Painting Challenge Theme Entry - Winter Tiger I in 15mm from Battlefront

Tiger I from Battlefront

One interesting aspect of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is the bonus theme rounds.  You can get more info on them here, but in short you are able to make a submission that matches a theme and score a few extra points.  Curt introduced these bonus themes last year, and while I only participated in a few of the rounds, overall they certainly captured the imagination of the participants (as well as some "creative" interpretations of the themes themselves). 

The base is meant to be chilly, but not full-on winter...

This year, the first bonus theme was "Cold", so I submitted this 15mm size Tiger I from Battlefront.  I made sure this beast was very heavily weathered (something I do to most of the tanks I paint).  I usually get carried away, but I like these suckers to reflect the heavy use they would have seen in near continuous action as they try in vain to hold off the hammer blows of the Red Army.

Lots and lots of muck

The winter has snow yes, but scads of mud too, and rain, then more snow, then wind, then sleet, and then of course a lot of enemy fire.  I figure that doesn't bode well for white-wash, and weathered the sh*t out of it accordingly.

Didn't spare any surface from the muck...

The base was not full-on covered in snow, as I am trying to paint some "winter-ish" stuff as opposed to full-on winter, to extend the "eligible" seasons for this model into fall and spring, as well as looking OK on a fully winter table.  I am painting infantry and other vehicles the same way to match this style of basing, and hope to add some frozen puddles etc. on future vehicles.

A lot of soot-coloured weathering powder went on the muzzle brake

I left all of the hatches open with crew popped out for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I intend this to represent a command vehicle on the gaming table, so the extra crew help with that.  But I also imagined that, even in the worst of winter,the crew would need a breath of fresh air, even a short one, especially if they have seen some protracted action.

Ready for Ostfront action

Be sure to check out all of the bonus entries from the "Cold" theme here (including those of Conscripts Byron and Kevin H - amazing stuff gents - I hope you post some photos up here as well too!).