Global Scale Modeller

While waiting on the delivery of some chemical marvels in the form of microset/sol for my Pz.Kpfw.I mit Abwurfvorrichtung
I decided to move on to this tiger model a Christmas gift from the missus. So I started out to do a little research
There is just so much out there about Tigers, I soon realized that I didnt even know what I needed to know to ask questions about what was known. Its going to be mostly Out of the box for me.



The obligatory sprue shots.

Started organizing and cleaning up some bits.

Trying my hand at some zimmerit. I may be putting it on a little thick. But once its painted hopefully it wont look too out of place.

Me likeeeee, zim is a pain, but I fixed that problem, I buy it, or I found a new way, a guy on YouTube shows a great way for zim, but I haven't seen him put it on a tiger. But the wood putty does look promiseing. Anyway that's really coming out. Cool build.

The zimmerit looks very good indeed. Shall follow your build with interest as I plan on getting this kit in the near future.

AS a little break from cleaning tracks and sculpting zimm I put the crew together. To me they looked like they were having a smoke break so I added a couple of wire cigs and a tobacco pouch for the guy with the pipe. The pouch is made from the metal off a tube of gel.
Still trying to figure out what to put in the hand of the guy on the right

If you have any Tiger specific questions I'd be happy to help. That Zim looks very good.

That is a cool crew, who makes them? Really looking forward to this build.

Smiffy wrote:The zimmerit looks very good indeed. Shall follow your build with interest as I plan on getting this kit in the near future.

Cheers Smiffy, its only my second tank model and I haven't finished the first yet I will say that so far everything fits like a glove

mannloon wrote:If you have any Tiger specific questions I'd be happy to help. That Zim looks very good.

Thanks for your offer its much appreciated.
Is there any basic Tiger Primer/ FAQ out there? I'm coming to this as someone who knows very little about the different versions.
Tiger 312 is the one I plan to make.The box cover is the 312 and it has the bolts on the turret that as far as I understand indicates that it is a final version. Is there any major differences other that the turret details that I would need to be aware of before proceeding to far in the build?

InitialProduction1 wrote:That is a cool crew, who makes them? Really looking forward to this build.

The crew came with the kit its tamiya and its called "Ace Commander and Crew set"

Thanks RFeeney, Wow hadn't seen that set yet, they don't look that bad, I might have to get a closeup of them, most model company's don't make figures look as good as resin figures, again cool build looking forward to your next build post.

Nothing about that Tiger is extraordinary. It appears to be your run of the mill late. I made a video called Tigers for Dummies last spring that covers some basic differences but it's getting a bit dated already.

I'm enjoying your build, never tried my own Zim so it's floating my boat !!
Cheers
Mark

InitialProduction1 wrote:Thanks RFeeney, Wow hadn't seen that set yet, they don't look that bad, I might have to get a closeup of them, most model company's don't make figures look as good as resin figures, again cool build looking forward to your next build post.

I`ll see if I can get any closer with the camera for some more detailed shots

mannloon wrote:Nothing about that Tiger is extraordinary. It appears to be your run of the mill late. I made a video called Tigers for Dummies last spring that covers some basic differences but it's getting a bit dated already.

Thanks for that, I think I`ll just go for it with whats in fornt of me

burnie43 wrote:I'm enjoying your build, never tried my own Zim so it's floating my boat !!
Cheers
Mark

Cheers yourself mark. Its my first time with zim my self so I had a quick look around at how some others were doing it and had a go. I do think I may have clayed it on a bit thick. Having fun though.



Things are proceeding. nearly finished with the zim sculpting, drilling back out the covered holes and playing with the figures


I even got back to sticking some plastic again.

It's looking good! I'll be keeping an eye on this.

Awesome build Rfeeney, looking forward to the dio.

Great work so far mate, zim looks excellent!

The continuing tale of a Tiger that has gone to the dogs



199 tracks glued up 99 on the right and 100 on the left



I decided that cleaning up the plastic tow cables was not worth it so I cut them out, drilled some holes and and replaced them with some wire



Primed with matt black And covered with Dunkelgelb/ Dark Yellow.
Added some browns to the tracks and a touch of steel they will need some more work once they are in place.



You can hardly see through the forest of wheels
I am debating whether I should add camo colors to the wheels. Probably not though

She's lookin' keen! The threat of painting the rubber on the wheels has had a hand in my Stug stymie.

Wow RFeeney, you really bringing her alive, love it.

mincemeat wrote:She's lookin' keen! The threat of painting the rubber on the wheels has had a hand in my Stug stymie.

Luckily for me this one has steel wheels. There is nearly always that one job on a model that you just do not feel like tackling and it ends up sitting on the shelf for some inspiration to strike.

InitialProduction1 wrote:Wow RFeeney, you really bringing her alive, love it.

Cheers mate

Sprayed on a bit of camouflage red brown

Then a gloss coat and decals, they have had 3 coats of micro sol so far to try to settle them down on to the contours. Getting there slowly

Wow what a beautiful build, all the way around, RFeeney, you really going all out on this build, love it.

It has been some time but progress has slowly progressed.

Some paint

Some more paint and some tracks and weathering on the tank. also Some bridge of a diorama in the background

Oh shiny metal look. pencil rubbing and more grime

Some blocks on the back of the bridge. They are made from red das clay

The front of the bridge..no blocks yet. but the beginnings of a base

Cobblestone roadway from the white das clay.
Its all a bit of a mess still but I have some idea of where I`m going with it
The plan is to have some railway tracks running on top of the bridge, if I can successfully scratch build them

Looking good!

Very cool indeed your paint work is outstanding!

looks great...
thanks for sharing
Mark

Wow just found this update, this is awesome RFeeney, love the diorama.OK what did you use to make the base? And how the heck did you make the cobblestone road on the base? Tank really came out beautiful. Really have an artist eye, great job.

The base looks really good, I also like the paint job on the Tiger, especially the number on the barrel

but

I miss the grills on the engine deck, the zimmerit looks too thick/rough IMHO

try to repaint the SS camouflage uniform, it is neither oak leaf nor pea dot pattern now

Sergiotron wrote:Looking good!

Cheers

Plukenstein wrote:Very cool indeed your paint work is outstanding!

Thanks plukenstein

burnie43 wrote:looks great...
thanks for sharing
Mark

Thanks yourself

InitialProduction1 wrote:Wow just found this update, this is awesome RFeeney, love the diorama.OK what did you use to make the base? And how the heck did you make the cobblestone road on the base? Tank really came out beautiful. Really have an artist eye, great job.

The main part of the base is a chunk of insulating foam, easy to cut/sand and as light as anything. The cobble stones were done by using white glue or wood glue to stick a thick layer of das clay to the foam. Then I took a pencil with an eraser on the end, removed the eraser and shaped the remaining metal to a cobblestony shape. you can see it on the bench a little to the left of the base. I used the pencil to push in the shape of the individual stones, it does need to be kept wet to prevent it from tearing the stones back out.
the stones took about 30-40 mins start to finish. Cheers mate

Tiger213 wrote:The base looks really good, I also like the paint job on the Tiger, especially the number on the barrel

but

I miss the grills on the engine deck, the zimmerit looks too thick/rough IMHO

try to repaint the SS camouflage uniform, it is neither oak leaf nor pea dot pattern now

Thanks Tiger. 213
I miss the grills too if I had some they would be there.
I had some difficulties getting the zimmerit the way I wanted it but sometimes you just have to say enough...
that being said I was reasonably pleased for a first attempt and learned that If I ever do a second Tiger to either not use milliput for the zimmerit or go for a version that comes neckid, without a crunchy coating, sans zimmerit
Ya the figures need another look, I was following a few tiny black and white patterns that came with the kit and feeling reasonably proud of myself until trying to check my results against some photos online and could find nothing close.
As you say I might repaint the camo patterns.

Great looking Tiger, the zimmerit on the front hull looks very realistic. Just my opinion, but if you study photos of real zimmerit, you've done a much better job with it than many of the aftermarket sets of zimm, which look almost too perfect. The real zimmerit jobs were often fairly rough and non-uniform. Cool looking base too!

maybe this helps you a little bit:




watch out for the guy with the pipe, as he has a big pocket on his trousers, which means they are not tank crew trousers but Self propelled artillery crew uniform.. so I would paint them in the Italian camo, i.e. Telo Mimetico. W-SS soldiers liked it a lot:

Really nice build, rfeeney. That DIY zim looks really nice.