Tiger I

To paint this model, I primed it using Krylon's Rust Red primer, applied a coat of hairspray, and then over-sprayed a basecoat mix of Tamiya 75% Dark Yellow/25% Yellow Green. Once dry, I applied some very light edge highlights using the mix above with a touch of pure white added and then began the chipping process. After chipping, I did detail painting as well as "jewel effects" on the periscopes/viewports using successive highlights of VMC Dark Blue, to VMC Light Turquoise, to pure white.

Unfortunately, the vinyl tracks were a completely new material for me to work with and I spent a lot of time researching what to use. In the end, I decided to go with multiple washes of diluted acrylic paints , mostly VMC German Grey, Tamiya Red Brown, and Testors Rust, and finally drybrushing with VMC Oily Steel (I love this color). As I wanted to make the tank somewhat realistic, I decided against using the kit decals and instead used decals from Topcolors 'Panzerwaffe 1941-43' book, based on a Leibstandarte Tiger at Kursk.

Once that was dry, I sealed the entire model and got down to some heavy weathering with oil washes and pigments. After that it was a simple matter of popping on the wheels and tracks and it was done. These are great model kits for their price and present a great opportunity for beginning modelers to learn how to assemble and paint a scale model without the worry of it being "wrong".