Details, Clear Coat, and Decals

After the Olive Drab was completed, I allowed a few days to dry, and worked on painting the detail items. The tow cables were painted with Tamiya XF-56, Metallic Grey. I think this works well, and looks more realistic after weathering, than a Gunmetal. I also painted the bolt cutter, and the heads of the axe and sledge using the same color. For the jack, I painted it with Flat Black, then hit a few highlights with the Metallic Grey. The wooden items-axe and sledge handles, the barrel cleaning rods, and the jack block, were first painted with Citadel Bestial Brown. I think that it gives a good base for a wood. I then took Model Master Acryl Burnt Umber, and using a pin, gave some light streaking to simulate wood grain and knots. This was followed by a dilute wash of Bestial Brown combined with Vallejo 70913, Yellow Ochre, to give it a slight patina. The bolt cutter and tool heads were also given a very dilute wash of Burnt Umber. The coaxial machine gun was first painted with a 50/50 mix of Flat Black and Gunmetal, then drybrushed with Metallic Grey. The last part of the detail painting was to paint the smoke grenades with Vallejo 70866 Grey Green. I allowed this to dry for a day.

To clear coat, I used Future floor polish, sprayed using my trusty Aztek airbrush, at a low psi setting. There is no need to dilute, and I first flipped upside-down, and applied a number of light coats until I had built up a gloss, then once it was dry to the touch, turned it over and did the top in the same manner. Now here is where the Tiger almost met it's demise. It has been incredibly hot and humid, which doesn't work with Future, since it will trap moisture and instead of being clear, it will dry in a milky haze. My thinking was that if I took it easy and sprayed light coats, that I could avoid this. (And I did leave it out in the same environment prior to spraying so that it would not tend to condensate) WRONG!!!! As I was finishing up on the top parts, I noticed it starting to haze. Thinking quickly, I ran like a maniac with the tank on a board, to the basement, where I set it in front of the dehumidifier that runs to help dry the air. Added is that the house has central A/C, in the basement as well, so I instantly got it to 40% humidity and 74 degrees. As luck would have it, the hazing stopped immediately, and where it had started to haze, it disappeared, leaving a beautiful clear coat. PHEW!

Two days later, I moved on to decals. I did have a sheet from the Tamiya 1/25 Tiger set, but this was fairly yellowed from aging. I did put it in a sunny window for a few weeks, which will get rid of the yellowing, but unfortunately, it didn't completely clean them up. The unit insignia of a prowling cat was usable, but the numbers have a white edge, as do the crosses, and these were just a little too yellow. Digging in the spares box, I found a sheet from an old Italeri Tiger, and to my surprise, I had the exact numbers, and these were the same size as the numbers on the Tamiya 1/25 scale set. I trimmed these down as much as possible to eliminate carrier film silvering, and put them in place. Once dry, they were spot coated with clear gloss to protect them from the next round, which is weathering and washing.

Painting the Turret

Once Turret construction was completed, it was sprayed using black automotive primer from a can. I flipped it, upside-down, and hit the bottom of the barrel, turret ring, etc. I allowed a full 24 hours drying time before spraying the cover coat.

I used the same paint for the Turret as for the Hull, Model Master Acryl 4728 Olive Drab, with about 20% distilled water added for thinning. Again, I started on the underside, and then hit the top. Once this was dry, I then placed the Turret into the Hull, and prepared to do a lightening mist.

First, I taped-off the entire lower Hull, making sure that nothing could hit the painted roadwheels and tires. 3M painters tape, and paper towels, worked great for this. I then mixed the olive drab with about 10% flat white. I really didn't want to overdo the fading. (We've all seen these great kits that are overdone in the fading area, where they look like they are two-toned)

Spraying from a steep angle, I then misted this over the top surfaces only. The idea is for a subtle effect, so I went very light, and not allowing the paint to wet out. Once this was done, the masking/towels were removed, and the Tiger set aside for a few days to dry before beginning to detail paint.

The Turret

The Turret presented itself with a number of corrections and modifications. I started at the rear with the right side pistol port. This version of the Tiger had identical pistol ports on each side, not the port/hatch combination in the Tamiya kit. The Tamiya kit is correct for later Tigers. I started by removing the hatch, Part D25 and its' hinge, Part F11. I glued a thin piece of styrene on the inside of the remaining hole, from the inside of the Turret, then filled in with Squadron white putty. Once dry, I sanded it to the correct contour of the outside of the Turret. It took a few applications, going lighter with each application, until I was happy. From the donor kit, I removed the pistol port from the left side, Part D24, and sanded the inside of it to the correct contour to where it would match the fit of the left-side port on the "good" Turret. Once I was satisfied, I glued it into place.

The storage bin needs some work, too. The mount clips at the top of the bin, Part C28, need removed and filled/sanded. Same is true for the locating slots in the Turret roof. Again, this bin configuration is correct for later versions, but not the Tunisian. Instead, it used two braces riveted to each side of the bin, and welded to the Turret. When I filled and sanded the brace area on the existing lid, I also removed the existing small rivet detail on the lid, as the early bins did not have this feature. After gluing the bin in place, I fabricated the straps on each side using 0.020 x 0.060" styrene. I added three Grandt Line bolt heads on each brace, on the bin-side, as on the real thing. I cannot emphasize enough how fantastic these Grandt Line detail pieces are!
I also cut two very small pieces of 0.010" thick styrene, and glued and bent these to represent the latches on each bin lid. A very small piece of rod was glued to these to represent the latch pin.

The ventilator, Part D18, was left alone. In some photos an armored cover is present, but since the 1/25 scale kit does not come with one, I left it as-is. I did check other 1/25 scale kits, such as the Academy Panther, but nothing was appropriate.

The cupola is accurate, and only a few small details were added. I drilled the rain drainage holes using a very small bit in my pin vise where these were present. Two very small sections of rod were attached where these belong for the sunshade. From the commander's position viewing forward, these would be at the 11 o'clock and 5 o'clock positions. A great photo of this can be found on Page 54 of The Modeler's Guide to the Tiger Tank (Stansell).

The smoke grenade launcher held the most work of any Turret item. I assembled them per the instructions, with a few modifications. I installed the bracket, Part C38, to each side, and filled the small gaps on the Turret roof. next, I drilled a small hole just aft for the main conduit run where it enters the roof. The bracket for each launcher (6 in total) were drilled for conduit at the rear of the launcher, Part C29. I bored through into Part C4, which will allow the wire to feed into the rear.

Before terminating any wire, I took three small pieces of copper wire, and a 0.010 piece of lead solder, and sandwiched these between two pieces of thin, narrow styrene strip, cementing the strip together with super glue. Once dry, I cut the strip as small as possible, thus forming a junction box. This was glued to the inside of the main bracket, Part C38, where it would be minimally visible.

Before mounting the launchers to the main bracket, I cut the slot that is evident on the discharge end. It runs across the radius in two spots of the tube. I also cut a thin section of rod and inserted it into three of the launchers to represent loaded grenades. Once done, I glued these to the main bracket. The feed wires were then trimmed, and the small copper wires fed into the hole in each launcher, while the lead solder was trimmed and fed into the hole in the roof.

The main gun was installed per the instructions after cleaning and sanding. I had debated making, or having made, a main gun out of turned aluminum, but really, the Tamiya part is pretty good. I glued the gun in place, so the elevation may not be changed, at a permanent elevation of about 20-degrees. This helps hide the gap at the top of the Mantlet, which is pretty significant on this kit. It makes it look more aggressive, too.

Lastly, the Turret was coated with Tamiya white primer from the bottle, and hit with a stiff brush when it was partially dry, which gives it that stippled appearance that the steel exhibited from casting and crude rolling. On to primer and painting. Assembly is complete at this point.

Painting The Hull and Adding the Roadwheels

Now that all the Hull work is complete, I decided to paint before continuing construction with the Turret. Part of this was because, looking ahead at the Turret, there are some spots of correcting/scratch building, and I am growing tired of construction. Seeing something painted will help.

I started with spraying all surfaces with black automotive primer. I let this dry 24 hours, then checked for any areas that needed sanding. A few light touch-ups, and then I coated all the bottom surfaces with Vallejo 70995 German Grey. The easiest way is to turn the Hull upside-down, and get a good coat everywhere. Turn the Hull over, and concentrate on the lower parts, such as around the torsion bars, return rollers, and sprockets. At the same time, I also sprayed the roadwheels. That being said, the roadwheels that I am using are salvaged, and already fully assembled, so it takes a little more effort to spray these.

After allowing the German Grey to dry for a day, I followed with my main color, Model Master Acryl 4728 Olive Drab. The Tigers sent to Tunisia were originally German Grey, and sources indicate that these were over sprayed with captured American olive drab. I decided to go with this, and if these were sprayed in forward areas near combat, then it seems logical to me that there would be areas that couldn't be painted with the olive drab. This would include the bottom plate of the Hull, inside surfaces of the roadwheels, under the fenders and sponsons, etc.

To try to duplicate this, I kept the Tiger right-side up, and sprayed with the olive drab with this thought in mind. In other words, imagine yourself trying to paint a real one, and what you could reach. For the roadwheels, I simply set them down and sprayed them in olive drab with the outside face-up. I wanted to spray the roadwheels off of the tank, which will allow easier painting of the tires.

Painting the tires is simple, but time consuming. If these were not already assembled, I would have sprayed them through a circle template. Since they were in one piece, I used Vallejo 70862 Black Grey at a ratio of 10 parts paint to 7 parts water. Thinned like this, it will flow easily up to the wheel rim where the tire meets the rim. This lets capillary action pull the paint from the brush and flow around the rim.

Once all tires were finished, I mounted them per the instructions. Pay attention to Step 5 of the instructions, as it is easy to get confused during weaving of the roadwheels together. I did put a few nicks in spots during this assembly, which I touched-up when I was finished. This wasn't unexpected, and I also needed to paint the Polycaps (Part M7) that hold the wheels in place. Make sure, too, that these Polycaps are pushed into place and seated as deeply as they can go.

So far, so good. One other comment, and that is that any fading/shading of the olive drab will be done once the Turret is complete and on the tank. On to the Turret....