discussion AFV Club, Tiger I, Panzerkampfwagen VI, 1:48

[pjgtech]

I am now on a quest to build many different sized Tigers.....I have already built a 1:144 scale mini tiger, and one of the first kits I built when I got back into the hobby was a little Airfix Tiger in 1:72, so this is the next scale up, a nice 1:48 scale by AFV Club. Then after this one I have a 1:35 in the stash, so will have a whole set of four, all in differnt sizes! Lol....
Box and sprues, NB: I actually already started this one a couple of days ago whilst fiddling around with my Lynx Chopper build.

 

[pjgtech]

This will be in desert sand yellow paint job, just like the other ones, as I want them all to look alike.
The kit appears to be nicely detailed and has only a few PE parts, mainly grills, and the horrid rubber tracks, although I've done a few now and I just superglue them together and put a weight on them and leave for few hours and they seem to set ok with a nice strong bond, so you have a bit of stretch, if needed when getting them on the wheels.
Started with the main body/chassis, good fit, no drama, no large gaps.
Then put the turret together, again, no drama, everything fitting as it should.
NB: I've done a couple of AFV builds now and they have all been good IMHO.
Then I gave the chassis and turret a coat of grey primer (Ammo One Shot).




Then decided to prime the parts on the sprue, I find this a bit easier, especially for the small parts, rather than painting them in situ trying to get into awkward little spaces, etc.

Then the rear bits went on, exhaust manifolds, etc. Then added the PE grills to the rear.

 

[Steven000]

This is going fast lol, looking good Peter have fun

 

[flyjoe180]

Off to a good start Peter

 

[pjgtech]

Made a bit of progress, the main chassis and turret build is mostly done now, just need to add the wheels and tracks and some pioneer tools, etc to add.
Rear exhaust added (2nd pipes) and little gap filled.


Started the first top coat sand/dark yellow.... as with all brush painting, first coat always looks gash!



Little bits added, eg: front lights, spare track, chain couplings/links, machine gun barrel, etc.



Lots of bits added to the rear too, eg: rear chain couplings/links, baffles, engine cover handles, little side smoke/mortar thingies?



Turret pretty much finished too, side smoke/mortar thingies, hatch covers and handles, access covers, etc.



another view of the rear.....quite a detailed little kit TBH....



Wheels painted up and tyres/rubber sections.....



Whole body/turret now covered with first top coat, patchy, etc, so will need at least another two coats, second coat smooths things out and gets rid of most of the patchiness, third coat tends to give the final finish.



Then we will be adding the wheels, etc .....

 

[pjgtech]

Oh B*gger, just noticed I've put the rear exhaust baffles on upside down!!! will need to turn them round....

 

[pjgtech]

Not done much today, other things on, etc...
But did manage to sort out the rear exhaust baffles, they were well attached, so rather than also remove the actual exhaust pipes, I cut the join and levered off the baffles. Cleaned them up, the re-attached but now the correct way round!
Will need tidying up, with a bit of gap filler and paint touch up, but it was bugging me, so had to be done, Lol.


Have now also started on the wheels, one side is now fully attached, apart from the last drive drive/guide wheel.
AFV have used tiny, (and I do mean tiny!) little screws to secure alternate wheel sets in place.
I had to resort to my smallest electrical screwdriver, as its the only one small enough to fit the tiny screw heads!
I'm making sure I have really good secure connections for the wheels, as the horrid little rubber tracks will need to be stretched over the wheels as it looks like they will be a relatively tight fit, so don't want to have loose wheels at that point!

 

[minitnkr]

This will be in desert sand yellow paint job, just like the other ones, as I want them all to look alike.
The kit appears to be nicely detailed and has only a few PE parts, mainly grills, and the horrid rubber tracks, although I've done a few now and I just superglue them together and put a weight on them and leave for few hours and they seem to set ok with a nice strong bond, so you have a bit of stretch, if needed when getting them on the wheels.
Started with the main body/chassis, good fit, no drama, no large gaps.
Then put the turret together, again, no drama, everything fitting as it should.
NB: I've done a couple of AFV builds now and they have all been good IMHO.
Then I gave the chassis and turret a coat of grey primer (Ammo One Shot).
View attachment 1283521

View attachment 1283522

Then decided to prime the parts on the sprue, I find this a bit easier, especially for the small parts, rather than painting them in situ trying to get into awkward little spaces, etc.
View attachment 1283523
Then the rear bits went on, exhaust manifolds, etc. Then added the PE grills to the rear.
View attachment 1283524

View attachment 1283525

Please note the gun/mantlet assy. is upside down in the turret.

 

[pjgtech]

Please note the gun/mantlet assy. is upside down in the turret.

Is it? I'll have a look, ta....

 

[pjgtech]

Bit more progress, gaps filled around exhaust baffles (after they were cut and turned round the right way, Doh!)
All wheels now on. Did a bit of dry brushing on the exhausts to give a rusty look.
Rear exhaust / baffle covers now on.
Gotta think about putting the tracks on, probably tomorrow after wheels have fully set, etc.

 

[pjgtech]

Well, there you go, as advised above, by @minitnkr I did indeed put the bloody turret mantlet on the wrong way round [Doh!]
I'm sure I double checked it as well, but I did not look at the box art which clearly shows the correct way round. I think the instructions have a couple of illustrations where its not quite clear which way round it should go, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.... Lol.

So it is now fixed.
I tend to just glue everything in place, don't really go for moveable parts, so the barrel/mantlet was originally glued in place.
The mantlet has two side pins holding everything in alignment/place, these had been glued too.
Therefore I had to drill those out, actually I used my (new) Dspiae grinder, but with a very thin grinding tip, and it did the job well. With some gentle persuasion I got it out without destroying the turret.
Bit of sanding down, flipped it round and its now on correctly, I have added some new side pins, out of old thin sprue. They will need cutting/sanding down when they have set and then the paint will need retouching, but thats it.

Thanx for the heads up, I'm sure if nobody had said anything I would never have noticed, Lol!

 

[minitnkr]

You're welcome, my eye was drawn to the monocular gun sight aperture, an early improvement, and noticed it was on the wrong side.

 

[Jim R]

AFV Club kits are usually pretty good. They do like a lot of very small parts but that makes for nice detail. 1/48 is a nice scale. Apart from a couple of errors, easily sorted, it looks like great progress. Only the big one after this.