Taigen King Tiger rebuild

[Kye]

Hello folks. It has been a while since I posted here.

I've been going through the slow process of rebuilding said KT. It now has a metal lower hull (Torro I think) and a new paint job.

The painting is 99.9% done and just needs some weathering (I have some Vallejo rust wash) and a matt varnish to apply to finish off the cosmetics.
The electrics will see a Clark TK-22 fitted with some asiatam 3:1 gear boxes, new speaker (It has an '8' in the name) and a Turnigy 9x to control it all with. A mini TBS whatsitcallled will join the system at a later date to get the simulated clutching.

It was my first time using an airbrush and it was trickier than I imagined! The finish isn't bad I don't think. It's not smooth, but I like the fact you can see imperfections. It gives it a feel (in my minds story) that the paint has been thrown on in a hurry to get the tank in action. 3-tone is a bit tricky to do as well!

Anyway, pictures....

[Red Devils]

Kye, that KT is a real beaut, well done buddy. From here the paint job looks great!!!

Derek

[PainlessWolf]

Good Afternoon,
Great looking King Tiger (P) I love the paint scheme and will be looking forward to seeing your continued work on this Tank. Any metal parts come stock on this one since it was a Taigen?
regards,
Painless Wolf

[MichaelC]

Kye, great paint job and this scheme is a tough one too....... MichaelC

[Kye]

Hello, folks.

Thank you for the responses. It's heartening to know it looks good to others.

It has proven....interesting to get it where it is. I used Vallejo paints. The base paint is the yellow, with several layers of it. The cammo didn't start off that way. It just became that as I was doing it. So there has been quite respraying and jigging about of it. Getting to understand the airbrush has been a factor as well- working out how much paint to feed in and with what pressure. I still don't have a firm understanding even now. I found that the green and brown (Vallejo's airbrush range) applied far nicer than the yellow which is from the primer range.

The brush spat every now and then, and quite a lot with the yellow. Hence the dark edging lines around the light parts trying to cover up the spitting. It all adds to the feel though.

The painting is now done. Next I am going to weather it, which is where I need some help and ideas. I have a rust wash which I am going to use on the wheels and other places I fancy and will look credible. The bit I am stuck with is adding the dirt and grease and stuff from general use. I don't know what to use (I can't get the Vallejo wash I want). I'd like to be able to use something that I can use a paint brush with.

Any help and suggestions would be great!

The fine details will be done with a hand brush- exhausts etc.

Wolf:

The original set up did have quite a bit I thought. The tracks, idlers, sprockets etc are metal. As are the swing arms and shackles. The suspension was just a normal spring system enclosed within the hull. The new one I have now is torsion bar.

The top half is standard still. The protrusions that the screws for joining the halves go into have been removed to allow for fitting them together. The rear two remain so that the retaining points can be fitted.

The main future project is to upgrade the gun to work on CO2 as the airsoft system is a bit weak. Other cosmetics bits will involve periscopes, radio aerials etc.

More photos will follow as I open her up and continue to work on it. If anyone has requests for photos as well I'll try and cater for them.

Now to figure out how the track tensioners work. The tracks look a little bit wonky in the photos so I will look into that as well.

[Horses45]

That's looking great Kye I have just gotten the Heng Long King Tiger so will be watching to learn to but I have the Vallejo paints to try and get some sort of camo on mine but as of yet still not sure what I want it sprayed up like so a bit practice on my old Tipanther shell I think, but what wash were you looking for the dirt and grease ?

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Thank you for the reply. I have one of these in the HL Metal Edition that required a metal suspension and hull brace\track tensioner be installed due to the weight. A metal lower hull sounds like something that would add to the longevity of this tank. Upgrading the gun sounds like a fun project as well. ;o)
regards,
Painless Wolf

[Kye]

Horses: I'm after the oiled earth wash. I've just found a few UK stockists actually. I looked for the name of it rather than Vallejo's colour code. I'll be ordering some later today. The plan is to apply it around the engine deck and the water gullies and things like that.

Feel free to ask any questions. I'll try and answer them.

Wolf. My pleasure

I don't know the HL system I don't think. I'd recommend the lower hull though. I paid £90 for it or so and it has transformed the tank. It feels far more sturdy and solid. The torsions suspension is a lot stronger as well. Helpful for a tank clocking in at 6 kilos all up.

I got mine from German- rctank.de or something like that.

A note on the tracks as well. They have minimal amounts of steel in them. I tried to blue them following a technique I saw on here and it didn't go well. One track had more steel than the other. I used matt black hammerite on them afterwards and the results weren't amazing. I'm hoping that getting the them outside will sort them out a bit.

The cannon is going to be interesting. I need to research it. I'm a bit worried about the tank becoming slightly anti personnel. I'll have to look into pressure step downs or variable pressure valves. I saw someone say on here that they managed to get a working system for £15!

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Yes, Taigen is upgraded Heng Long material. They correct many of the deficits of the original Heng Long builds but retain the mounting points, sturdyness and appeal of the tank with added extras like custom paint and metal parts and Asiatam lower hulls and full metal builds. It all depends on which Taigen you order. Like Heng Long, their tanks based on the newer offerings are better builds and buys. I have their Panther G and it is excellent!. I used a dark bronze Hammerite on the metal tracks on my King Tiger and it turned out perfect, deep and metallic. Good tip about not using the bluing on those tracks. Maybe folk would have better luck using the Aluminum Blacking made by Birchwood Casey.
regards,
Painless Wolf

[teddyt]

just checked this out, very nice paint job kye, save yourself some cash mate, on the washes, I use oil paints and turps. never had a problem , you can use any colour and dilute to the strength you want.