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RUSSIAN FRONT TIGER - controversial colours?


IanC

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Tamiya's Early Production Tiger is a bit long in the tooth, but builds up well and is accurate enough for me. I chose it as I wanted to have a go at a slightly different paint scheme. 3. Kompanie, schwere Panzer-Abteilung 505 arrived on the Russian Front in July 1943, but had originally been destined for Tunisia. Its tanks are believed to have been in one of the brown 'Tropen' schemes, similar to that applied to the restored Bovington Tiger 131. It appears that other Army and Waffen-SS units in Russia at the time may also have received deliveries of Tigers in North African colours, and these vehicles were later either partially or completely repainted using the newly instituted Dark Yellow, Red Brown and Olive Green colours.

 

I wanted to do mine as Tiger 321 of 3. Kompanie, schwere Panzer-Abteilung 505 as seen in the photo below, which could have been in one of these hybrid schemes. I first applied a coat of Mr Hobby H402, which is a reasonable match for RAL8000 Green Brown, and then added bands of RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb and some Olive Green using Tamiya paints. I tried to reproduce the actual camouflage pattern as closely as possible. Of course, there is no guarantee that the tank looked like this, and I doubt we'll ever know for sure. It's a controversial subject judging by what I've read, but for certain the Tigers in Russia at this time wore an interesting variety of camouflage schemes. This is just one possibility. 

 

Thanks for looking and I welcome any comments, 

 

Ian 

 

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3 hours ago, moondrome said:

very well painted both the figure and the tank.   how do you paint the camo with faded edges? I always wondered how to do that

 

Thank you. The camo was sprayed freehand with my H&S Infinity airbrush and a 0.15 needle.

 

I've achieved a similar effect on aircraft models by masking areas with thin sausages of white tack, or even paper masks held just above the surface. 

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Nice work Ian. Paintwork is great, and it matches photo very well. Also, interesting choice of camo scheme.

I can confirm that 0.15mm H&S Infinity is fantastic for freehanding soft age camo. It works particularly well with highly diluted paints, especially lacquers, like MRP.

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Hi Ian. That really is a very impressive looking Tiger and the camo looks excellent to me. Plus the figure really adds to the impression of scale. Wonderful modelling. :worthy:

Kind regards,

Stix

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14 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Plus the figure really adds to the impression of scale. 

Kind regards,

Stix

 

Yes, I always try to put at least one in the turret on my models. This one comes - unsurprisingly - from Tamiya's excellent new German tank crew set. I just wish they'd do one for the Brits as well!

 

Many thanks everyone for the comments.

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Very nice model indeed! The North Africa colours will forever remain controversial....pictures taken of 131 on test trials after capture only show it painted in one overall sand colour, and when I saw it at Bovington over 45 years ago in its original paint job, it was overall sand worn in areas with dark grey showing through. The 'Olive' colour finish on some Tigers of Pzbt 504 was supposedly Italian Pea Green.....

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5 hours ago, Whitewolf said:

Very nice model indeed! The North Africa colours will forever remain controversial....pictures taken of 131 on test trials after capture only show it painted in one overall sand colour, and when I saw it at Bovington over 45 years ago in its original paint job, it was overall sand worn in areas with dark grey showing through. 

 

Thank you. Yes, I remember seeing 131 in that overall sand colour. But I'm not sure it was the original. I've read the tank was repainted several times between capture and the current restoration?

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6 hours ago, IanC said:

 

Thank you. Yes, I remember seeing 131 in that overall sand colour. But I'm not sure it was the original. I've read the tank was repainted several times between capture and the current restoration?

When I saw it lined up all those years ago, I woukd swear it was original. The faded sand had tank grey showing through in places. Plus official photos of 131 on trials in the UK clearly showed one overall colour, I have no idea where the multi-colur schemes ever came into it. One pic shot in Tunisia clearly shows a Tiger in overall green. 

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A job very well done, nice camo, nice figure, nice tracks. The only problem is I like to hold judgement on Tiger's as I do my women, I've got to see their rear ends before committing myself! lol Can we have an 'rear end' photo please?

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Edited by Badder
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17 hours ago, Badder said:

A job very well done, nice camo, nice figure, nice tracks. The only problem is I like to hold judgement on Tiger's as I do my women, I've got to see their rear ends before committing myself! lol Can we have an 'rear end' photo please?

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

Here you go - the Tiger's backside... 😀

 

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