SPA Modeler

'ow do Gents, I hope you're all well.

I've been a bit jaded with building aircraft of late so I've decided to spend a bit of time in the dark side, because apparently they have cake.

This is what I've been working on over the past few weeks - Tamiya's 1/35 Tiger I.



This is basically the first 'big' 1/35 tank I've worked on, and only about my 5th 1/35 kit I played around with. I have built a few pieces of small scale armour over the years as you know, but to date I've only ever finished one 1/35 kit and that was this one back around 2017.



I'm really hoping this will be finish number two, as 1/35 is a scale I'm been meaning to get into for years. I'm really sure why a Tiger, I'm not overly into German tanks although I admit they did have some pretty cool looking AFV's in WWII. But I guess the Tiger has this 'Mystique' about it, and I would like to see just how big one actually was compared to some of it's competition - so I also have a Sherman in the stash!

The build is progressing okay, I'm still finding my feet building process wise. I've assembled all the road wheels.



And I've been building up the hull. To complicate matters I've been adding Tamiya's sticky-back Zimmeritt, which has made the process take longer. I've also ordered the PE mesh set for the engine deck.





I've picked up a couple of German AFV paint sets and am aiming to do this scheme...



I've reached a bit of an impasse now and was hoping for some advice - do you guys normally glue the road wheels and pioneer (etc.) equipment into place now, before paint, or do you leave it off until after?

Cheers!

Stuart wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:23 am 'ow do Gents, I hope you're all well.
I've reached a bit of an impasse now and was hoping for some advice - do you guys normally glue the road wheels and pioneer (etc.) equipment into place now, before paint, or do you leave it off until after?

Cheers!

Looks like fun. I'm not a big armor builder but I would leave them off and paint separately.

Thanks! Yeah that's kind of where I was thinking, but having just re-read some of Stik's builds I see he adds them all. I might still leave the wheels and tracks off, but maybe add the equipment to the hull - which I can't do fully yet I suppose as I'm waiting for the PE mesh.

Great start on that tank, Stuart! That will be a good looking beast when finished; as for the running gear, I've only done three tanks so far but I paint the wheels separately and attach them later in the build. Some folks don't and have great success too, so it's kinda up to the builder, I guess. It'll work either way! You have or will discover a little secret about armour models; mistakes and "ouchies" that would really mar an airplane model can easily be covered with mud, stowage or foliage on armor.

Nice subject, Gary! Nothing wrong with doing a Tiger.

I just finished watching Band of Brothers on Netflix this past Monday. (I've seen it at least 5 times on DVD)

I had a diorama idea of one scene from that series where a Tiger lay in wait when one of the character tried to warn one of our tanks there's a Tiger hiding beyond their line of sight. Well... you know what happened next.

Gary Brantley wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 7:09 am Great start on that tank, Stuart! That will be a good looking beast when finished; as for the running gear, I've only done three tanks so far but I paint the wheels separately and attach them later in the build. Some folks don't and have great success too, so it's kinda up to the builder, I guess. It'll work either way! You have or will discover a little secret about armour models; mistakes and "ouchies" that would really mar an airplane model can easily be covered with mud, stowage or foliage on armor.

Thanks Gary!

Mudding up is something I'm looking forward too, I've done it in 1/72 but it'll be interesting to have another go in a larger scale!

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:00 am Nice subject, Gary! Nothing wrong with doing a Tiger.

I just finished watching Band of Brothers on Netflix this past Monday. (I've seen it at least 5 times on DVD)

I had a diorama idea of one scene from that series where a Tiger lay in wait when one of the character tried to warn one of our tanks there's a Tiger hiding beyond their line of sight. Well... you know what happened next.

Thanks Tom!

I'll be honest here - I've not yet seen Band of Brothers. I think I might have seen a bit of one of the early episodes (where they attack a town) but that's it. I must try and watch it at some point.

Oh very nice Stuart! Gotta love a Tiger. As far as painting goes, that depends on your finishing method. If you're going to heavily weather the build I'd do some painting first, but do most in the end. If you're going to go with less or no weathering, I'd advise to paint in stages, particularly in regards to tracks and suspension. Stowage and tools, etc., is actually easily painted in place afterwards if using dissimilar paints. Base coat of tank in acrylics, then stowage items in enamels. Any excess is easily cleaned up with enamel thinner. Or you could even do the base colors in enamels, seal them in with an acrylic clear coat for decals, then paint stowage items with enamels. There is more than one way to skin this proverbial cat.

have a look at these projects

https://www.spamodeler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4786

https://www.spamodeler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5983

https://www.spamodeler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3720

Thanks Carlos - much appreciated. I'll have a read through of those later. I think I'm going to keep the weathering light on this one (it depends on the amount of mistakes I make ) , as I'm really just using it to get into the Zone, as it were. So I might well do as you suggest and leave the wheels and tracks off, but add the rest. I am probably going to break the airbrush out (don't faint) for the base dark yellow colour, (over black primer) and then maybe brush on the brown red - it's all a learning curve

Before then I have the joy's of my first set of individual link tracks

It is however, a lot of fun to be building something in 1/35, in fact I think my main focus over the next few months will be work in this scale, I have a few nice kits to build.

Cheers!

In that case, I’ll say have a look at my M51 Sherman build…

https://www.spamodeler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5983