Airfix 1/76 Tiger I (yeah that old one) upgraded......a bit... Finished! Photos in the RFI section

[PlaStix]

This wasn't originally a project I intended to post on Britmodeller because I didn't think it would amount to much (and it still might not!). If anyone looking in is a tank purist it may be worth looking away now as I'm still a novice at this and kind of making it up as I go along. It'll end up an artistic version rather than an accurate one.

The project began as an idea to fill some time when I'm not at home. I thought I'd buy something really cheap, that I wasn't bothered about if it didn't turn out well - primarily because I wouldn't have access to my usual kit building stuff.

Next I had to decide what to get - I'd enjoyed making the Panther and Tiger for the D-Day Group build so much that I thought I'd like to make another tank. I figured a tank would be small and compact and wouldn't have so many parts that might be easily broken.

Then, while in a local toy shop, I saw this:

and figured it would be okay to just glue together and paint - a bit like kit building when I was a kid.

However, when I actually looked in the box I realised it was obviously quite an old kit in a nice new box. When I got chance I decided to do some checking online and discovered, from looking at photos of completed, OOB versions of the kit, that it was quite a bit different from the nice artwork on the box and most photos of the original Tiger tanks that I found. To be fair I wasn't too bothered at this stage as it was going to be a project just to fill some spare time.

I put together some paints, glue, a needle file and a bit of fine emery paper in a plastic, lunch tub type box and, at the first opportunity I got, started work.

Now, as it wasn't going to be a project to post on BM I didn't bother taking any photos at the start so there's none from these early stages. It was only when I got it looking like it does in the first photo below that I figured someone might be interested.

The first job I did was to remove any flash and seam lines - there was a fair amount. Then I started painting the wheels. The detail on them isn't great but I figured with some weathering they'd be okay. I then started looking at the rest of the kit and my head wouldn't let me ignore some of the missing or incomplete details. Looking at things like the missing mudguards I figured I could fabricate them out of scrap plastic. When I was checking my scrap box at home later I realised I might have some bits and pieces left over from my D-Day builds and sure enough I had.

In this first set of photos anything in light grey is left over parts from the Dragon Tiger kit. Brown plastic parts are from the spare sprue Sgt.Squarehead kindly sent me to use for the individual track links for the side of the Dragon Tiger's turret ( - if the Sarge drops by he can probably confirm which kit the sprue was originally from) - there were a lot of extra bits on the sprue that I've used, including the front mudguards, light and machine gun. Anything in white is either filler, micro-strip plastic or Evergreen plastic sheet. The exhaust shields were made by cutting up a Red Bull can with scissors and rolling the pieces around a drill bit.

There are now a lot of photos so I'll load them in three separate posts.

A bit of drilling done:

Stowage box from Evergreen sheet and micro-strip:

That's it for the first set. Next set of photos below.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited May 12, 2015 by PlaStix

[PlaStix]

Next set of photos.

These were taken quite a while after the first set above as I still wasn't sure if I was going to post them here on Britmodeller. These show the Tiger with some painting done and the wheels on. At this stage the barrel wasn't glued to the turret.

The base layer of paint is Humbrol's 93, Desert Yellow, with a wash of Revell Gunship Grey all over. Next I picked out some areas with a wash of Revell's Anthracite followed by an overall dry-brushing of a lightened version of Desert Yellow. Finally I added a wash of light rust in places.

Edited November 29, 2014 by PlaStix

[PlaStix]

And now with added tracks and tools. The actual tracks Airfix provide are the rubber band type and are pretty featureless and terrible. I really didn't want to use them and the spare sprue Sgt.Squarehead sent me contained enough link and length tracks (I think) to have done the tracks for this tank. However, my fat fingers couldn't get them to work on this model so I have had to use the Airfix ones.

I have used some of the spare track links for the sides of the turret and across the front of the hull. The tools that are on so far were also kindly sent to me by Sarge for my Panther build and I'm going to attempt to make the other tools required. There is still some more detailing I want to add but this is as far as it got as of last week.

I have to say that despite it being a fairly cheap, basic kit I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project so far. The tracks are the biggest let down but I have an idea for disguising them with what I do for the base.

With regards the base I think I'll be making it kind of sandy so I have a question - what products are there to use to represent sand? Or am I just going to have to get hold of some fine white(ish) sand?

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

[dubster72]

That's turned out rather well! I usually avoid Airfix armour in any scale, but you've definitely make the proverbial silk purse from a pig's ear

btw bird grit is very fine & works well as sand.

Cheers

Patrick

[IanC]

Very nice.

The kit artwork is a bit of a swizz, as it's clearly derived from the early Bovington Tiger and the ancient kit inside is trying to be a late production job.

You've made a really good job of rescuing the old relic. Just needs a nice restrained green and brown mottle camouflage now.

Ian

[PlaStix]

That's turned out rather well! I usually avoid Airfix armour in any scale, but you've definitely make the proverbial silk purse from a pig's ear

btw bird grit is very fine & works well as sand.

Cheers

Patrick

Hi Patrick, thank you for your comments. To be honest I know very little about armour kits in general and this one, as I mentioned, was really only bought as a time filler so, although it's not up to much in itself, it was a good starting point for this little project.

Thank you for the tip about bird grit - I will investigate.

Very nice.

The kit artwork is a bit of a swizz, as it's clearly derived from the early Bovington Tiger and the ancient kit inside is trying to be a late production job.

You've made a really good job of rescuing the old relic. Just needs a nice restrained green and brown mottle camouflage now.

Ian

Hi Ian, thank you for your comments. You're correct about the artwork being a bit of a cheat - I was surprised how different the actual kit is from the box art and the real thing! With regards the camouflage; I'm going to stick with making this one as a version of 332 in North Africa, from the Airfix schemes, so it can stay in the monotone sand colour! I know it seems like chickening out but it takes me a long time to do the subtle green and brown paintwork that can be seen on my D-Day builds. As this tank is done when I don't get much time on it I'm going to opt for the easy option!

Well I have managed to scrape some time on this since the photos above and I've been concentrating on making the tow cables and one of the tools - the hammer to go on the front:

I wasn't quite sure how to make the cables look right. I'd got plenty of the eyelet ends left from the Dragon Panther and Tiger kits but nothing that looked right for the cable itself. The Dragon kits actually came with rather nice metal tow cables which look just the job. When I mentioned the problem to Mrs PlaStix she almost immediately came up with the idea of twisted fuse wire! So this is what I have used. I got three 30cm pieces of thin fuse wire which I twisted together to give two cables 10cm long. To stop the ends coming apart I dipped them in CA glue. I then flattened off the join ends of the eyelets and drilled them out with a micro-drill bit. Once I'd glued the cable ends into the holes and added some paint (Gunmetal base with an Anthracite wash) the results are as in the photo above.

The hammer was made from an off cut of sprue filed and sanded to make the head while the handle is from styrene micro-rod.

I haven't fitted the hammer yet but the basic cables are in place. I still need to add a few more bits around these including something to represent the fittings that hold them onto the hull. I'll make these at the same time I make the brackets that hold the spare tracks on the turret sides.

Here's a few photos to show the cables in place on the hull:

Not sure when I'll get more time on this but hopefully it won't be too long.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited December 2, 2014 by PlaStix

[PlaStix]

Actually managed to get a few minutes on this recently so I added the brackets for the spare tracks on the turret and some of the other small fixings - all made from micro-strip styrene. Also managed to get the hammer finished and glued on. A photo:


The only thing I need to make extra now is the spade and then it's decals, weathering and making a small display base.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited December 4, 2014 by PlaStix

[BerndM]

Here we have a perfect exaple, that a skilled modeller can turn almost everything into a stunning kit !

Well done so far :-)

[Johan]

Hi Stix,

Amazed with what you are doing with this artifact
The boxart is an early T1 and the turret is a mid... wow and congratulations to your research Airfix

You are making this into a piece of art!
One thing though, the hull crew hatches look wrong, I think they should be the other way around.

Best Regards
Johan

[PlaStix]

Here we have a perfect exaple, that a skilled modeller can turn almost everything into a stunning kit !

Well done so far :-)

Hi BerndM. You are waaaaaay too kind - it's been a very enjoyable little project actually - and I wasn't expecting it to be - so that was a bonus!

Hi Stix,

Amazed with what you are doing with this artifact

The boxart is an early T1 and the turret is a mid... wow and congratulations to your research Airfix

You are making this into a piece of art!

One thing though, the hull crew hatches look wrong, I think they should be the other way around.

Best Regards

Johan

Hi Johan - thank you for your kind comments. With regards the orientation of the hatches - you are quite correct!! Unfortunately, tanks not being something I know much about, I just followed Airfix's instruction sheet (which was obviously a mistake! ) Please see the photo of the instructions below:

I'm not going to risk trying to extract them in case I damage anything - so I will have to live with them as they are

It's quite interesting actually because I just did a quick Google image search for completed versions of this kit and it seems pretty much 50/50 as to the number of completed builds with them the correct way around. A lot of people obviously do exactly the same as I did! Doesn't make me any happier about it though!!!

Must check reference material better in future!!

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited December 5, 2014 by PlaStix

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Vast improvement on the base kit Stix.

If you fancy trying a Tiger that's a bit different, take a look at the Zvezda kit, it's a quick-build, but completely unlike those from any other manufacturer (a bit like their Yak-3 or 109F).

[PlaStix]

Vast improvement on the base kit Stix.

If you fancy trying a Tiger that's a bit different, take a look at the Zvezda kit, it's a quick-build, but completely unlike those from any other manufacturer (a bit like their Yak-3 or 109F).

Thank you Sarge - I have to agree - it wasn't the best kit ever!

With regards the Zvezda Tiger - it's about a tenner on Amazon - is that reasonable?

Also, if you get chance, could you please mention which kit the sprue you kindly sent me for the Tiger tracks came from?

While I have been working on this kit I've realised how small it seems at times! I struggle with my fingers and kit stuff in 1/48 so this 1/76 kit seems tiny! I should think everyone here on BM knows this kit but just in case - here's a couple of photos with a ten pence piece alongside for scale:

Kind regards,

Stix

[BerndM]

Great little cat, compare shots with match sticks or money is fun in small scales

[PlaStix]

Great little cat, compare shots with match sticks or money is fun in small scales

Thank you BerndM - well it was seeing it on your thread that gave me the idea to compare it with something and because I hadn't got a matchstick at hand I used the 10 pence piece - so thank you for the idea!

Edited December 7, 2014 by PlaStix

[PlaStix]

I have now brought this kit home as I needed to apply the decals and wanted to use my Humbrol DecalFix.

Decals on and a bit of additional weathering started:

I've still got more weathering I want to do generally but I also have some ideas for improving the look of the tracks - but we'll see. I've also got to try and make a base - I've not had chance to check out bird grit yet as suggested by Patrick above as a substitute for sand.

It will be next weekend now before I get to do anymore on this.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

[HOUSTON]

Stix,

{ I liked it a lot, but ran out of MY like quota ..‼️ }

I think you did an OUTSTANDING Job on this1:76 scale TIGER Tank.

It'ssimply STUNNING ., and if you decide to do a base and a Tinsy winsy diorama, it will be SUPERB.

I have always held firm opinion that a craftsman , once he knows one thing , can do almost anything he puts his skills and mind to..

And Sir, you certainly have proved ME correct by producing another genre of model showing off your Mastery of model building..

AWESOME..

KUDOS Stix {just give up the days job !!! Think no more trains !!! }

[PlaStix]

Hi Houston!

How are you today? Any better? I do hope it's more like and not !

Thank you for you kind comments as always - and I do intend to have a go at making a base for it - still not sure what to use for the sand though - it may be sand!!

Yes it would be good to give up the day job but I think the length of time it takes me to make anything I wouldn't make any money!! Oh well.............. trains again this evening!

Take care.

Kind regards,

Stix

[BerndM]

Every inch a Tiger, Congrats ! Building AFVs in smaller scales is fun, my efforts are sadly are hit and miss thing

Did you ever build the Airfix Matilda ? The Esci/Italeri kit is somewhat hard to get, i am thinking about to expand my collection to 1/76 as well

Well done !

[HOUSTON]

Hey Stix,

Thanks for asking.

No, not any better..

In fact I am in bed writing this on the ipad..

Your workmanship is astounding to say that you don't usually build armor.

Keep it up... An artist can put his name to anything given the tools.

HOUSTON. . ⛄️

[PlaStix]

Hi Houston. Sorry you are still unwell. That's not good. Take it easy and I hope you feel better soon.

Thank you as always for your kind comments.

Kind regards,

Stix

[NorwegianWood]

This Tiger shows that everything is possible regardless of kit. Beautiful result. And Houston, hold on and get well!

[modelfreak]

And now with added tracks and tools. The actual tracks Airfix provide are the rubber band type and are pretty featureless and terrible. I really didn't want to use them and the spare sprue Sgt.Squarehead sent me contained enough link and length tracks (I think) to have done the tracks for this tank. However, my fat fingers couldn't get them to work on this model so I have had to use the Airfix ones.

I have used some of the spare track links for the sides of the turret and across the front of the hull. The tools that are on so far were also kindly sent to me by Sarge for my Panther build and I'm going to attempt to make the other tools required. There is still some more detailing I want to add but this is as far as it got as of last week.

I have to say that despite it being a fairly cheap, basic kit I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project so far. The tracks are the biggest let down but I have an idea for disguising them with what I do for the base.

With regards the base I think I'll be making it kind of sandy so I have a question - what products are there to use to represent sand? Or am I just going to have to get hold of some fine white(ish) sand?

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

With my previous builds I have used (wait for it) sand!

Looks brill!

J

Edited December 12, 2014 by modelfreak

[PlaStix]

Hello J. Thank you for your comments and advice. I'm still not sure about what I'm doing about the base yet and I still need to do a bit more work on this but, now it's home, it's competing for time with my Spitfire builds!

I have also started a new AFV project for when I get the odd bit of time when I'm not home which can be found here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234972407-airfix-176-cromwell-iv-tank/

And I'm looking forward to seeing the photos of your project too, when you post them.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited December 13, 2014 by PlaStix

[spaddad]

I have now brought this kit home as I needed to apply the decals and wanted to use my Humbrol DecalFix.

Decals on and a bit of additional weathering started:

I've still got more weathering I want to do generally but I also have some ideas for improving the look of the tracks - but we'll see. I've also got to try and make a base - I've not had chance to check out bird grit yet as suggested by Patrick above as a substitute for sand.

It will be next weekend now before I get to do anymore on this.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

cat litter works as well but is VERY absorbent if you want to paint it.

[PlaStix]

This Tiger shows that everything is possible regardless of kit. Beautiful result. And Houston, hold on and get well!

Hi NorwegianWood. Thank you for your kind comments. I need to devote some time to this to make sure I get it finished - I keep getting sidetracked by Spitfires!

cat litter works as well but is VERY absorbent if you want to paint it.

Thank you spaddad - I will investigate.

Kind regards,

Stix