Stripey tiger: 1/35 Academy King Tiger 'Last Production'

[Shockwave Rider]

Finally got round to finishing this. Second tank of the year, well, last five or six years actually. I don't usually build armour, but seem to have quite a few in the build queue.

 

I wouldn't know if this was a last production tiger or not, even if it came up to me and bit me. I just like it.

 

 

The build process was, shall we say, interesting and a little fraught in places, not least due to the vague instructions.

 

 

I was put off, for the longest time, by the tracks. I hate individual tracks and links. That being said, this kit had sensible individual tracks, which were not totally individual track and links. I still managed to make a hash of some of it as numptie here couldn't following instructions properly.

 

 

Following my usual heathen approach to painting (i.e. employ anything that looks about right, especially for tanks which get covered in grime and dust and are weathered greatly) I used LifeColor sand and Brown Violet (RLM81?) for the, well, sandy and greeny bits.

 

The red bits were far more fun. The Academy painting instructions said 'Red Brown' or something like that, plus gave a whole list of colours from the likes of LifeColor, Tamiya, etc. Naturally, I didn't have any of them. However, research on t'internet revealed that German tank crews would dilute the red brown paint, they were sent, with petrol. Varying dilution rates would give a colour ranging from light red to deep red brown.

 

 

I happened to have some Liquitex acrylic inks i.e. Red Oxide and Transparent Raw Umber. I simply added a few drops of the latter to the former in my spray brush cup until I got roughly the correct colour. Also, I varied this mixture as I sprayed, to sort of mimic the differing dilutions a crew might use as they sprayed their vehicle. I suspect the green might have been the same, but I didn't dilute it enough to get the same effect.

 

 

I went a bit nuts with the scheme, I'm afraid, but had huge amounts of fun.

 

As I wanted to represent a recently field painted example, I kept the tank fairly clean. I would like to actually see the complex, if somewhat barmy, camouflage scheme I had concocted.

 

It was a bit garish, freshly painted. I toned it down by adding a few drops of Liquitex transparent raw umber to Galleria Matt Varnish, and sprayed it all over.  I let it drip and pool in a few places to sort of look as if a slightly dusty tank had been caught in a shower. Well, that's my story, which I am keeping to. 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

I have no idea how accurate the final outcome is, but I certainly had a lot of fun with the painting. I used Blutak to mark out the camouflage pattern. Interesting is all I can say. I did manage to brake the machine gun ring when I took off the Blutak, then lost the bit. Sigh. I had to scratch build a replacement, and then hid the join with the machine gun mount, but don't tell anyone!

 

 

[Vince1159]

Fantastic looking Tiger .....