1/35 Tamiya Tiger 1 Early (damaged)

[cib2265]

Here's my work in progress Tiger 1 from Tamiya - a very good kit but can be enhanced a number of ways.

I elected to do this completely out of the box - mainly because I want to enter it into my first competition in August for a local competition here, but really because I want to see how far I can stretch myself.

So instead of adding aftermarket, I'm taking stuff away - as I have a special paint scheme in mind, which you'll see later!

Insert Tamiya sprue shots here - we've all seen them before.

And onto the build...and its done!

This kit builds in an afternoon, but due to the additions/subtractions it took a bit longer:


I painstakingly removed each tab for the tow assist cable on the port side, drilled through one or two holes as appropriate, filled in the huge locating pins Tamiya gives you and reattached:



The white stuff you see over most of the surfaces is slightly thinned Mr Surfacer 500 that was brushed on and then stippled quickly in a stabbing motion, to create a textured surface.

This was done to replicate the slightly rough rolled steel armor and to enhance the cast surfaces as well. Tamiya molds this completely beautifully smooth - which is great for the Rommelkist (spares bin behind the turret) which is sheet metal, but not elsewhere..



Added the usual damage these bins seem to attract, heating up the plastic slowly under a candle to bend and cajole it out of shape.



Used a soldering iron on the starboard side to replicate a HE blast, which knocked off most of the tools on that side. Using similar method, I removed the tabs and mounts and drilled them through. Its nothing like the brilliant photoetch sets out there, but helps:



You can also see in that photo that I filled in the trenches around the hull plating with Perfect Plastic putty to simulate the massive welds on these machines - and on the side as well. Came out ok for first attempt at this, i might use a different putty next time.

Glancing shot to the mantlet (fingerprint there has been removed!)



And to the glacis plate - reference photos showed the Soviets aimed for the drivers slot as much as possible with their anti-tank rifles or whatever they had:



Ive also heavily dinged up the S-mine launchers, which were very thin metal and left one off as damage. I havent taken a photo of the rear, but the Fiefel cleaners have been removed as was a field mod at the time, plus the exhaust shields taken off due to too much damage.

Im filming this build as well on my Youtube channel, will have some videos up soon.

Thanks for looking and I welcome any and all criticism and help please!

[Stokesy44]

Looking tasty Sir

[mick]

great work