Tamiya 1/48 Tiger

[Steve Jones]

Good luck with the PE. Should look pretty awesome once put on

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
I'm assuming that the Zimm you have ordered is PE. I have seen resin sheets as after market zimm. Not sure how that would work. It will be interesting to see how you get on.
Jim

[stillp]

I'm not sure if the Tamiya Zimm is PE, or something else - maybe stickers. We shall see...
The front drive sprockets and the idler wheels are held on with poly caps, so they're removable. I think this means that I can build up the track and wheel assemblies and then remove them for final painting, which will certainly make painting a lot easier.

I should've checked my paint stocks earlier - I wanted to use Tamiya paints, but I don't have any Dunkelgelb, and of course the shops are shut for lockdown. I'm too mean to pay for postage, so the dark yellow parts will be done with Vallejo. Actually according to the Haynes/Bovington book on the Tiger, the colours should be RAL 8000 Gelbbraun and RAL 7008 Graugrun, but I don't have either of those so I'm going to go with the scheme in the instructions. I'll need to mix up some paint for the tracks too. I think the last tracks I painted were done with a mixture of a metallic grey with some red-brown mixed in.
Anyway, here are the wheels dry-fitted:

Must have been great fun replacing an inner road wheel in the field!
There's some nice detail on the upper hull:

Hi Pete

Have a look at nightshift on YT, excellent video on zimm

Thanks Bob, he makes a good job of it using two-part Tamiya putty and Trumpeter tools, none of which I have! I might be able to make the roller from an old cig lighter wheel, but not the stamp. That Tamiya putty seems to have a good long working time, the fillers I've tried set too quickly.

Thanks for watching,
Pete

[Lee Drennen]

Pete. Nice updates I really like these 1/48 Tammy kits one reason they are more accurate than the old 1/35 ones

[JR]

Pete I shall join the gang. I used some filler for Zimn, even got the Trumpeter tools. Hard enough in 1/35, so think you've done the right thing buying the PE with that scale
Normally when I came on at this time (its just gone01:19) Simon was usually around and we'd be the only members on line , going to feel strange now .

[Steve Jones]

Nice update Peter. Great to see you have the wheels done

[stillp]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been struggling with painting the wheels. My Vallejo dunkelgelb seems to have turned into snot.
Pete

[Lee Drennen]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been struggling with painting the wheels. My Vallejo dunkelgelb seems to have turned into snot.
Pete

That’s snot good

[BattleshipBob]

Looking good Pete

Always wondered why the 1 48 Tamiya have weights in the hull??

[stillp]

To make them heavier Bob! :tongue-out2:

Pete

[BattleshipBob]

To make them heavier Bob! :tongue-out2:

Pete

Even i have worked that out! Is the hull too light

[stillp]

I think it will 'sit' better Bob. I know some armour builders always add weights.
Pete

[BattleshipBob]

Might try the 1 48 StuG??

[stillp]

Well, I managed to get enough dunkelsnot out of the bottle, let that dry, then started painting the rubber tyres... it didn't feel right, so I checked references, and, of course, the kind of wheels supplied in this kit didn't have rubber tyres but steel rims! :rolling:
Order sent to John for some more dunkelgelb and a few other bits. Meanwhile the wheels are soaking in Dettol.
Pete

[stillp]

I haven't done much recently - not much mojo. As mentioned earlier, I soaked the wheels in Dettol. When I've done this in the past the paint has just rinsed off, but this time it just turned into a sticky mess that wouldn't wash off, even with washing-up liquid and a toothbrush. Ruined a couple of pairs of vinyl gloves, they just got too sticky. Eventually chucked all the wheels into a jar of IPA, which cleaned them up nicely. Should have done that in the first place!
I bought a new bottle of VMA dunkelgelb (and a few other bits) from SMS, usual excellent service. The new bottle is not only much more fluid than the old one but a lot less green, so I'm wondering if the old bottle was faulty, or if it was in a batch of paints I bought a few years ago from someone who was giving up modelling, and perhaps he'd added something to it or it was just past its best-before date. I'd left the drive sprockets and idler wheels painted with the old pint, and the difference was quite striking - sorry, I should have taken a photo, but I just gave them a coat from the new bottle.
The next thing to do after painting the wheels was to paint the rims, since the steel rims run directly on the track there wouldn't be paint on them for long. SO, I mixed up a sort of brownish blackish metallic colour and went round all the rims as well as the drive sprocket teeth.

I'd sprayed the track sections with Vallejo metallic rust, which doesn't look anything like rust, it's too metallic. Sprayed over that with metallic black, and gave the wear areas a coat of the same mix I used for the wheel rims.

I'll dry brush the track cleats after assembling them onto the wheels, and they'll get some washes afterwards.
I also made a start on the turret. Like the rest of this kit, the turret is nicely moulded. The gun barrel is in two pieces, split along its length, which results in a very well moulded muzzle brake, but does mean there's a seam running the length of the barrel. That's had a dose of Mr Dissolved Putty, and a coat of black Stynylrez as a check. Looks OK to me but I'll have another good look at it in daylight.
Thanks for watching!
Pete