True. Its a well known fact that even with Dragon/Cyber Hobby’s latest - and much ballyhooed - Wittman Kursk Early Tiger uber-kit, there are multiple corrections one needs to do to the kit.
Not to hijack the thread but a question for a person new to German armor… does the Tiger have to have the zimmerit? I have seen both early mid and late models without it. I apologize if this has been asked a 100 times before but researching all the google links that appear when searching seem to show pictures of the Tigers with and without it. Never calculated the percentage but guess it is close to 50-50. If anyone can answer a total German newb armor builder, this would be much apprecatiated as I have a dml Dragon Tiger on the bench now.
Regards to all,
Steve
Only a late production “needs” to have zim. It all depends on date of production of the vehicle you want to represent. Ofcourse I can’t remember when they started to add zim at the factory, but sometime in mid 1943, but the order to stop using zim was issued on September 9 1944. Any Tiger produced in this time frame, be it Tiger I or Tiger II had zim ( With the exception of Tiger II chassis # V1 and V2 )
If your Tiger was manufactured from sep 43 to sep 44, then zim it. All late Tigers should have it. Basically, everything up to and shortly after Kursk is safe to go without zim. There are a few very late war Tigers (Kampfgruppe Ferrmann, and others) fitted with old drum cupola turrets that are seemingly without zimmerit, but, have late steel rimmed roadwheels. The best thing to do is pick a well photographed tank and build it, with or without, as the actual tank dictates.
Good luck,
Steve
Thank you both for the responses. Valuable information! I can now go back and study the pictures and understand why some did and some did not. Again, very much appreciated.
For anyone needing the ultimate photo documentation of zimmerit Tiggers and a wealth of information on which companies used early, mid, or late vehicles, AND which ones had zimmerit too—they’re a bit pricey, but the “Tigers in Combat” (Schnieder)series are hard to top. I think they’re even available in paperback in BORDERS, although the photographic quality in paperback isn’t as good. I couldn’t live without my original copies!
The early Academy Tiger I is more accurate than the mid. You can fix alot of the internal inaccuracies with styrene. Not as hard as it seems. Here is a tweak list for the Academy early http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/jptiger/jptiger.htm and the Mid http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/mmtiger/mmtiger.htm PE can be found for the interior as well http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=EDU35500 http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=EDU35518 With some work it builds into a great kit. The Tamiya trak is rubberband with closed guide horns. If you are not going for accuaricy they will work, but you will need thread to make the proper sag. This would be my choice for a Tiger I. Tiger Models Designs makes some great after market goodies as well http://www.tigermodels.com/storepro5/picserve.cgi?picserve=/german/3516201.gif 8 different mantlets, so you can pick the one that you need. Spare track link holders, several copulas some with interiors. http://www.tigermodels.com/storepro5/agora.cgi?cart_id=%�rt_id%%&product=Tigermodels&user4=German&xm=on And of course you will need aftermarket track. Fruilmodels will be easier to clean upbut the wire that holds it together needs to be replaced, but they have a heavy sag and are workable. Modelkasten are plastic and requir alsot of work, too insert the connecting pins and seperate guid horns. But if you have the patiance in my opinion they look great. And are totaly workable. Sorry to muddy up the water.
Best Regards,
Mark
Reading all these posts about these different kit attribites and deficiencies, I can’t help but say that I’m sure if you threw $200.00 USD in AM accessories and hours of scratchbuilding at the crummiest Tiger kit out there, you could approach perfection.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think that was your question. For the price and value, the Dragon kits really can’t be beat right now. As far as an interior goes, accurate interiors are great, but 90% of it will never be seen, unless you display a split up model…which I have done in 1/25th (see below).
I get the feeling you want a good kit at a reasonable price…IMHO…go Dragon.
Steve
