This was the third kit I built, building on the experience of my previous two kits. I love the King tiger, its lines and mass really demonstrating the art of tank building at its height during this period, it is breathtakingly menacing and purposeful. To this end I couldnt wait for one to come up on ebay so I purchased this kit from an American dealer who was selling it cheaper than UK retailers. From the build point of view, I ordered the Eduard etched brass superdetailing set , and a Jordi Rubio barrel, having been much impressed by the quality of both companies products. Unfortunately the company I ordered from sent me the wrong detailing set, supplying a set from Aber. This set was just as excellent as the Eduard set, but the Aber set is brass coloured rather than the dull metal finish of the Eduard, so if you have any etched parts that wear against each other ( in the case of this king tiger, the turret base and the anti grenade grilles under it), the brass colour will show through as the paint wears off, leading to the need for constant retouch if you like posing your finished model. The zimmerit was made with my now standard Milliput and Airwaves punches, although during this project I found I was applying the putty to thickly and devised a different method for my next tank. The barrel was a nice , easy fit, joining snugly but requiring the gun mount to be bored out somewhat to accomodate it ( I used a mini drill with a router to do this). The kit was airbrushed in Tamiya paint, hand weathered with Tamiya silver paint and a rust mixture iImade up from mixing Tamiya hull red ( XF-9) and Games Workshop brown ink. The tank was finished with dark pastels, and rusted with pastels also. The numerals and crosses were hand painted, the crosses utilising the express masks supplied by Eduard with thier etched kits ( a very handy little extra). The tank commander waas painted in SS splinter colours, but im useless at this and he doesnt fit the bill really, I am working on getting this right, and when I do, hes for a revamp ! ( if anyone can offer me some painting tips for this type of cam, please email me!!!). All in all I rate this kit as A++, its beautifully fitted and captures the King Tiger perfectly.
Historically, the King Tiger was the last major battle tank to see service with the Panzer waffe and the SS. It saw action on both fronts and dispatched its opponents with ease, its combination of thick sloped armor ( with a similar configuration to the Panther ) and a hard hitting 88mm gun, it was a truly fomidable opponent. However, its great size and weight also told against it, it was difficult to deploy effectively, becoming easily bogged in soft ground, even with its tremendously broad battle tracks. It had to be transported on specially constructed Reichsbahn carriages and suffered from a very poor power to weight ratio. The tank was produced in two versions, differing only in turret design. This is the first production run version, of which 50 were made. This has the "Porsche" turret, designed by Dr Porsche for his abortive Tiger project. It is distinguishable from the later Henschel production turret by its rounded curves, the bulge on the commanders side and the lack of a saukopf gun mantlet. This was discontinued when it was found that the rounded leading edge of the turret was an excellent shot trap, deflecting shells downwards into the drivers compartment. The turret was also harder to manufature and stored less ammunition than the Henschel version. |
