Dragon Tiger I Mid Production w/Zimmerit

[Coen]

That's a excellent bit of work Alex, the details are superb.
Definitely front of the class.

[psydeviant]

ohh my , im in love with this tiger just superb work

[ScaleArmorBuilder]

Great work Alex! That camo looks sweet.

[alextheblue]

Update Seven

Thanks chaps for all the kind words, very much appreciated. I've said it once and I'll say it again, but there's some fantastic work going on in this SiG and its a joy to follow everyone's progress. The only downside is finding time to post comments on everyone's builds.

The figures have had their base colours painted, but I thought I'd leave taking some pics until they're near to finished. Also managed to get the chipping done on the Tiger. There's various colours that I use for chipping depending on the subject, but for this one I used My Hobby's burnt iron. I prefer applying the chips with a small brush, but I did also dab some on with a small sponge in order to get areas of wider coverage.










So I'm about done with the tank now, just some dust and dirt and I'll call it done. Haven't fully decided about the dio base yet, but I suppose I should make my mind up before applying the dirt!

Thanks for taking a look!

[mick]

love it

[Coen]

That's nice work Alex.
She's certainly looking well loved now.

[Hillbilly]

Outstanding chipping job That old girl has seen some action!

[mannloon]

That is some first class chipping man, holy cow.

[Paul]

Awesome work Alex

[ScaleArmorBuilder]

Wow that looks fantastic! The chipping really tops it off.

[Art17847]

Doesn't get much better than that....outstanding paint work looks awesome

[felisbarcinonensis]

That's a masterpiece mate!! Awesome

[alextheblue]

Mick, Mike, Steve, Manloon, Paul, ScaleArmorBuilder, Art, Felis, thanks for the very kind word chaps, All that was missing from my last upload of pics was a nice slab of haddock!! Yeah that "joke" doesn't really work for those of you for whom chips are crisps and not fries - I mean where chips and fries and actually crisps and chips - you know what I mean!!

This isn't really a full update as on the surface it doesn't appear as though I've got a whole heap done, but with the Tiger only needing a last bit of dirt and dust, I decided to turn my attention to the figures. Now, I had promised myself that I would push myself a bit further with this build and try something that I've never attempted before. The one thing that really has me stepping well and truly out of my comfort-zone is camo patterns on uniforms and in particular WW2 German uniforms. So, there really was only one option - pea-dot, or dot-44 camouflage!!

This has always scarred the bejeezus out of me on 1/35th scale and I've seen many people do some fine representations, so without further ado, it's onto the research. After hours and hours of trawling through hefty books and leafy tomes (translated, that means looking at a few photos) and intricate research into the exact colours to use (erm, I picked them out by eye from what I thought looked close! ), it was time to apply brush to figure.

First off, here's the rest of the motley crew in various stages of half-painted-ness!




I must apologise for the following picture, as when I first looked at it it appeared to be fine and that was with my glasses on! Really must book an appointment with the opticians!!



And now onto the dreaded camo. First up, the base colour along with some "splodges" of the background colours. In some pictures there appears to be two colours and in others there seems to be three colours. I opt for two colours as I'm worried that at 1/35th scale it might appear a bit too "busy" with three.






At this stage I have a strong urge to go and get a copy of the children's classic book, Green Eggs & Ham - can't for the life of me think why!!

And on with the dots - which I have read should be more like "clouds" and non-uniform in shape.




Ummm....bit bright and I'm not sure about some of the colour choices that I made, but I'm hoping that with a wash/filter it might bring it all together a bit more. For figures, I recently discovered Game Ink's from Vallejo thanks to Rob (Mr Bob's Builds) and they really are good. They take a bit of getting use to as they don't behave like paint (well duh, that's because they're inks!!). Ink is generally a dye or pigment suspended in a solution that allows a pen or a nib to drag it across a page. It doesn;t quite have the capillary action that you get with a well diluted paint, you really have to "drag" and work it with your brush, but the effects you get work well on figures. I believe there's about eight or so colours in the range, including a flesh "wash" and I'd definitely recommend them.

And after a bit of work with the inks - mainly sepia and dark green.






And there we have it, what a lot of guff and nonsense just to show one figure being painted, and not very well at that! The flesh, hair and headgear still need finishing up and there's still some details to pick out, but I'm onto the home stretch with the figures now. I've still got heaps and heaps to learn with figure painting, but I must say, I do rather enjoy it!

Thanks for taking a look!

[Coen]

Painting that kind of camo is really tricky Alex, but you've done a good job of it. With more figure you'll get better at it. You're a hundred times better at it than I was when I was first learning to do it. (I still suck at them though, but it doesn't stop me from building dozens on every dio hahah).
Speaking of bob's builds... Has anyone heard from Rob lately?
I just realised that it's been a long time since I've heard from him.

[Hillbilly]

Excellent job on the camo That camo pattern is beyond my current skill set,but you pulled it off fine.

[alextheblue]

Painting that kind of camo is really tricky Alex, but you've done a good job of it. With more figure you'll get better at it. You're a hundred times better at it than I was when I was first learning to do it. (I still suck at them though, but it doesn't stop me from building dozens on every dio hahah).
Speaking of bob's builds... Has anyone heard from Rob lately?
I just realised that it's been a long time since I've heard from him.

Thanks Mike, and you're right, haven't seen anything from Rob for a while - now there's a figure painter!

[alextheblue]

Excellent job on the camo That camo pattern is beyond my current skill set,but you pulled it off fine.

Thanks Steve!

It's beyond my current skill set, but I've never let something like that stop me!!

[alextheblue]

Well, the figures are all done apart from a matte coat. They will also need a bit of dirt on their boots, but I'll leave this until the base is done and then I can make sure the colours etc all tie in.

As I was reviewing the pictures something suddenly dawned on me, not an epiphany exactly, more of a "light-bulb over the head" moment that you get in all the old cartoons, Picture the scene, it is deep into 1943 and 1944 is looming on the horizon. The German forces are being stretched to breaking point including the resources to pump into much needed infrastructure. Whilst most divisions are coping with a make-do and mend approach, much needed cash is needed to fund repairs and replacements. With rationing rife across much of Europe, your average bring-and-buy jumble sale is not going to cut it and most of the troops are just too busy to organise a fund raising fun-run. But wait, what about a promotional calender with all proceeds going to the Wehrmacht - genius!!!

So, Gentleman, without further ado, I present a review of the Panzerdivision Annual Calender of 1944!!!

First up we have Mr January -

Name - Hugh Janus
Likes - Long leisurely treks through the forest on a summers day, in his favourite tank, crushing anything that gets in its path.
Ambition - To one day get a shirt and cap that matches his tunic



Mr February

Name - Holden McGroin
Likes - Long walks on the beach (Juno, Sword, Ohama, you name it...)
Ambition - To get his arthritic knee sorted out so he can put both feet on the ground!



Mr March

Name - Drew Peacock
Likes - Crapping in the open hatch when no-one is looking!!
Ambition - To get a different seat in the Tiger, other than the one he's just crapped on - doh!



Mr April

Name - Phil McCavity
Likes - Sitting about looking suave, disguising the fact he's actually trying to sort our his anal itching!
Ambition - To become a movie star and become Germany's answer to Leslie Philips - ding dong!!



Mr May

Name - Ben Dover
Likes - Shouting, very loud SHOUTING!!!
Ambition - To one day save up enough money to buy a bottom set of teeth.



Mr June

Name - William Fitzpatrick
Likes - Impersonating James Dean, apart from Sundays when he wears women's clothes and likes to be called Susan!
Ambition - Also to save up some money, but unlike his colleague, he would like to buy a pair of gripping hands, just like Action Man!



Apologies, drifted off into a world of my own there for a moment, but I'm back in the room now!!

And some group shots of the merry men.





As a teacher once told me, "that's enough of that flippant attitude boy, now get on with some serious work!!"

Thanks for taking a look!

[Nige99]

Stunning figure painting, you've done an amazing job of them. Compliments a lovely Tiger.

[Coen]

Hysterical Alex!!! haha
I loved it. Nice work on the figures too.

[Russ72]

Nice work Alex. The calendar will be on sale at all reputable news agents then?

[alextheblue]

Stunning figure painting, you've done an amazing job of them. Compliments a lovely Tiger.

Thanks Nige appreciate the kind comment.

Read your post last night and hope everything is ok bud.

Your Tiger and dio is stunning - I really must make some time to leave some comments.

[alextheblue]

Hysterical Alex!!! haha
I loved it. Nice work on the figures too.

Thanks Mike, the attempt at humour was in the vain hope that it would hide the niaivity of my figure painting - but hell, I enjoy it!

[alextheblue]

Nice work Alex. The calendar will be on sale at all reputable news agents then?

Thanks Russ!

Yup, expect it on sale at all good stockists - right in-between the Peter Andre and One Direction calenders!

[PaulAyrey]

Wonderful work, love the humour too!

[JayCub]

Love the ramblings Alex makes my day to read through, the Tiger and crew are superb and I have picked up a fair few tips,thank you for the laghs
Tom

[alextheblue]

Wonderful work, love the humour too!

Thanks Paul, appreciate the kind words!

[alextheblue]

Love the ramblings Alex makes my day to read through, the Tiger and crew are superb and I have picked up a fair few tips,thank you for the laghs
Tom

Thanks Tom, what can I say, I'm a rambling man - it's all about the craic!!

[alextheblue]

With time running out on this one, I'm anxious to get the base done and then I can mop up the last few bits before calling it done. I'm still at a bit of a loss as what to do when it comes to dio bases as I've only done two or three, so I'm still feeling my way down this path. I've seen loads of threads where picture frames have been used and I've always thought this is a good way to go as they always look effective. So, after a quick trip to B&Q and armed with a 10"x8" picture frame, I got busy. First up a liberal spreading of Pollyfilla (other proprietary brands of wall smoothing compounds are available!) to try and distinguish the difference between the grass and the track.



Various shades of earth brown and some grass scatter etc.



And once dry, pop it quickly into the frame.




Once the Tiger is on the base, you're not going to see too much, plus I have some other bits and bobs that I'm going to add. Just for a taster, I'm going to add the following -

A small stool sample...........



And, flipping my lid whilst on grass!!



Thanks for taking a look!

[Coen]

That looks sooooo simple but completely effective Alex. Nicely done bud.
I have to ask... where did you get this grass? Was it a mat or did you have to sprinkle it on?

[alextheblue]

[quote="Coen"]That looks sooooo simple but completely effective Alex. Nicely done bud.
I have to ask... where did you get this grass? Was it a mat or did you have to sprinkle it on?

I like to keep things at my own level - simple!!

It's a sprinkle on scatter - I've had it for an age now and can't remember where I bought it from. The bag doesn't have the card top to it anymore, but I have a feeling that I got it from Fields of Glory Models here in the UK. I'll wrack my brains and will let you know if it comes back to me.

[alextheblue]

I think this is going to be my final post of the build thread, as I'm about done now and any more pics will be of the finished thing. I still have a couple of bits to finish up, plus the tank needs a final bit of dirt and dust to match it into the base. I haven't fixed the figures in place, but I wanted to make sure everything fitted before I finally fixed them.

I couldn't help think that the three guys to the right of the Tiger were having the following conversation -

"Why are you standing in that completely lame pose?"
"I pinched this stool from the loaders, they're never going to reach now!"
"And there was me thinking you just wanted your shoes shined!"



"Whatever you do, don't anyone look behind them. I think I've just seen some alien spacecraft with three large antennas land behind us!!"



Thanks for taking a look and hopefully catch up with you in the Reveals!

[Coen]

That's wonderful Alex! I love the conversation too. Completely plausible.... Minus the aliens maybe haha.
Beautiful work, can't wait to see the final shots.