Here’s what I did int he last couple of weeks. It’s Tamiya’s Tiger I Early, built entirely OOB. For the record, this is probably my first ever entirely OOB build. It was very difficult to refrain from ordering tons of stuff (seems wrong, somehow, to build a Tiger I from any manufacturer without spending hundreds on AM stuff).
I think the kit-supplied turret numbers are off-size, and should be taller. Also, seems like Tamiya should have supplied some kind of divisional or other unit markings, but none are provided beyond a couple of non-DAK units.
Looking at these pics, I think more weathering of the roadwheels and rear plate is warranted. Any comments are, as always, welcome.
Nothing wrong at all with building OOB! Nice to see someone “break the habit” and force themself to concentrate on producing a model as fine as yours here without a whole bunch of fancy doodads!
I think it looks great! The weathering is subtle but very realistic. I think it perfectly looks the part! The wheels perhaps could use a bit more, but I could live without it! For a desert Tiger, it looks spot on for me!
The only thing I would have done on a monochrome tank like this would have been to pre/post-shade it, to give the finish a little more depth.
Very nice…I like this…the weathering is generally well-executed and subtle…there are a few “water marks” that seem out of place that are probably wash residues, particularly around the rear hatch that seem out of place…Also, there does seem to be a pretty nasty seam mark on the barrel…The markings are unusual for a desert Tiger…large, white-outlines are more typical for N. Africa…But overall, I like it very much…
Nice build , this looks very close to the original famous Tiger 131 that is fully restored in Bovington. By the way these markings are correct for this vehicle in size and colour.
AS your not familier with the original youve done a super job,This tiger was knocked out because a shell lodged itself between the turret and the hull and was captured by the british and sent back to the UK for evaluation. [tup]
Yeah, the markings are exactly per the kit, but I didn’t know how accurate Tamiya had been in their effort to recreate them. Good to know they’re accurate after all!
I actually did pre- and post-shading, but it doesn’t show up very well in the pics. I guess I still don’t have the lighting right. It’s more evident in person, but is still subtle. In the shot of the turret roof, you can see a little bit of the post-shading (tinting, really).
Also, some washes were applied to areas that don’t appeared to be “washed” at all in the pics. The area around the turret lifting bolts, for example, appears clean in the photos but in fact have a subtle gray wash around them. This was intended to give the impression of an area that’s not factory now, but has recieved little wear.
The water marks around the escape/ammo hatch on the right rear of the turret are an error on my part. I need to feather those out some, so that they don’t appear so out-of-place.
The seam on the barrel has been the bane of my existence for about two weeks. I’m seriously considering replacing the barrel with an aluminum one, although that would de-OOB my build.
I also should point out that I’m rather impressed with how well-detailed the kit’s one-piece tracks are. Sharp detail, and they went together well.
Very nice kitty. I think you are right on track with what you say about AM doodads. I was at a model expo the other day, where there was more AM stuff for sale than there were kits ! What happened to the days when the main purchase cost was the kit itself ? I’ll stick with scratchbuilding any extras for the moment, or dig through the spares box. Once again, really nice build.
Looks nice Jt a nice OOB build is cleansing for the soul and this kit looks like it is up to the challenge i need to grab one of these for myself one of these days, nice job on the finish it definatly looks the part, shame about the barrel trouble but it probably doesnt show so much by eye sometimes photos really exagerate these things.
I’m thinking it could probably use a bit more dust on the lower half - especially in the tracks and suspension. Other than that, it really looks the part. [tup]
The paint is a home-grown mix of different Tamiya acryllics. I ran out of Dark Yellow, so I just mixed up some on the spot. Which is cool, because Tamiya Dark Yellow is too dark anyway. I used little leftover bits from the bottom of old jars of Desert Yellow, Deck Tan, Khaki, Buff, and some kind of off-white (Japanese Battleship White, or something like that), and then thinned the resulting soup a lot.The finished mix looks almost like modern US OIF sand.
Preshading (which doesn’t show in the pics) was done with Tamiya black and Hull Red, and post-shading was done with some kind of Tamiya gray (gunship gray, deck tan, something like that). Washes are done in Weatherall and Rustall, and in various shades of craft paints.
Hey J,great job.I like the color that you choose to do it in.I looks like it has been in the desert.The only thing in weathering i can see that it needs is just a light dry brushing of ft.black around the muzzel break and inside/around the exhaust shields.Also the scale of the numbers are right for and would not worry about them.A lot of them got larger when the painted a border around the numbers like black or so.Once again great job and great job on the rubber band tracks as well,Digger.
very nicely done… have you tried FlexiFiles? Work well for me when I sand 'cylindrical" parts, usch as cannons or torpedos. Cool markings, thanks for sharing!
With regards to the aforementioned issues…(which shouldn’t be hard to correct) I believe that overall, this looks pretty good.