James, Christian, Luiz, Andy, MP, Bob, Mr T & Ron.
Thanks everyone, glad you liked the build and thank you for posting a reply.
I must say though , I am glad to be done - Tiger 1's are very complicated compared to some other tanks, such as Panthers (my next blog). Probably the only tank from WW2 that is just as complicated; maybe even more so, is the Sherman.
I fixed the REAR PE tool box frame and repositioned the lowest, side cable clasp (k) on the left side superstructure as it was too low - only noticed after looking at the Macro shots.
Also didn't mention that I added the cast number on top of the gun mantlet [as seen on some Tigers] and added the mantlet elevation stopper.
OK so know it gets even harder - PAINT.
I have been looking into this one quite a bit and have compared a number of black and white photo's from other tanks in the unit, Tiger 1's from the time when it was originally built, and some late war color photo's.
I have also considered some art profiles from books and the decal guide / paint guide from Bison. Plus a little knowledge of my own applied as educated guess work. :smack
This is a rough guide to the pattern that I can see.
I am going into the cammo to this level of detail because at first it appears simple, but once you start looking you quickly recognise that there are a number of shades which are just diffuicult to see - probably because of dirt/ dust/ grime.
There are also a number of variations that other people have put forward ...
1)
2)
Basically it's all conjecture - I can confidently say that the lighter areas (such as the wheels) and the initial base coat are most probably German dark yellow, but even then the shade of Dark Yellow does not look very conventional to me. It is so light as to be almost white (obviously that's not the case) but it is certainly not factory standard or the sun reflection as I will discuss further down.
The cammo is up for grabs, so I like the idea of a mainly red brown over-spray with a little, subtle German light green, as seen on late war vehicles.? :hmmm
Should give it a nice base for some shadows and grit, but is may also need a little peeling as can be seen around the turret rear near the cupola. The turret roof pattern is guess work based on the upper front plate pattern and will end up pretty dusty anyway..
The
top deck will get a good amount of Berlin summer dust.
Overall is a fairly dark shade for a dark yellow base coatI think, but the Chassis is definitely from the post initial production period[when they came from the factory in Dark yellow base],so it should
not have a German grey factory base finish.
I expect that the original factory finish would most probably have been painted over by this stage, but if you look at the state of some of the details on the chassis and especially the turret details (which I am not so sure was the turret that was issued with the tank)there is original damage,that is to say damage from before it was sent out into the field for the last time,during this battle.
I say this because of the reasonable appearance of the flat rolled plate armour all over the tank. There are not a lot of hits except for some minor grazes, and a riddled and crushed stowage bin, which most probably happened later I think (another story that I will get to).
A definite example can be found on the remains of
The track holders on the turret side.
They have been missing for some time, as there does not seem to be recent battle damage around them, yet the weld marks, showing where they were,still seem to be showing exposed metal and are quite visible even in the bad photography. So this tends to signal to me that these areas at least
may still be in original cammo or at the very least paint that was applied some time ago - the overspray on the left front of the turret side appears to be more recent.
Is the tank a rebuild or just a fix-up from a training battalion?
As mentioned earlier this unit received a number of Tiger1's that came from another unit which was being supported and supplied via a maintenance / recovery unit. Could be anything?
The wheels are a really strange aspect as they are not in direct sunlight but show a very light appearance, more so than the standard d.yellow.The sun is coming from the left in the main shot that I refer to yet the front plate is not nearly as light as the wheels[this is seen on both sides].
The inner wheels vary as well and appear to be quite dirty and probably still in original factory paint, possible yellow or may even be grey.
? I love it! :geek :dude
I will be back - T1
