hi guys!

i finally managed to upload some pics of my second build, a henschel turret king tiger of heavy SS tank battalion 501 which participated in the 'wacht am rhein' operation or the ardennes offensive.



here it is with some of the fallschirmjaegers from the same dragon kit.







please feel free to point out flaws or mistakes or offer suggestions for improvement.

woah! i didn't realize these images were going to be so big!

i was kind of hoping the paint problems i had with the figures wouldn't be so obvious. well, no chance of that now...

Glad to see you posting in your kits. Good build overall sa tanks. Malinis at la akong nakikitang excess parts. Love the camo on the tank especially the spots (which I never put in my KT cause I'm too afraid that I might screw it up :-) ) The tracks seemed ok - it does stick well to the idler wheel however, the track seemed to fall apart (see 3rd pic left front track).

A couple of notes though:
- the mud looks unconvincing. Maybe you can enhance this by adding powders around the mud.
- the spare tracks links on the turret - the unteethed ones should be in reverse, the same position as the teethed tracks. Well, it COULD be like that if the crew manage to put in the wrong way, but that's a small probability.
- the figs are ok, but not well done. A few more practices should make them better.

I would be concerned with the tank commanders neck. Although the photos don't clearly show him, there is definately something going on with his neck-to-shoulders connection.
Maybe hollow out the collar area so the neck and head fit a bit better.
All in all, much better than my second attempt.
Cheers,
Charles

thank you guys for the comments.

ralph,

you're right, i don't like the mud effect either. it was my first time to use pastels (weathering pastels from gunze sangyo) and i made the mistake of not trying it out on a scrap piece first. i was surprised with the effect but i was too scared to clean it up. about thespare links, i really didn't know they were supposed to be in any specific position. thanks for pointing it out. with the regard to the figs, i definitely need lots more practice. thanks again!

charles,

i had a problem with the tank commander (actually many problems). it was my first crack at painting a figure and i had to glue the head back on several times. it was only when i finally took the pics that i noticed the neck thing. there's really no excuse for that one. i promiseto do better next time.

P.S.

i never thought non-filipinos would be reading this forum. thanks for taking the time to post your advice.

No prob steelskin. How did you apply the pastels ba? Directly from stick to model? Try scraping the stick with a knife to create powders, then apply the powder by means of brush to the model. You can do it wet or dry. Experiment on it

LOL!!! no i didn't use the stick. does itlook like i did it that way?

the weathering pastels i bought at lil’s come in bottles and they’re already in fine powder form. I applied them wet using thinner or alcohol, i forgot which one. i probably should have dusted some more dry pastel afterwards. like i said, i forgot to test the effect on some scrap plastic beforehand to get am idea of what it would look like. by the way, where did you get your mig pigments?

oh and if your interested, lil’s megamall just brought in some of the new dragon M1A1 AIM and smart panther kits.

Oh oh sorry! Bigla lang pumasok sa isip ko yun eh :-) :-) My bad. What's the brand of your powders? And no, am not using Mig powders. I use cheap o Mungyo pastels (which comes in sticks)

no prob. kala ko ikaw yung gumamit ng mig pigments. gamit ko yung weathering pastels ng “mr. hobby” ng gunze sangyo. nabili ko sa lil’s megamall. P850 yata yung isang box na three bottles (about the same size as a tamiya acrylic mini). very fine ang powder compared dun sa artists pastels na faber castell (P20 lang sa national). masyado nga lang mahal. kaso wala naman kasing mig pigments d2 e.

Hi,

You did a swell job in painting the KT, it looks good/OK to me...just some minor nitpicks though. The tracks looks loose, maybe you could adjust the idler wheel a little to pull the tracks.

The figs looks OK to me, maybe just a little more practice....I give you credit for that because figs are really hard to paint. Before I paint figs, I usually do some reasearch so that I could get the proper camo representation. One major nitpick about the figs are the seams/joints of the head and the arms. After gluing them you could apply putty on the joints to hide some of the imperfections...I'm refering to the commander in the 1st pic.

One of the best way to simulate mud is to use mud. I mix pastel chalk with soil, elemer's wood putty and diluted PVA to do mud. Mud shade depends on your preference. Sometimes you could mix paint to adjust the color. Pastel chalk is best applied with matt finish. I mix pastel chalk with alcohol and paint them on the kit, after drying I just dust off the excess.

Cheers

salamat warthog! hindi talaga maganda yung pagkakadikit ng leeg ng tank commander. napansin ko lang when i saw the pictures. but after screwing up several times trying to glue/position the fig in the cupola, natakot na akong galawin pa siya. someone from armorama offered to send me tank crew figures from the states but he never delivered.

hirap din ako mag-work with putty. i tried it and the results were a disaster. how do you guys do it? i had problems getting it into the right spot (like the seams.) and when I did, there’s always a lot of excess that covers up some of the details. the tracks were ok (sort of), but the morning before i took the pics i dropped the tank on the bed (buti sa bed lang) and they came apart in some areas. i did the best i could but i didn’t fiddle around with them too much because i was afraid i might ruin them for good. i’ve read about using mud but i opted to make do with the pastel after my neighbor saw me getting soil from their flower pots. (i was too lazy to go to the end of the block to get dirt from the vacant lot there.)

Hi,

When I put putty on the seams, I soften them with the Tamiya thin cement. Try this...
1) apply ample amount of putty on the seam area.
2) using an old cement brush (tamiya cement with green cover) apply small amounts of cement on the area where you placed putty.
3) brush the area using the applicator until it blends with the arms and shoulder for example....
4) using the cement brush method will minimize sanding that normally removes details...

Hope it helps

ang galing! ganun lang pala yun? i've been using tamiya liquid cement to weld parts together but i didn't know you can use it to thin putty. the tip about using the brush to "shape" the putty is exactly what i need. thanks a lot man, really. i'll try it this weekend.

Or you can use a liquid putty. That's what I use for gaps and seams.

and where can i get that? haven't seen any of that around...

btw...let me know if mike durr follows through on his promise to send you figs for free. he made the same promise to me and nothing came out of it. ayun tuloy, ang pangit nung tank commander ng KT ko, hehe...

Nice job Steelskin!

I have been building model kits since 1960 and I have thrown or given away to my nephews and friend's grandsons some of my old models because they look like toys compared to the models now.

I remember Lil's first store in the 70's at Glorieta. They sell model kits and
toys. In the '60's I buy model kits in a toy section of department stores in Rizal Ave. Brands that time were Renwall (large armor kits 1/24 scale),
Adams (1/42 armor lits), Monogram (1/32 armor) and Revell (1/42). Most
of the model kits that time are motorized with rubber thread like the M4A Sherman of Revell and 1st armor kits of Tamiya. Tamiya armored kits in the 70's cost only P35.00!

We buy paints that time in a hardware store and you can imagine how many mixture of flat enamel paints we have to mix to get the right color!

Neighbors kids liked to watch when I'm building a kit, cause they thought I'm building a toy! Worst, friends and relatives used to say that I have
not grown up to give up building and collecting toys! Luckily I have a very understanding wife who used to give me model kits as Christmas and
birthday gifts when we were still sweetheart in school.

I still have almost a hundred unbult kits (armor, ships, airplanes
and figures) and scale model magazines in the published in the early 70's

As a reserved army officer, I always say " It's better to build model kits
than to fight a real war."

Keep on modelling,
Kitaddict

hey, thanks man! sorry for the late reply. paint from a hardware store huh? that must have been really tough. its always inspiring to hear stories from the modeling vets. sometimes while building a model i ask myself how long i’ll keep going before the modeling bug finally wears off. listening to you and how you’re still at it, i guess i have my answer. besides, i still have an abrams, a sherman and an mi-21 hind assault helicopter waiting in the wings…