1 16 Tiger 1

[ratskiss]

If you are going to drop a grand it has to be the 1/16 Tamiya Tiger 1. I can't afford to build another model for ten years so here it goes.

I bought the full Aber photo etch kit. I had never done photo etch before but I did know how to solder. I forgot that at 50+ how blind I was. After looking around and comparing cost The "Aber" set covered pretty much every thing. This kit can nickel and dime you to poverty.

I started last October and am just approaching the finish of the "Aber" details to the hull. I found the driver hatch details the most difficult so far. I am only doing the radio operators hatch as I moved the power switch from the turret, (Kit instructions) to the drivers hatch to reduce the wires to the turret since it will have to be removed on occasion.

I have read about the problems of detailing an RC tank but it will not be used much, maybe on Remembrance day. I'll get a cheap tank to battle the kid with.

I am just researching the colours. It will have the Yellow base and be somewhere from January - December 43.

I'm not a purest by any means and hope only to have a nice representation of the real thing. I am not counting rivets, nor hoping for a copy of any particular machine. I do hope to get real close though. The joy is with the build and the research. ...and the pictures of the cute girls you sometimes get when you type in the word "Tiger" in Google images.

Tank commander is not finished and is from the kit. I chose him in the "defensive" position as opposed to the sniper bait position.


Excuse the photo quality, I don't have macro lens.

[Fredrocker]

Sweet, I am looking forward to following along on this thread...

[Bootie]

Yeah it is certainly a mammoth undertaking!!

[GrandSherman]

Some amazing detail here... Great work. I wish I could get started modeling...

[zaraza]

Well, that looks interesting :)

[ratskiss]

Finished the tool clamps today and attached them to the deck. Abers shovel is a weak part of an overall great detail kit. So it has been modified. I have a few wires for the anti-personal devices and bits to do on the hull before I move on to the turret. Those Aber etch sheets sure look good empty.

[willard]

Gulp, a grand? I'd be so afraid of ruining it! It looks great so far. I've seen a completed one - very impressive.

[ratskiss]

The Hull is mostly done. I am not happy with the job I did on the radio operators hatch. So may just shut the door on it. The track hangers I installed last night. The commanders copula interior is done. I have the storage hatch to do as well as the vent cover. Then on to the piddley details that will fall off on the first attack.

I'm excited that soon I may start the painting and weathering. I'm still not sure of the tank I'm doing. I may have to search the decal world for some dry transfer decals. I think on a beast this big wet decals would not look so good, or I may hand paint markings.

There is a certain beauty in empty etch holders.

Now for a beer.http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/images/smilies/tongue-new.png

[AirborneBob]

Great work so far....at $1,000 I would have to say I would stretch the build to take 10 years (Dollar cost averaging)!!! Cant wait to see the progress you make....

[ratskiss]

I do tend to do that, stretch out the builds, I have only done 3 kits in the last ten years. HMCS Snowberry which I converted to RC and the 1 1/18 Fokker Tri plane by Hasagawa. I have space for few models so I save up to get good ones and make it last. The Tiger is moving along well as I am on sabbatical. The kit itself was $680.00, the abet set $240.00 and misc. stuff just adds up. Bucket $5.00, paint etc. The beast is large and my first paints ran out quick. I live in the woods so mail order shipping costs and then remortgage the house, sell the wife. It all adds up.
c

[McIvan]

Just asking....how much did you get for the wife?

Nice work of the etch btw.....I confess to being too scared to try it (yet)...keep doing my photo-etchless kits and ignoring the rest.

[AirborneBob]

Send out the kids for manual labor, should be good for a few $ a week!

[ratskiss]

I would send the boy off to work but he's 11 months old.

I must admit when the Aber kit arrived in the mail I had a look and was wondering if I had made a mistake. I did not touch for a week thinking I might resell the kit. I did build my own house though so I jumped in. What is needed is four power glasses, a good set of tweezers, and know when to put the project aside before you loose it. I did not use the fancy expensive bending tools. I had enough sets of pliers for that. A mini vise was helpful. I found with experience, and the full Aber Tiger kit will give you that, that I knew when to solder and when to glue. The combination of both worked wonderfully. The real reason people do armour kits is not for the history and interest, it's because if we make a mistake we can throw mud on it. One of the first things I did was the front fenders. Now one is battle damaged. Photo etch made simple.

I couldn't sell the wife the cars in her name.

[ratskiss]

Another upgrade to my beast. I bought a camera to mount on a helicopter model I could never fly. I placed it in the drivers seat looking through his viewport. The camera can connect to my computer. I have no way to control it from there,yet, but I can record the video and drive it looking at the computer screen.

[AirborneBob]

now if you can link your PC to the RC controls, you can remote your tank just like a UAV

7818

[GrandSherman]

now if you can link your PC to the RC controls, you can remote your tank just like a UAV

LOL!!

Btw that model is huge! I had know Idea... What a project!

[willard]

Was that a Sleemans Cream Ale? My personal favourite!

[ratskiss]

Close, Sleeman Honey brown. Mine

[2054172]

Seleman Honey Brown is fine but that brewery only uses Saz Hops...I don't care fore so much.

By the ratskiss quite an undertaking...how you can drive it around for us?

[ratskiss]

Beer is not my favourite. When I'm not making tanks I like to make mead. Tastes great and I can act like a Viking.

[willard]

Haha, Honey Brown is in my top 10.


Close, Sleeman Honey brown. Mine

[willard]

That is AMAZING!

[ratskiss]

A few more additions to the turret. I finished the track hangers then moved on to the storage box. There is a key for the lock hanging from the storage unit. I exaggerated it a bit, I did not want it to disappear after painting as I'm sure a few details will. The Aber kit covers a lot of detail which may never be seen such as the interior hinges for the driver/radio hatches. I just started the smoke discharger details. The loaders hatch is next. Before painting I will relook some of the details of the Aber kit I skipped from the frustration at the time. It is a good idea to leave the tank alone for a while or it may suffer from battle damage.

[GrandSherman]

God, This is gonna be spectacular when it is finished... Can't wait!

[AirborneBob]

That is really amazing....great job!

[Fredrocker]

Fantastic... such a great job...

[ratskiss]

Before I started detailing I did a quick assembly to test the RC electronics. I ran the tank around the house for a turn. I made this little movie of the patrol. At this point the Tiger weighs 14 lbs. The baby weighs about 20lbs. it's a small film but I did not want to use up the sites bandwidth.

Enjoy.

[ratskiss]

My movie did not upload I will try again.

[Fredrocker]

Ratkiss... that is awesome... you should use youtube... then you can make high def movies... and they just link in fine here the way Bootie has it setup...

I like the little ones smile when the Cat shoots... lol.... great stuff

[ratskiss]

Thanks that may save a lot of work.

[AirborneBob]

Great video...love the music!! The tank looks "Marv-o-lus"!!! and you got a cute baby too!!

[Bootie]

Great clip.

[Dutch Grenadier]

Awesome! But was that a Christmass tree I spotted there?

[ratskiss]

Yes, a Christmas tree, I know it's out of scale but so is the baby. I "shot" the video between Christmas and new years this year. Ryan will be one this Feb. I wanted to make sure everything worked before detailing.

I am setting up the paint station in my workshop. It's only 5 C in the shop so I will return the beast to the house to dry.

[ratskiss]

Any one want to guess where the music is from?

[Bootie]

Great Escape. :)

|My favourite theme tune.

[2054172]

You shot at your kid! Now you have gone to far LOL

[ratskiss]

Some people thought that! Great Escape correct, too easy. I will have to find something else for the finished film.

[ratskiss]

Another shot of the smoke dischargers after detailing. The Aber instructions under, they are very good by the way.

I Used Vallejo German red primer for the first coat, just like the factory. I was going to put chalk writing on the hull for the photos like the factory markings. Since It will be panzer yellow I lazied out. I then pre shadowed areas with Tamiya flat black (smells so nice).

The spots on the turret are from the rain as I was bringing it from the shop to the house. They did disappear.

[GrandSherman]

Well done so far! Sure wish I had an airbrush... looks like a HUGE time saver...

[ratskiss]

Finished the primary coats of paint. Base coat of model masters "Dunkelgleb". I used four bottles on this monster. The "octopus" pattern is done with MM's "Dunkelgrun"

It's kind of sad to see all the nice brass parts disappear under the paint.

The tracks are metal. First primed with "Tamiya" metal primer. I then painted them with red primer completely. The next coats were quick sprays of Dunkergleb, Tamiya flat brown, and MM's Rust. I sprayed these colours to look like dust with each coat. Then the highlights of the tracks where they touch the ground was simple sanded to the metal. Then a wash of MM's panzer grey, black, and metal.

The last picture shows the cat's interior. I may need to do a repair in the future so it comes carefully apart. I can change the batteries by only removing the turret, the hull does not need to be removed. The Turret top can also be removed for repairs and or I can change out the commander. I have an attack position commander and ordered a crew from "Verlinden" in the propaganda position

I have some dry markings coming from "Archer" for a Kursk tiger. There are not a lot of decals available in 1/16th. The dry application decals are so much nicer looking on a beast this size.

[Dutch Grenadier]

I would love the see the view from that front camera

[ratskiss]

I will post a video at some point. It is difficult to drive from the computer screen.

[Fredrocker]

I will post a video at some point. It is difficult to drive from the computer screen.

Drink a bottle of schnapps and then you will be good to go.... but on a serious note... This is absolutely a pleasure to watch this come together... thank you so much for sharing ratskiss...

[GrandSherman]

Great work ratskiss!! Looks amazing!!

[ratskiss]

Finally ready for photos. First a teaser view from an Ilyushin Il-2. then a picture of the cat hunting dog. I was inspired during the photo shoot to design a CMBB battle. It's based the topography of my back yard. The Russians have invaded from the ocean and are dug in on the rise at the back of the yard. A German attack to drive the invader back to the sea. Lots of tigers.

[ratskiss]

Got the kid to bed and finished the pictures. The weathering is complete. I went minimal in this. Grime dust and some mud. Very little rust. I think these tanks were well serviced and cared for. My cat is an unidentified SS unit in Russia, late spring, 1943. A few accessories were added. The Aber upgrades were tough but straight forward. I had a difficult time with the radio operators inner hatch and gave up on the turret vent cover. Not used much any way. Camo pattern works nice in my back yard. I did not plan that. A nice kit and enjoyable build. I won't be able to afford another for a long time.

[ratskiss]

Just a few more shots. If any person has some questions I'd be happy to answer them if I can. I did not drive it across the lawn yet as I live in a rainforest and did not want the dog to get electrocuted.

[Bootie]

Impressive work well done and thanks for sharing.

[Dutch Grenadier]

AWESOME work! And I like your backyard... It is so large. I wished we had the space here in Holland

[DasTiger]

Amazing job! The detail is incredible. Makes me want to get back into the model building world.

[ratskiss]

Thanks for the nice compliments. It's nice to share this work with a group who sees what went into this.

[ratskiss]

Nice big lawns are nice unless you have to mow it!

[GrandSherman]

God, that thing looks so cool ratskiss! A project (VERY!!) well done.

[sawyer08]

Wow, that looks fantastic!