My late Tiger conversion (Taigen)

[LordLudikrous]

Hello, I’d like to share what I’ve been up to regarding a long term off an on project of mine (more off than on frankly much to my shame) which is now finally reaching completion. I’m playing catch up a bit here as I’ve done a fair bit before registering on this forum – but you’re guaranteed an end result.

Our story starts back in the distant past in the year 2007, where as a gift I was given a Heng Long Tiger 1 in grey. It was the most basic tank available, it had no smoke, no sound and no proportional control. There were some glaring inaccuracies; just off the top of my head now I remember the gun barrel was moulded at full recoil so was too short, the mantlet was upside down, the driver view port was closed, and the pistol port was the wrong way round. Compared to what we have now it was frankly crap, but back then it was awesome to have an actual remote control tank – and one that fired BBs no less. I saw online how people were modifying their tanks and ended up giving mine a cool gun metal coat of paint, and left it as it was for a time. Regretfully I have no images of this tank, any photos that may have been taken have been lost to the annals of time.

Fast forward to early 2010 and after showing some friends this neat tank I had, predictably the plastic gears stripped themselves and the airsoft gun stopped working. I went online and saw all these new awesome upgrade parts that were now available, in particular metal parts from a company called Asiatam. I eagerly ordered a metal lower hull, metal sprockets and idlers, metal road wheels, metal tracks, metal barrel and some other components with the aim of converting it to a late model. Unfortunately a combination of not having enough money, not having the right tools, and not knowing what the hell I was doing as well as just life in general meant the tank was shelved and forgotten about.

Fast forward again to early 2018 and I’ve recently moved in with my partner and emptied out a load of storage, and guess what I found? Unfortunately it had taken a bit of a battering this time.



Pulled out of storage.



Reunited with its turret.

I learned about how Taigen had an even bigger range now of upgraded parts and opted to replace the upper deck with a new Taigen one, and obtained some new late sprockets. I also ordered the full Taigen V2 electronics package with the smoke unit and speaker. I also rather foolishly tried to add Zimmerit using modelling putty which didn’t work out at all well.



Installing the electronics.



Sporting its shiny new Taigen upper deck.

For the first time in 8 years I got to operate the tank much to my delight. The turret innards were non functional at this point. Unfortunately life reared its head again and the tank was yet again shelved.

We now come to February 2023 and have recently relocated to another part of the country. For quite some time now the Tiger has been at the back of my mind as a project I never got around to finishing, and I decided that I will renovate and finish this tank over the next few months. Compared to how I was previously, I know what I’m doing now and am far more skilled when it comes to painting and modelling.

The hull and running gear were in fine shape and I fixed a previous rookie mistake of mine by tidying up and securing items with double sided tape. The electronics all worked fine and considering it had sat in the hull doing nothing for 5 years the battery works a treat.



Before the electronics were just loose inside except for the ones screwed in, I really didn't know what I was doing years ago.

The same could not be said for the turret. Half the bits from before such as the gun barrel were missing entirely, the innards were either missing or damaged beyond repair, and the turret itself was broken and in pieces.



I'm left with a fully functional hull but the turret is damaged beyond repair.

So this is how my tank ended up at the end of February. Old, diminished and seemingly in a bad way. But like a phoenix, it was about to rise again gloriously. Admittedly not on the level of some of the masterpieces I see on here, but I’m excited to show everyone nonetheless.

[MrChef]

Well that's actually a pretty cool story. Since the Tiger keeps hanging on and popping up over the years it almost deserves to be rebuilt. But I could totally understand if you ended up keeping it for spare parts and went with a new model. It all depends on how much time and effort you are willing to invest I'd guess.

If the broken turret is able to be salvaged might I suggest a BergePanzer Tiger-
http://www.wargames-romania.ro/wordpres ... admax5510/

[HERMAN BIX]

I love seeing an otherwise abandoned project come to life.
If it’s a Taigen turret we should be able to point you to a solution

[LordLudikrous]

Thank you both for the encouragement. I’m running about 2 months behind on these posts so the decisions I’ve made have already been taken, but I’m hoping it will be an entertaining journey.

I made a couple of decisions on how I was going to proceed. Firstly I was going to continue building this as a late Tiger; this entailed removing as much as possible from the model to reflect the streamlining of equipment the Tigers had over time. Secondly I was going to replace the whole turret assembly with a brand new airsoft model. It meant I would get everything I needed, and in the case of the late version the turrets already had Zimmerit applied along with the correct cupola, and as a bonus had a two piece gun with recoil action. I noted Forgebear sold both metal and plastic versions and ultimately I chose to go with plastic. The metal versions looked nice, but they were considerably more expensive and I was concerned the extra weight could cause the upper hull to distort.

I removed as much early Tiger features as possible, such as the Fiefel air filters, the toolbox, headlights, the shovel on the upper front plate etc. One concession I chose to make was to leave the mounting bases for the headlights on top of the hull – I decided that any attempt to remove these would ultimately look terrible and it would be better if they were left without drawing attention to them. This was not going to be a 100% percent accurate Tiger nor was it based off any particular tank. I also ordered a Zimmerit kit which arrived very quickly, so I began work on this straight away.



Old accessories come off.



Zimmerit goes on.

I was able to drill a hole in the glacis and attach a late style headlamp that I had acquired back in 2010 and ultimately never used until this point. Once the Zimmerit was securely glued on, I began blending the edges into the hull to make it less obvious it was a layer that had been stuck on. I started out using Green Stuff, but this proved to be difficult and time consuming to apply with inconsistent results, so I switched to AK modelling putty instead. I also sanded off the terrible original attempt at DIY Zimmerit (ironically done using the same modelling putty I was now using to blend in), just enough to glue the new Zimmerit sheets over the top in a smooth and consistent fashion.



The lower hull is now starting to look more like a late Tiger.

While this was going on, my new turret arrived. I had also taken the opportunity to purchase metal transmission covers to give it that extra bit of detail. I also acquired metal mudflaps and brackets because the plastic ones kept breaking at the slightest bit of contact.



The shiny new transmission covers are installed.

Despite knowing I would have to dismantle it all again to start painting it, I fully assembled all my new components for a test run. For the first time in over a decade, I had a complete and fully functional tank, and the recoil action on the gun and hull as a whole was a delight to behold. I cannot begin to truly express just how excited I was at this moment in time.



After having spent years as just a hull, the Tiger was now whole again.

At this point I was still working on applying and blending the Zimmerit in on the hull, but in the meantime began dismantling the running gear in order to begin the painting process.



With the use of a worktop and two tins of tomatoes I had transformed part of my kitchen into a miniature tank workshop.

The work on the hull was going to take a while, so I decided to make the wheels and sprockets my first components to prime, paint, detail and weather.

[MrChef]

That is a great resurrected project that is coming along very nicely.

I wouldn't be concerned at all about the older headlamp housings. In my searches I've come across period pictures of mismatched and upgraded real Tiger I's, so chalk that up to your Tigers "life experience" and uniqueness.

I've been considering a Late Model Tiger I build myself, so you've got my attention.

Which Zimmerit kit are you using? Because I've heard so many mixed reviews of them.

Which AK putty are you using? Their Epoxy? Because I'm considering ordering some to do weld beads for the future.

Keep it up!

Chef

[MrChef]

FYI there are a lot of good points about a late Tiger I build on this older post from the forum- viewtopic.php?t=31853

[Herr Dr. Professor]

"Despite knowing I would have to dismantle it all again to start painting it, I fully assembled all my new components for a test run." Yes: that's a good idea, for if something needs more fixing and fiddling, it's better to do so before the final painting, lest the paint or any intentional "damage" and "weathering" could be marred.

"i cannot begin to truly express just how excited I was at this moment in time." Yes: you should be excited and happy with your success!

[LordLudikrous]

Thanks everyone, the encouragement is appreciated.

That is a great resurrected project that is coming along very nicely.

I wouldn't be concerned at all about the older headlamp housings. In my searches I've come across period pictures of mismatched and upgraded real Tiger I's, so chalk that up to your Tigers "life experience" and uniqueness.

I've been considering a Late Model Tiger I build myself, so you've got my attention.

Which Zimmerit kit are you using? Because I've heard so many mixed reviews of them.

Which AK putty are you using? Their Epoxy? Because I'm considering ordering some to do weld beads for the future.

Keep it up!

Chef

I'm not sure of the brand but its the rubber ones that Forgebear and Welshdragonmodels sell. I don't know if the ATAK ones are better but they were too expensive to consider as an option. The zimmerit is very easy to work with and when used with UHU glue it stays glued down easily and quickly, so in terms of working with it and painting it I have to give it top marks. However, it is very susceptible to damage, which is something thats going to come up later.

The putty is the AK grey acrylic putty. I found when it comes to sealing up gaps its much more effect than stuff like Liquid Green Stuff and easier to work with.

Next update is coming soon!

[LordLudikrous]

My plan was to paint in the order of wheels & sprockets > rear hull panel > upper deck > lower hull > turret assembly. I still had a lot of work to do on the upper deck, so the first parts to get painted were the sprockets and wheels. I opted to base coat using Citadel Chaos Black spray – I already had a load so it saved money, and I’m well familiar with the best way to use it. It’s a solid reliable spray and would work with both metal and plastic. Afterward the tank would be coated in Tamiya Dark Yellow.



The drive sprockets have received their Dark Yellow coat.



Half the road wheels now join the sprockets.

The paint takes forever and a day to dry on metal so I had plenty of time to do other things. I opted to experiment on which shade to use choosing the inside of the middle set of road wheels so in the event of a suboptimal look it wouldn’t be visible on the finished product.



This road wheel has been shaded with Nuln Oil.



This road wheel has been shaded with Agrax Earthshade.

Clearly Agrax Earthshade was the winner, so I opted to shade the road wheels with Agrax, drybrush with Desert Yellow, and drybrush highlight with Ushabti Bone.



The bottom row of wheels have been fully painted sans weathering while the top row is yet to be shaded or drybrushed.

Using methods I learned painting Warhammer miniatures, I added some additional weathering using the foam dabbing method, finishing off with a light drybrush of Ryza Rust. I didn’t go too far with the weathering as I was aware that a lot of paint was going to be stripped from the wheels through normal use, providing a degree of actual weathering.



These road wheels are finished and await a coat of Munitorum Varnish.

While all this was going on, seeing as my turret came with Zimmerit already applied, I decided to make use of the left overs I had. I cut up some of the turret sections and used one to apply Zimmerit to the lower segment of the lower front plate (which the kit doesn’t cover), and the small strip right at the very front of the hull where the two parts join together. While not perfect, I felt it made it much less obvious where the top deck separates.



The extra Zimmerit has been added at the front and the rest of the Zimmerit has been blended into the hull a bit better using putty. The holes left over by the headlights have been sealed with Green Stuff.



The extra Zimmerit on the lower part of the LFP can be seen here. At the time this was taken the upper deck had received its base coat.

I also did a bit of a quality of life bodge job. Being an older hull, mine lacks anywhere to attach the volume switch under the drivers hatch. So I fashioned a bracket out of Green Stuff and sunk screws in with the switch attached and left it to dry.



The volume switch is now accessible under the driver hatch.

In the meantime, I continued with the painting.



The upper deck now has its coat of Dark Yellow.



The sprockets and idlers have been finished and varnished.



The tank now has its full coat of Desert Yellow.

Now the tank had the basic paintwork attached, it was now time to look at applying the additional colours, in this case Red Brown and Dark Green. Seeing as I didn’t have an airbrush, I was about to get a bit creative.

[LordLudikrous]

So as I mentioned before I don’t have an airbrush available, so I opted to use a combination of spray cans and masking, but to achieve a soft edge used blu tac to keep the masking paper off the surface by a few millimetres. It went fairly well I think, except on the initial passes there were some visible patches showing where the blu tac had been applied, but I was able to get rid of these.



The masking is applied.



The brown coat is applied first.



The green coat is applied second.

To get the tracks looking more like I should, I opted to use some AK burnishing fluid to burnish the metal and apply a light rust effect without having to use paint. I would then simply drive the tank over a hard concrete surface to naturally wear and expose the shiny metal in the right areas.



Soaking the tracks in a bucket outside.

Unfortunately it didn’t go to plan and frankly came out looking terrible. I’m not sure if it I just didn’t use enough burnishing fluid, or it was down to mineral deposits as we live in an area with very hard water, or a combination of both.



Not quite how I was expecting it to look.

In any case I decided it could wait, and could probably be solved later by driving it through some mud and water.

To add definition to the Zimmerit, I gave it a shade of Citadel Agrax Earthshade before drybrushing the appropriate colour over the raised sections.



The Zimmerit looking more defined.

While all this was going on I got to work adding some weathering. I’m quite happy how the engine deck and exhaust shrouds turned out.



A top view of the engine deck.



Rear view of the hull.

I ran into a bit of trouble with the tow ropes where the pegs where just slightly too large for the holes and they broke off when I was trying to attach them. To resolve this I sealed the holes in the hull with Green Stuff, then touched up the paint over them. The ropes just rest on the hull attached via the intact pegs and without very close inspection don’t look anything out of the ordinary. While doing this I also painted up the tools stored on the hull.



A view of the weathered engine deck and ropes.

At this point I also applied weathering to the turret and gun barrel.



Visible weathering on the turret.

The tank now had its basic paint job finished and for the first time since it was disassembled for painting had full function and motive power. A far cry from how it had spent the last 13 years I think. Its also worth noting that the tow ropes on the side of the hull are the sole part that remains of the original Heng Long tank from 2007.



On the prowl under its own power once again.

While I started looking into what decals to apply I started making adjustments to the running gear to try and improve how the tank was running. Needless to say things didn’t go particularly smoothly from here on.