Tamiya Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger 1 (Sd.kfz.181) Ausfuehrung
FINISHED!
My first Tiger / Panzer Grey… there are probably some parts in the wrong places?, so please let me know?:)))…but I had fun if a bit off on the accuracy? An old kit, still had battery markings in inner hull…
Hope you enjoy!
Vintage Tamiya kit
Turned Aluminum Barrel
Individual metal track links
PE fenders, cupola storage, screens, machine gun barrel, smoke mortars, exhaust shrouds and jack.
Fabricated tow cables and hinges
Resin tools upgrade
Looking great, Clarence!
Great weathering
The rivet counters have done alot of whining about the inaccuracies of this kit. The biggest two problems with it are the kit supplied tracks which are smooth on the inside and the turret shape. The first you've already taken care of and there's not much that can be done about the second; the Tiger I had an asymmetric turret that Tammy failed to mold correctly on this model.
That being said you've done a bang up job on this I think it's excellent. Fading, chipping and rust are very well done, perhaps on the heavy side for an operational vehicle but well suited to an abandoned one. Just goes to show you don't need a seventy dollar Dragon kit with a thousand parts to have a great result, well done sir.
You've done a bang-up job of assembly and use of aftermarket. However (and I find myself surprised to be saying this) there is over-weathering. I've long thought it was impossible to over-weather a tank, but it turns out it depends on what the weathering is. Tanks were made of steel, which doesn't rust like iron; what you have here is what a tank made of iron would look like. It's not by much, and ten minutes with the air brush knocking about 50 percent of the rust back would change it all for the better (so it's not fatal). I can say from experience that I have found that I spend more time thinking about the weathering than I do about the basic finish: where was it being used, what was it doing, what were conditions like (both operational and local weather conditions), how long was all that going on? Also, you can never go wrong with the old artist's admonition, "less is more."
Don't take any of the above as a put-down of what you have done. You show promise, grasshopper. We only learn by not quite getting what we wanted.
What?…and subjugate joy and whimsy for the dirge of painting by the numbers?
Not to disappoint but assuredly I am not the Droid you seek Padawan.
Excellent Tiger, Clarence @jagmkx
Painting and weathering looks very nice.