CROUCHING TIGER, FINISHED AND IN RFI.

[GREG DESTEC]

Very informative Badder 👍

 

The tracks look great, and good to know how you go about painting them.

 

Cheers Greg

[Badder]

The tracks after the grey primer (sprayed outdoors cos it stinks to high heaven) and undiluted sprays and watered washes with my red/blue/green/burnt umber ink mix, I do sometimes like to apply ink washes while the base coat is still damp, or even wet.

 

And after a wash with black and sepia ink:

 

And after a wash with buff and a dry-brushing (well, a finger-tip actually) with Gun Metal Weathering Master:

 

And after some deliberation, some more random black washes and more gun metal....

 

I'm waiting to see what these come out like when dry, but I'm quite pleased with how the look like whilst damp. (The tracks are damp, not me!)

 

So, with the 'chore' of the tracks out of the way, I will move onto that most 'favourited' part of every tank build, and most especially Tigers and the like... the wheels.

Gosh, there's a lot of 'em. More than I remembered.

 

This section of the build/paint is going to take a few days at least! I won't be using masks for the tyres but will be relying on good old 'capillary action and a steady hand' HA! Steady hand!!!!

 

TFL

Badder s

 

 

Hmmmmm. The tracks dried out a lot darker, and more 'plain' than I imagined they would. Some paler washes are needed methinks!

 

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Badder

[PlaStix]

Well done on getting the tracks sorted so early and they look great so far Badder.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Robert Stuart]

Nice one Badder, and now, at least, your tracks are done ...

 

... done - apart from umpteen more wash coats?

[Badder]

41 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Well done on getting the tracks sorted so early and they look great so far Badder.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix,

They were looking good at this stage, but not so good once dry. And as Robert predicts in the comment below......

24 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

Nice one Badder, and now, at least, your tracks are done ...

 

... done - apart from umpteen more wash coats?

Er, indeed Robert!

I think more washes with buff are required! And that'll mean more gun metal! And probably more red and black washes as well. Not necessarily in that order.

 

 

 

 

Rearguards to you both,

Badder

Edited May 18, 2019 by Badder

[Badder]

So, another wash with watered down Tamiya Buff XF-57,  I added a bit of fairly liquid to the wash to create bubbles in it. The idea is that the bubbles will randomize the deposits of paint and create an uneven effect amongst the recesses in the links. I did this last time, but forgot to mention it.

 

The act of applying the wash has removed some of the darker washes from the tracks, exposing patches of the redder undercoat - most notably on the tracks at the rear of the photo. This is a good thing.

 

I'll let this dry fully before re-assessing the situation.

Now back to those pesky wheels!

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Badder

[BIG X]

Brilliant work on the tracks Badder - I'm glad you persevered with posting, I've fallen foul of the 'post monster' on more than one occasion myself - it can be soul destroying.

 

Keep up the inspiring work and I'll be following along.

 

Rearguards - Steve and Colin

[noeyedears]

you have put more work into those tracks than i put into a whole model. very cool.

 

regarding the post monster - been there too 😳 .

Now, if its going to be any appreciable length, i construct it in a text document on my pc, including the pic links,  and then copy and paste it into the forum.

[Badder]

4 hours ago, BIG X said:

Brilliant work on the tracks Badder - I'm glad you persevered with posting, I've fallen foul of the 'post monster' on more than one occasion myself - it can be soul destroying.

 

Keep up the inspiring work and I'll be following along.

 

Rearguards - Steve and Colin

Hi Steve and Colin,

 

Thanks for your joint support. I had to bite the bullet and persevere with that post because I do believe some might find my 'my method' method easier (and quicker) than the 'usual' methods shown in vids!

 

I'll reserve 'Soul destroying' for the likes of the Photobucket Fiasco, and not long after that for Hostingpics closing down, EACH IN TURN forcing me to find and repost all the photos on 45 pages of my Ever Evolvin' Dio WIP, but yes, losing an hour's work is pretty annoying!

 

 

Thanks again Steve. Give Colin a scratch behind the ear for me.

 

Badder

 

 

 

2 hours ago, noeyedears said:

you have put more work into those tracks than i put into a whole model. very cool.

 

regarding the post monster - been there too 😳 .

Now, if its going to be any appreciable length, i construct it in a text document on my pc, including the pic links,  and then copy and paste it into the forum.

Thanks N.E.D,

I'm afraid I put my faith in technology and get kicked in the teeth way too often.

You are very wise and your suggestion is a good one, but I kind of rebel against such wisdom and dare all technology to let me down and reinforce my contempt for it ( 'It' being the software writer/designer/inventor/manufacturer or whatever)

 

Having said that, I don't fancy another PB or HostingPics fiasco, so I may very well do the opposite to your suggestion and save all my WIPs and RFIs as they appear on BM on a memory stick. All I have saved in the past up until now are the photos,

 

So a sincere thanks for the 'idea'

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

The tracks after the re-wash with Buff:

 

 

The Buff wash was applied when the tracks were completely dry, so there's been no reactivating of underlying inks (unlike previously) So, I've lost the reddish tinge and more colourful patches that were rather nice. However, I'm not going to do any more to the tracks for now as I'm concentrating on the wheels. More on that shortly.

 

 

TFL

Badder

[BIG X]

17 minutes ago, Badder said:

 I'm not going to do any more to the tracks for now as I'm concentrating on the wheels. More on that shortly.

 

 

TFL

Badder

I'm looking forward to seeing how you go about the wheels.

[Badder]

3 minutes ago, BIG X said:

I'm looking forward to seeing how you go about the wheels.

Hi Steve,

No 'special method' for those. Pics shortly.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Ozzy]

Fantastic job on the tracks Badder, their looking nice and worn.

[Badder]

THE WHEELS

 

When it comes to the wheels, I prefer nowadays to give them a spray with a base coat AFTER they've been removed from their sprues.

 

Whilst I said that I have no 'special method' when it comes to the wheels, I do have one tip.... and that is not to bother removing any gate-marks (and in some rare cases, seams) from the rims, until the wheels have been constructed. But critically, I make sure that the gate-marks on the inner and outer wheels are lined up. This means that I can remove the  2 adjacent gate-marks in one go, and obviously I can remove the 2 gate-marks on the opposite sides of the wheels in one go as well. This saves time spent on cleaning up gate-marks.

 

 

 

So, I removed all of the wheels from their sprues and constructed them as per the instructions making sure to align the gate marks on those wheels which have inners and outers: the back-to-back sets of road wheels, drive sprockets and idlers. I then used an emery board to remove the gate marks before mounting each set of wheels on cocktail sticks and giving them a spray with the decanted grey primer.

 

Again, I gave this an AB'ing outside because of the stink.  Once dry,  I gathered them up for the photos and I'm afraid they got dirt/dust on them in the process. It wasn't stuck on in any way, but I  couldn't be bothered to pin each wheel down and give it a blast with the AB. Besides, it keeps up my reputation as a 'dirty modeller'.

 

 

Then, back on their cocktail sticks they all went..... for a spray with first air (to get rid of the dust/dirt) and then Tamiya Desert Yellow.

 

 

 

I applied some Burnt Umber acrylic ink washes to the idlers and sprockets because these won't be receiving so much in the way of mud and wear. I did also apply some to the wheels, but that was more to balance out the colour than anything else. The road wheels will get more treatments than the idlers and sprockets.

 

 From this point onwards, I am not concerned with accumulations of dirt/dust/grease etc. These impurities will have beneficial effects on later treatments such as whitewashing, and rubbing back etc. I am also not too concerned about waiting for things to fully dry either. Sometimes I like to apply washes on top of wet washes, sometimes I like to let a wash dry partly before applying the next, sometimes I like a wash to dry fully before the next.

 

The next stage was to add some token camo patterns to the wheels, using MIG Late German Camo paints, Dark Green and Red/brown. Here, the Dark Green has dried and has been rubbed back, incidentally removing some of the Desert Yellow. Then I applied the Red/brown.

Whilst this looks a right mess, I am fully aware that most of this will be covered up - but it's the multiple layering, the adding and removing of  colours, and the important inclusion oand removal of dirt/dust that adds to the realism, I think.

 

Once dried, the wheels then got a whitewash with acrylic ink and then a wash with a Antelope brown - which reactivated some of the white and mixed with it.

 

 

 

This is the current state of affairs, but I will be applying more washes so probably the colours/effects will change significantly.

 

While this lot is drying fully, I will crack on with the lower hull and suspension arms etc.

Yes, I know I haven't painted the tyres yet. That will come later.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited May 19, 2019 by Badder

[BIG X]

Another 'master class' - I'll certainly heed your advice about lining up the gates for sanding.  Without jumping ahead too much - will the wheel rims be 'metal' of some description...

[Badder]

1 hour ago, Ozzy said:

Fantastic job on the tracks Badder, their looking nice and worn.

Thanks Ozzy,

I think they'll be getting a fair bit of mud and not much (if any) snow.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

1 minute ago, BIG X said:

Another 'master class' - I'll certainly heed your advice about lining up the gates for sanding.  Without jumping ahead too much - will the wheel rims be 'metal' of some description...

Not sure about 'master class' but thanks!

 

Glad you mentioned the 'wheel rims'.  I assume you mean the tyres? Because all of the road wheels have rubber tyres.  Obviously I'll be painting them at some point - maybe later today if I get that far.

It's not a big deal (to me, anyway) but some people paint all of the wheels' tyres to look the same, when in fact there's a difference in how much rubber is visible on each wheel 'rim'. Those wheels which are in the two outermost rows have 'deeper' looking tyres than the innermost wheels which face 'inwards'. That's because the tyres are pushed on to the wheel and are stopped by a rim and that rim hides the full depth of the rubber from view in one direction, not the other.  The rims on the inner wheels are outboard whilst those on the outer wheels are inboard. I'll clarify that later, but a close look at photos/instruction sheets should show this.

 

TFL

Badder

[Badder]

Hang on a mo @BIG X, photo to clarify....

 

Sorry @BIG X I'm a luddite when it comes to photo editing! Plus it took me an age to find the edited photo afterward! lol

 

 

 

But here you can see that the wheel top middle is facing 'away' from us, with the wheel rim on our side of the wheel. The rubber tyre is pushed on from the other side and presses up against that rim. So from this side not much rubber is visible.

The wheels centre bottom has the rim on the side away from us, and the rubber tyre is pushed on from our side. We therefore see the full depth of the rubber.

 

Once fixed on their axles, the different wheels face inwards or outwards, so we see both the 'deep' and 'shallow' amounts of rubber tyre.

 

Hope that helps,

Badder

 

EDIT: Basically, if you removed the tyres the wheels would look like train wheels with a rim running  around the inner edge.

Edited May 19, 2019 by Badder

[Robert Stuart]

51 minutes ago, Badder said:

Yes, I know I haven't painted the tyres yet. That will come later.

Given the amount of dirt and dust on these wheels already, you'll probably be fine without painting the tyres?

If you must paint them, as in your 'Master Class' reply, then not too much later 

[BIG X]

For some reason I thought King Tigers had steel rims  So you see - I'm learning already  I'm just glad I asked before I got going on mine

[Badder]

4 minutes ago, BIG X said:

For some reason I thought King Tigers had steel rims  So you see - I'm learning already  I'm just glad I asked before I got going on mine

Er.. mine's a Tiger I.

I assume KT's have rubber tyres, but I could be totally wrong as I haven't built mine yet and haven't read the instructions! 😉

 

[BIG X]

OK - I better toddle off to my own thread and ask the question there - I have been having a crack at my wheels and they do indeed look very different to yours - best to find out now - rather than screw it up later.

[BIG X]

4 hours ago, Badder said:

Er.. mine's a Tiger I.

I assume KT's have rubber tyres, but I could be totally wrong as I haven't built mine yet and haven't read the instructions! 😉

 

Steel rims are now confirmed on mine - PHEW - that makes life a 'tad easier'

[Badder]

I've glued the suspension arms and most of the other gubbins onto the hull, including the rear plate and a couple of parts on that as well.

Here the front glacis, vertical armour plate and top deck are all dry fitted:

 

 

 

 

I also gave the hull a primer coat, desert yellow base coat and some mud and washes.....

 

 

m

 

Note the one slightly raised suspension arm in the photo below..... this is my concession to uneven ground and something small but strong which the Tiger will be sat on. Don't ask me what that might be as I haven't really thought about it!

The mud was made up from a mix of coal ashes, plaster of paris and PVA glue.

 

 

Not forgetting to add some mud to the undersides of the sponsons.....

 

 

Or under the hull front and rear....

 

And finally, I added some Mud Weathering Master to the inner surface of the tracks and Gun metal to the 'treads' again, on the other side... just because

.

 

 

Posted wrong pic for other side of tracks so have deleted it.

 

 

That's as far as I've got today. I'm going to leave the tyres until tomorrow.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited May 19, 2019 by Badder

[Ozzy]

Nice start Badder, your weathering  looks fantastic.