This is my test bed for all new techniques. It's an ancient 1/35 scale Tamiya King Tiger tank. I first built this in about 1988, when I was a teenager, and although it is a terrible, terrible build, as a workhorse this model has served me well ever since.
The finished build really is atrocious. There are globs of glue everywhere, just great run-off rivers of the stuff from when I first built it.
It has lost a lot of pieces over the years. Road wheels, the main gun muzzle break, hull-mounted tools, and turret mounts for spare tracks are all gone.
One of the back idler wheels has broken off, so the rubberband tracks on that side are loose and funky without sufficient tension now.
But, all that aside, this is a great beast for taking whatever caustic or ill-advised crap I throw at it. I've tried out paint removal methods (oven cleaner, anyone?) and rust duplication (dissolve steel dishpads in vinegar, watch out for those toxic acid fumes which can accidentally kill you!). My first ever airbrushing attempt was on this baby.
But most importantly, as a test bed I don't care if I stuff something up on this model when trying out a new technique.
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| Ah, that spidering on the turret was a very early airbrushing attempt... |
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| That splodge of yellow down the front glacis plate? Dot filtering. |
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| Look at those globs of glue. |
Yesterday I airbrushed it Russian Green overall, in preparation for a video I'm hoping to shoot today about washes, pin washes, filters and dot filters.
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| A Koenigstiger looks mighty strange in Russian Green. |
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| You can see the broken idler wheel here. |
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| Is than main gun actually drooping??? |
It's good to have a test bed model. I really recommend trying unreversible techniques on a test bed, rather than on your latest pride and joy that you've spent dozens of hours carefully creating. Much less stressful.
The old beast comes in handy once again.
Cheers,
Dave
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