Tigers gallery (3 Viewers)

[Louis Badolato]

As I mentioned on the other Honour Bound Gold vehicle threads, the Gold Edition Tiger Nasir was kind enough to sell me arrived in around 30 pieces. The tracks were broken off the chasis, as were the Muffler covers and one of the muffler heads. At least 10-15 tiny pieces of track were broken off the tracks themselves, and one of the tracks was broken completely in half. Both front fenders were broken off and shattered into around 10-15 pieces each. The hatch cover was broken off the turret, as were various other detail pieces. I have forwarded some photos of the damage Tom Dubel was kind enough to take for me to Brad to post as "before" pictures.

The Donzino's were of the opinion that the Tiger was damaged beyond repair. Nasir is making a claim with the shipper, with which I have been assisting him. Nasir, being an extremely generous person, told me to salvage what I could (he thought the crew and the base) as a gift from him, and throw the rest away. I couldn't see throwing out what amounts to a one of a kind work of art, so I decided to break out the magnifying glass, tweazers and glue, and take a shot at repairing it.

Next I am going to take some photos of the end result of my attempts at repairs, and e-mail them to Brad to post for me. Let me know what you think.

 

[Wraith]

We'll have you repainting half of your collection before too long Louis. I hope all has gone to plan with the repairs.

Simon

 

[desk11desk12]

That's amazing Louis,

I received three Gold Tigers from HB without incident or amazed. I was impressed on the improvements HB made in packing and shipment. Tough luck Louis.

Carlos

 

[Louis Badolato]

I sent Brad five photographs of the repaired Tiger. I am no where near Alex and Carlos' level of skill, but I did my best to piece it back together.

 

[kx1a]

That's amazing Louis,

I received three Gold Tigers from HB without incident or amazed. I was impressed on the improvements HB made in packing and shipment. Tough luck Louis.

Carlos

I like the idea of the bolts and wing nuts. Some of the screws in the bottom led to some severe spauling on my jagpanzer. Luckily, being on the bottom it doesn't show when being displayed. Hey Louis, Good to hear of your work on the Tiger. I have a couple of Stuarts here that could use some "super glueing" if your'e interested

Bill W
Connecticut

 

[Louis Badolato]

That's amazing Louis,

I received three Gold Tigers from HB without incident or amazed. I was impressed on the improvements HB made in packing and shipment. Tough luck Louis.

Carlos

It wasn't the packaging from Honour Bound, it was abuse during shipping. The thick metal screw that was supposed to secure the tank to the base was bent in two different directions (into a shape like an "SS" lightning bolt) and pulled loose from the bottom of the tank. The box must have been thrown or kicked around more than once for this to happen (as an ex-teamster who spect seven years loading trucks on the graveyard shift, I can tell you that this is, sadly, not an uncommon occurence, especially on a very busy shift - the packages never slow down, and you have to keep loading, so instead of building tight and tidy walls which hold the packages in place and protect them, you just throw them into the back of the trailer and then build a wall in front to hide this from the supervisors - the loose packages then bang against the walls and each other the whole time they are in transit). Once the tank was loose from the base, it just banged around inside the box and broke into pieces.

 

[jazzeum]

Here are the before photos. I'll try to get to the after photos a bit later.

 

[jazzeum]

Last three of before.

 

[nmrocks]

Jeez, that sucks....Hard! Lousy luck Louis, you really have to wonder about what some people do at work with these parcels.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Thanks Brad!

By the way guys, did you notice the bend on the thick metal screw? It is bent again where it comes out of the base. The shipper really must have beat the heck out of that package to bend the screw like that!

I'm excited for you guys to see the "after" photos . . .

 

[fmethorst]

Louis,

I had to cringe when I saw those pictures. Was the green HB box placed inside another box with shipping peanuts? What did the outside box look like? Was there obvious abuse visble there?

That tank sure has gone through a lot.

Good luck with your repairs.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Louis,

I had to cringe when I saw those pictures. Was the green HB box placed inside another box with shipping peanuts? What did the outside box look like? Was there obvious abuse visble there?

That tank sure has gone through a lot.

Good luck with your repairs.

Thanks frank!

The repairs were done before I asked Brad to post the photos. I am really excited for you gents to see the results. I am a rank amateur, but I poured a lot of sweat equity into that tank (to the toon of 5 hours hunched over a magnifying glass) and I am really proud of the results. If I had the ability to airbrush the few areas where repaired breaks are still slightly visible, I don't think you could tell the tank had ever been broken.

 

[OzDigger]

Louis,

I had to cringe when I saw those pictures. Was the green HB box placed inside another box with shipping peanuts? What did the outside box look like? Was there obvious abuse visble there?

That tank sure has gone through a lot.

Good luck with your repairs.

When I ship more expensive models, especially Honour Bound, I put shipping peanuts INSIDE the box as well as pack it in a larger box with shipping peanuts. To do otherwise is tempting fate imo.

 

[jazzeum]

Here are after photos. Looks like Louis did a heck of a job in putting this back together.

 

[OzDigger]

Well done

 

[damian]

Well I would not let the shipping company see those after pics. They would try and wiggle out of Nasir and your claim for compensation. They are so good.

 

[nasirkasmani]

well done Louis.

its a credit to your 'amateur' skills that you have managed to restore it this well.

i think you're very humble about your modeling abilities.

if you get some foliage (as in the Sherman with foliage) on top of the tank, the faults will be masked even further.

you can look at Frank's wonderful Das Reich tank as an example.

sincerely,

nasir kasmani

 

[Louis Badolato]

Nasir,

That is an excellent idea. I tried to camouflage the most obvious faults (where I had to piece the front fenders back together) with the extra stowage, but you can still see the fracture lines where I connected the fenders back to the tank.

I thought you would appreciate knowing that your intention, that this wonderful tank be on display in the museum, came to fruition, albeit in a damaged form.

Your friend,

Louis

 

[lancer]

Louis - for what it's worth, I think you did an outstanding job with your repair work. My old eyes tell me those cracks are "battle damage" and will serve to remind you of your great effort. Well done. -- lancer

 

[nasirkasmani]

Hi Louis,

you are right, i'm actually rather proud and happy to see it displayed in your museum, though in damaged form.

but i'm confident with the foliage, the fault lines won't be obvious, unless one really preens and concentrate on that 1 piece alone.

not a simple task i reckon, with the numerous wonderful toys at your museum.

put some infantry around the tank, and viola, its another veteran German Tiger.