Tiger I (1:72) – Diorama
Here is a diorama with the 1:72 scale version of my very first model, a German Tiger I heavy tank of the Second World War. Put into a little display case, it was a gift for a dear person.
This is the 25th model I completed, built from December 2017 to March 2018. It's the small‑scale version of my first work, dating back to more than five years ago. This time however I avoided all the shoddy novice mistakes I made when I built and painted it.
Model
The kit is by Revell (model no. 03116), easy to build, with very few seam lines and almost invisible pin marks. Tracks are in polystyrene, in variable length segments, thus making easier the assembling without sacrificing the final look. The only drawback is the solid gun muzzle, on which I had to make a hole with a small hand drill.
For the camo, I chose to replicate the flat Dunkelgelb of my first model (this time with a more realistic hue...). I used Vallejo acrylic paints, Model Air 71.025 Dark Yellow and Model Color 70.976 Buff, mixed in different ratios. This time I didn't want to overdo the weathering, due to the short average lifespan of these tanks, painting only a few scratches. After that, the usual steps of oil washes, a Sepia filter (acrylic Vallejo Game Color Wash 73.200 Sepia Shade) and a light layer of dust.
Diorama
For the base I employed the same method of the diorama of the Leopard 1A4 in 1:72 scale. First of all I put an acrylic paste by Vallejo (26.213 Rough Grey Pumice), colored with some drops of Vallejo Model Air 71.075 Sand . Eventually I blended the base color in a random pattern with the Sepia wash. I omitted the zones behind the tracks, because I wanted to give the impression of the gravel crushed by the passing tank.
Finally, here's the Tiger I model in its diorama, set in the Tunisian desert in late 1942. I enclosed it in a clear plastic display case, to protect it from the dust.
