As regular readers will be aware, I already have a number of (metal) Tiger 1s, so why on earth do I need more of them? Well, Tigers crop in all sorts of interesting places and I've frequently been vaguely unhappy with eg using a midwar Tiger as a stand-in for Panzer Company Hummel at Arnhem in late 1944 etc. Anyway, I thought it was time to bite the bullet and scratch this particular obsessive itch. My metal Tiger 1s are all fairly standard mid production models.
And here we are, three Battlefield 3D resin Tiger 1s undercoated and ready to be painted. They all look so similar and yet....
Being quite large vehicles, these are all four part models. Hull, turret and a pair of tracks. The master STLs are by Night Sky Miniatures who also did some of the excellent US vehicles I recently got. These are proper scale models, so some of the detail is quite fine.
This is an early production hull and turret. You can see the primitive commanders cupola.
And obviously the engine deck is festooned with all the gubbins which makes up the Fiefel air filters. This one has the smaller straight sided turret bin.
The second Tiger is also an early production model, identical to the first except it has a mid production angled turret bin on the early model turret. This was a custom print very kindly made up by Phil at Battlefield 3D.
And finally we have a vehicle I've never owned before (unless you count the very bodged Airfix kit and a few 6mm ones), a late production Tiger with the Tiger II style steel rimmed wheels. These were far and away the most common types in Northwest Europe in 1944.
Along with the turret being festooned with track links, it also has the later cupola and AAMG mount.
The engine deck is also free of Feifel gubbins. If you look very, very carefully, the hull and turret sides are also covered in Zimmeritt, although in this scale the corrugations very fine.
I don't usually put up pictures of vehicles in undercoat, but it illustrates how they end up when I've prepped them. I usually do them in matt black, then mist them with white spray from about 2' away. It gives an excellent 'tooth' for the top coat and also provides some instant highlights and shading, if you put the paint on thin. The contrast is more marked than the photos show. Many thanks to Dr Faustus Painting Clinic for that method.
I've got specific plans for each one of these, and I'll post up each model as they are done. That will be bring me up to six Tiger 1s, four Tiger IIs and one Jagdtiger.
Superb looking models. What is your cost to have these models printed?
ReplyDeleteThe Tigers were 8 GBP each, so not the cheapest but cheaper than metal ones or Zvezda plastic ones. Battlefield 3D do their own stuff and also print 3rd party files, so the prices are quite variable depending on the licence terms.
DeleteI'm thinking of replacing all my old metal early war German armour with 3D prints. I like painting tanks and some of my older vehicles are really horrible models, but were the only things available in the late 90s.
Very nice models. Good tip that they can do the angled bin on the early turret. The steel road wheels were introduced into production February so became common from mid ‘44. You see a lot in pictures from Normandy. Still quite a few of the rubber wheeled versions around.
ReplyDeleteMost of my early war are the remastered Quality Castings and very nice they are too. Lots of detail. I have been a bit disappointed in some of the early war castings I have had as 3D prints. Particularly things like Panzer III’s and IV’s where the road wheels are single not double. If you get any of the Battlefield 3D ones I would be interested in your opinion of them.
Re doing all my early war stuff is a bit of an indulgence and an excuse to buy more vehicles. I'm looking around at various options at the moment, but B3D seem a good bet and possibly Skytrex. I'm not averse to metal models. I've largely given up on QRF as they seem to have fallen into chaos again.
DeleteSkytrex stuff is nice, but not cheap. The early war stuff is lovely. Some very nice Panzer I's and II's including the Panzer IA and the very early Panzer IIa/b. Only gap is the Pz 35t. I have not found a decent one, but have the Battlefield 3D one on order. QRF have gone AWOL again. I gather Geoff now has the moulds for the modern ranges and they will go into production soon.
ReplyDeleteI fancy getting a greater variety of types for my early war stuff, particularly early model Pz I and II. Tbh I can afford to indulge myself a little. My Pz 38 are all Zvezda, which are neat models but perhaps on the small side. I'm planning on keeping those.
DeleteMy 38t's are Quality Castings and lovely models. Lots of detail. The rivets are done particularly well.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone wanting cheap early Tiger I's Flames of War have a Black Friday sale. The Afrika Korps Tigers are £13.50 for 2 so £6.75 each which is cheaper than resin 3D prints. For some reason best known to battlefront the early war Tiger platoon is £16.20 for 2 identical kits!