New Release: King Tiger Tank (3 Viewers)

I agree that it is an excellent piece,I did say that in my earlier post.What unnerves me somewhat is the lack of research into basic unit markings,and many people who buy this piece may not have the modelling skills or confidence to redesign the insignia.
Jeff
The marking should be rather easy to alter or remove. At any rate, that is what I will be doing. -- Al
 
Jeff..

Good point about the removal of decals I often forget that just because one person finds it easy not so for everyone My apologies but, I was just saying that sometimes things can be left on for example, some of the Kursk vehicles were still sporting their unique kursk markings well into the following year after that battle and, I have seen some SS tanks left for other SS divisions still sporting the original divisions markings even though that division was not even in theatre at that time.

I agree that manufacturers often get things wrong but, its confusing sometimes when even the history books also do this a lot of collectors often just do not care as long as the set in question looks great
Mitch


I agree that it is an excellent piece,I did say that in my earlier post.What unnerves me somewhat is the lack of research into basic unit markings,and many people who buy this piece may not have the modelling skills or confidence to redesign the insignia.
Jeff
 
Jeff..

Good point about the removal of decals I often forget that just because one person finds it easy not so for everyone My apologies but, I was just saying that sometimes things can be left on for example, some of the Kursk vehicles were still sporting their unique kursk markings well into the following year after that battle and, I have seen some SS tanks left for other SS divisions still sporting the original divisions markings even though that division was not even in theatre at that time.

I agree that manufacturers often get things wrong but, its confusing sometimes when even the history books also do this a lot of collectors often just do not care as long as the set in question looks great
Mitch

Fair point Mitch.Still an excellent model and marked down for Christmas!!!
Jeff
 
I thought it would be interesting to track down where the 50 Porsche Turrets ended up and which ones had zimmerit. Here is what I managed to find so far.

The Porsche turret was mounted on the first 50 Tiger II chassis (Fgst.Nr. V1-V3 and 280001-280047). Fgst.Nr. 280048 was produced in June 1944 which means all Tiger IIs shipped prior to June had the Porsche turret.This includes:

Fgst.Nr. V2 is the Tiger II (Porsche-Turm) currently on display at Bovington. This tank does not have zimmerit and was found by the British at Henschel's test area in Haustenbeck.

I don't have information on what happened to Fgst.Nr.V1 and V3.

March 1944
Pz.Lehr.Div. - 5 (Fgst.Nr.280001-280005). These Tigers all had zimmerit.

April 1944
Waffenamt Prüfwesen 6 (Weapons Proof Department 6) - 3 (Porsche-Turm)
Ersatz-Heer (Replacement Army) - 4 (Porsche-Turm)

May 1944
Waffenamt Prüfwesen 6 (Weapons Proof Department 6) - 3 (Porsche-Turm)
Ersatz-Heer (Replacement Army) - 4 (Porsche-Turm)

That's 22.


June 1944
1./s.H.Pz.Abt.503 (1st company 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion (Army)) - 12 (Porsche-Turm). These all had zimmerit.

July 1944
3./s.H.Pz.Abt.503 (3rd company 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion (Army)) - 12 (Porsche-Turm), 2 (Serien-Turm). These all had zimmerit. Two of the Tiger IIs (Porsche-Turm) were left behind when the unit deployed to the front due to technical problems.


So far that accounts for 46 of 50


s.H.Pz.Abt.503 (503rd Heavy Tank Battalion (Army)) was renamed s.H.Pz.Abt.FHH (Feldhernnhalle Heavy Tank Battalion (Army))

September 1944
s.H.Pz.Abt.FHH (Feldhernnhalle Heavy Tank Battalion (Army)) - 43 (Serien-Turm), 2 (Porsche-Turm).The two Tiger IIs (Porsche-Turm) are the same tanks left behind by the unit in August. Both of these tanks ended up in 3rd company (Tiger 314 and 334) and were shipped to Hungary with the rest of the unit in Oct. 1944. I believe these are likely the only two Tigers with the Porsche turret to receive whitewash.

s.H.Pz.Abt.506 (506th Heavy Tank Battalion (Army)) - This unit was in the process of refitting with 45 Tiger II (Serien-Turm) when it was ordered to deploy to the Arnhem area to deal with the Allied operation there. It borrowed a number of Tiger II (Porsche-Turm) from the Paderborn training facility during this time.



So we are left with 4 Tiger II (Porsche-Turm) unaccounted for. My suspicion is they ended up with Wa.Prüf 6 and/or the Ersatz-Heer (replacement army).

In March 1945 various scratch units were assembled using Tigers from the Ersatz-Heer and proving grounds. It is possible that early Tiger IIs (Porsche-Turm) were encountered at the end of the war.
 
My preference is for the Porsche version, it is more aesthetic looking (though I realise it was inferior, ballistically, to the Henschel version). Any chance of CS doing a Heer crew for those of is who want to display the model as a Wehrmacht version?
 
Porsche variant no zimm both versions could not get much better
Mitch
 
Thank you, Frank, for doing the homework for us. Very impressive.
 
Brian...

Any news on when the codes etc and pics will be up on your website??
Mitch
 
vehicle_tiger2_1.jpg


Maybe the guy riding the tank is little, but this beast sure does look big. Does the CS model get the scale right?
 
I think with the recent larger vehicles the KT will be a beast, The detail already from what has been shown look excellent
Mitch
 

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