Tamiya Tiger Tank - Mid Production

[andygif290368]

Well I started properly building it yesterday(fathers day). I'll add pics of it as I progress the build.

Arghhhh, so many wheels!!!!!.

I've got a stack of etches to add to the base model, gun barrels (main & machine guns), grills, tow cables etc.

Now to the point of this point, this model will need priming and painting in stages, I have 2 cans of primer white and grey, which is best to go under the base dunkelgelb(xf60)?

Edited October 19, 2014 by andygif290368

[andygif290368]

so many wheels, but you have to start somewhere

all made up and waiting

adding the suspension elements and drive gearboxes.

adding the first of the Tamiya zimmerit elements to the hull

in the spray booth, went with grey primer in the end.

and thats as far as i've got, next step dunkelgelb painting all those wheels and the hull.

so whats the consensus on mixing Tamiya acrylics 50/50 dark yellow(xf60) & buff(xf57) or 50/40/10 of the previous 2 + white(xf2)

I'm trying for the Normandy '44 camo option.

Edited June 18, 2014 by andygif290368

[Lumpy]

Hi, Andy, great subject and looks like a good start.

I am afraid I can't give you much input on the colors since I use mostly Testors enamels myself.

Although if I may suggest, if it were me I would use the dark yellow as is on the bottom and under the wheel area (which is shaded anyway) and see what it looks like and make any adjustments from there.

I recently posted my own feeble efforts on the RFI forum under "First TIger"

Regards, and good luck,

Steve.

[andygif290368]

so many wheels..... they're driving me insane doing the the tyres in black now i can see why the masks are a popular purchase.

This week i've found a "cheap" set of Fruil tracks on ebay to add to the add ons pile from my initial purchases, along with the tracks this week i've added extra (Tamiya) tank crew figures, (Miniart)engineers/mechanics and Tamiya engine bay optional pack. Planning a sort of depot diorama, replacing a track/roadwheel, tinkering with the engine, crew having a break etc. (if I thought I could sneakily purchase and build the FAMO 1/2 Track without the Mrs noticing I would)

Not done much on the Tiger this last week or so, work & family have not left me a lot of "play" time.

Trying to do the camo patterns on the outer rows of road wheels, drive sprocket and idler with my air brush was interesting, lots of stopping and starting in the paint flow, had to mix the paint 50:50 paint to thinners with drops of retard and flow enhancer and up the pressure to 25-30psi(not that i trust the gauge).

Scored a local bargain on ebay though, 2nd hand AS196 double piston compressor with 3l air tank, much better than my AS18 single piston compressor and no tank, which has helped with the consistency of the spraying. I really need to find time to practice more with AB before I tackle the tank hull or it'll look a mess at least the wheels can be hidden by mud.

Edited June 29, 2014 by andygif290368

[andygif290368]

Well thats the wheels glued on, actually feels like I'm getting somewhere now.

Wasn't sure regular poly cement was going to work on painted parts, will check how they've set in the morning.

Edited July 5, 2014 by andygif290368

[andygif290368]

My Fruil tank tracks came this morning, made up one packet of tracks, ended up way too long by about 25 treads.

I can get the track ends to link up at 106 treads, tamiya instructions are for 100 of their plastic treads per track, the Fruil box seems to indicate 220 treads equals one pair of tracks, Question is do I add the 4 extra treads in and make the track a loose fit, or stay at 106 for a snug fit?

[oz!]

looking good' the metal tracks really set off the running gear.

regards oz!.

[Matt182]

Great work so far. The tracks look just right to me.

[fredben]

Tracks look good and the camo on wheels turned out ok.

[mick]

great work

[andygif290368]

Two tracks completed, 106 treads a side.

110 treads was just way too long, you could have probably got another road wheel in at that length.

105 treads a side is do able, it's tight no slack at all and you have join the track end on the sprocket.

107 just looked too baggy, 106 like the image in my last post just looks "right".

Hopefully the big ed tiger etch set will arrive in the post monday.

Now just how much battle damage is this poor tank going to be subjected to? Already going to leave a long pin in each track so I can pose it with a shed track/being fixed.

Side skirts and exhaust cowels seem ripe for mangling. Wonder if there's youtube vid for bullet, shell and blast damage?

Edited July 6, 2014 by andygif290368

[streetfighterjeff]

try the bovingdon tiger restoration website. got some really great pics. and also if i remember right(i usually build late prod tigers) i think the primer should be red oxide under the top coat. looking good so far though, kepp it up

jeff

[Lumpy]

Hi, Andy, Very Nice!! I like where this is going.

Thanks for sharing.

Steve.

[andygif290368]

Shhhhh, dont tell the wife but I've just bought some kits to do a full interior for this Tiger.

So it'll be Friul tracks, Aber gun barrels, cables, shackles, antena & Eduard etches on the outside and a mix of CMK and Verlinden on the inside.

Kind a makes the £25 of the Tamiya base kit a bit of a laugh.

I need to do a mix of the kit parts for the engine bay, CMK's enine is the wrong pattern even though they state it's a HL230p45 it's actaully the earlier HL210p45, 3 air filters would say it's a 210.

[AgentG]

Shhhhh, dont tell the wife but I've just bought some kits to do a full interior for this Tiger.

So it'll be Friul tracks, Aber gun barrels, cables, shackles, antena & Eduard etches on the outside and a mix of CMK and Verlinden on the inside.

Kind a makes the £25 of the Tamiya base kit a bit of a laugh.

I need to do a mix of the kit parts for the engine bay, CMK's enine is the wrong pattern even though they state it's a HL230p45 it's actaully the earlier HL210p45, 3 air filters would say it's a 210.

Right behind you mate!

I am using Tamiya's 35227 African Tiger, Fruills, Tech Mod decals and the full etch set. I'm making my own cables though.

I'll keep my mouth shut if you do the same.

G

[andygif290368]

Not done much this week, waiting on add ons to finally arrive and having to do some garden maintenance to gain brownie points with the mrs.

So with summer weather being what it is I've made a start on the engine bay on the tiger, the 900kg of gravel will just have to wait a bit longer to get shifted(shovelled) into the old patio area.

Now I've made a rod for my own back by deciding fit a Tank Workshop's engine in to the CMK engine bay, the original one in the CMK kits is the earlier pattern 3 air filter Maybach engine.

The Tank Workshops engine is alot easier to assemble just 4 parts versus CMK's 20 or so. It proabbly wont surprise any of you that these 2 engines are different sizes, so to get the the new engine in is requiring a lot of parts fettling to make it all fit nicely.

The yellowy resin's dust seems to make me itch, the grey resin that the Tank Workshop engine is made of is lot softer so can be cut with a knife/scalpel rather than be sawn/filed in to shape.

The CMK parts have needed a lot of clean up and the parts are quite variable in thickness too.

Will have resort to using epoxy to stick the CMK parts as cyano doesn't want to know, doesn't even want to stick to the Tamiya plastic without some serious roughing up first. I Won't bother with the resin pipework in the most part as its probably not going to fit, so will resort to brass wire and rod instead.

Edited July 20, 2014 by andygif290368

[andygif290368]

A few more pics in the engine bay build, dry fitted the hull deck to make sure nothing fouled before painting the parts and final assembly

An edit to say, if anyone else is doing this dont glue the rear bulkhead in like I did before deciding to go "Super Detailed", it's just making a fiddly job even harder. And when the resin makers say wash parts before assembly they mean it, having a hard time gluing some of the unwashed parts.

Back on garden duty again now, come on weather rain damn you!!!

Edited July 20, 2014 by andygif290368

[andygif290368]

Well got the paints out this past weekend

Engine bay in red oxide primer

rads, fan units, fuel tanks, bulkheads and engine

Another dry fit of the parts.

Just need to do some more plumbing and make it all bit more grimey.

Trying to figure out if I can still make it all removable. As it seems a shame to hide a lot of hard work.

[andygif290368]

not really progressed as much as I wanted to this week, doing some research has shown me that this engine bay kit, is most definately "Early" type so have had to get the filler and files out.

added the missing left hand side lower fuel tank, scratch built for styrene stock. Had to change the pipework on the front of the engine as I couldn't fit it back in easily. Rusted and dirtied the engine some more.

started to change the fire wall opening, probably should have taken the whole fire wall out to work on it, got a spare if this one is ruined from the fighting compartment kit any ways. Painted the torsion bars grey, plus it gave me chance to make the illusion that the removed parts are really still there.

Here it is all crammed back in the hull yet again, just one or possibly two bits of pipe work to add as they are normally visible when viewed from the top.

[spitfire1677]

Nice looking Tiger Andy I have some Tamiya Zimmerit for my King Tiger, but am yet to build up the courage to use it how did you find it to use on the Tiger? any issues?

[mick]

good progress

[andygif290368]

If you've got a thin parts say less than 2mm wide, the zim sheet can tear if you try and move it again once its stuck down. It's very sticky stuff, so placement is pretty much a one shot deal. When I do some more parts I'm going to cut throught the backing sheet as well as the film, then peel it off as I lay it so it'll have less chance to stick to anything it shouldn't.

I'm a little disappointed that the fighting compartment interior kit didnt come with the 2 floor plates that the kit lists as tamiya parts but aren't. Time to break out the autocad and shoot of a 3d printing order to shapeways, once I've figured out the dimensions.

[spitfire1677]

Thanks for the tips ref the Zimmerit Andy

[andygif290368]

Well I've decide that this Tiger is going to be posed under going heavy field maintenance. So it's going to be in a shed track state with the mechanic just replaced a broken drive sprocket ring. Whilst one group is doing the drive I think I'll have a couple more figures on the engine deck looking at the Maybach, ammo being unloaded and unpacked off the supply truck. While the tank crew has a bit of a rest and plays with the Tamiya cats.

Painted/weathered the tracks, slung some mud paint and pigment on bits of the hull and running gear (needs more filth, but that have to wait)

The broken drive sprocket was one of the early type ones on the tamiya sprues you dont use on the mid prod version, I chopped out the hub and filed it back to the ring. I then removed the nuts & bolts moldings and drilled holes in their place.

Close up of the freshly installed ring, no dirt and shiny new bolts.

The broken sprocket, needs a bit more paint and muck added to it.

Edited August 11, 2014 by andygif290368

[andygif290368]

If anyone was wondering why the updates ground to a halt... she who must be obeyed has decided that she wants all the down stairs rooms swapped around with ancillary painting and decorating required.