Tamiya 1/35 Tiger I Ausf.E Mid-Production Build Review

By Chris Crowder

Construction

Tamiya's modern family of Tiger I kits have been staples of armor modeling since their introduction in the 1990s. They are a good blend of high detail mixed with easy construction, easily superdetailed with any number of aftermarket sets. For my build I decided to try a few new techniques, sort of an experimentation model.

The kit was built with minimal extra work. I did replace the kit fenders with some leftover PE parts robbed from an older Academy Tiger, some PE mesh for the grilles, and zimmerit.

For the zimmerit I decided to try the hot knife method. This involved cutting the tip of a #11 X-acto knife blade off about 1/4 of the way down the blade. This gave a flat chisel about 4mm wide, which was then tied to the tip of a soldering iron with copper wire. Once heated, the knife blade easily melted the appropriate ridges into the plastic. A light sanding and coating of liquid glue finished the zimmerit process. Although not perfect by any means, it is still a quick and cheap way to produce a decent ridged zimmerit pattern.

Painting and Finishing

The tank was painted in the usual three-color camo scheme of dark yellow, red brown, and olive green. The finish was heavily faded and worn using both my airbrush and pastel chalks.

Chalks were also used to color the tracks after they were painted in a base coat of red brown. A few Rustall washes here and there completed the weathering process.

I believe the markings are for a Tiger of the 101st Heavy Tank Battalion attached to the 1st SS Panzer Division in Normandy, 1944.

The final step was to add some foliage, made from dried caspia branches colored with pastels, to help keep the tank safe from prowling Allied aircraft.

Conclusion

It was a quick and easy build, perfect for anyone wanting a break from more involving projects.