1/16 King Tiger...Wedgie--Update 10/20/13--MG42

[TomN.]

Hi Guys

First post here, but don’t go easy on me…heheh

I’ve been working on this for quite some time, what started as a fairly simple project has turned into my life’s work it seems. After seeing some of Jeff Shiu’s Fallschirjager figures, I thought they would look cool on the back of a King Tiger. I didn’t want to go all out and get the Trumpeter kit, so I bought some Tamiya spare parts off eBay and thought I would build a wedgie type thing…

I figured I could spruce up the Tamiya parts and be set to go…well, after a lot of parts reworking and scratchbuilding I came up with this…





Second attempt at a paint job, had to strip the first one…no fun at all…





Began weathering the turret…Some light oil filters, streaking with AK products, chips were added with Gouache. I’m trying hard to keep this subtle, since it’s more of a background for the figures…











Thanks for looking, all comments, questions and critiques most welcome,

Tom

Oh, and let me know if this is the right place for this…not sure…

[Deleted]

Tom,saw your signature,and that's goodenuf for me mate!!! .....Nice work on what i believe to be the background part of the dio. .I think we can leave this here for now,as the 'wedgie' board appears to be for a specific manufacturer,but it may be moved at any time by us.(The Mods)
Hope this will be OK with you?

[AndyArgent.]

Saw this over on AK, and i will say it again WOW Excellent work

[Leon]

Your hard work and time are paying off nicely Tom.

[deafpanzer]

STUNNING work!!! Count me in... want to see more please!

[Deano]

Very cool idea indeed , luvin it already!

Deano

[Deleted]

That's some amazing details!

[wbill76]

Very nice start to this one Tom, what's not to like?

[TRM]

Lovely work on this Tom!!! Love the weathering!!! Keep it coming!!!

[bigjohn]

WoW!!!!!! I like it!!! That is fantastic!!!!

[sollie]

When I saw 1/16 in the subject I thought, ohh another rc build.(I do 1/16 rc tanks) But even though it was not , this is fare from a letdown :-)

you MUST tell us more about how you did the paintwork, what brand and such. Absolutely love it.

[TomN.]

Thanks guys, I’m really glad you like it…To be honest, I’ve been working on this for so long, I start to wonder…was this a good idea…?

Here’s a pic of the general idea…with the first paint job…yuck…



Paint used is Tamiya, thinned with Tamiya lacquer thinner, weathering is mostly AK products…really nothing special.

Was hoping to have an update today, but…things didn’t exactly go according to plan…hopefully soon!!!

Tom

[deafpanzer]

LOL! Like me it drives me crazy when they only have first base coat of paint. Like the figures very much! Who make them?

[Deleted]

excellent detail work and painting, a fitting home for the figures

[TomN.]

Aug 26, 2013 0:57:09 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

LOL! Like me it drives me crazy when they only have first base coat of paint. Like the figures very much! Who make them?

Thanks Andy!

The figures are by Jeff Shiu. As far as I know, they are only available direct...but he is good and quick, great figures...

jeffshiu.net46.net/main.html

Just noticed he has a new tank commander...hmmm, I still have the front half of the King Tiger...

Tom

[TomN.]

Aug 25, 2013 15:54:23 GMT -5 sollie said:

When I saw 1/16 in the subject I thought, ohh another rc build.(I do 1/16 rc tanks) But even though it was not , this is fare from a letdown :-)

you MUST tell us more about how you did the paintwork, what brand and such. Absolutely love it.

Hi Sollie, thanks, I’m glad you weren’t disappointed. 

The paintjob you see above, with the figures, is long gone…it came out rough and grainy, I was way out of practice with the airbrush.

So I stripped it and repainted. The first time I used Mr. Surfacer 1000 in a spray can for primer, and as good as this stuff is, it still built up and covered some of the detail.

On the present paintjob I sprayed directly on the plastic. I used Tamiya Acrylics, thinned with Lacquer thinner, with a bit of gloss and retarder mixed in…I wanted to get a slight semi-gloss look to the paint.

All colors were custom mixed and I can’t tell exactly what they were, a little of this, a little of that…I still think the red and green are too dark, but oh well.

I mixed three shades of each color, starting with the base color and going two shades lighter, the yellow highlight was almost white. I used very thin Reaper Miniatures to outline the camo first.

After that I gave it a coat of Mr Hobby semi-gloss clear, it still was pretty matte before that…And then onto weathering, using mostly AK products.

Pretty standard stuff really…let me know if you have any more questions.

Tom

[sollie]

super work Tom. Hope you have some other stuff you want ot share With us. (and you should deff do a full 1/16 one day)

[Tojo72]

Looks real good,subtle weathering and streaking are right on,Is the camo hardedge or freehand ?

[TomN.]

Aug 27, 2013 3:06:20 GMT -5 sollie said:

super work Tom. Hope you have some other stuff you want ot share With us. (and you should deff do a full 1/16 one day)

Thanks Sollie!

I'd like to do a Trumpeter T34 some day, maybe as a burnt-out wreck. I have a 1/16 Tamiya Kubel,
some more figures, probably some other stuff too.

Tom

[TomN.]

Aug 27, 2013 8:46:51 GMT -5 Tojo72 said:

Looks real good,subtle weathering and streaking are right on,Is the camo hardedge or freehand ?

Thanks Tojo

The present paint is free handed soft edge camo. The first attempt was a hard edge ambush scheme.

Tom

[TomN.]

Aug 27, 2013 15:24:02 GMT -5 @dickyf said:

Great work here Tom - an excellent project to start with, fantastic details added here and the paint work looks superb fella, interested to see Gouache being used here, I'm always surprised it hasn't made the transition into modelling, I use to use it all the time when doin' canvases.

Nice 'backdrop', lookin' forward to seein' the chaps now!

Thanks for the comments Dicky!

I'm not 100% sure I'm liking the Gouache chips at this point. It is nice that you can wash it off easily
if it comes out wonky, and I'm geting some interesting effects by letting it dry, then dabbing it with
a Q-Tip dampened with Isopropal...kinda breaks it up and makes it look "chippy".

I'll keep experimenting...

Tom

[Thomas_M/]

Most impressive! Love your details on the hull!

[TomN.]

Thank you Thomas!

I'll try and get some new pics up soon, maybe today.

Tom

[TomN.]

Hi Guys
Been working on weathering the hull portion. This is about 95% AK products with some Mig Pigments, oils and chips done with gouache.















All comments, critiques and suggestions most welcome,

Thanks for looking,
Tom

[bigjohn]

Looks great Tom! Don't you just love those AK products !

[TomN.]

Thanks John!

Yeah, I think I'm in love with them...so easy to use and they work just the way they are supposed to.

Tom

[wbill76]

Looking good Tom, nice subtle variations there in the finish.

[Leon]

Just catching up on this Tom.The weathering looks great.

[TomN.]

Thank you Bill & Leon!

Tom

[elco]

I love the second paintjob, much better. Love the weathering!