1/72 Hasegawa Pz. Kpfw VI Tiger I ausf.E

[flyjoe180]

Aaron's awesome Tiger build recently motivated me to give this armour lark a go. I bought this kit it on a whim ages ago. I have no particular interest in tanks or armour, this will be my first tank, and apart from a Bedford fuel truck last year, my second model of a subject that doesn't fly. So here we go, the only way to learn to swim is to jump in.


The kit box. It's a very old mould old I found out later, but I like the look of it. Tracks are going to be interesting. They appear to be made from a rubbery compound which requires melting of the ends to connect them up.


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Contents:


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[flyjoe180]

Straight in, if I wait I'll lose motivation. So off with the gun. It required filling, cleaning up and drilling. The muzzle (flash suppressors?) on either side was asymmetric, so corrected that (at least I hope it was supposed to be corrected).


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The main turret went together in minutes, no hassles here. It will require just a little bit of tidying up around the edges.


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Same with the main hull:


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Couldn't resist a look with the turret on:


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[flyjoe180]

This is all so refreshing from aeroplanes. Turret tidied up around the edges and hatches fitted. The crew that came with the kit were naff and I really can't be bothered painting them for this one. I also can't be arsed with the authenticity of internal colours for the hatches. Seems there is as much debate about that as there is for German aircraft. They can be turned into a crew for something else later:


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Accessories fitted to the hull:


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The machine gun was a solid rod sticking out so I drilled it out:


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Everything is primed:


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I'm enjoying this so much I can't stop! My only concern is those tracks though.

[flyjoe180]

Tracks primed:


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Tracks painted gun metal:


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Once dry I'll apply a rust wash,dirty them up and then dry brush with some gun metal over the tops of the tracks.


I applied a dark grey to the tops and a very dark grey to the undersides and under the side skirts. I'm hoping this will change the tone of the main colour to represent some shadowing, but not holding my breath on that as I haven't had a lot of success with aeroplanes and preshading:


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I found out the wheels are a slightly different colour. I'm using this as my guide for a scheme as the kit ones are either too plain or too complicated for my first tank:


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You can see in that picture that the wheels are lighter shade than the Panzer Yellow base colour. I tried Humbrol 84 (Ochre) but this was too green-looking. And it looks like baby puke. So I played with mixes and cam up with 2 parts Humbrol 84 (Ochre) and 1 part Sand Yellow (Humbrol 93). Close enough for this guy.


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I'm enjoying this a lot. Any advice/comments are welcome.

[monica]

a wee one Joe,very nice start,will look forward to seeing what you do,

[monica]

nice progress,

[flyjoe180]

Thank Monica. Don;t expect miracles but I am enjoying it and that's what is most important to me. Felt I was going a bit stale with the usual victims.

[aaron]

Fricken awesome mate, looks like things are ticking away nicely. How many decal options are there?

[monica]

that wheel color is a good match,


me being lazy and would of used sand and added dust to get away with it,lol,

[flyjoe180]

Cheers mate. I didn't take a photo of the decals but here is a link to the schemes. No info given on units etc, http://www.model-making.eu/products/Tiger-I-172697.html


The decals are okay, crosses are slightly out of register so will have to do something about that. The sheet has a row of numbers so I can make up whatever I like. The yellow and brown scheme looks cool.

[flyjoe180]

Thanks Monica. The colour looks more yellow/brown in the picture than it is in real life. It will definitely look different to the sand yellow colour I'll use as a base.

[Guest]

Looking good Joe, out the starting blocks & off you go, coming along nicely.


John

[aaron]

Sweet, I agree the dark yellow and brown scheme will look good. Your pics reminded me that I own Humbol paints lol.

[Guest]

Looking good there Joe! For an old kit, the hasegawa builds up well.


As for the tracks, don't go mad with therusty look - German track had a black anti-rust coating.

[bazers]

Looking good joe keep at it.