My Entry: Dragon initial model

[ForbesHutton]

[youtube]g1JurVA9zm8[/youtube]

[Coen]

Holy WOW!!!
No small amount of work there bud. That's going to be the biggest and most elaborate dio so far. All that extra stuff is going to look awesome.
Great idea for the story too.

[AlkaSeltzer]

One word..IMPRESSIVE

[ForbesHutton]

[youtube]diGXTScHlAE[/youtube]

[Coen]

I really don't think that you can fix that without taking the parts off Bud.
You were right in your guess in that you put the upper deck on first, then the glacis plate then the bow.

[ForbesHutton]

[youtube]5wPqsVWttN4[/youtube]

[Coen]

As Paul says at times... Did you try fire? Fire may fix it
Then if that does t work you could try making the kit more complicated
If anything you may feel better afterward.

Seriously though, the witmann kusrk tiger kit has the same issue with that hull to glacis fit. The newer kits don't have it that I recall, but I know that the issue was the same.
The first time I encountered it I fixed it by cutting off all of the offending bits. Then the kit wouldn't fit properly anymore. I wish I'd seen your vid back then.

[mannloon]

I just glued my two front plates on my late Tiger tonight. Had your video running through my mind the whole time.

[ForbesHutton]

Well I put the video up in part to vent and in part to help anyone else avoid the problem, so it was worth the effort.

[ForbesHutton]

Repairs completed.





So I decided to have a quick test of which figures will work.

[AlkaSeltzer]

You got a lot done! Looks Great

[Nige201980]

Looks fantastic mate.

[ForbesHutton]

Base coat is done. Tracks were painted and attached (cotton buds would work to hold the tracks on the wheels while the glue dried towards the front, so some clothespins went in backwards).
Now starting on the detail painting.

[Coen]

Ok... I've jammed just about everything under a sponson to hold tracks down... backwards clothpins ... that's a new one.
One I'll be remembering.

The tiger looks totally cool!!! Love the colours.

[ForbesHutton]

Ok... I've jammed just about everything under a sponson to hold tracks down... backwards clothpins ... that's a new one.
One I'll be remembering.

The tiger looks totally cool!!! Love the colours.

Live and learn! The internet (and forums) sometimes help with one of the two.

It's just tamiya "German Grey" on the tiger. The hatches are a light grey and I did all the hatch handles in red. I'm not concerned if the handles are meant to be red or not, both the model and diorama are ending up very grey, I need little bits of colour anywhere I can get away with it.

[ForbesHutton]

I've started to plan the diorama, most of the figures are missing as they still have sticks jammed up their bums.

I'm going to leave it for a day or two and see if I like it or have a better idea. That's plain wrapping paper taped down over the board, so when I decide I like the layout I can trace the placement of everything and get it back in pretty much the same area once I pull the paper off the board and slap down the clay.

[Russ72]

Looking good mate. Dio's going to be cool.

[gosselin2112]

Nice work. Will check out the videos soon. Model on!

[MarkVerploeg]

I wanted that kit so bad
But i didn't find any
Good luck with the build although it seems you are well under way
I didn't know you had a youtube channel so i will check it out tomorrow and see what you are doing for this build
Cheers Mark

[Coen]

Damn!!! and I thought that my dio was busy... haha. You'res is a freaking cotillion haha. Except with less french dancing.
It looks the nuts bud, and I love the story.

[ForbesHutton]

So between the weather (it's COLD!) and a cold and a toothache that nearly needed a root-canal, most of the time modelling has looked more like a chore than a hobby for the last couple of weeks. My plastic mojo is slowly returning and I got the clay, paint and start of the ground cover on the base. The Tiger hull/tracks were glued on and the mud extended up to hide the gaps between the tracks and ground.
It seems the Tigers were first used in late September 1942 at Leningrad. I went with a time before the fall rains have started and the topsoil is dry, with moisture still below the surface, allow me to model the Tiger really chewing through the topsoil and digging out some of the muddier dirt with it's weight.





There's still more ground cover, grass, bushes and weeds to be added, but I wanted to get the Tiger in place before continuing so I didn't have to try and work the mud on the tracks while working over/around all the other vehicles. I've decided to work my way out from the Tiger for the same reason, more greenery will go in before the other vehicles get placed then the last of the green stuff around the outside will go down. I'm surprised I haven't broken anything yet, working this way should help keep the odds on my side.

The truck is the one vehicle that will get the lion's share of stowage and I've started on that.

[ForbesHutton]

So I've been playing. Only the Tiger is glued down. I still have lots of details to paint and add. There's the rest of the crew and another 9 or 10 figures to go on after they get some hair.





It's big, 16"x16" (40cm x40cm), I didn't think it was going to have to be this big when I started. It could probably stand to be even bigger to allow more room between the vehicles, but then I wouldn't have room on the shelf when it's done....

[PaulAyrey]

Looks great, outstanding job so far!

[Coen]

Excellent composition Forbes.
Better than I had imagined. I like the parking guide thing in front of the tiger, I wouldn't have thought of that.
It looks great dude.

[ForbesHutton]

So I've started gluing figures on:



The cameraman was just re-assigned from North Africa and finds the tropical (Italian) pants more comfortable:





The schnapps is flowing to celebrate the accuracy of the new tank's gun:



Tiger Blueprints beside the schnapps, along with a shell for everyone to fondle:



Still more figures to go, and some small details.

[Coen]

That's looking smart now.
I really like the look of those blueprints. Where did you find those bud? That's a really nice touch.

[ForbesHutton]

That's looking smart now.
I really like the look of those blueprints. Where did you find those bud? That's a really nice touch.

I found them on the googlenet and then moved the file into Word and kept reducing the size till I printed a size I liked.

[Coen]

Very cool... I'll be having some of that I think
Looks awesome bud.

[ForbesHutton]

[youtube]moPdefF1B9M[/youtube]