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Dragon 1/35th Tiger I Late


Bish

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My next build is only my second Tiger I and my first in 11 years. Been a bit slower than i expected, largely due to the zimm taking longer than i thought. But its progressing well now.

 

I am adding a Voyager PE set, Aber metal barrel and Fruil metal transport tracks.

 

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Started with the lower hull and the working suspension.

 

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Then got started on the zimmerit useing Miliput white. Been a few years since i did this. Its messy and tedious but it still gives the best results that i have seen IMHO.

 

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Once that was done, i got the turret together, including metal barrel.

 

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And started fitting out the rear.

 

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Got a bit of patching up to do on the zimm once the rest of the PE is fitted. main thing to do now is the PE track guards. I need to keep than workable for the dio. Once there done, i can crack on with the rest.

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Wouldn't mind watching this come together.

 

Good work with the milliput, always interested to pick up ideas re zimm. What sort of tool did you use to create the pattern?

 

Cheers

Darryl 

 

 

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Thanks guys. I know its tedious doing your own zimm, but i do think this is the most realistic way of doing it. Though i do have a couple of pre zimmed kits and some zimm decals to try out.

 

Darryl,i have a set of Airwaves Zimm stamps that i got from Hannants many yeats ago. Has 4 patterns with 3 sizes in each.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more progress on the Tiger. I got the fuel tanks and fans painted as this will be seen though the grills.

 

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The turret was finsihed off with spare track hangers and other small bits.

 

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And the top deck has been added and then most of the PE has been fitted. The track guards took quite some time to do. The kit ones are nice but i need this movable so it been worth it. I still have to do the rear ones'

 

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And i have started on the Fruil tracks. One is done just a few more links to add to the other.

 

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I can feel the paint stage coming on son and then i can start puting the figures together.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got time to post an update. The last of these pics were taken at the start of the week, but been so busy trying to get it done that i haven't had chance to post them, so here goes.

Got the final bits fitted and had her ready for primer and paint.

 

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I then painted with Xtracolour adding a little of their darker DAK yellw to the normal Dark yellow for a later was look. The green was sprayed free hand.

 

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The decals were then added followed by a couple of coats of Alclad Aqua gloss and the first bit of weathering. This was an overall oil wash of raw umber a yellow orche mix. I forgot to take pics of the turret before the wash, but you can see the hull before and after.

 

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I also made a start on the 4 figures, getting them together and ready for painting.

 

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And made a start on the base.

 

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After staining and varnishing the surround i added the Celluclay. The base has been left in the shed all week where it is cold. This slws down drying so i can add the vehicle into the base.

 

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The Tiger has come on quite a bit, i have spent the last couple of days weathering. It should be done by Monday and will get some pics up before adding it to the base and finishing the figures. I would like to wrap this up before the end of this coming week.

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A quick final update before i wrap up the Tiger. After some washes and streaking i added everything bar the wheels and track. The front mudguard had come off so i decided to leave that until the end.

 

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Then the weathering was finished off with some AK effects liquids and some pigments. After that the wheels and tracks were added and the tank is now done. I also placed the side skirts onto the rear deck.

 

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I just have to add it to the base and let that set while i finish off the figures. Should be wrapping this up by the weekend.

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Time to wrap up the Tiger. The finishing touches were to add it to the base and add the 4 figures, from Miniart and Master Box. The one thing that i can't get over with this secen, despite all the advances in military tech over the decades, one thing has not changed. Modern tanks look very much the same as they did in WW2, but we now have thermal imaging, stabilised guns and all the advances in armour, tank tracks today are exactly the same. The method for fitting the track in this scene is exactly the same one that we used on our Warriors, other than we used a fabric rope rather than a metal one. The perfect example of if somthing works, leave it.

 

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Thanks for following along. i am really pleased with how this has turned out. I have had this dio in mind for years and its come out exactly as i pictured it.

 

This is my last build of the year, looking forward to seeing what 2020 has in store.

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Thank you. The tank is not pulled onto the tank its driven on. The guy on the rope is simply keeping the tension, its the drive sprocket that pulled the track on. The method has not changed in over 70 years.

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18 hours ago, Bish said:

Thank you. The tank is not pulled onto the tank its driven on. The guy on the rope is simply keeping the tension, its the drive sprocket that pulled the track on. The method has not changed in over 70 years.

That is interesting - I was vaguely aware that was how it was done but not given it much thought until I saw your excellent model.

 

So a question.

 

Putting the track on that way, it is not in contact with the drive wheel.  The guy is using the steel hawser to pull the track round the idler wheel and towards the drive wheel as the tank moves forwards.  So he is keeping tension on the idler wheel not the drive wheel.  Since the drive wheel is not in contact with the track until the very end of the procedure I guess they would be relying on the road wheels alone.

 

My question is whether this is the way they would have done it, or would they have reversed the tank onto the track, with the hawser guy behind the tank, so that they could engage it with the drive sprocket earlier in the procedure?


I’m just asking out of curiosity, not with any knowledge - it’s just that I would have thought that they would want to get the track on the drive sprocket as soon as possible because until you do the tank engine is not helping to moving the track at all.

 

I did try a quick search on youtube but nothing that matched.  Did find a video  showing a Sherman but they were replacing an original fitted track not a thrown track.  There was also one that looked promising but just showed the guys moving a Sherman track - it took a lot of guys to move it, even on smooth concrete.  I also found a video the Sullivan modern army games where they have to replace a section of 7 links on an Abrams it takes 3 US Army guys  to drag just a length of 7 links - gives some idea of just how heavy tank tracks are.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

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54 minutes ago, nheather said:

That is interesting - I was vaguely aware that was how it was done but not given it much thought until I saw your excellent model.

 

So a question.

 

Putting the track on that way, it is not in contact with the drive wheel.  The guy is using the steel hawser to pull the track round the idler wheel and towards the drive wheel as the tank moves forwards.  So he is keeping tension on the idler wheel not the drive wheel.  Since the drive wheel is not in contact with the track until the very end of the procedure I guess they would be relying on the road wheels alone.

 

My question is whether this is the way they would have done it, or would they have reversed the tank onto the track, with the hawser guy behind the tank, so that they could engage it with the drive sprocket earlier in the procedure?


I’m just asking out of curiosity, not with any knowledge - it’s just that I would have thought that they would want to get the track on the drive sprocket as soon as possible.

 

I did try a quick search on youtube but nothing that matched.  Did find a video  showing a Sherman but they were replacing an original fitted track not a thrown track.  There was also one that looked promising but just showed the guys moving a Sherman track - it took a lot of guys to move it, even on smooth concrete.  I also found a video of some modern army games where they have to replace a section of 7 links on an Abrams it takes 3 US Army guys  to drag just a length of 7 links - gives some idea of just how heavy tank tracks are.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

 

it’s 6 of one and 1/2 a dozen of the other when it comes to track bashing, either way you get the same effect.

 

its all down to personal preference, using the sprocket (front end) means you need to get the track around it. By man handling it up there using a crowbar,  to guide the track from the floor and up onto the sprocket teeth. Once over the sprocket attach the rope and pull over, using the crowbar the other end to hold the tracks in place to hammer the pin back in. 

 

Pulling from the rear is easier in the respect of not having to get the track up as far, however from personal experience can be a bit of a pain when trying to realign to get the pin back in.

 

Track bashing is definitely a full crew task, as you pointed out with 3 guys moving 7 track links there not lite. Never my favourite job building new tracks.

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Fantastic job Bish, I had been looking at these figures for a while. Having seen them in the flesh so to speak, I’m definitely on the lookout. They make an instant diorama.

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Super job, and an education to boot!

 

Great work with the Tiger, zimmerit has come out really well, the ground work looks good, portrays a well used and trafficked area.

 

Great work.

 

 

 

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Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

 

Nigel, not exactly. As long as the rope is kept tight, as the drive sproket moves it will pull the rope round it and so pull the track up as the tank moves forward. The method above is exactly how we used to do it on our Warriors (i was in an Armoured Inf battalion for 12 years and a Warrior driver for 6). On checking photo's of German putting on track, it looked as though they did it exactly the same.

 

When we had to replace a worn track with a new one, we had to build up the new track, each one had 14 sections of 7. 3 of us could do it in 1hr 20mins, which included building both tracks, taking off the old ones and fitting the new, one at a time of course. A Warrior track is only a litle lighter than a Tigers from what i can find.

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