I have pulled out of my stash a kit that was given to me by a good friend (Gustavo) while I was in Iraq. Tamiyas Tiger I early. I am going to build this as a vehicle that is an early model but with the later model sprockets, mantlet and feifel air filters. I have also decided to eliminate the feifel hoses from the engine deck, only leaving their mounting brackets in place. This would place my vehicle after Oct 1943. I am going to leave the 2 headlights in place, mount the spare track on the turret, and hopefully pain the vehicle in a winter whitewash and belonging to Das Reich. I know there are so many options/choices/whats right/whats wrong scenarios, but I have to get back into the hobby. Let me know your opinions, I am thick skinned....for now.

Im in the whitewash mood- get to it!

Hi Timothy!
I have the same kit in my stash, so I´ll be following this with interest. Just one little reguest, could you make photos bigger? They are so tiny, that I can´t see all the details.

If a Tiger lasted through to October they would have cut off the smoke launcher assemblies from the turret, leaving just the tabs on the roof.

David

David, thanks. I had read that before also but thanks for confirming it. I will try to make the pictures bigger. I either hit or miss with the photos when I upload them. I am sure to others here that it is a no brainer when it comes to loading pictures. I made this an active build forum to motivate me to start and finish a project in a decent amount of time. Your comments will also help with that, so Thanks.

Hi Timothy. Nice choice of model .... but would love to see some decent sized images.
Markus Lack is building a similar Tiger w/ winter finish on Planet Armor ... might be interesting for you.
live link .

Thanks Frank, I will take a look at it. Today was just a continuation of the basic build. Pioneer tools, hull hatches, turret. Still going over books, pictures, trying to determine what to keep what to get rid of. I understand the life of a Tiger may not be that long, but I would assume field modifications would be decided on by the Company and crew. So what worked for some may not work for others. I am hoping to start on the wheels and tracks tomorrow.






I am taking the pictures with my phone so I apologize for the size.

OK, trying to do more each day. Today was more work on the hull, turret, adding the gun barrel, assembling the wheels, priming them & starting the tracks. Tomorrow I hope to finish the hull, turret, prime, and start to paint.

Today the turret is about complete. There is the question of the dimples on the roof in the center. What are they there for? I installed the muzzlebrake, completed the hull with the exception of the 2 mine launchers on the rear deck. Completed one side of the tracks, so I almost met my schedule for the weekend. I have to make the simple cover for the air intake and that should wrap things up for the build. Very simple with a few add on items. This week prime/paint.









I am not sure why the pictures are remaining small, I switched to a digital camera but the pictures stay the same size. Is there something I am missing?

if you are using photobucket , you need to change the upload resoloution to 800x600

No, I was using Kitmaker, now I am using Flickr. Does the same apply to those as well?

David, that is fantastic! I could not find any pictures that showed this intake cover with this detail. Thank you very much. Would you happen to know about the dimples that I mentioned earlier? They are in the center of the turret roof on the exterior surface. I am not sure of their purpose. Again thank you very much for the pictures and dimensions.

They are meant to be there. Bolts for the internal travel lock.

David

Thanks again Dave, your help has been much appreciated. Tonight was completion of the hull details. I crudely recreated the air intake cover located in the 1st picture under the escape hatch on the turret. Thanks to the help of Dave Byrden. I primed both the turret and hull and continued drilling up the Fruil tracks. Hopefully I also improved the size of the pictures.

picture size is looking good! and so is the Tiger. Looking forward to seeing your paint job.
Terry

OK, slight problem on the cupola arm for limiting the hatch travel. It's the wrong way around.

David

OK, tonight I started with the dark yellow. That is until my moisture trap on my airbrush cracked and started a leak which absolutely affected progress. I had to finish with a Tamiya spray can. I also corrected the mistake I had made on the cupola, thanks again to Davids keen eye. Tomorrow will hopefully be a night of silly putty, and track construction and priming.

Did I ever point you to the fixes for this kit? The loader's periscope in particular is worth fixing.

David

Great link, David! Heck, I didn´t even know that kind of website exists. That much a noob I am, when it comes to build a Tiger model kit.
Just one little reguest: could you send here a picture or drawings with measurements for that loaders periscope, part F42, in Tamiya´s kit. The http address mentioned below the pic doens´t work. Or actually it says: "No such page".
Thanks!

Btw: is the periscope right on Tamiya Afrika Korps version?

Here .

Afrika Korps tanks did't even have a periscope.

Thanks David.
And sorry being so noob with this issue. Thats the one reason, I haven´t build any Tigers, because you can go so wrong with them easily. So the loaders periscope on Timothy´s Tiger is too low and wide on it´s front edge..

David, the measurements on the diagrams you provided are for the actual cover, correct? What would the size be in 1/35th scale? Sorry for being so uneducated on the Tiger.

Well I decided to proceed with the painting phase. I used a brand silly putty to mark off the areas to remain dark yellow, and I followed this with the dark brown. IMO I think it turned out rather nice. I am using an artistic license at this point so you may or may not agree with my pattern. But they were not painted in a factory by a robot. Next will be a gloss coat followed by decals.

Sorry, I have to be offline a lot these days...
The measurements are in millimeters and they are full scale, so divide by 35.

David

OK, heres the update. I have added the decals, couldnt help using the kill ring decal. I know it is more than likely not accurate for this particular vehicle but...... Started the weathering process on the exhaust stacks, used the oil paint dot method on the turret. White washed using the hairspray technique. Changes the whole look of the vehicle. I started weathering the lower hull and adding the road wheels. Still a lot of work to do, sorry for the lack of updates. Hope you enjoy the progress so far, from the humble beginnings.

Todays update; I have started the pin wash on the turret using Mig's filter for white washed vehicles. You can see the difference between the turret and the hull. I used the oil paint dot treatment on the hull and white washed it also. I will do the pin wash on it today. I also started the white wash/weathering of the road wheels. I think IMO that things are turning out nicely from where it all started. I hope you enjoy.

Well for anyone that has been paying attention, heres todays update. I completed the installation of all roadwheels, and painting of them. I started the basic weathering of them also. I added the exhaust stack shrouds and whitewashed them. The hull has been pinwashed. There is still weathering to be done, tracks to be completed and final touchups.

It's going well - keep it up!

OK, tonight I finished assembly of the tracks and primed them. I also started the detail painting. First was the pioneer tools, then the tow cables. I still need to continue on the pioneer tools and staff sections. I also continued weathering the upper hull, turret and road wheels with both paint and lead pencil. Tomorrow I will concentrate on the track painting and weathering.