1/48 Tamiya Tiger I Early Production

Having decided to build 1/48 scale armor kits for the time being, this excellent kit was my first in line. Not only am I a bit tired of building aircraft kits, I'm also running out of space on my bookshelf which I also use for displaying my models. I suppose I'll have to stick to 1/48th's for now till I can rearrange my shelf and try to get some more space for future and/or larger models.

Tamiya is known for it's high quality products and this kit is no exception. Despite being smaller than its 1/35 scale counterpart, the parts are very well detailed, there was absolutely no flash at all and no visible pin marks to cover up. With this level of detail, I think 1/48 kits are excellent for building dioramas or vignettes for those who are confined to smaller display spaces.

Here's the building process :

Wheels attached to the famous die-cast chassis. The kit was actually heavier than I had anticipated even after reading all the reviews.

Link and length tracks attached. The tracks aren't too difficult to put together as one of the sprues has a frame which can be used as a guide when building the tracks to produce a sagging effect.

On most of the photos or videos I've seen on the internet, the top part of the track just behind the sprocket wheel has a sharp bend which looks rather awkward. This is most likely due to the shape of the frame of the sprue used as a guide for building the tracks. To give it a more natural looking sag, I switched places for a couple of links.

Tracks glued then held into position with a toothpick and some tissue. 

Build completed. Only the main gun barrel needed some putty work to conceal the seams.

Model primed and ready for paintwork.

There are 4 types of tanks that you can build with this kit but since I didn't have the appropriate paint colors for other types, I decided to go with Tank no.332, sPzAbt 503, Russia, Summer of 1943, which was painted in german gray.

I initially painted the model with Mr.Color 40 (german gray) which in my opinion is a bit too dark compared to paints from other manufacturers and painted another very light coat of dark seagray.

It was only after painting the model that I realized that this particular tank, no.332, didn't have extra track links attached to the sides of the turret. Oh well, too late..

Lastly, photos of the finished model, painted and weathered. All in all, it was a fun kit to build as it wasn't too difficult and it took me only about 3 days to complete. Moreover, I could still apply weathering techniques just like its larger 1/35 scale models. I am definitely building more of these including figures to perhaps build a diorama sometime soon.