lifen

I have this Tamiya Tiger 1 scale 1/16 RC tank sitting in a box in my hobby hut and it's driving me nuts.
I really want to get started on building this beast, I love building models but the paint is always a pain in the *.
While I do have a basic single action airbrush and a compressor, I do not have the connectors required to link the two together..These are hard to find and I don't want to spend 200EUR on a new airbrush.
So I am wondering... How hard or dumb would it be to just build the tank and paint it later?

I'm thinking this will ruin my paintjob, since you can't deconstruct the tank and paint everything one-by-one once you have glued everything in place..
Any experiences here? I'm afraid this tank will never get build this way!

MAUS45

You could just use Spray Can paint and prime the parts and then do a base color. Then when you get your airbrush up and running do the camo, that is if you do camo? Trust me you do not want to paint this beast after you have put it together![X(]

Frantz70

If you look a photos of German armor during the war most camouflage patterns were painted with all the tools in place.

ausf

It's not hard at all.

I converted my Dunkelgelb Das Reich Tiger into a Schwartzgrau Initial years after assembly. The only even slight issue would be you would have to take the roadwheels off (in axle sets) and remove the rubber tires, which is very simple.

I have the memory of a doorknob, but I don't believe I painted before final assembly the first time either. I think I just did the assembled hull and turret separately, the roadwheels in sets and then assembled and weathered.

Regardless, every main part of that kit is made to be easy to remove, even the Feifels and exhaust stacks.

Your bigger issue will be getting it clean to paint after you've been crashing it around outside. As Maus stated, get some rattle cans of spray primer, then paint later.

rivetcounter

Dumb, means a person who is unable to talk you are using the word in the wrong contexts.
It is always better to paint your tank last things like wheels can be assembled in units ready to install on the swing arms after painting the same with lower hulls gearboxes and electrics can be added after painting, tools are the hard part these can be painted but areas were glue needs to be placed requires paint to be removed first, you can always talk with BTB in your own country who are more than willing to give advice and help

Airbrushler

i've painted all of my tanks even though they are HL and WSN while they were together and just touched up whatever needed touching up

thecommander

Get the parts to connect the airbrush at the auto parts store, hardqare store or plumbing supply. Bring what you want to connect. It should one be a few Euro.

Assemble the entire lower hull but leave the wheels off. Use Tamiya metal primer and plastic primer before you paint the lower hull. Paint all the road wheels separately from the tank same for the idlers and drive sprockets. Assemble the main tank and paint it as a unit. Keep all the smaller tools, tracks and fine items off and paint them separately if you want the best appearance and detail. I strongly recommend you practice painting with your airbrush on a few scrap models before you try painting your tank. One of the many advantages to painting the tank with all the fine items off is that if you make a mistake you can easily sanded down, washed off, repaired or painted over. Don't be afraid to experiment with different camo patterns on scrap tank parts or other models. If you put a camo job on an old pickup truck model no one will really care. If you're not very confident of your camo abilities pick a solid paint camo job for now like the Dunkel Gelb or Panzer Gray. Google search Tiger Tank pics, check some of the many reference books out there and go to the picture section of this tank form and search for Tiger Tank pictures. Color shots will give you some nice ideas for camo patterns. Paint all the tools, exhaust rust, tow cables, spare tracks, hatch interiors and such to match as per the Tamiya instructions. Do not paint the inside of the tank lower hull at all. Just leave it unpainted and tape it off. Do not get any paint on the black speaker either. If some of the parts your painting a very small paint them on the tree then remove them and touch up the paint work. Otherwise they are too hard to handle. Painting small parts while stuck to a piece of masking tape works well for me too. Here are some pics that may be of assistance. Don't worry if you have a couple of screw heads you need to touch up or paint that were not painted in the initial assembly. Same for the Tiger suspension arms they really will not be seen it all. On tanks with interleaved road wheels painting them on the tanks is very impractical. Mask all things you don't want painted well think ahead. Use blue fun tack or something similar to block small areas you don't want painted. Like my KV light in the pix. I use all types of painting methods. Spray cans, airbrush, paintbrush, stencils, and Testors dull coat sometimes. Don't be afraid there's not much you can do wrong.

What camo pattern are you trying to duplicate? Good luck and let us know how you make out. Bob

lifen

Thanks for all the tips guys!
I'm planning on giving the tank a standard panzergrau look. Hopefully with some weathering.
I do have a more or less completed 1/32 model of a King Tiger tank sitting around. I was planning on painting that one first, but I'll still need the airbrush parts.

Panther G

I usually paint my tanks in assemblies. things that need to be glued together first are done. Then they can be added to the tank. This is the biggest thing to be care full of. Or you just wind up removing paint everywhere you need to glue and assemble parts or sections.

lifen

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm going to shop for the airbrush parts this week. Hopefully I can find them.
I plan on giving the 1:32 scale Tamiya King Tiger tank a camo pattern, so I can test the airbrush out. I'll be sure to post an update when I get started, here or in a new thread.

karel47

he lifen you would be most welcome to our BTB site

here is the link :http://forum.battletanksbelgie.be/index.php

lifen

Thanks Karel, I signed up using the user-name 'Lifen'. Hope to see you there!
Oh and I finally have the part for the airbrush, pictured below.
I also have ordered another part that would link this part with my small revell airbrush hose. Fingers crossed!

karel47

i bet your happy to get it

lifen

Yeah I am!
The final part has arrived, I'm going to finish my submarine tonight.
Then hopefully my 1/35 tank soon.
And after that, possibly the 1/16 Tiger 1! If all goes well that is.

thecommander

Glad to hear it is coming together. Show us some pix about your results.

lifen

The U-boat is finished. I just might add some "cables" later. Not sure yet.
You can find pictures of it here: http://imageshack.us/g/1/10085004/

The flag is printed on tissue paper and folded around the flagpole.
Rust was added with a fine pencil.
As you can see, I did not add a lighter colour on the upper half of the sub.

Hope you guys like it.

Panther F

I think the one thing that should be "pre-painted" are roadwheels and the hull.

Then you 'could' assemble the whole tank and paint the rest all together. The rubber portion of the roadwheels would look better without paint on them.














~ Jeff

Patski

i'm wondering about the same thing actually..i'm going to paint my KV-1 soon and I was thinking...under the turret?  I think I at least have to remove the turret?  and primer or not primer?  I was thiking about a tamiya fine primer...could do the job...first I was thiking about using the Krylon fusion green camo paint, but it's not really russian green...still better than glossy plastic tho...

Rustytrax

I used Tamiya ts28 on my IS2 and I think the green is pretty good. The weathering was done with valeo and since its water soluble it is very easy to make a wash and sponge it down. Then just seal it with some dull coat or something.