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Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 6:42 am
by Russ72
Not building this one as 131. But inspired by "Catch That Tiger".
Cheers.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:40 am
by SyntaxModels
This is gonna be good! *rubs hands together*

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:31 pm
by MarkVerploeg
I see more then enough research and goodies here
It should make for a nice tunisian tiger
Good luck with build
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:04 pm
by Russ72
SyntaxModels wrote:This is gonna be good! *rubs hands together*

Let's hope so Leo.
MarkVerploeg wrote:I see more then enough research and goodies here
It should make for a nice tunisian tiger
Good luck with build
You know what they say about a little bit of knowledge in the hands of a fool. So far it is going to be a green tiger.
Russ

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 1:02 pm
by Coen
Oh boy! You'll have your hands full with that kit Russ. Looks like you made sure that you were armed to the teeth to do battle with her. I expect she'll lose haha.
Should be a cool build.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 12:10 am
by Russ72
Coen wrote:Oh boy! You'll have your hands full with that kit Russ. Looks like you made sure that you were armed to the teeth to do battle with her. I expect she'll lose haha.
Should be a cool build.
Cheers Mate. Started building and have come across some of the known issues, hoping to get an update up this weekend.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 2:09 am
by Russ72
Just a few formalities, sprue shots etc. to get things under way.
And marking instructions.
According to the good people at Osprey, Tigers shipped to Tunisia were initially given a very thin coat of Olive Green paint sprayed over the base Panzer Grey.
Cheers for now Russ.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 4:46 am
by OliveDrab
Can't wait to follow this one. I have the same kit in the stash, and am considering joining in the fun with this SIG build. I noticed my kit is molded in light tan plastic, and dated 2007 on the box, while your kit is molded in gray, otherwise the sprues look to be identical.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:03 pm
by Russ72
OliveDrab wrote:Can't wait to follow this one. I have the same kit in the stash, and am considering joining in the fun with this SIG build. I noticed my kit is molded in light tan plastic, and dated 2007 on the box, while your kit is molded in gray, otherwise the sprues look to be identical.

Hey OliveDrab, mine's a 1995 boxing, made in Italy. The 2007 boxing might have been made in Korea. I have a Korean made Italeri M3A1 in the stash that has matching sprues to the Academy kit of the same subject. They might have cleaned up the moulds, or updated them for the 2007.
As far as joining in, "The more, the merrier" is the go I think.
Russ

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:25 pm
by Russ72
Update 1
Started with the tub. There were some Ejector Pin Marks to deal with, not to tricky, and a little bit of shaving mould lines to aid in fit.
Slight warping and miss fit so take the time to make sure every thing is square.
Hull sides go on, check best alignment and clamp. Top on to test fit only.
While the glue's setting move on to the many, many road wheels.
2.5 to 3 Hrs later all mould lines sanded off and de-burring done.
Front sprockets needed some minor modification. Central nut was missing on the hub and a mysterious " What the hell is that there for ?" hole was present. So fill the hole and make a new one in the centre than drop in some nut detail (ooo-err).
Back to the hull.
And finally for this update, started playing with the link and length tracks. Tracks are glued together here, but not to the sprocket.
Thanks for looking in. Any advice or feedback welcome.
Cheers, Russ.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 2:04 am
by OliveDrab
Looking great! Good catch on the drive sprocket hubs.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 11:57 pm
by Coen
Looks good so far Russ. It's a totally different method for some of the construction than I'm used to. But it looks good.
I loved this shot though haha.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 8:55 am
by Russ72
Coen wrote:Looks good so far Russ. It's a totally different method for some of the construction than I'm used to. But it looks good.
I loved this shot though haha.

Cheers mate, it felt like quite an achievement.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:12 am
by Russ72
Update 2
Had a look at the Turret. The KIRIN update set I have was given to me with this kit when I bought it, it is actually for a/the Tamiya kit. The Kirin turret is the same shape as the kit turret and the way the top goes on was not going to sit all that well without a bit of work that would probably send me over the edge. In short I decided to stick with the kit's turret. It comes with some basic detail which is pretty crap.
Used some of the kit parts, some stretched sprue for wiring, and stuff from the bits box. Its not 100% accurate, but when I look through the open hatch I can see a bit of stuff.
Used some Mr Surfacer 1000 applied with a cotton bud to the mantlet for a bit of texture and to the barrel which was a bit of a ...... The barrel's since been sanded back and seems a bit better.
Got a bit carried away with the Mr Surfacer and slapped it about in a few other places. Added some etch grills as well.
Off now to glue some more bits on.
Cheers, Russ.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:23 am
by SyntaxModels
Looking good mate

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:27 am
by Coen
Too bad about the turret Russ, it would have been cool to see it built up. Ah well, your fix is very well done so it's no great loss. Well done.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:05 pm
by Russ72
SyntaxModels wrote:Looking good mate

Cheers Leo.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:12 pm
by Russ72
Coen wrote:Too bad about the turret Russ, it would have been cool to see it built up. Ah well, your fix is very well done so it's no great loss. Well done.
Picked up an Academy Tiger (Early)(13264) a week ago, so the AM wont go to waste. Cheers again mate.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:10 pm
by Russ72
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:57 pm
by OliveDrab
Looking GREAT. I love the job you've done on the turret interior!
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:25 pm
by Russ72
OliveDrab wrote:Looking GREAT. I love the job you've done on the turret interior!
Cheers mate. I was debating when I did it whether or not to do more work on the gun, in the end I left it as is.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:57 pm
by Coen
That looks freaking awesome Russ!! The mr surfacer primer did the job. Must have stunk bad though?
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:41 pm
by Russ72
Coen wrote:That looks freaking awesome Russ!! The mr surfacer primer did the job. Must have stunk bad though?
Cheers mate. Used the expensive little aerosol version, sprayed outside, been wanting to give it a try. I really like the stuff.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:43 pm
by AlkaSeltzer
Looking good so far! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 10:02 pm
by Russ72
AlkaSeltzer wrote:Looking good so far! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Cheers mate. After this week I've got three weeks off work

, so i'll get into the painting then.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:07 am
by Nige201980
Cracking start Russ
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:20 am
by Russ72
Nige201980 wrote:Cracking start Russ
Cheers Nige.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:20 am
by SyntaxModels
Cracking job mate! How's the Queensland heat going for you?? It's killing my Melbournian body (even though I was born up here, must have gotten too acclimatized!!)
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 9:54 pm
by Russ72
SyntaxModels wrote:Cracking job mate! How's the Queensland heat going for you?? It's killing my Melbournian body (even though I was born up here, must have gotten too acclimatized!!)
Leo, every summer I threaten myself with moving to Denmark, or somewhere similar

. Having a fan on full blast while working with small parts at the bench can make life interesting

.
ps. Cheers for the comment mate.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 11:24 pm
by PaulAyrey
Looks great so far!
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 11:26 pm
by Russ72
PaulAyrey wrote:Looks great so far!
Cheers Paul. I hope to spill some paint on it today.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:57 am
by Russ72
Finally motivated myself into getting some paint on to the tiger. it wasn't all smooth sailing. I broke the tip on my airbrush, it was a cheapy but it's worked well. I had bought another airbrush from ebay (unbranded) and looked the goods, but it was actually quite rubbish. Long story short, there's some paint on the model and it's ready to move on in the process.
Did some pre-shading over the Mr Surfacer undercoat.
The road wheels were knocked about a bit.
And undercoated with Vallejo Olive Drab.
Its about this time that the airbrush problems, and also some paint/colour selection issues began. Not exactly how I wanted to paint this one but not all is lost.
There's an Iwata Neo on its way to me as I type.
Cheers, Russ.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 6:07 am
by SyntaxModels
Looking good mate

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 6:17 am
by PaulAyrey
Looks pretty good to me!
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:52 pm
by OliveDrab
Sorry to hear about the airbrush issues Russ, it really looks cool in the pics, besides, I really like a Tiger painted OliveDrab

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:29 pm
by Russ72
SyntaxModels wrote:Looking good mate

Cheers Leo.
PaulAyrey wrote:Looks pretty good to me!
Thanks Paul, Paint just went on a little heavy in places, and there was a bit of spitting and carry on. From the airbrush of course.
OliveDrab wrote:Sorry to hear about the airbrush issues Russ, it really looks cool in the pics, besides, I really like a Tiger painted OliveDrab

Only the road wheels were painted for your name sake OliveDrab

I started with Vallejo Olive Green, but it seemed way to bright. Then used 50/50 mix Olive Green and Field Green, preferred that colour. Tried to highlight by adding Vallejo German Yellow to the mix but didn't get to far.
Not all is lost, as I say, might of even been a blessing in disguise.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:30 am
by alextheblue
Really liking the look of that Russ, but sorry to hear about the AB. But still, with a new Neo on its way, I guess it's not all bad!!

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 7:48 pm
by wappynutter
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 1:05 am
by Russ72
alextheblue wrote:Really liking the look of that Russ, but sorry to hear about the AB. But still, with a new Neo on its way, I guess it's not all bad!!

Cheers Fellas. Hopefully the new AB will get here before the weekend, if not, there's plenty to go on with.
Update 5
I had a bit of a look around the interwebs recently for examples of green Tigers. I didn't realise how controversial the idea was. I have the two sources for the green Tiger so I am going to proceed. Having not read enough about German R & D with regards to colour/camo choice, I can only guess as to the reasoning behind the colour selection. Someone sitting behind a desk stating, "The new colour for vehicles entering a tropical climate shall be olive green." or even a deception based argument for confusing the Allies by painting tanks green. I haven't looked for any evidence whether other panzer types were painted green, so that may be the decider (ie Why the Tiger and not other panzers?). So, using my version of extrapolated logic, green would be a fine choice for more verdant coastal tropical climates, but experiences in the desert would have it sticking out like a sore thumb, so my tank has not seen a whole lot of action yet, if it had, it would have adopted the desert yellow.
After that waffle, a couple of w.i.p., some detail painting and chipping, more to do yet.
What green tiger.
Thanks for stopping by.

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 1:28 am
by rwsmith14
I have read .. Some (?) Tigers entering the Theater in Tunisia wore Light green RAL 7008, ( Italian air force Pain/color)
Because the terrain/Climate in Northern Tunisia was more temperate ,tropical,mediterranean & more Green then the rest of the desert. . it makes sense to me.
I plan on doing My Tiger 142 in, RAL 7008
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 4:45 am
by OliveDrab
rwsmith14 wrote:I have read .. Some (?) Tigers entering the Theater in Tunisia wore Light green RAL 7008, ( Italian air force Pain/color)
Because the terrain/Climate in Northern Tunisia was more temperate ,tropical,mediterranean & more Green then the rest of the desert. . it makes sense to me.
I plan on doing My Tiger 142 in, RAL 7008
I also have been debating the paint scheme to use for my Tunisian Tiger. There is just something "mystical" about a green Tiger I. After much waffling on the subject, the answer became obvious...I will complete this current build in RAL 8020 Desert Brown, and then... someday build a second Tunisian Tiger in the RAL 7008 paint. Problem solved, LOL!
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 4:47 am
by OliveDrab
That's looking real nice Russ

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:49 pm
by Coen
Looks really cool Russ. It's certainly and interesting topic choice. It should start some lively discussions down the road

I like it, I think that it looks really awesome

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:57 pm
by Russ72
rwsmith14 wrote:I have read .. Some (?) Tigers entering the Theater in Tunisia wore Light green RAL 7008, ( Italian air force Pain/color)
Because the terrain/Climate in Northern Tunisia was more temperate ,tropical,mediterranean & more Green then the rest of the desert. . it makes sense to me.
I plan on doing My Tiger 142 in, RAL 7008
Cheers mate. My colour choice was all wrong, I didn't do enough research and was using some misleading pictures

. RAL 7008 it will be.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:59 pm
by Russ72
OliveDrab wrote:rwsmith14 wrote:I have read .. Some (?) Tigers entering the Theater in Tunisia wore Light green RAL 7008, ( Italian air force Pain/color)
Because the terrain/Climate in Northern Tunisia was more temperate ,tropical,mediterranean & more Green then the rest of the desert. . it makes sense to me.
I plan on doing My Tiger 142 in, RAL 7008
I also have been debating the paint scheme to use for my Tunisian Tiger. There is just something "mystical" about a green Tiger I. After much waffling on the subject, the answer became obvious...I will complete this current build in RAL 8020 Desert Brown, and then... someday build a second Tunisian Tiger in the RAL 7008 paint. Problem solved, LOL!
Cheers Mate. My colour choices were all wrong

. RAL 7008 is the go for me. It's time for a re-spray.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:07 pm
by Russ72
Coen wrote:Looks really cool Russ. It's certainly and interesting topic choice. It should start some lively discussions down the road

I like it, I think that it looks really awesome

Cheers Coen. I'm going to give it a re-spray and bring it back to RAL 7008. I read "Field Green" (Italeri) and "Olive Green"(Osprey) and jumped right in

. If all fails, this thread may become Tamiya Late

, but I'm sure it will be fine.
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:41 am
by rwsmith14
Russ72 wrote:Coen wrote:Looks really cool Russ. It's certainly and interesting topic choice. It should start some lively discussions down the road

I like it, I think that it looks really awesome

It is quite mystical as Coen has stated. I've done hours of research and I came to the conclusion,,, there is no incorrect answer. You can find allot of info about paint color.. right, wrong, incorrect..?? who knows?? It's all up to what you, us builders, make of it.. I'm going with the RAL 7008 because my reasoning about Northern Tunisia being a more mediterranean, Tropical climate, make sense to me

Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:35 am
by rwsmith14
Interesting web site, this page is Abteilung 501 in Tunesien. great images
http://www.tiif.de/thread.php?threadid= ... b46ac9fc0c
another interesting debate is the Colour of numbers Tigers from a sPzAbt.501
http://www.tiif.de/thread.php?threadid= ... b46ac9fc0c
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:17 am
by PaulAyrey
Can't wait to see how it comes out!
Re: Italeri 1:35 Tiger in Tunisia
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:46 am
by Russ72
Cheers mate, there's some nice stuff there.
PaulAyrey wrote:Can't wait to see how it comes out!
Well, wait no longer.
What it looked like.
With new paint.
Chipping and detail painting.
Cheers
