Big Tiger!

[beast]

Ok, been a while since i took on a large scale kit so having had my eye on this one for a while it's time to get back at it. Here we have the Hobby Boss 1/16 mid production Tiger 1. 
This is actually a very fine kit for the money and although it's been designed with RC in mind, there's now a lot of upgrade stuff available to detail the Tiger up and this is precisely what i intend to do. Hopefully i'll make a fine static model out of this lot!
To my eye there's only a couple of dodgy bits in the whole kit but even then, not something that can't be remedied. The tool box that sits on the front hull has actually been molded as part of the hull but i reckon i can sort this out with a bit of trickery. The other part that catches my eye is the drivers viewing port on the front plate. It's actually been molded shut and part of the kit front plate. I am currently awaiting a metal upgrade part for this so i'll cut the offending visor out and it'll be replaced.
I've already picked up some upgrades, namely an alloy gun barrel from Taigen, PE clasps, metal shackles, atak zimmerit kit and metal tools. Other things to follow will be tow cables, gun cleaning rods and an upgraded cuppola.
Looking forward to this one, hope you can join me and all comments, suggestions and critique welcome throughout.
Stuart.

[deafpanzer]

HOLY SMOKES! Another 1/16 build... you are lucky if you have plenty of space for all of your 1/16 builds. I am impressed how the kit is packed inside the box...

[TRM]

MONSTER!!! By the Beast!! Count me in for this one!!

[beast]

Mar 25, 2015 13:09:10 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

HOLY SMOKES! Another 1/16 build... you are lucky if you have plenty of space for all of your 1/16 builds. I am impressed how the kit is packed inside the box...

Not much room left at the inn! Only space for this one left then i may have to renegotiate with Mrs Beast! She'll yield to my will or face a land grab by force (spare room)  The reality is more likely a case of she'll beat the hell out me and force me to put up another shelf in my garage!

[Deano]

Great to see you back at Stu , a big beast for the beast

[beast]

Ok, made a small start to the tiger. Got the main gun assembled using the Taigen barrel, muzzle brake and the resin mantlet from atak. The mantlet is molded very accurately with the zimmerit coating and is made specifically for this kit. Fit is perfect but the barrel had to be modified with a piece of the original plastic barrel to get it to fit securely and also to locate it in the correct position. Basically started here as i was itching to work out how to put these parts together lol!
Stu.








Thanks for looking!

[Leon]

Stuart! Looking forward to following this monster . Nice start on the gun assembly.

[beast]

Mar 25, 2015 16:45:45 GMT -5 Leon said:

Stuart! Looking forward to following this monster . Nice start on the gun assembly.

Thanks Leon and great to have you following along!

[Tojo72]

Oh boy,really looking forward to this one.

[wbill76]

Good as a place to start as any! Nice work on the gun! As for the land grab intentions, good luck! If you disappear again for a stretch we'll at least know why.

[beast]

Pics and a proper update soon lads, been having problems with my router and i'm unable to get the pics up as my internet is constantly dropping out. New one here tomorrow so i'll be up and running then.
Made good progress on the Tiger, a few modifications and corrections have been made but happy with it so far and enjoying this build. Pics up as soon as chaps.
Stuart

[TRM]

I hate routers!! LOL!! I have to unplug mine maybe once a week and let it reset. Of course the three females in addition to what I ire through it can't be helping!! Nice looking pea-shooter!! I would be hard-pressed to not make it actually fire...LOL!! Will keep my eyes pen for that update!!

[JimD]

Beast builds a beast? Seems legit. I'm seriously excited to watch this one. I'd love to do a 1/16 KT...but ain't nobody got room for that. Off to a good start. Eagerly awaiting more.

[craigcole20b.]

Nice start will be watching this one for sure my LHS has one of these I pick it up every time and put it down $$$

[beast]

Ok chaps, i'll post up pics of my progress so far and explain on the way.



First area to be tackled was the drivers visor, this was molded shut on the kit. I had to cut this piece out then cut the top plate out of that and re-position the visor open. Did this as i've never seen a pic anywhere with it closed. Also added the excellent atak zimmerit, it fits perfectly and i'll go along the seams with filler as this will help give the zimm a more uniform look.



Next up was the chassis. This kit comes with an intricate but ingenious suspension system that works very well. Again if you wanted to go RC with this kit, the suspension is well up to the job.



Front glacis plate. Zimm added here as well as the spare track support bar. Another upgrade was the gearbox covers as the kit doesn't have them. These parts aren't fixed at the moment as i'll probably have to do some additional mods to get them to fit correctly.



Rear plate, all straight forward here, again showing the superb zimmerit. This was applied first then the exhausts and other items, no extra trimming of the zimm was required to fit these parts.



Next up was the main gun and turret. This proved to be a bit of bother as the mantlet wouldn't sit right. It seemed for some reason to be sitting too high and leaving a large gap underneath. I later discovered this was due to the way the gun was mounted inside the turret so a few corrections and a bit of the ol Beast brute force sorted that out lol!



The cupola here isn't fixed yet as the kit doesn't come with periscopes and i'm trying to locate some, anyone any ideas? I may make them myself if there's none available but it's not really a big deal.
That's me so far guys, as usual ACW.
Stuart.

[Leon]

Making good progress Stuart! The zimmerit looks great.

[wbill76]

Looking good Beast! Can't help you on the periscope question unfortunately for this scale.

[deafpanzer]

Zimm looks superb on her!!!

[Wes]

Im just loving what youve done so far Stuart.

Keep up the good work.

[elco]

GREAT stuff, looks like a fun kit!

[beast]

Well well, hopefully one will be back on a more permanent basis this time  .
Last year was very busy for me and that didn't include getting married again but anyway all good!
I have continued to work on the Tiger, although up until recently it's been very sporadic, i'd do a little bit and then due to other things happening it would be left on bench waiting on my next move! In actual fact i've probably spent more time researching the Tiger 1 than building it lol! I have upgraded it far more than i expected to so much so that it's became a bit of a fixation in that if something wasn't right, i had to sort it out and several changes have been made (slowly!) over the past few months. I have chopped and changed some of the ideas i had with it. The Hobby Boss kit does actually need a bit more attention to detail than i first thought, as the build has progressed, more problems came to light but i suppose it depends on how far you want to take things, still a good kit though, i've no complaints here and it's a decent challenge.
One of the first tasks after i applied the zimmerit was to address the other silky smooth surfaces. I applied Mr Surfacer to all these areas, nothing too heavy as by tank standards Tiger's were pretty decent in that regard. Next up, a large gap had to be filled behind the gun mantlet, where it goes into the turret, (gap was there to allow easy movement of the cannon in RC mode). This took quite bit of work to get it looking right. Other jobs included weld details in various areas which were also absent from the kit. I also managed to obtain a very good Schumo kit for the tow cable and gun cleaning rod brackets, not cheap but in my opinion the best you'll get.
Decided to go for a winter camo scheme, something i'd wanted to attempt for ages so my Tiger is a 501st 1st platoon tank that fought in mid Russia from November 1943 till July 1944. These were sprayed in the standard factory dark yellow then in the winter at the front whitewashed, tools and all, i've painted mine in such a way to reflect this. That's more or less where i'm up to at this point, pics will follow shortly.
Thanks for looking chaps
Stuart.

[beast]

Ok, pics of where i'm at so far, any questions, far away lads.






























Sorry for the quality on some of the pics guys, i'll try and not use my phone next time!
Next up is fine detailing, washes and weathering,
onwards and upwards,
Stuart.

[Tojo72]

Stuart,

Good to hear from you again and to see the big cat,it truly looks impressive.

[sollie]

Man , sweet stuff happening here. Great build and share

[beast]

Cheers guys, good to be back!
Much still to do with the Tiger but really enjoying this one!

[Leon]

Glad to see you back and making progress on the Tiger Beast! Whitewash looks great.

[adt70hk]

Looking very nice stuart! There are a lot of Tigers around at the moment to keep yours company!

[charleygnarlyp290]

Cripes! How did I miss this!? This makes the 1/25 scale Tiger I am working on look like a peanut.
Very nice so far... and that metal barrel looks mean.

[armorguy]

Whitewash shows great skills, very impressive wheels, more please !

[kiwibelg]

Holy moly! That thing is huge!! I would be very tempted to R/C it..so..I guess a 1/16 Dora is on the cards next?!