A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

This section is to 'show and tell' about any customizing or re-modeling you have done (or are doing) to a Heng Long tank.
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This section is for posting a build log of your Heng Long tank.
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ronnie42
Staff Sergeant
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Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:00 am

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by ronnie42 »

Cheating? Using whats better from other makers or reworking parts is the only way to go. Sometimes a build turns into a renovation when it never turned out good enough. :haha:
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Jnewboy
Sergeant
Posts: 502
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:24 am
Location: California

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by Jnewboy »

Got the camo done! A few things to note is that I did not go under the sideskirts with the camo as the base color would have been sprayed on and then the sideskirts attached. Once that was done then they would have painted the camo on in France. Once it arrived in Budapest and the winter came they white washed it while it was under repairs as seen in photos (fixing the track) with the sideskirt off. Then whether they put them back on is up for debate, my model is based on the idea that they did for two reasons, there is no proof that they didn't and I like the way it looks :haha:

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

A few other notes is that I had to make the pattern match those coming out of France that had the classic wavy Olive on DarkYellow pattern but I also had to make sure the olive was on the Gun mantel as seen under the Anneliese lettering and that the space on the turret where the 314 goes is the yellow. They are getting harder to tell apart! :thumbup:
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Jnewboy
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Location: California

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by Jnewboy »

The first thing I wanted to correct that kept bugging me was that the Trumpeter kit has periscopes so I scratched out some and installed them in the Henglong giving it better look however it is hardly noticeable in the final pictures.


ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr


Next it was time to paint the tools, one of the more time intensive parts of tanks. I’ve heard lots of arguments by modelers who have said that they just painted over the tools and so there is no need to paint tools in detail, it’s simply not true. As they have colorized more and more World War II pictures it is obvious that they did not always paint over the tools with the exception of the tow cables which would often shed their paint fairly quickly during use anyway. Even in the field the Germans would not necessarily paint camo over them. It all came down to time and if they had the time they would take the tools off, so the only instance where I will paint over tools is with white wash which was hurried, often done overnight during the first snowfall so that in the morning their tank didn’t stick out like a sore thumb for the Russian gunners.

So I start painting the tools in the base color, in this instance it is Dunkelgelb. Then I paint them the correct colors I’ll add rust washes to the cables now before the white, the rest of the tools will all be washed after the white goes on. The cables are going to get two wash coats one before and one after the white. It’s sometimes fun to do the hairspray method on the cables and show the base color chipping off of the cable itself however this detail would have been lost in the white wash chipping that is coming.

Next after they are painted they are placed on the tank and the Resendagrün is painted on the clamps and attachments when the tool is atop camo. I have always found that this way is much easier than doing the tools on first trying to paint camo around them and then trying to paint them while they’re on the tank.

They are a long way from done however they will need to be washed after the white chipping is done. It’s very important to have the tools in place when you do the white chipping. The paint will naturally wear less around the tools because the tools will take the brunt of the damage or wear so they must be in place for it to look right. So when the white chipping is done they will all be removed to be washed and the tank will be washed without the tools on it using Magic Grime. Then they will all be reinstalled for the final completed tank before the last steps of the mud and the tracks.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

The decals went on fine, use lots of Microsol and a thick make-up sponge to press the decal into the grooves of the Zimmerit. The tanks German crosses were solid black and looks like they were painted on top of the whitewash so I will put those on later or paint them on.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr


Ready for Whitewash!


ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Stay Thirsty My Friends!
AlexW34
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Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by AlexW34 »

Wow looking amazing! I love the zimmerit! Very well achieved!
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PainlessWolf
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Location: Southern Colorado Rocky Mountains

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by PainlessWolf »

Jnewboy!
Beautiful Work! Something for me to keep in mind when I finally get around to redoing my Porsche King Tiger.
regards,
Painless!
...Here for the Dawn...
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Jnewboy
Sergeant
Posts: 502
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:24 am
Location: California

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by Jnewboy »

Thanks Guys!!! :thumbup:

My favorite thing about this project has been bringing up the Henglong to a degree that now even I forget which is which sometimes! At the start they were so different! :P
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Jnewboy
Sergeant
Posts: 502
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:24 am
Location: California

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by Jnewboy »

Next was the white wash, Tamiya flat white with a tiny bit of deck tan to knock off the crisp white color is sprayed pretty thoroughly over the tank after it had been sprayed well with hairspray. Then it was rubbed off using a rough horse hair brush. The paint likes to stick up inside the Zimmerman and so it had to be scrubbed harder in spots to reveal camouflage. I made sure that camo was more easily seen in certain places than other as I did not want a uniform look, tanks do not wear in a uniform fashion.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr


The tools took the brunt of it. I made sure to do downward strokes with the brush on the top areas in the direction that water would run on the top of the turret where there are slopes.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Next came some detail painting in the form of all of the chipped off areas under the Zimmerit that needed to be painted in the red primer which I used two colors for one lighter and one darker then I went about doing the highlights of scratches and dings with the Model Color "German Beige" which is just slightly lighter than the Dunkelgelb. On top of those marks go more red primer then on top of that goes chipping color and on top of that goes graphite to make the chips and scratches look right on the side skirts that are remaining.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

I also painted the crosses as you can see with dark gray mixed with black to give it a warn look. Also I painted the wheels were they touch the tracks with Burnt Iron from Mr. Hobby which had brown & rust color added to it to make a custom color for wheels.

Next is to carefully take it all apart and start my Magic Grime process and bring the Henglong up to the same status as this Trumpeter one.

Its finally starting to look cold! I prefer painting winter tanks in the winter :haha:
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Jnewboy
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Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:24 am
Location: California

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by Jnewboy »

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

My Magic Grime was done on both Tigers

Here are some before and after shots to compare the difference of appearance. My Winter Grime gives it a perfect filter that tones down the white and washes details all at once.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

The final product finish is undeniable.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

Those of you who have experience with modeling and especially working with Zimmerit it is very difficult, not only the application (Atak sheets are cheating but really work well) but the weathering is the worst. If you apply a traditional filter it will pool in the dips and any detail work you use a wash on around the dips will pool in the dips. So it is always to light (no weathering) or to dark (pooling) on most models. My Magic Grime fixes this issue.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

AK pencils work, great for scratches and quick detailing.

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

ImageUntitled by jon newsom, on Flickr

All that is left are the tracks and the mud! :thumbup:
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Jimster
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Location: Illinois

Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by Jimster »

Awesome weathering and photos. Thanks for the inspiration!
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EAO
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Re: A Tale of Two Tigers ~ Jnewboy Customs

Post by EAO »

I agree with Jimster,

Man that's looking really nice! Beautiful attention to detail! :thumbup:

Cheers,
Eric.
"You can always tell a German, you just can't tell him much." Anonymous.

German cars, German girls, German beer, German firearms, German Shepherds, German motorcycles... Not necessarily in that order though!

UP THE IRONS!
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