The hull and turret were spayed with my own mix of red oxide made form Model Master flat enamel. This vehicle will be a late one which left the factory in primer. the camouflage will represent a hand-painted ambush scheme.

As the camouflage will represent a hand painted finish, I decide to use a hard-edge mask from masking tape. thin strips were first cut and applied to achieve the tight curves. A long piece for the barrel was hand cut with wavy edge and applied.

The areas to remain red oxide were masked off and the yellow sprayed on, followed by the green.

Archer dry transfers are ideal as there is no carrier film to deal with. I picked the 007 as 7 is my lucky number!

A thinned was of Tamiya Panzer yellow was applied to dull and blend the colours.

The hull being masked in preparation for spraying.

The completed sprayed camouflage waiting for dots.

The dots for the ambush scheme were hand applied. I was unconcerned about consistency as in the field this would not be a consideration.

  This is one of my more brilliant ideas. How to get the mg barrel into the forward hull after I forgot to glue it in earlier? Easy, glue it to the finger tip, stick through and pull it off. I DO NOT recommend this for large pieces.       

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Here are a few in-progress of my Bandai Tiger II. The model is serving as a base for the new track set by Track 48. The track runs have been made up of individual links, cast from masters made by Ben Jacobson. Much test fitting has been necessary to ease construction. The Battalion Bits production turret along with a Track 48 brass barrel is being used for this conversion. (See the Products section for the listings) The master for the turret was done by Konrad Schreier of California. Please excuse the white plastic shim at the bottom of the turret as I over-sanded the casting. (Sorry Konrad!!!!)

  1) These are the  masters for the track runs, curves and spares which were cast from individual links. They are ready for final de-glitching. I use Mr. Surfacer to fill in the joints and to prime the surface. This material is a light to neutral grey colour which allows flaws to show up easily.

2) Mr. Surfacer is used to fill in any gaps that there might be between the links.

3) Test-fitting the curve around the drive sprocket.

4) First the lower hull was sprayed with iron oxide coloured primer. This was done as I am doing a late production vehicle. I mixed up my own paint using Model Master flat enamels. Once dry, the hull was washed with a very diluted mixture of Humbrol yellow-brown. You will notice that I filled one of the mounting holes for the idler wheel. This was done to allow it to swing, thus allowing me to close the gap between the runs of track.

5) The wheels were washed with the same diluted mixture of Humbrol yellowish brown Following this, the edges were highlighted with a mixture of silver 'Rub-N-Buff' and graphite. The face of each wheel was also given a light rub with graphite.

6) Aligning the first set of roadwheels using a straight edge. I checked them in all dimensions.

7) Positioning of the outer road wheels. The drive sprocket, idler wheel and idler arm are not glued at this point

8) Test fitting one of the first test shots. The flexible resin conforms to the sprockets easily. I had made moulds for short runs of rigid resin and even cast them. Since these track sets are going to be sold, I thought it best to make them very easy to assemble hence., they evolved as two pieces of flexible resin..

The two identical pieces are cleaned up and glued end to end with ca. I use three sections of brass tubing as a bed for the tracks to lie upon.

Crawling across my table...the entire run.

NEW PRODUCT ALERT! Mr. Surfacer now comes as resin primer. It smells like it is cut with acetone which will give it a bit more bite. The 'ol scratch test found it to be quite durable.

The tracks were first sprayed with a dark reddish brown acrylic paint. When dried, a wash of thinned down Humbrol yellow ochre was applied and let to dry. Following this, I mist coated the tracks with a mixture of rust and the same ochre to blend the colours a bit.

Graphite dust was rubbed and brushed onto the tacks.

The painted run was glued end to end to complet a loop.

The complete track was streatched onto the wheels. CA was applied to the top of the wheels and the tracks were pushed into position with shoprt pieces of a glue stick to get the needed sag. By the way, I am building two Tigers at the same time. One will be the standard early production model with a yellow base while the other will be a late production version painted in red oxide primer.

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