit.

One thing I forgot to mention in my posts; the cross section spanning the forward part of the lower hull needs to be sanded down a bit, otherwise the upper hull won't fit properly.
Happy modeling!

[felisbarcinonensis]

Well done Trek! You've done a good job and I can see that you have enjoyed the process

[trekfanj]

Well done Trek! You've done a good job and I can see that you have enjoyed the process

Thanks, Felis! It was a lot of fun!

[KSmodeler]

Nice job showing this kit who's boss! I avoided this kit, but you are doing a nice job.

[trekfanj]

Thanks, KS!
It was a punisher, that's for sure!

[Ozzie21]

Thanks, Ozzie!
I'm glad I could help someone else reconsider their opinion of this kit.

One thing I forgot to mention in my posts; the cross section spanning the forward part of the lower hull needs to be sanded down a bit, otherwise the upper hull won't fit properly.
Happy modeling!

Okey dokey, I've made note and stuck it in the box