Tamiya 1/35 Konigtiger, Ardennes Front, Command version - GROUND TEAM

The kit was a re-box of an older kit Tamiya released but sadly I cannot narrow down how exactly ago but some sources told me it was released on 2003 so lets just go with that.

I really really had fun working on this cat. I also learned a lot of stuffs as well.

The colour I used were a mix of ( all Tamiyas ) dark yellow + tan for the base, blue and yellow to get my own shade of olive green , red,brown, dark red and hull red get the red-brown shade I like. Literally the same as the colours I used on my Panther.

And Like the Panther, after my base coat, follows a massive bombardment of gloss, flat, filters and washes. The Hardedges were painted using Blu-tac for masking.

I Forgot how I painted the tracks... sorry ...

I didn't make the rust as dark as how I did on the Panther as This vehicle is most likely to be only 4 months ( at most ) so I wanted to keep the rust more fresh, hence, a brighter tone and because of that, I also kept the chipping to a minimum except the busy and maintained engine area. The same procedure from the Panther's rust was used here.

I didn't do any streaking for a vehicle operating in a very cold environment like the Ardennes Forest so I avoided that entirely.

The Snow effect was put on using Game Workshop snow effect thingy. Unfortunately, they were not in powder form but in some kind of small shaped stuffs that when I sprinkled them on, it looks more like white cut grass are on the vehicle, although it looks fine from far away but on camera, it looks really bad. The stuff is great for making clump snow though. I opted out of using baking soda due to a article I read that explain that baking power react with paints and make some kind of disgusting brownish gooey stuff.

I been looking at references dioramas and some internet researches and I came to the conclusion that the Ardennes Forest has some kine of chocholate/milky brown colour mud so I tried my best to reproduce them at much as possible. I also tried my best to put in some snow in the muds ( personally, I do not think that is convincing enough but this is my first time putting snow so I can't complain much )

This is also my 2nd time painting figures and 1st time painting on flesh and eyes on the face. I made some boo-boos but I'm still happy they came out at least OK.

I'm not sure If I did good or not I loved how it looks myself. I  put down more of the methods I learn on this cat and it was well worth it.

The ONLY thing I am not happy about is the Stern Antenna. Sadly, I used a rather thick diameter rod for the star shaped end and it ended up rather large compared with vehicle in scale Damn it to all.. I realize it but I couldn't be bother to build a new one any more .. IT was a hard thing to make  

But enough chit-chat .... Its time for the photos -
Lets start with some walk-around, profile views
If you think the Photos are small, just click on them and the full size will pop up

 

Much like my Panther and the earlier C1 Ariete, I broke this guy down into sub albums so I can cover everything I done just as you guys can look into each section seperately -

Here comes the top views -

Various chippings I put on -

The exhaust rust-

The mud I put on all over the chassis-

And some shots a little bit more close ups of the snow I put on -

and last but not least, the two crew men from the SS-PanzerAbteilung 501 -

And some bibs and bobs of different angles photos I shot just for fun -

'' BANG '' 

 And That covers all I have done. 

I know I am not a pro and I still have much to learn but I really love how this looks and really enjoy knowing how much I can apply what I have learned these past few months. I'm really happy to add this in my list of finished kit. 

and as always, I could not finish this without the support of my great friends and peers and comrades. Your supports are much appreciated.

Thanks for looking. C&C and feedbacks are welcomed.