Tamiya Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger 1 (Sd.kfz.181) Ausfuehrung E

FINISHED!
(this being my first Tiger/Panzer Grey… there are probably some parts in the wrong places?, so please let me know?:)))…but I had fun if a bit off on the accuracy?:slight_smile: An old kit, still had battery markings…

Hope you enjoy!

My First Tiger and Panzer Grey Scheme

Vintage Tamiya kit
Turned Aluminum Barrel
Individual metal track links
PE fenders, cupola storage, screens, machine gun barrel, smoke mortars, exhaust shrouds and jack.
Fabricated tow cables and hinges
Resin tools upgrade




8 Likes

Well done and congratulations on finishing your project! It looks very well used, as if it has seen many battles and even more miles. Painting all the rust and streaks must have been very fun.

Sadly, I never actually built a proper Tiger tank in 1/35 scale. The closest I ever came was building a Porsche Tiger. I’ve had the Airfix Early Tiger with interior in my basket for about 6 weeks now but I do not know how to fix any obvious external issues.

Thanks very much for your supportive comments! It was fun even if I went maybe a bit too far? I’ve been studying the Mig / Spanish school on weathering and they push the edge to say the least imho…but I’m reminded in this why Haute Couture is important in the fashion world… it occupies a position of far less practical and sensible rules and prioritizes the creative and
cyclic fresh… what’s key here is that the threads (pun intended)
of their ‘high style’ bleed downhill into the pret-a-porter and then
to the body of more available wear. Without this shock to the system, fashion style would stagnate. So pushing the edge is a healthy and critical element of style. imho Don’t know you but I believe that the ‘obvious external issues’ are solvable and I support you in that. At one point in this build, (struggling with my first Panzer Grey, which was more difficult than I thought?) my Tiger looked (was) Aquamarine Blue??? So I had to reverse the process to arrive at the paint point where I made the wrong choice. I don’t like to add anymore paint than is necessary so it was a plastic panic of sorts… but we all can find the way and I believe you can on your Airfix Tiger! Cheers.

As I often try to tell people, it is impossible to learn a skill without practicing the skill. To learn a painting technique, it is necessary to practice the painting technique. Reading about it or watching a video tutorial is not enough.

Anyone with any experience at model painting can look at your Tiger and know you were all in on using complex painting techniques to make something with a lot of character and complexity. I think that’s fantastic. You now have a very individualized Tiger and gained a great deal of knowledge for the next project.

The Airfix Tigers are repops of old Academy kits from about 1996. Since then, the study of Tiger tanks has greatly progressed and we now know a lot more about them. In fact, we know so much about them that some people can easily identify characteristics of individual vehicles.

I would like to build an externally correct Tiger. That means matching the model to a specific vehicle and making all necessary corrections. Unfortunately, I do not possess intricate knowledge of Tigers. If I make the attempt, it is very likely I will miss something, perhaps something major. That fear dogs me, causing me to pursue other projects instead. It is a somewhat irrational fear since, even if I built a perfect Tiger, I would screw up painting it, and I can always build more Tigers, but there it is.

Anyway, I hope your Tiger brings you joy for many years to come. Maybe some young people will see it, ask questions, and learn a thing of three.

Great chat, really enjoyed it. Yes, that ‘chasing perfect’ demon is elusive: I might not know how to cook it if I ever caught it?
Back to my 1/72 Revell Avro Shack, Antarctic Tractor, and 1/25 Testors Ford GT MKIV client build… all welcome tools in the Covid depression war…:slight_smile: Hope to chat again.

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Well, you asked, so…

  1. Tigers with spare track holders on the turret had 5 on the left side and 2 on the right. Exceptions only if they got knocked off in combat. Or a few of the very first ones had 3 on the right.

  2. The spare track links on the turret were not connected, there was significant gaps between them.

  3. The turret bin on that model is the “standard” one used on most Tigers. It didn’t have side supports. Only the prototype “wide” bins had them.

4.The model has a grab handle on the glacis plate, below the shovel. Tiger “131” has that too, but it was a field mod, found on only one or two Tigers.

David

David

David,

Thanks for providing the Tiger education I asked for.
I welcome the opportunity to learn. Next tank I’ll do a bit more research and ask for specific kit feedback prior to build.
Cheers