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Tamiya 1/48 Tiger

Thread owner
Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been struggling with painting the wheels. My Vallejo dunkelgelb seems to have turned into snot.
Pete
 
Looking good Pete

Always wondered why the 1 48 Tamiya have weights in the hull??
 
Thread owner
To make them heavier Bob! :tongue-out2:

Pete
 
Thread owner
I think it will 'sit' better Bob. I know some armour builders always add weights.
Pete
 
Thread owner
Well, I managed to get enough dunkelsnot out of the bottle, let that dry, then started painting the rubber tyres... it didn't feel right, so I checked references, and, of course, the kind of wheels supplied in this kit didn't have rubber tyres but steel rims! :rolling:
Order sent to John for some more dunkelgelb and a few other bits. Meanwhile the wheels are soaking in Dettol.
Pete
 
Thread owner
I haven't done much recently - not much mojo. As mentioned earlier, I soaked the wheels in Dettol. When I've done this in the past the paint has just rinsed off, but this time it just turned into a sticky mess that wouldn't wash off, even with washing-up liquid and a toothbrush. Ruined a couple of pairs of vinyl gloves, they just got too sticky. Eventually chucked all the wheels into a jar of IPA, which cleaned them up nicely. Should have done that in the first place!
I bought a new bottle of VMA dunkelgelb (and a few other bits) from SMS, usual excellent service. The new bottle is not only much more fluid than the old one but a lot less green, so I'm wondering if the old bottle was faulty, or if it was in a batch of paints I bought a few years ago from someone who was giving up modelling, and perhaps he'd added something to it or it was just past its best-before date. I'd left the drive sprockets and idler wheels painted with the old pint, and the difference was quite striking - sorry, I should have taken a photo, but I just gave them a coat from the new bottle.
The next thing to do after painting the wheels was to paint the rims, since the steel rims run directly on the track there wouldn't be paint on them for long. SO, I mixed up a sort of brownish blackish metallic colour and went round all the rims as well as the drive sprocket teeth.
P1160037.JPG
I'd sprayed the track sections with Vallejo metallic rust, which doesn't look anything like rust, it's too metallic. Sprayed over that with metallic black, and gave the wear areas a coat of the same mix I used for the wheel rims.
P1160036.JPG
I'll dry brush the track cleats after assembling them onto the wheels, and they'll get some washes afterwards.
I also made a start on the turret. Like the rest of this kit, the turret is nicely moulded. The gun barrel is in two pieces, split along its length, which results in a very well moulded muzzle brake, but does mean there's a seam running the length of the barrel. That's had a dose of Mr Dissolved Putty, and a coat of black Stynylrez as a check. Looks OK to me but I'll have another good look at it in daylight.
Thanks for watching!
Pete
 
That's better than snot Pete. Nothing like killing the mojo when you have that sort of problem, and when it's paint it always seems worse.
New colour and paint job looking good, hopefully the mojo is resurrected.
 
Thread owner
That'll do for today, I've got a headache now!
P1160039.JPG
Pete
 
Thread owner
Now, where was I?
I've stuck a few more bits on the hull. Here's the inside of the driver's hatch:
P1160042.JPG
Very nicely detailed, but if I left it open I'd have to scratch something for the interior, and/or provide a figure, so of course I'm building the kit with all hatches closed.
The Zimmerit arrived. I realised only a little too late that the Zimmerit has to go on before adding all the little bits to the hull, so on we go. They're stickers, about 0.15mm thick, which is about right for 1/48 scale. They need cutting out, and while there's a line printed on them to show where to cut, it isn't 100% accurate, so quite a bit of careful trimming was needed.
P1160043.JPG
Looks pretty good though:
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Actually you can ignore that last photo - there are two different patterns of Zimm in the pack, and that's the one for a scheme which I'm not using! Peeled it off and stuck it back on the backing paper, 'coz you never know...
There's quite a bit left over, as apart from the two schemes Tamiya give you some spare zimm.
P1160046.JPG
The track/wheel assemblies came off for painting the hull - hopefully they'll go back on as easily. The tape around them might not have been necessary, but with all those road wheels I didn't want to take any chances!
P1160045.JPG
The shields that surround the exhausts are stuck to a coffee stirrer for painting before fitting. I might add a touch of rust as well.
It's all sitting in the spray booth now under a coat of Tamiya XF60.
Cheers
Pete
 
You’re doing a great job on this one Pete. Such an iconic tank, and you are doing it proud.
 
Thread owner
Well, I've decided to stop this. Could be weathered a bit more, but since it still has the spare track links on the turret it must be nearly new!
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I'll try to take some better photos when the daylight is a bit better, as well as needing to shift that dust from my camera's sensor!
Cheers
Pete
 
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