Hero of the Soviet Union Tiger 212 1943

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:26 am

Yet again brilliant work mate

alextheblue · Post by **alextheblue** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:53 am

Like that a lot and especially all of the battle damage - looks amazing!

I'm looking at my kitty now and thinking, "this looks a lot like the new kid on his first day at school at the start of the year with his uniform all squeaky clean and new!"

Rodney · Post by **Rodney** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 7:59 pm

Looking really good mike.. I got along way to go before I can build tigers like you

guess I better look for something to use to put zimmerit on my tank

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:09 pm

In my Shadow Build video series I talk about tools for zimmerit Rodney, both home made and over the counter it that interests you.
Here is a link to the playlist for the series.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... bbQ2ZEPFzc

The last two days I did battle with an Italeri Bergepanther.
The kit itself is very simplistic and there aren't many issues to deal with such as fits or warped parts. Just a lot of flash and clean up of mould seams. Nothing serious or out of the ordinary.
The problems with the kit is the incredible crappy way that Italeri arranges the parts and then numbers them on the sprues. It's all over the map. Parts numbering 1,4, and 8 are right next to parts 114, 11, and 35. Trying to find things on the sprues is like looking for an honest tax lawyer.

The kit is apparently the most accurate one for a bergepanther on the market at the moment, which is unfortunate as it is in need of updating. The detail is soft, the tool locations are marked out on the hull with outlines that all have to be sanded off before you can build. Since there are no locating holes, finding the accurate location for many of the external features becomes troublesome.
I ended up replacing most of the external features with dragon or AFV Club equivalents. The detail was terrible on the the Italeri offerings.
The PE sheet that comes in the kit is suspiciously reminiscent of Eduard and was really nice. Which is also annoying... as I hate Eduard PE. haha.

Onward!!

So first, here are some of the figures that I'm thinking of using for the scene. They still need a lot of clean up, they're a set of TriStar figures that come in that terrible Zvezda Tiger I that I canablised for the turret interior. They're not that great. The hands are way overscale and the fits are a bit crap. The detail is ok though. They're usable, but they need some TLC.
Most likely I won't use the fellas in the hatches though. I want the interior visible. I may save them for another build.

I started with the lower hull assembly and the wheels. Very easy to build, though they have no ability to be poseble. That sucks immensely. It would be very difficult to add this to a dio without workable suspension. I have to think about how I will do that yet. I never glued any of these pieces in place as a result. There may be some hack and slash involved.

I used an old Modelkasten track set that I had for ages to replace the terrible tracks that came in the kit. They went together so well that they were almost workable.
As per most indie link track sets it takes about 45 mins to assemble both runs and install them on the tank to dry.
It tool me longer as I was watching Space 1999

Next was the very basic driver/radio operator compartment. I didn't glue this into the hull as I will probably come back to it and try to detail it up a bit.

The same for the winch area

The interior of the lower hull is pretty basic as well. If this is considered the best kit of the bergepanther out there then I'd hate to see the others. Blah.

This is the suspiciously Eduard-like PE

The wooden superstructure looks pretty cool though. The detail is nice and it looks pretty much like the reference photos.
There were a few really irritating to remove ejector pin marks on the inside to remove.

The top of the hull was really basic as well, and there were a few small errors that I'll have to deal with. The PE went on fine and looked good when sorted. I had to add periscopes for all of the vision positions as the kit included none.

Next I put all the pieces together to see about the fit. So far so good.

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:33 pm

That Bergepanther is looking pretty damn good considering what you had to work with

It sucks that the suspension isn't workable,but as the old colloquialism goes "It aint' no step for a stepper"

Nige99 · Post by **Nige99** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 8:16 pm

Cracking build Mike, I love the battle damage you've done on this. You are the master at work and you provide us all with so much knowledge you pass on to us all.

eightfooticeman · Post by **eightfooticeman** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:59 pm

This is just outstanding work Mike!

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:52 pm

Today and yesterday have been very busy days.
I finished building the Bergepanther, started and finished building the Schimmwagen, and primed, base coated, and camo painted the Tiger.
At the very beginning of this build I decided that I wanted to depict this scene as taking place in late September early October. Then changed my mind to some time in February. The reason that I did this is so that I would be sure that Feldwebel Hermann would have received his Mid-production Tiger by then.
However, I've done so many winter scenes these last months I decided to build this as a last summer early fall dio. It's still possible that Hermann had recieved his Mid by then, it's just a lot less likely.

SO.
The Bergepather build is complete and is waiting for paint now.

After the berge I moved on the the schimmwagen. It built up in three hours. Mostly done on a hangout.
It's an awesome little kit. It was too simple for my tastes, I prefer something with a bit more of a challenge, but as construction goes it's a fall together kit.

Then I moved over to the paint bench and primed the tiger in stynlrez grey primer.
It went on like a dream. It'a without a doubt the very best primer that I have ever used.

Then I took a couple of really blurry pictures of the tiger afer preshading.

Then I base coated and camo coated the kitty.

And that's as far as I got today

hook1169 · Post by **hook1169** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 12:04 am

Is that just kitchen tin foil you're using for the blanket or flag on the Berg?

Looking quit good. You sure turn em' out quick. I am sure I will net be done till end of March and even that is pushing it. Plus I am only building 1 single kit. SHEESH

ForbesHutton · Post by **ForbesHutton** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:32 am

Italeri has a habit of using either badly molded rubber tracks or link and length, which I hated.

As for the figure's hands, gloves?

And for the Schwimmwagen, next time you open a box and find there aren't enough parts to be a challenge, put the box of parts on the ground and stomp on it a couple of times. Now you have a challenging kit.

chief5437 · Post by **chief5437** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:31 am

holy s%#t Coen! You're kicking ass, and taking names on this build!

fantastic work, and excellent info as well. Great idea for the set up, can't wait to see it come together.

rwsmith14 · Post by **rwsmith14** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:56 am

NICE !! Camo looks great on the Tiger !!

Rodney · Post by **Rodney** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:49 pm

somebody been busy.. its all looking pretty good... yip I was looking in for vids to see how you done the zimmerit but first I got to find somewhere to get milliput..

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:55 pm

You really whipped that Bergepanther into shape nicely

The camo on the Tiger is awesome also.Did you use the Mig Ammo paint on it?If so I need to get some as that dark yellow looks great.Also how tough is that Stynlrez primer?I watched the vid where you were using the black and was just wondering.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:52 pm

Hillbilly wrote:You really whipped that Bergepanther into shape nicely The camo on the Tiger is awesome also.Did you use the Mig Ammo paint on it?If so I need to get some as that dark yellow looks great.Also how tough is that Stynlrez primer?I watched the vid where you were using the black and was just wondering.

It's AMMO yes. Two colours of the yellow and one of the green. That badger primer is the best primer that I've ever used. The black and the grey are superb.

JayCub · Post by **JayCub** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:21 pm

Really enjoying the build Mike, I can watch Tiger builds all day and along with a few episodes of space 1999, I have quite a few eagles now
Tom

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:57 pm

Coen wrote:
It's AMMO yes. Two colours of the yellow and one of the green. That badger primer is the best primer that I've ever used. The black and the grey are superb.

I think I will give them a go then when I run out of my Alclad primer (too bad I just ordered two more bottles

)

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:56 pm

Let the detail painting begin.

I started by painting the exhaust stacks as well as the inside of the exhaust shrouds. Mig's dark rust, then stipples the successive lighter rust colours overtop of it. Later they'll get a little bit of rust pigments to add texture and depth and then a bit of soot.

Then I added some of the worn steel colours to the metal contact surfaces of the running gear using an HB pencil. This was a bugger to photograph.

Then the tools and accessories were basecoated along with the metal portions of the battle damage.

Then I added the decals as some of them overlapped some of the battle damage, so they needed to be blended in after they're set and sealed.

And that's where she is today.

Kevinzane · Post by **Kevinzane** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 8:39 pm

Sweet man!
Really nice rusteffects!

Joesdad · Post by **Joesdad** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 10:38 pm

Great stuff Mike, a couple of questions...
Why do you fix rope, tools and stuff on the hull and then paint? My aircraft brain says you should paint tools etc then fix to hull....you know after the camo...

Why are your sprockets fixed on?

Basic questions I'm sure, and more to follow...

Ta.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:56 pm

Joesdad wrote:Great stuff Mike, a couple of questions...
Why do you fix rope, tools and stuff on the hull and then paint? My aircraft brain says you should paint tools etc then fix to hull....you know after the camo...
Why are your sprockets fixed on?
Basic questions I'm sure, and more to follow...
Ta.

I used to do the same, but following mikes advice it is easier to paint them when there on the tank

Looking great too mike

mannloon · Post by **mannloon** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 12:12 am

So that's a very convincing tow cable, can I ask how you painted it? Is that just a great color or a series of things you did?

Tarasdad · Post by **Tarasdad** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:42 am

That's it, I quit. From now on it's nothing but Snap-Tite kits for me.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 2:37 am

mannloon wrote:So that's a very convincing tow cable, can I ask how you painted it? Is that just a great color or a series of things you did?

It was a series of colours for the two rope, ammo gloss black then ammo dark rust over that, finally a thinned ammo dark track colour. Later I'll very gently dry brush them with Vallejo gungrey or ammo gunmetal.

Joesdad wrote:Great stuff Mike, a couple of questions...
Why do you fix rope, tools and stuff on the hull and then paint? My aircraft brain says you should paint tools etc then fix to hull....you know after the camo...
Why are your sprockets fixed on?
Basic questions I'm sure, and more to follow...
Ta.

The first tank that I built I knew nothing about how things were done in regards to procedures, tricks, methods, so I just painted it all after glueing all the bits on (including tracks

). Then I picked out all the details after with a brush.
After reading what mush have been sixty or so how-to books written by the grand poobahs of dioramas and armour I discovered that there are dozens of ways to build and paint armour and aircraft, but almost all of them were doing it the same way that I was already doing... With all the bits on.
Out of curiosity I tried three builds with all the bits and pieces on a dozen sticks and it took three times as long to paint and looked exatly the same as my other builds. So it was a really easy decision. All that I leave separate now are the tracks and wheels.
And why are my sprockets fixed on?
They aren't exactly fixed. I made them workable so that I can easily add the tracks for weathering. I do that on every build because it makes my life easier.
One thing that I never do if I can avoid it, is go anywhere near my model with glue once paint is on it.

mannloon · Post by **mannloon** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 3:42 am

Thanks Mike. I'm gonna try that as close as I can with Tamiya and Model Color paints.

Joesdad · Post by **Joesdad** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 6:28 am

Thank you gentlemen

good enough for me

Stand by......

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:31 am

This is really beautiful work Mike I think I'll have to have a look at that badger primer.

JediBoer · Post by **JediBoer** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:50 am

The Master at work! Great seeing the progress and learning!

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:10 pm

The Tiger is now all base painted, decaled, and chipped. Now I moved on to the bergepanther and the schwimmwagen.

I used multilayer chipping for the tiger. Lifecolour (a light tan, I can't read the label it wore of ages ago) on the zimmerit and a hemp for the unzimmerted areas. Then the centers were darkened with a dark NATO black from Vallejo.

I primed both the schimmwagen and the bergepanther in stylrez primer (that new badger primer) then I painted the bergepanther in Vallejo Air Dark Yellow (I ran out of the AMMO, it's the same colour but the mig spray's better). Then I hit all the top surfaces with AMMO light dunklegelb for panel fading.

For the wheels I sprayed them in the Vallejo Air Dark Yellow, but for about half the wheels I thinned the paint more so that they had a darker tone over the black primer.

Then I took a really nice blurry photo of the superstructure...

I've also started to paint the winch. I haven't decided how I won't to finish it yet as it will be really dirty when I'm done with it.

Next I'll base paint the schwimmwagen and begin detail painting both of them. I still haven't decided what colour to paint the schwimmwagen as yet.

Here's a video about the end of the build for the berge and the schwimm as well as a blather about the painting.

[youtube]smm-1KhY3Y8[/youtube]

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 1:51 pm

Outstanding paint work

Really love the chipping effects and the battle damage

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 6:34 am

Stunning work mate

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:18 am

Thanks Nige

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:37 am

More detail painting iw the order of the day the last day or so.
The berge is all detailed now and all that's left is the decals, chipping, then weathering.

I started with the layers of colour for the unditching log.
There's probably 5 colours on this thing, I still need to add a wash to it and then a light drybrushing, but the base colour is done.

Then I did the metal wear effects on the road wheels. Using and HB pencil to add bare metal to the edge of the rim for the contact surfaces.

Then I moved on to all of the tools and accessories on the hull and superstructure.

Today I'll add some decals, then chip it all to hell and gone. She's a utility vehicle that recovers tanks under fire so I want her to actually look the part.
After that I'll start painting the schwimmwagen.

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 1:19 pm

Outstanding detail work

m0rce · Post by **m0rce** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 1:34 pm

Superb work
Looks great
Regards
Sergio

Kevinzane · Post by **Kevinzane** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:22 pm

It looks amazing man! :-D

jbellos1 · Post by **jbellos1** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 5:05 pm

My oh my! You have made some great looking vehicles. Awwwwsum!

CrazyMajor · Post by **CrazyMajor** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 7:21 pm

Some very nice work there sir.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:11 am

Thanks fellas, it's really appreciated.

So I started the painting on the Schwimmwagen. I love this little kit. I so want to get more of these little gems. The kubel and some willy's jeeps are definitely on the list.

She started off primed and in pieces...

Then she was in base colours...

Window installed and masked...

Then I started the chipping on the Bergepanther.

And that's about it for today.

chief5437 · Post by **chief5437** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:15 am

Jeez Coen! You're not hanging around with this one! Loving the detailing on the Bergepanther! Don't know about fast and furious, more like fast and awesome!!

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:18 am

Man that Bergepanther sure has been around the block hasn't she......love it though

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:39 am

Awesome work mike, that panther is looking great, loving that winch dude

Yevgeny · Post by **Yevgeny** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:52 am

So much of modelling goodness

Fantastic work as usual, you are talented man Coen.

PaulAyrey · Post by **PaulAyrey** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:50 am

Brilliant work as ever Mike, really enjoying this!

Nige99 · Post by **Nige99** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:42 am

Mike that Panther kit may have its pit falls you've done it justice mate, it looks the muts nuts dude. I can't stop zooming in to see the level of detail you've put on it.

Kevinzane · Post by **Kevinzane** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:07 pm

A masterpiece!

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:12 am

Today I spent all day building figures and then constructing the base for the diorama.
No easy task. The figures weren't too bad, the two sets of Masterbox figures were good kits. Nice detail and the fits were ok.
The ICM kit was a bit of a stinker, reminiscent of some mini-art kits from a few years ago. It did have some cool poses though which is why I chose it.

These with the other figures that I've chosen for the build will hopefully tell an interesting story.

The dio is the same materials that I first mentioned in my video a while ago, only now I added a left over crate for storing oranges as part of the materials list. That I will cut to pieces to use a framing and surfacing.
The actual construction of the diorama's base isn't really important as every single one is different, only that careful planning and test layouts as well as mock ups are needed before you really commit to construction.

After the base was built and dry, I did a mock up to take a series of photos so I'll know where I want everything to be once the groundwork begins.

The box of bacon candy (thanks Forbes ) is to represent the storage shed that I plan to build; the wooden dowel the fallen tree.

I really like these fellas. I think that they really add the meat to the dio. These and the CO that's checking his watch in an impatient way.

So tomorrow I'll start the basics on the groundwork and then let that dry for a few days while I paint figures and weather the vehicles.

ForbesHutton · Post by **ForbesHutton** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:07 am

An ass? Well if you can't find a goat...
The Bacon candy's not even opened...

I think we may be in a race for the most figures, time to start counting...

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:18 am

I know that's your schwimmwagen in there... Isn't that your ass too?
Was it you that sent me a pair of fallschimjager with a pair of donkeys?

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:19 am

There were two tins of bacon candy.....

I'm saving this one for a special occasion.