PaulAyrey wrote:A wonderful thread so far. Great work, look forward to seeing more of your progress.
Thank you Paul !
Coen wrote:Those figures are awesome!!! I love alpine pieces. They're some of my favourites.
I think that the problem with that original figure is his head is huge. I have the same figure and he's a weird looking dude.
The detail of the Alpine figures is very good , it is my first time using them , but great figures ! , as for the Tamiya one , yes , the guy has a head that looks like a Ballon and with very wrong porportions ! So It is out of the team this time
Well some more updates ...
So While the figures were drying for the primer , I start to do some horses , as I'm going to make three ...already the look of the diorama will not be exactly as the picture , but all will be there .
So two are done , quite nice , but some filling to be done on the joint where the horse neck and body get toghether ...this are the cossacks horses figures , and the equipment is some different than the ones from the German Cavalry ...one of the Big challenges will be to paint properly the horses , let's see how it will be
that plastic bag is with some PE for the stirrups (think that is the wright English word ...

)
Now , the 'infamous' link tracks ...
will use this plastic piece supplied in the kit to do the alignment and will use a Tweezer and some glue ...this one is the Super-Expert form Faller , a very nice glue in my opinion when you want a fast bond and very precise due to the needle aplicator , remember to use this since I buid 1/24 cars in my youth , still is one of the essentials of my workbench , and I use it often in the builds!
So 99 for left track , 100 for the right track
After being all glued and while is is still flexible , in the instructions they advice to wait from 30 minutes till 1 Hour , I actually took the track and see after about 30 minutes was ok , so I prime the track using AK Primer for Tracks , a very usefull primer , it gives a color like rusted steel ...and then then same method I use always for my stell tracks ...
Drybrush with some XF-56 Mettalic Grey from Tamiya and give a wash on it with AK Wash for tracks , and to me they get very fine , not like a stell track , but for my level of build the effect is very nice and realistic .
Already placed in the Tiger , and finnaly a step done that I was very afraid to be complicated , but in this case , I do not know If it Tamiya way to do , the fit was just perfectly , even I have glued the Sprockets and wheels and the fit was so nice !!! Really , I made the same method in the MErkava build some weeks ago and it took me about a messy afternoon to fit the tracks ...
Use the plastic acessories to make some pressure and worked very well :
About the figures then and after I primed them ...no Big issues except for one arm of the guy from the right where I must put some putty to fill the gap , the arm was separeted , then some sanding , and presto we have 4 Tiger I crew ready for their Tank ! The figures both from Alpine and Tank are very nice , very realistic poses and very nice detailded , still I need to pain a lot better my figures , specially the face , on this I will not paint no eyes ( white and the pupils ) as they all become like Japanese Manga !

SO will only give them some oil wash .
DEcals ...
Tamiya suply on this version this decals ....and a small decal with some( it seems ) correction for the AbT 505 symbol , the knight on the original sheet has two prints for the same side and some different colors , I use the decals that i think were the correction as they seem the adequated ones ...
Decals ok ...still to place the decals on the zimmerit stickers , and all except the tiger number on the gun barrel should be on the zimmerit ...well you must have some patience and really soften the decals , but as they aren't that many was an easy task , and no issues with the decals , the final look is very nice , this is a different Tiger , also I like very much of one Tiger that has some Mammoth or something as the symbol of the battalion (think it is from 502 Heavy Panzer battalion , I saw it in a Panzer III or something in some picture ...uh I'm getting an expert

) , maybe for some other time ...fascinating stuff the Tiger I and all the variants and camo schemes , no wonder that a guy make more than one ...
Now will use this oils from Mig for the first time to blend the colors and make a not weathered effect as this Tiger isn't very worn ,
Will use this two colors :
To do some dirt and mud in the wheels as the tank is in some muddy terrain ..this Pigments , fixers and paints from AK , also some Mud effect (the small pot) from Reality in scale for adding some more 'heavy' mud to the tracks ...
Also i the exausts I used some MIG productions Light Rust effect , and some Oil and Grease in the cover of the motor , but just lightly as I do not want to do a heavy weathered tank on this one ! , the Base of the diorama is done , will need to add some mud , the base is from Model SCene it is their F600 , it is a forest base , but that is what I have on hand and will look good after soem mud on it , but the figures are now on the tank :
Now something I must add , the unditching logs ...I thought to use some natural ones , didn't find any suitable , I had this very perfect wood sticks , even they were almost the scale still were very perfect , and I bought soem resin ones from REality in Scale , they are good , still they are , I think , a little small in lenght , but I will use them , choose this two :
the kit from Reality in scale is nice , it brings soem rope and some metal chains to you to use
You get 6 logs
So now it is to paint them and add to the Tiger
sorry about the pictures , but more detail in the reveal , but I need to work on the horses still will be the final phase of this very enjoyable build .
Thank you for watching !
