1/35 Tamiya Tiger I Ausführung Afrika

[TheNordus]

I bought this kit about a month ago, but had to wait this long for the Photo-etched grilles to arrive at my hobby shop. My personal opinion is that you just can't build a T-34, Panther or Tiger without those, as they add so much to the engine deck on each vehicle. Other than that I don't usually count rivets, but using the Tiger1.info -site, I tried to build this as accurate to their notes as possible.





The tank is ready for painting, but I haven't chosen which exact Panzer to build, I have two choices, Tiger 131 (not the Bovington one) or Tiger 121.



The engine deck and rear wall needed the most work, I think. I spent a good long while sanding off the S-mine launcher bases and the two extra engine access hatch supports which don't belong to this model of the Tiger. I also bought a tube of Vallejo's acrylic plastic putty and tried to apply a bit of a surface to the exhausts. Obviously the Africa -specific exhaust guards will be applied after painting. I also added some photo-etched hangers for the extra tracks, as Tamiya would have you just glue bare tracks on the wall. Some chains from a dragon Panzer IV kit were added for a little bit of extra detail, although I'm afraid they'll drop off before this is all done.



And here's a work in progress picture of the Diorama base. I'm going to layer on Vallejo Still water until it reaches the very edge of the frame I'm using. My intention is to simulate an edge of a lake or a river. I used two layers of tile grout to make the ground layer, it dries a lot more gray than it is in the picture.



I also bought the Tamiya Panzer IV ausf. F kit to possibly add more to the diorama. I'm not sure if I'm going to use any of that or just build it by itself though.

Thanks for checking this out, please leave a comment!

[TheNordus]

Okay: Update on this. I started school this week which really, really, really bites into both time and money I have for modelling, so I haven't been able to do more progress updates. What I would have shown was the white primer I put on this clumping and running on the tank and the figure Tamiya included with it, and the diorama taking approximately a bottle of Tamiya Still Water effect, with frequently going over all progress with an opaque layer of paint to hide some egregious mistake I left to dry in it, and me drilling out a hole on a roadwheel that wasn't supposed to have one.

So I've been a bit annoyed at this kit all week, and now that I put on a gloss coat and started applying the decals I got the last straw: the big number decals on the turret just crumbled. Multiplying the annoyance is that I waited a month to get a fricking photo-etch set for this, constantly excited to build it. So here's a final picture of the kit before I throw it at a wall or something.

[razzie43]

wow the river looks like real to me

[InitialProduction1]

Great looking build. I like your Diorama concept. Look forward to the next update.

[TheNordus]

Thanks for the reply; I'm going to a modelling fair today and I'll see what I can pick up there. Tamiya's Tiger 1 will no longer feature on it though, so I might make a new thread when I get back to it.

[digger303]

Thanks for the reply; I'm going to a modelling fair today and I'll see what I can pick up there. Tamiya's Tiger 1 will no longer feature on it though, so I might make a new thread when I get back to it.

You can still do good with this even though it has p...ssed you off. The broken decals could be covered with battle damage and chuck some mud over the road wheel holes after a little ca glue is used as filler.