The kit I chose was the Revell 1/72 scale King Tiger as I saw a good review article in a EuroModeller magazine. The current trend in modeling amour would appear to be paint scratches and various other ‘dings’ which allow either the primer or base color (if the scratch is in the camo area) to show through. The EuroModeller magazines have models with way too many scratches in my opinion, as the average life span for AFV’s in world war II was weeks or months and tanks didn’t generally survive long enough to get their paint that dinged up. One good point about the article is that it let me know there was a Photo Etch set available for the 1/72 King Tiger, which I did order from the states.

Hello Eduard:

The PE took over a month to show up, so I could not have the tank ready for the ‘Make It Big’ contest. So I decided to take my time, do some research, and a bit of scratch building above and beyond what was in the PE set. Items I scratch built were ;

• Welded ‘tube’ on the engine access panel which the crew would use with a crowbar to open the heavy hatch.
• Front headlight wire.
• Ammo racks inside the turret, with ammo. The rounds are small brass nails with the heads cut off, filed and polished a bit. The racks are unbent staples which I then bent to the angle of the turret wall armor.
• Clamps for the tools – REALLY small parts made of wire in a U shape which I glued onto the molded on tool clamp.
• Handles for the hatches made from wire as the PE ones are flat. Wire handles are round and thus fit nicely into a round drill-hole, PE flat ones don’t fit quite as well. I used the wire inside twist ties for the 1/72 scale.

The PE was easier to assemble than I had thought. Two points to remember if you’re using PE ;

• Trim/sand the flash off. If it’s a really small bit, hold it with pliers (with no ridges inside the jaws).
• Lightly sand ALL the surfaces, this will help the paint and glue stick a lot. I used wet/dry sandpaper. Same applies for all copper wire you are using to scratch build.

Painting:

I like to pre-shade (as opposed to post-shade) and paint the tank a dark color such as black or dark grey. Since the detail on the 1/72 is very fine, I decided to use black Humbrol paint instead of primer. The humbrol sticks well to both plastic and the PE, dissolves with low-odor thinner, and airbrushes well in my opinion. As this was my first attempt at painting a lot of PE, I first tried the humbrol black on a spare brass tube and leftover PE. I discovered 2 things:

1) The paint comes off if you try to scratch it with your fingernail, or put tape on it, if you don’t let the paint dry more than a few hours.
2) The paint doesn’t come off if you let it set for a few days – the curing process is critical here.

I let my now black tank sit for a week before getting back to it. I decided to use Tamiya acrylic dark yellow as the base coat. Again, I experimented a bit and found the Tamiya sticks well to flat paint and primer. It does NOT stick all that well to bare plastic, which works for me as I pre-shade my AFV’s.

I painted the tank the out of the container dark yellow as a first coat, diluted 50% with rubbing alcohol. Leave the outer edges of a rectangular panel slightly more dark, the inside gets a bit more color. The second pass (2 days later) was with the dark yellow, this time with a bit of white added. You want more paint in the middle of the panels here and less around the edges. The 3rd pass was with the yellow mixed with even more white. The desired effect is bleaching in the center of panels with the edges being shadowed somewhat.

That’s the current status of the tank – no camo as of yet, individual link tracks assembled but not yet painted, wheel assembly not on the tank either.

This article, unlike my others, is not humorous whatsoever, it’s matter of fact. Can’t have that, so a few parting sentiments ;

• My wife seems to enjoy coming downstairs and saying BOO when she sees me really squinting at a small part – no kidding.
• When I’m on my hands and knees looking in the carpet for a part which I dropped, my cat often comes over and sniffs my … hair. No, I don’t own a dog.
• Whoever decided individual link 1/72 scale tank tracks is a good idea deserves a good _____________ (fill your own idea here).

After the camouflage is done, it’s time to seal the paint with Future. This also preps the model for application of decals (deck-alls or DEEcals as your preference). I airbrush undiluted future over the entire model, 2 light coats, with a day dry time in between. Areas to receive decals also receive further coats of Future via paintbrush. The smoother a surface, the better the decals sit, no question about it. Paint the future on, position the surface so it’s flat, cover with a plastic box of some kind to prevent dust. My wife kindly supplies me with these as she uses them to hold her scrap booking supplies in.

After application of decals, you may wash the vehicle if you want. I did not with the King Tiger, not even a detail wash. I simply airbrushed Tamiya matte over the tank, especially over the decal edges to make them disappear.

Tracks:

The run and link tracks that came with the KT were good enough, as I had planned to mud them and thus hide any imperfections. Did I mention earlier that I had not glued the wheels to the tank ? Well, I had not yet glued the wheels to the tank, in fact the model had the side ‘panels’ of wheels which could be glued later, perfect to assemble the tracks. I assembled the KT tracks in sections – first the lower, flat run from 1st groundwheel to the last groundwheel. Use a ruler to get a good straight line, and let dry overnight. The parts which have to bend around the wheels are more difficult. To assemble these, I used – that orange Testors tube glue! I applied a microdot using a toothpick to the links which are flat on your work surface, up against a ruler, in about a 1 inch run. Wait 2 minutes then take the whole assembly and wrap around the wheel structure. Try to keep the glue away from the wheels. I wasn’t ready to glue the whole thing together at this point as I like to paint the tracks separately from the wheels. Get the tracks where you want using tape / elastics / whatever and leave dry for a couple of hours. While drying, do the other side of the tracks. I repeated this process until the tracks were all done, but could still be removed for painting.

Finishing Touches:

I painted the tracks a rusty color and then glued them to the wheels. I used CA glue on the inside bottom ground wheels to get the tracks to adhere well to the wheel structures, which were then in turn glued to the tank hull. At last the thing looks like a tank.

The only thing left at this point is weathering, which I accomplished as follows:

• Tracks received mix of diluted white glue / fine sand / pigment in between links.
• Tank received paint scratches (MM military brown) using a really small brush. After dry, I took a lead pencil and gently filled in the very center of the scratch to convey a rusty outside, shiny inside of the scratch.
• I very gently brushed some graphite and then some weathering powder on the tank surface. I did this in increments with usually a day in between so I could slowly judge the progress until I liked the look.
• Brown and a touch of orange pastel chalk were applied to the exhausts.
• Pencil (graphite) used on the steel parts of the tools.

Additional Photos: