More Tiger and Sherman Photos

I was going to pack up the tanks after my last post but didn't. I'll just put on a couple pieces of tracks on the Firefly to see how they fit. Well I ended up finishing one side and then the other


All in all I'm pretty happy with the size of the 1/48 stuff.



The rubber tracks on the Tiger proved to be waaay more difficult to put together than the hard plastic tracks of the Firefly. I found the tracks of the Tiger to be way too short and the fit was very tight until I stretched them out a little. While I was stretching one of the tracks it ripped and I had to trim and join it, making the track almost 5mm shorter. It still fit, just a little tighter than the other side. And thinking about it now I'm not sure how painting the rubber track is going to go. Will acrylic paint crack and flake off? A little research is needed I think.





Anyway they look fantastic and for the price you can't go past them. Now if I can only find someone who sells the Tamiya "TS" range of spray paint. All the stores here have the PS range which apparently doesn't work well with model kits.

So what's next? Unless I can find something for the Americans that isn't based on a Sherman hull then it's probably this:

Firefly and Tiger I Update

I'm pretty much finished building the Tiger and Firefly kits. I haven't put the tracks on the tiger yet as I can't find a screw driver that's small enough for the screws in the kit. I've decided to glue them on anyway, mainly because I don't want the tank to move during game play. Also I think that if the tracks do move then people might be tempted to play with it and that's when stuff can get broken. Anyhow all that's left to do now is paint them.

Here's some shots of the almost completed kits. Remember to click on a photo for a bigger version.


The detail on the AFV kit leaves the Tamiya one looking quite bland. All the surfaces have pit marks and even the weld beads look fantastic. They even include some photo etched grilles which should look fantastic when painted.




Some shots to show the size difference between the Tiger I and the Firefly.






More photos once I start painting.

Tiger I - Part 2 - It's how big?

I've started putting the Tiger kit together and I'm really pleased with it so far. I haven't put it all together yet as I want to spray most of the components first, that should happen this weekend. As soon as I had enough of the kit together I just had to see how it went with some miniatures.

(Remember to click on the pictures for a bigger version)






I have to say I think it looks good. The tank does look big but after all it is a Heavy Tank and those things were, well big. 9' 4.75" to be exact and if you work on the average human height being around 5' 10" then its close enough to work.

While I was picking up some glue and paint for the Tiger I thought that I should even the playing field a little and give the Allies something to fight back with. So I grabbed one of these:


A British Sherman IC Firefly, it's a Tamiya kit (32532). This should keep me busy up until my minis turn up from Black Tree, if not then there was a Mk IV Cromwell at the store...

Tiger I - Part 1

With my last order to Black Tree I figured my Germans were starting to get both outnumbered and outgunned. This wouldn't do, so I picked up a little something that should even things out somewhat. It should also give the Piats something to fire at :)

It's been a while since I've built anything above 1/72 scale and I'm simply amazed at the detail on this. The metal plates have weld joins and the surfaces have a nice pitted look. The steel cables actually have the rope pattern on them, simply amazing. The kit even comes with screws to fit the wheels so they can turn.

I just hope I can give this the justice it deserves in construction and paint job. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I procrastinated over which scale to use with my 28mm. Turning to Google to give me the answer only confused me more. It seems no two people can agree on what scale is technically correct and also looks good on the table. In the end I figured I had either 1/48 or 1/56 to choose from. I eventually went with 1/48 as I personally would prefer my tanks to look a little too big than a little too small.

Now if I'd only remembered to pick up some glue...