Here is the Tamiya 1/35 Early Tiger. It’s going to be part of an entry showing a platoon on the sPzAbt 502 right before Kursk. I found an actual picture of this tank in the Panzer Colors book. (Squadron/Signal Pub.) It appeared to be relatively clean, so I just made dusty. My photos don’t show this well though. It’s got a JR barrel, Academy indy tracks, and PE engine screens. I used pastels, pin washes, mist coats for weathering.
Any and all comments good or bad are valued. Fire away.
Very nice job! I like the simple paint color and its a Tamiya Tiger, for a sec there I thought its was the DML tiger. Im going to build tiger 213 of 502 myself in the same decal and color schem. I have that book and have seen the pics of it, very nice job keep it up.
hey matt super nice build[tup][tup]-- i really like the looks of it!!-- the weathering is subtle, accurate and very well defined — the tracks look great also— I went to your link and checked out all the great pics of this build and i urge others to do so as well-- all the colors you used work really well together[:D]-very very nice-- congrats on an excellent job!— tread[:P]
hi tigerman— not trying to butt in here,but as far as the size of the balkenkruze, it is correct – they were often displayed in different sizes depending where on the hull they were-- got pics if ya want em[:D]— tread[:P]
Tigerman, treadwell’s right, depending on the vehicle, timeframe, etc. they could be pretty good sized. A matter of worrying more about being shot by your own side at times I guess!
Hi Matt, First all, nice build Tiger you got there. I myself in the middle of building one.
I’m not the accuracy type, but more towards what the eyes want to see.
Even in the picture the tank is clean, but it wont hurt if you do washing and dry brushing.
Also, you may want to add oil spills on the engine cover area.
Thanks for all the positive feedback. I for got to add I used a set of Bison Decals.
Tigerman: I thought the same as you about the crosses being rather large at 1st. But after seeing the picture of the real one I know it’s right. Thanks for looking.
About the crosses: Many sPzAbt 502 early Tigers had the large balkenkreuz, and some, Otto Carius’ vehicle for one, looked like they had the cross painted on over a white block, producing a square insignia. There is a good picture of this in Tigers in the Mud.
Hi Matt: You might want to double check but I’m almost certain that sPzAbt 502 was not part of the units engaged at Kursk. You might need to revise your diorama plans…
Very nice! I like the way the tracks look. The clean look is quite neat, but some of the details (eg the lines on the barrel and hatches on the turret) I find hard to distinguish, but that could just be the the lighting in the picture. Did you give it a wash?
sPzAbt 502 was not at Kursk. Each of the Panzergrenadier Divisions (Leibstandarte, Das Reich, and Totenkopf) had a Tiger Company and Grossdeutschland had a few but not an entire company.
Thanks for the responses. On weathering & washes, points well taken. I am going back over it some.
On the subject of the sPzAbt 502, I was going by the picture in Panzer Colors, Camouflage of the German Panzer Forces 1939-45, (Squadron/Signal Pub.), page 52. The caption reads in part: “This early production Tiger l ausf E seen just before the Kursk offensive,”…etc. This is under a picture of this Tank. Maybe I should say around the time of Kursk.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes and for the advice!
Matthew that is beautiful Tiger model you can be proud.
As a comment to some of the others.
Kursk is also known as Operation Zitadelle, the germans last big offensive on the eastern front. In opperation Zitadelle you have the following TIger units:
s.Pz.Abt 503
s.Pz.Abt 505
13./PzRgt. “Grossdeutchland”
13./SSPzRgt. 1 “LSSAH”
8./SSPzRgt. 2 “Das Reich”
9./SSPzRgt. 3 “Totenkopf”
The “great” battle of s.Pz.Abt 502 is the Kurland pocket … along with a whole lot of other smaller engagements.
