Tamiya Tiger 1 Middle Production 1/35

[TheNordus]

Here's my next project: a Tiger 1 from Tamiya. I chose the middle production version specifically because my local hobby store had the Big Ed set for one, and I wanted to try it. I'll be painting it in the same scheme as the box-art as I don't have enough decals to make an alternative not provided in the box's decal sheet.



Here's a photo of the actual tank, and it seems like the only one I can find. I like the fact that the crew has removed the front-most roadwheel. Tamiya provides you the option to replicate this detail.



Originally I wanted to paint this version of the tank because of the neat W-insignia on the back of the turret, and the 1943 timeframe, but the only reference photo for Tiger tank number 12 of the 506th shows a LATE production tiger with all steel roadwheels, so I figure this is historically very inaccurate.



Here's the photo in question.



Here's the aftermarket sets I intended to use on this set. It includes the Big Ed set for a mid production tiger, which includes photo-etched zimmerit, photo-etched set for a Tiger 1, and wheel masks. Then there's of course the Friul tracks and a piece of sprue from a Rye Field Models Tiger 1 Early Production. I picked this one up because of the only major disadvantage of this old-ish set.



As you can see here in the instructions, the kit doesn't come with any track bottom hangers! I couldn't be dealing with this, so I checked my kits stash for a Tiger 1 which might have had some spares. RFM's Tiger 1 early model with full interior provides an extra set of the hangers, both top and bottom, so I decided to grab those. Incidentally I'm still horrified of the idea of building a Tiger 1 with full interior.







Here's a walkaround of the vehicle after I applied the zimmerit. The Big Ed set comes with photo-etched fenders, back, side and front, but I decided to use the plastic ones instead. The Photo-etched zimmerit was pretty easy to apply aside from the turret and the front of the hull, where I put it down in the wrong order, so some man-handling of the parts was needed. I tried filling the biggest gaps with some Vallejo plastic putty, which is why most of the metal is stained white.



Here's the most egregious mistake I made, the photo-etched zimmerit was way too short here, so I had to continue it with putty.

Next up I should get to work with the Photo-etch detail set so I can finish the assembly and get to painting. I intend to at least use most of the Photo-etched tool clamps and the photo-etched side fenders and exhaust covers.

Thanks for reading, please leave comments and criticisms!

[Tomcat64]

Nice start mate - I've not tried a zimmerit covered one yet.

Great save with the putty section too - I think that'll look fine once it's under paint.

[DrSprue]

Looks like a nice beginning of a fun kit!

[TheNordus]

Nice start mate - I've not tried a zimmerit covered one yet.

Great save with the putty section too - I think that'll look fine once it's under paint.

Thanks, I'm thinking I'll have to do some more putty work around the round sections. I'm always on a look-out for easy zimmeriting since zimmerit covers such an important era of WW2 and applying it from scratch is a huge pain. So far Dragon's zimmerit kits seem to win out, but they're a pain to find and pay for.

[Stokesy44]

Looking good. Especially the green home made Zim. Excellent save and as TC said, it will look superb when the paint goes down.

Cant wait to see what you do with the side fenders - get mangling Sir! Give them a proper going over

[digger303]

First time I have seen the PE Zim.....not too shabby at all

[TheNordus]

Just a quick build update today.



The main build is almost finished, I just need to decide if I want to add figures to this one. I probably do since I am building a diorama, but I'm not sure which ones and if I need to leave some of the hatches open. I have also started working on the Friulmodel tracks! Also re: Stokesy, I haven't mangled them yet because I'm not sure which tools to use.I want to get some shrapnel holes onto the exhaust covers and bend and dent both properly once I figure out how.



Here's a picture of the picture frame I want to use for the diorama. It's a large one intended for LP covers. I might even be able to have two tanks in this diorama and not have it cramped!



And here are the tracks dry-fitted on. Most of the wheels aren't glued on yet, but I had to see if the 100 links Tamiya suggests per side is accurate.
Well you can see the result here. Side note: this set does come with link-by-link plastic tracks by Tamiya, which look fine as long as you don't care that the guide horns aren't accurate.



Also the zimmerit set came with this mysterious extra plate that doesn't correspond to any tiger feature I could think of. I wondered if you could use it to print your own zimmerit pattern onto green stuff, and next to it you can see how it looks.

[Stokesy44]

Looking nice. I checked on Tiger1.info for the number of track links per side and it said 96. I reckon if you get rid of 4 links the tracks will look nice and snug. The idler looks to be in the same position as it was on mine so 96 should be good.

[digger303]

I guess you could recreate a zim panel as you suggest....which means battle damage could also be easily created.

[TheNordus]

I guess you could recreate a zim panel as you suggest....which means battle damage could also be easily created.

That's a good point. I was actually considering trying this "imprinting method" on a whole tank when I take on my next zimmerited tank. It might a while though, I've got a Meng Panther Ausf. A with zimmerit decals coming along and I'm itching to start on it!

Looking nice. I checked on Tiger1.info for the number of track links per side and it said 96. I reckon if you get rid of 4 links the tracks will look nice and snug. The idler looks to be in the same position as it was on mine so 96 should be good.

I experimentally removed six links, I'll see how it looks tomorrow. A bit of a pain to test their length without gluing the wheels on, but since I have the wheel masks I'm not going to put them on without painting first.
E: just tested them, I had to take off a total of 8 track links out of 100 to get a decent fit. I might have made an error though, I didn't actually count the links, I just figured since the box said "220 links" and it's divided into two bags I'd get 110 links per bag, so I took ten out of the bag and connected the rest which ended up with the ridiculous sag seen on the earlier photo.

[Stokesy44]

Can’t wait to see it with the tracks tidied up. It’s nice to see some big cats on the go here on the forum. Tiger Fever!!!

[TheNordus]

Can’t wait to see it with the tracks tidied up. It’s nice to see some big cats on the go here on the forum. Tiger Fever!!!

Thanks!
I love them big cats. I can't even tell where my infatuation with German armour comes from, but I do think Tiger 1 is my favorite tank ever.

Here are some photos of how the Diorama planning is going:





As you can see, I added a Miniart factory building. Those steps were a bloody nightmare to build! Seriously!
I'm planning on adding an abandoned T-70M by Miniart on the dio too, if I can fit it. Still a bit of a question mark on the figures though. I'm thinking this is going to be a scene near to Narva in Estonia in summer 1944.

[TheNordus]

Here's an update on the painting process:







As you can see, I've gotten up to chipping. I used sponge chipping and it actually worked for once!
I started with priming the whole tank with white Vallejo polyurethane primer. That damn stuff plugged my airbrush up really hard. At this point I noticed the viewports on the turret sides looked horrible so I made new zimmerit on top of them with green stuff. After letting that dry overnight I proceeded to paint on the dunkelgelb with Tamiya's Dark Yellow paint followed by AK's Olivgrün paint for the camouflage paint.

I then gloss-coated it and put on the decals, destroying all the 002 decals in the kit which forced me to put on the ones I originally wanted, so this is now tank "12" of the 506th Schwere Panzerabteilung. According to Tamiya the tank should have had red brown stripes instead of dark green, but I can't really help it. After decalling I gave it a good coat of Tamiya's clear coat spray (which I forgot can ruin your decals, it didn't happen this time though!) and then I applied a filter of Vallejo's European Earth wash diluted with generic acrylic thinner, and splattered on some Vallejo Oiled Earth with a stiff brush.

Then I applied a pin wash with Tamiya's brown panel liner. Lastly I mixed up some black, red brown and gun metal in a very random order to create a chipping colour which I applied with a piece of sponge.

[TheNordus]

The tools went on and I started with weathering. It's very nearly done and I'm still struggling a bit with using pigments. Unfortunately I've lost a lot of my inspiration for this model and I'm feeling like the end product is not going to be worth it, so I'm half forcing myself to finish it so I can move onto another project.

Overall I applied some european earth and vallejo mud products all over the tank. The pigment didn't turn out as I wanted, aside from the rust I managed using dark red ochre and rust pigments by Vallejo. I might try reverting the 'dusty' look of the european earth with some oil wash.








I wanted to apply some stowage to the rear deck but it's really hard to find decent references for it. So far I've only managed to make this jerry can rack but I'm not sure if I can put it on and have it look reasonable.


Here's a side project I accidentally built while I was waiting for the paint to dry on the Tiger: a tamiya T-34/76. It's my first attempt at using oil washes and I'm pretty happy with the result, aside from all the white specks that got stuck in the clear coat I put on. I'll definitely want to use this effect on my next German armor. For this piece I had to scratch build the turret view ports because I lost the original pieces, so they're a little larger than they ought to be. The extra applique armour for the tank comes with the kit as it was originally for the T-34/76 1942 version, and with a little bit of filler and cutting at places its accurate enough to use for a 1943 tank.


Please, feel free to comment and give creative criticisms.

[DrSprue]

Tommi, im sorry Im not a tank guy, but dude, If I walked into a tank show or museum, I would have a problem comparing your model to a real one. Wow they are simply awesome!

[Quax]

Looking great as usual Tommi, you keep nudging the bar higher
Paul

[Stokesy44]

That is Looking superb mate. Not sure why you don’t like it, it looks pretty decent to me.

[SteveH]

Hi Tommi

Well done with both the Tiger and T 34, great finish with both
I feel your pain with the factory and double staircase, I built one last year, what a PITA,
It cry's out to be distressed, and that made all the effort worthwhile as it will look great with paint.

Keep up the great work
Steve H

[demarcation]

Beautful Tommi, looks superb!!

[TheNordus]

Thanks for the positive comments guys, I truly appreciate them, but there's a dozen petty niggles with this one that bother me, like the turret view ports and the turret zimmerit that I can't stop thinking about, which means I'll be really happy once I can move on from this one. I tend to have self esteem issues and I'm rarely happy with my work. I'm thinking I'll keep working on the diorama but I'll end up putting some other tanks or vehicles on it. I've got two or three panthers and a Sd. Kfz. 251/9 lined up along with an M26 Pershing and god knows what else. I should make a poll to get help deciding