Tiger in the snow

Post by **RichBuilds** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:16 am

Hi folks.

Here's my build log for the Tiger SIG build. My first ever Tiger!

I'll be building a 1/72 Dragon Tiger 1 - Mid production and setting it a snow scene (my first attempt at a snow dio).

I have some german infantry in winter coats on order to go with it - should be arriving in the next couple of days.

Pretty much got the tank built during the hangout last night:

Next step is paint it. I'll be using Vallejo model air colours to do a base Dunkelgelb camo and then to winter it up using Mig's washable white.

There's a lot of firsts for me on this kit - A Tiger, snow scene, washable white - should be fun!

Post by **Art17847** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:08 pm

looks like ur makin great progress so far....really like those figures the poses look good.....good luck with ur build will be following ur progress

Post by **Coen** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:22 am

My favourite builds are always the ones where I learn new things. The more new the better most times.
I can't wait to see what you pull together Rich. It should be interesting to follow at the least

Post by **RichBuilds** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:10 pm

My figures have arrived, and I must say I'm very impressed. Nice level of detail for 1/72, posable(ish) and hardly a seam line in sight!

I'm now trying to work out the paint scheme (mid production, Russia, December 1943) for the Tiger.

I think I'm going to go with a dunkelgelb base coat, with chipped dunkelgrun camo and then chipped white camo over the whole thing.

Post by **RichBuilds** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 12:47 am

My Tiger is ready for painting:

I've distressed the skirts and mud guards a little as practically every in service shot I've seen has some damage to them. Tried not to get too silly with it.

On to the painting. Spent most of the day watching videos and reading articles to do with Tiger paint schemes and winter camo. This is probably going to be my most technical and lengthy paint job I've attempted so I'm going to give it a test run on a (pants, do not buy) Airfix 1/76 Churchill.

Here's the plan, step by step:

Undercoat (dark grey)
Black Preshade
Dunklegelb base coat
Vallejo Chipping medium coat
Dunklegrun squiggle camo
Chip the squiggle camo
Satin varnish to protect

Another coat of Chipping medium
A coat of Washable white
Chip the washable white
Satin varnish
-
Dark brown oils pinwash
Grime streaks (dark brown/black)
-
Hand paint chippings (dark iron)
-
White oil wash highlights on white camo
Dirty up with a Brown/grey oil wash
-
Next the Spare Links on the side of the turret (painted off the model and attached when done):
Rust (3 or 4 shades)
Chipping medium
Satin varnish
Washable white
Chip the washable white
Attach to turret
Dirty up with a brown oil wash
-
Paint Fire extinguisher & tools
Attach tools
Graphite pencil on ring and other places of hard wear
-

Should only take 3 or 4 months... when's the cuttoff date? :

Post by **Coen** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:57 pm

Good plan Rich, I'll look forward to seeing it in action.

Dev said he'll extend the end date but only if you mail him your beard. Said something about a hat.

Post by **wappynutter** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 9:30 pm

Wow Richard, how are ya buddy??
This is gonna be THE one to watch...

I'm guessing the snowy dio will be the "Dogs Danglies" ? ... No pressure mate... lol....

Good luck, Not that you gonna need it as your work is top Banana...

Keep updating the thread... I'll be hanging around, making a nuisance of myself...

" Munch...munch...munch....."
Stay safe and well mate..

Post by **RichBuilds** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:33 pm

Sketchup prototype of the Russian street dio

I've been using photo's of Stalingrad as my reference material. Now there's a grim subject matter

Post by **eightfooticeman** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:48 pm

Unbelievable Rich! A computer program for planning? Now thats something I need to get into for sure. Everything looking great Rich.

Post by **RichBuilds** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 7:27 am

I use the free version of Google Sketchup ( http://www.sketchup.com/ ).

It's astonishingly intuitive and easy to use. There are loads of how to videos on youtube. Here's a quick freehand demo I knocked up to show it in action: http://youtu.be/N5tS5OV7Do8

Post by **eightfooticeman** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:23 pm

RichBuilds wrote:I use the free version of Google Sketchup ( http://www.sketchup.com/ ).

It's astonishingly intuitive and easy to use. There are loads of how to videos on youtube. Here's a quick freehand demo I knocked up to show it in action: http://youtu.be/N5tS5OV7Do8

Awesome mate!

Post by **historyofthereich** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:02 pm

Nice 3D program, cheers mate I'm in the mid of downloading a copy my self now

Can't wait to see how yor build turns out

Post by **Russ72** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 10:07 pm

Looking forward to seeing this one come together. From what I've seen of your work, it's going to be a stunner.

Post by **RichBuilds** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:28 pm

A little bit of work on the dio tonight. Starting to put the ruined street together...

Post by **Nige201980** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:03 am

Good work so far mate

Post by **RichBuilds** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:30 am

Thanks Nige, It's my first go at 1/72 buildings (I've done mainly 1/48 & 1/35 in the past). Has it's own unique set of challenges and I'm learning as I go

Post by **RichBuilds** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:38 pm

First building ruin pretty much built:

Need to add another floor and rubble piles.

Post by **Coen** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 1:15 pm

DAMN!!!
Ok... that's cool Rich. Holy crow dude!

Post by **Lego** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 1:17 pm

Amazing work rich.

Post by **Hillbilly** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 1:18 pm

Excellent work on the building Rich,it's going to look awesome when it's done

Post by **RichBuilds** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 6:36 pm

Airbrush / paints / lack of skill didn't want to behave when it came to doing the tiger Dunklevert camo stripes.

Good job I'm going to be covering it all in white camo >.<

Post by **wappynutter** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:20 pm

WOW

...
Awesome stuff Rich, keep doin what ya do.... we'll all keep watching buddy...

Continued success mate...

" Munch...munch...munch......."

Post by **RichBuilds** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 3:21 pm

Tiger has it wheels on. Need to touch up a few sloppy bits and where the glues eaten the paint a little ready for clear coat and decals. Then onto the winter cam and weathering. Stripes don't look as bad but still not very happy with 'em.

Post by **RichBuilds** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:56 pm

Nocked up the remaining ruins and started dry fitting them so I can get an idea for the size of the dio (about 25x25cm)

Once I had a rough size, I cut a chung of pink foam for the groundwork and mounted the ruins on thin card to simulate pavement:

Next step is to add rubble of various grades and get some texture on the exterior walls...

Post by **Hillbilly** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:30 am

Love the layout of that dio.

Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:30 am

Ummm ok... COOL!

Post by **RichBuilds** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:46 am

Exterior textures are on. Once it's dry I can start adding rubble piles and debris to hide all the shonkey bits

Post by **Coen** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 2:53 am

That's superb work Rich!

Shonkey?

Post by **PaulAyrey** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:42 am

Looks great.......

Post by **Schoof** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 3:52 pm

Rich if you ever think about starting your own "Dio and stuff" shop i`ll buy everything from you !!

Post by **RichBuilds** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:30 pm

Most of the rubble and debris is down now. Want to distress the road a little more but I think I'm almost at the painting stage...

I used various grades of sand, grit, sawdust and chipped cork. Held down with a wash of watered down pva applied with a pipette. A coat of hairspray holds everything in place while the pva sets (a long time, it's quite deep in places).

Once the rubble piles were done, I hit my bits box for offcuts of plastic rod, sheet and bar theres bits of a poundland dolls house in there...

Post by **Coen** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:42 am

Dude! That is so many kinds of cool!!!

Post by **alextheblue** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:15 am

I really admire you guys that build the 1/72 AFV''s as you don't really appreciate just how small they are until you see them in scale with something else. You've completely nailed yours RB and that bae is really coming together!!

Post by **Yevgeny** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:13 am

Man that looks epic! Great skills.
And 1:72

Post by **RichBuilds** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:41 pm

Thanks for the compliments folks. If I had acres of space I'd do 1/35

Post by **RichBuilds** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:34 am

Road has been distressed and a final texturing over the rubble. Groundwork ready for priming and painting...

Now it's time to give the tiger it's winter coat. I'm using MIG washable white for the first time...

Left it for an hour or so and washed most of it off:

Washable while doesn't stick to decals like it does to paint so I ended up with this minor hiccup:

Paul suggested I feathered the edge around the decal:

Need a little more tidying up before I satin coat it to protect the washable white and add streaking and grime but I'm pretty happy with the results:

Post by **PaulAyrey** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:38 am

Brilliant work so far!

Post by **RichBuilds** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:25 pm

Threw some paint at the dio this afternoon...

Undercoat:

Preshade then dark and light grey:

Groundwork:

Post by **Coen** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:49 pm

AH! WOW!

That is freaking awesome work Rich!!! and at 1/72!!!
Like I said earlier... the nuts dude!

Post by **RichBuilds** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:53 am

Base is now ready for snow!

Tiger has had a few dirty washes and ready for the tracks and tools to be added. Almost there!

Post by **Coen** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:45 am

Oh wow!

that's fraking awesome Rich. I've seen WWII pics that look very similar to that.
You've really caught the moment bud.

Post by **RichBuilds** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:17 am

Thanks Mike

There's a few bits I'm not happy with but I'm hoping the snow will cover them up

Speaking of snow, here's the results of a quick test with DIY snow before I commit to the Tiger...

Test piece:

Thick snow (Bicarbonate of Soda, PVA and white acrylic):

Light scattering (Plaster of paris fixed with hairspray):

It's still drying so I won't know how it looks for a couple of hours...

Post by **Coen** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:49 am

I've heard of this method before... actually .. I've heard of these two methods before.
This is the first time that I've seen them both applied on the same piece.
Very very cool!!!

YouTube · Post by **Kingdan** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:20 pm

looks very real rich can't wait for the rest of it

Dan
__________________________________________________________________________
On the bench :
Airfix 1/72 Saturn v rocket
Revell 1/24 red bull rb8 racing car
Oh and some old bits of crap

Post by **RichBuilds** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 7:45 am

Snow down on the dio and water drying in the puddles:

Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 7:31 pm

I thought the FB shots were cool.. this is bigger and badder.
DAMN!!! Rich that's wonderful dude.

Post by **RichBuilds** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:05 pm

Tiger is 'done'. If I do any more to it I think it'll spoil it so here's a sneak peak before the final reveal in the next few days...

Post by **Hillbilly** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:07 pm

I agree 100%,dont change a thing she looks great.

Post by **RichBuilds** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:55 pm

Figures done.

These little fellas are about an inch tall. THIS is why they call it 'migrain scale'

Now to put the whole thing together for the final reveal...

Post by **MarkVerploeg** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:40 am

That is really awesome work Rich
So much to see and still so small comparred to the big 1:35 tigers most are building for this sig
I will be looking forward to the reveal