I have Dragon’s King Tiger Porsche w/ Zimm (#6302) and my question is: Did the early Porsche King Tigers have the track hangars on the sides of the turret like the Henschel models?
The kit provides PE and plastic parts but theres no indentations where they would normally go like on the Henschel kits. The box art doesn’t have it on there but the painting diagrams do. I’ve tried searching for photos of the actual tanks but I haven’t had much luck with that. I’m thinking they did since Dragon kits are pretty accurate but I’ve also read elsewhere that early models didn’t have those so I thought I’d ask for a 2nd opinion.
I’ve been looking around at some of the other kits and builds and it seems like its a mixed bag. The Tamiya kit does not have them but I’ve seen other. The box art on Dragons Porsche King Tiger Premium Edition has them but that could just be artistic interpretation.
I did some more research and it seems like they did not have them so I think I’ll leave them off my kit and add the extra PE to the spares box.
While the orders for track hangers to be welded to the turrets was issued in late June 1944, (Jentz, VK45.02 to Tiger II, page 72), the only vehicles I can find are two from sPzAbt. 503 that broke-down while filming a propaganda movie and were left behind at Mailly le Camp during the battle for Normandy, which were then shipped back to Germany for rebuild, presumably receiving track hangers on the turret at this time. These vehicles later reappeared in Hungary, Anneliese, # 314, (as seen here and on the box art), is one of them. Apparently, in the second batch of KTs received by the 3rd Co. of the 503rd in late July, 1944, some of the vehicles had spare tracks on turret sides. I have not seen these photos.
Thanks for your help. There was probably a mix of some that had them and some that did not. The surving example of the Porshe King Tiger I saw did not have them or the Zimmerit coating. I think it would be hard to attach them anyhow with the rigid Zimmerit coating on the surface so I’ll just leave them off.
The surviving “Porsche” Tiger II at Bovington is not a production vehicle, this vehicle was the second soft steel prototype made (Fgst. Nr. V2) and did not see active service, hence the lack of Zimmerit. Museum vehicles are rarely accurate references, especially German ones, often being cobbled together from mis-matched parts with little regard for historical accuracy.
Removal of Zimmerit for such modifacations would not be difficult, as it’s binding agent was nothing more than Elmer’s glue (Polyvinyl acetate) and it was not a particularly hard nor extremely durable substance.
Since most of these vehicles did not have turret track hangers, go ahead, leave them off. Just be careful of what you use for references and what you consider artistic license.
The surviving “Porsche” Tiger II at Bovington is not a production vehicle, this vehicle was the second soft steel prototype made (Fgst. Nr. V2) and did not see active service, hence the lack of Zimmerit. Museum vehicles are rarely accurate references, especially German ones, often being cobbled together from mis-matched parts with little regard for historical accuracy.
Removal of Zimmerit for such modifacations would not be difficult, as it’s binding agent was nothing more than Elmer’s glue (Polyvinyl acetate) and it was not a particularly hard nor extremely durable substance.
Since most of these vehicles did not have turret track hangers, go ahead, leave them off. Just be careful of what you use for references and what you consider artistic license.
Oh ok, that makes sense, and yeah museums just put it together to look somewhat accurate since most of the public won’t know the difference.
I guess I need to get some reference books, I wish more companies would put what they used as reference for their marking options and such, it would make things much easier. The only companies I know of that does that is Eduard and Eagle Editions and maybe a couple decal makers.
Only the two 503 tanks that were sent to Russia had the hangers … So if you are doing one of them add them if not ,Any KT with the original turret in Normandy did not have them…
Having now located photos of sPzAbt 503 in Paris in August of 1944, I see no evidence of track hangers on the turrets, these photos even include at least two early “Henschel” turreted vehicles without track hangers. I thought I was covering my bases by including someone else’s statement , (hence my use of the word “apparently” in my above post), but this is in error. This is what I get for not checking my references. [:(DD]
So yes, only the two left behind at Mailly le Camp later received them, as these were the only survivors from Normandy…
