I haven’t found any posts that include any of Tamiya’s 1/48 scale armor line, so I thought I’d share mine.
This is a straight out of the box build except for the tank commander figure which was re-purposed from the Stuka Zu Fuss kit.
Paints include Testors Model Master, Daler Rowney and Artists Advantage acrylics and oils. This is 100% hand painted and no airbrush was used. I have one (an airbrush), but no compressor.
Technical flaws in the build include the lack of zimmerit and the web gear that the commander is wearing. The reason for excluding the zimmerit was simply a lack of materials, but the commander should have been modified to exclude the suspenders on his uniform.
I will apologize for the pictures as I am not using the best camera and I have had issues with ISO and proper lighting during a re-shoot.
The kit itself was a joy to build and there were no fit issues. The detail level is equal to that of the 1/35 scale line (and in some cases better), but with a few added items such as periscopes, bullets for the MG, an actual figure, PE screens for the intake covers, and possibly a few small accessories such as gear would have dressed up this kit wonderfully.
So here are the pictures I have to share. Please remember that this is only 1/48 scale and I have yet to build a base to display it on.
Did I read that right “Hand painted”? While the paint job would have benefitted from being airbrushed (and not by much) I find it incredible you produced that finish by hand! Excellent work.
I’ve been practicing my technique for years. First on smaller scales and then on 1/35. I’m still working on my Panther and have been for a couple of years now, on and off again. There is much more detail put into the paint on it than this little guy including using textures appropriately. Dirt, rust, chips and such.
I will rarely have a can of air for my brush and that’s so inconsistent that it doesn’t make it worth the trouble to use it. So I just hand paint things.
Lately I’ve been focusing more on color transitions, fading, modulation, and streaking. So thank you for the compliment. I’ve been working hard to get such results.
The Rust is on the exhaust and the mud is in the tracks. But seriously this is a pretty clean tank, unless you were to see the underside. I’ve got mud all over down there.
That’s really a nice paint job. Honestly, I couldn’t help thinking that you’d be a whiz with an airbrush if you could just get youself a small compressor and end your air supply woes!
I haven’t seen a KT with a mostly green-red finish before. Nice to see something different!. Also, lots of the BoB KT’s didin’t have zimmerit, so you’re in the ballpark!
Had the scale not been revealed in the title, I’d have assumed it was 1/35.
Though it’s true Tiger II’s continued to leave factories after zimmerit application ended, all Porsche type should have it as their production run ended in mid June 1944, while zimmerit was stopped in early September 1944. Only exception is a few of the early prototypes.
jgeratic has the truth of it though. It should have zimmerit and I should have done a lot more with this kit, but until I opened the box I didn’t expect much. There is so much I could have done with this kit that I didn’t because I enjoyed just building it so much.
And thank you for the kudos on my painting skills! I’ve just been doing it by hand for so long it comes easy to me now. What little time I’ve gotten from my AB has been nice though. I will be saving up for a compressor eventually. It’s at the top of my list.
Figures however, were my worst and most dreaded of things to paint for most of my life until recently. I realized they are no different from anything else. Now they are my favorite part and my specialty.
This looks super! Like you, I also use brushes only so I have a question: how did you achieve that soft transition/borders between colors? That is one thing I always struggle with.
Its taken me a loooonnng time to get it “mostly” right, but a mix of dry brushing and stippling. The trick is to keep your paints thin for the blending. You need to keep the paint thin enough to almost be translucent, but not so thin that they won’t cover over the bordering colors.
But to say that’s all you have to do would be setting you up for failure.
The blending process actually takes more than one application, and it takes a ton of patience to get the results. After you get some slightly rough blends from stippling the colors they need to be further blended by dry brushing to get the colors to start blending over each other like a transition you would get from an AB.
Its not complicated. It just takes patience and time.
After you get that far the blending is further established by using some color modulation and weathering effects. Making the paint look a little sun faded or bleached by adding a little white to your paint mix will help a little also. Filters can change a shade so subtly that you can’t even tell they were altered, but they also help blend the overall scheme.
IMO the best effects are those that don’t look obvious or forced. If you can’t see the modulation on my model then I did it 100% right. It should just look like the light is falling on it naturally and you shouldn’t see the effects at all.
MB. this old T C does good to spay’em w/OD green #2. I stand amazed at the skill & craftsmanship I see in your’s & all others. I salute you & sll others here. 73 dt
Even though it lacks the necessary zimmerit for a Porsche-turret KT, the hand-painted finish more then makes up for it. My only pet-peeve is the lack of engine screens which I feel is important. That’s just how I feel and is no reflection on your final choice of execution.
Hard Stripe, thank you very much! This was really the first completed build I’d done in over 10 years.
Tigerman, coming from such a renowned Modeller such as yourself, Thank you very much! The kit was completely OOB except for the TC. I didn’t know about the zim when I started the build and did my research after it was completed. A mistake I’ve remedied for the most part lol.
Tojo, thank you sir. O.D. is a mighty fine color and one of my favorites.
That is a beauty indeed! I would never have guessed that you hand brushed and not air brushed this build- beautiful camo job! These Tamiya 1/48 armor kits are real gems. But you must not have looked too far back for another build as I did build a 1/48 Panther G of theirs late last year
If only they had started their 1/48 line in the late 80s and expanded it to include postwar & modern armor…
That’s a nice looking Tiger there Mike, certainly hard to believe its hand bruised. We do have these 48th Tamiya kits pop up now and again, they do look nice kits.
