Heavy Metal in Tunisia: A Tiger Story

[zb00p]

Having two workbenches allows you to paint on one and build on the other. And here we are with a new build, this time the Tunisian Tiger from Rye Field Model.


The kit will be supplemented with Tiger Model Designs correction set that addresses a few issues plus the rich spares box from Dragon Tigers.


Here's a look of my bench just before I started working my way through the kit




The kit has a number of issues and here's one of them


Tan piece is RFM, middle piece is Dragon and right piece is TMD resin. In the end, I went another way...


I have also used a Dragon mantlet for a one simple reason - it has the cast number on it!

The other major issue on the turret has to do with the smoke grenade launcher brackets and mounts, which are under side. This was corrected using TMD brackets and Dragon tube mounts. I also added the wiring


And finally, I added the turret bin, again from TMD as the kit bin is too shallow and narrow. Turret is complete now and what a refreshing change it was for a kit to start from the turret!




Tiger 122 was unique in its own way - it seems to be the only Tiger of 1kp to have exhaust heat shields with four slits instead of three. So, I made mine.


Next up is the lower hull. I installed torsion bars, the final drive housings and did some prep work on the real panel





I filled a couple of holes on the rear panel since they shouldn't be there. What's the most interesting stuff here is the fact that the front armour and upper glacis plate from Dragon kits fit perfectly. In fact, I always seem to have trouble fitting these two parts on a Dragon hull! I am curious to see how things will be once the side plates are on. Looks promising though

Let me know what you think

Christos

[arilo76]

nice Build, keep posting. looking forward to see the paint and the weathering>

[zb00p]

Thank you for the good word Antonio, glad you like the progress so far!

At the moment, here's where the Tiger is at the moment.





It is a good kit, but lacking in some areas and I am lucky to have lots of spares from Dragon Tigers. And the TMD correction set is a good addition, too.

[SergioSolo]

Wow! You're doing an amazing job on it! I built the same kit last year (still unpainted), but I went OOB

[zb00p]

Thank you very much Sergio, glad you like the work so far. It is a good kit, but you can bring it up a notch if you have some extras to add to it.

[zb00p]

I have just realised this thread hasn't been updated for a while. High time I did, then!








Primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500, base coat is Gunze Green Brown, camo patches are Lifecolor Graugrun. The Feifels and exhaust heat shields are painted with Gunze Khaki Brown

All comments are welcome

[arilo76]

Hi really nice progress and i really like the paint job on this guy. I am really impressed with he rust effect on the exhaust, really nice job

[zb00p]

Hi Antonio,

I am glad you like it so far, thank you very much for the good word! The exhausts need some more work, but I think I have a good base to work on.

Christos