Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger I

This kit is mostly out-of-the-box, except that I added an AA machine-gun mount, MG42, and a metal tank commander from Warlord. The MG mount itself is just a piece of 24ga wire, bent back upon itself, then bent horizontally at the front and back, and superglued in place. The tank commander's torso is actually an Italian crew with a German headswap. I used the Italian torso because I wanted to model the crewman wearing SS camouflage coveralls in the Plane Tree scheme.

Painting the tank itself was mostly an exercise in just trying new techniques - zenithal highlights, hairspray chipping, a bit heavier oil rendering than I normally do, and some camouflage netting. It is primed in Krylon Red Oxide, then just giving zenithal highlights with an airbrush with VMC Old Rose, after which it was sealed and hairspray was applied. The basecoat is Tamiya 50/50 Dark Yellow and Yellow Green, with wide diagonal bands of Tamiya Red Brown. Details are picked out in VMC paints.

The tracks are done differently than I normally do them. I primed them in Krylon Flat Grey Primer, then washed them directly with some cheap Burnt Umber thinned down with Vallejo Glaze Medium. I then drybrushed them in VMC Oily Steel and washed them again with Vallejo European Dirt. While I like the dusty effect of this method, I don't think it's dark enough and I'll be trying an AK Interactive Enamel track wash next time.

The netting is simply medical gauze, unrolled and misted with Rustoleum Camouflage Olive. Once dry, these were cut to size and dunked in a 50/50 mix of water and white glue and laid on the tank. To give the appearance of "weight" to the netting, I dipped an old brush in the mix and used that to manipulate the gauze into place, pushing it down and around contortions. It's a nice effect and adds some visual interest to a rather bland tank.