Scale Military Modeller International – August 2019

main gun operated,

I think any prospective

customer would be suitably

impressed! So, I left of the side skirts,

exhaust shrouds, all crew tools, smoke

dischargers, track hangers, tow cables

and the hull machine gun. Additions

included a metal barrel from Aber and

the Tamiya etched grille set. I also picked

up an old Tiger Model turret resin

upgrade set at a model show recently

for a giveaway price so that was used

too. The old vinyl tracks were replaced

with a set of nice Master Club metal

tracks. I’m not usually a user of metal

tracks and they did add a couple of days

to the build, but on a tank with wide and

large tracks like the Tiger they certainly

make a notable diference, and all this

lifted an impressive kit even further.

The kit went together very quickly

with no issues, and the Tiger Model

resin roof itted well with just some

minor adjustment and iller needed. It

comes with full interior detail, separate

clear vision blocks and a replacement

commander’s hatch, and was a neat

addition. With this and the gun barrel

in place the model was soon ready for

paint. After a coat of Tamiya Fine Primer,

I went with a Matt Black pre-shade

ready for the top coat proper. For this

I used Tamiya XF-63 German Grey and

then lightened it with some XF-2 Matt

White for some colour variation. This

was lightened further and applied at

the panel centres and high spots. The

model received a pin wash with some

Ammo by MIG Starship Filth and then

a general dry brush with Ammo by

MIG Cold Grey, to really bring out all

the raised detail. I treated some spare

wheels in a similar fashion and also

painted some of the road wheels in

red primer. At a late stage I decided to

add a ield applied camoulage pattern

and mixed a generic dark green to

represent a local Japanese colour which

was applied freehand with my airbrush.

Finally, the decals came

from the spares box and

were the inishing touch to

my unique Tiger.

Figures and Accessories

I chose a nice mix of igures

to populate my diorama using

a variety of suitable oferings

from Tamiya, Bravo 6, MiniArt

and Masterbox. My choices all

complemented each other and

were to be used to tell the story of the

diorama. The chosen igures were put

together pretty much out of the box

and positioned accordingly. Many

accessories are included in the Tamiya

Japanese Oicer Set and from this I

used the chairs and the ield phones.

The kit supplied table was replaced

with a more realistic laser cut wooden

item from LSG. Likewise, from the

Maintenance Crew I made use of the

small ladder and various tools. I also

sourced some extra Tamiya brass shells

which helped to ill out the area. The

spares box provided some jerry cans,

fuel drums and spare Tiger wheels.

Everything here was painted and

detailed with Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics

and then inished of with Ammo by

MIG washes and efects.

78 SCALE MILITARY MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

tiger

S c ale 1:35 /

I added a Tiger Models Resin

Turret Roof Upgrade Set

For the base colour

I used Tamiya XF-

63 German Grey

I added some

Japanese

markings

I added a mixture of

jungle plants to really

set the scene