1/48 AFV Club Panzerkampfwagen VI. Ausf.E Sd.Kfz 181 (Tiger I Early) - 2nd SS Panzer Division - Russia, Autumn 1943

Depicted as a machine operated by the 2nd SS Panzer Division, Russia, Autumn 1943

The Build

This is the new AFV Club 1/48th Tiger 1 (Early).  I'd been thinking about trying some armour for a while now. Anyway the new AFV Club 48th tiger turned up (OK I ordered it). After reading the instructions and drooling over the plastic I figured I could whip this up in a weekend.

I spent about 3 hours assembling the main bits minus the wheels. The fit on this kit was awesome, It actually clips together it's that good . Only had to use a wee bit of filler on the air cleaners (round things on the back).  A totally different experience from building a aircraft kit.

Painting and Finishing

Knowing nothing about tanks or there colours I hit the Fleet Arm Museum at Nowra as they have  all the Model master enamels. Found 2 Panzer Yellow  1943 and Panzer Green 1943. I figured these would do. After a coat of the yellow I added the wheels.  That was as far as I got on Saturday

The next day I decided to give the camouflage a go. I couldn't figure out how to mark it out, none of my aircraft techniques seemed any good. So in the end I just free-handed it following the instructions using my Sparmax DH1-03 airbrush.  A coat of metaliser sealer and then on went the decals. Finally a flat coat of Gunze flat was applied.  l had a bit of trouble getting the tracks on but once I figured out it was easier to join them first then fit them all as well

The following week, after work I fixed up some of the errors. The big one being the road wheels. These were painted with a real thin coat of flat black. I also painted the box on the Hull wood.

I then played around with some weathering techniques. I applied a oil wash of Burnt Sienna (over a flat coat , I know, not recommended).  Some the wash got turned into a filter . Some paint chipping was done with a piece of foam and some Humbrol 53 (gunmetal) Again I didn't really know what to do with armour so I just used some of my aircraft techniques . I used a brown chalk to dirty things up a bit. The same brown also looks good for a bit of rust. I also used a piece of stretched sprue for the antenna.
After was sealed with another coat of Gunze Flat.

Conclusion

All up I reckon this took about 8-10 hours of modelling. It was the easiest thing I've built. No seams to fill, virtually nil filler and decals. This was my first amour kit, but it won't be my last. Not sure If I'm keen to tackle a 1/35 kit but these 1/48 kits look really nice and they fit with my 1/48th aircraft. If you want to try a tank, don't want to spend to much time or money then I'd recommend this kit for sure. 

The Photos