In another thread i was encouraged by doog and tigerman to post a WIP thread about a Tiger II build i have going at the moment.
The model was actually a part of a group build on another forum, but i didn’t finish it in time and now it’s stuck in the paint booth until i find the time to finish it.
The inspiration for this model is chassis number V2, the second test vehicle. It has the turret designed by Krupp for the Porshe design, what most people calls a “porsche” turret. Along with chassis number V1 it is the only Tiger II with this kind of turret that doesn’t have zimmerit as it was never intended for front line service.
It is preserved at the Tank museum in Bovington but in a horrible paint scheme that it never wore during the war, and some of the parts, like the very destinctive front fenders, missing.
My reference are pictures and describtions from such books as:
VK 45.02 to Tiger II, design, production and modifications; By Thomas L. Jentz
Tiger and Kintiger tanks and their variants; Walter Spielberger
Pz.Kpfw. VI Tiger Ausf. B Königstiger; By Waldemar Trojca.
Achtung Panzer #6
I used pictures of both V2 and V1 as reference. The main difference between the 2 are that V2 has mountings for loose equipment (tow cables, shovel, axe, etc. etc.) and V2 has a preculiar exhaust system with test ports.
There are 2 pictures of V2 taken at the time of its capture.
These are my main references as i want the model to look as close to what the tank looks like in these pictures.
The kit i chose for this build is Dragons premium edition along with Aber PE, i knew from the begining i would have to scratch build some items aswell.
V2 had the early Gg24/800/300 tracks as far as i know these are only available from Friulmodelisimo, i have only assembled one set so far.
The 18 tooth drive sprocket that came with the Friul tracks were however useless, so i took some from the Ardennes kit #6254 which includes all 3 versions of the Tiger II drive sprocket.
As the model doesn’t have any zimmerit i had to make the weld seam around the deleted hatch on the side of the turret aswell as add some texture to the armor with a grinding bit and a motor tool.
These early Tiger II’s had an armored cover over a snorkel on the engine deck, this i had to scratch build. From my spares box i took a Tiger II idler wheel (Tamiya i think) and the center of this had the right diameter the rest is just Evergreen plastic and some PE mesh that came with the kit.
The sidekirts on V1 and V2 didn’t overlap as the later versions did and the rear most panel had only 3 attachment bolts as opposed to 5 on the later versions. I used Aber PE skirt and once attached i filled in 2 of the holes on the rear panel with miliput and sanded it smooth.
The front fenders or mud guards were quite destinctive on V1 and V2 in that they were flat, very close to the Tiger I design. To my knowledge no company makes these fenders so i had to scratch build them. I used some left over Eduard PE side skirts from another project. These have nice big regular pieces of PE that you can cut and shape as required. My Ausfwerks Fenderbender was perfect for bending the small lip on each fender. The hinges are from some rear mud guards form the spares box, i cut them free and sand them as thin as i dare and glued them on. The reinforcement ribs are made from Evergreen and the small details such as catches and hooks for the side extension are made from copper sheet.
Tool clamps are Aber PE. Tow cable mounts and gun cleaning rod mounts and the rods themselves are scratch build from Evergreen and the wing nuts are from Modelkasten.
The last major scratch building project were the exhausts. These are made from Evergreen rod, Evergreen sheet, parts of the original kit exhausts and some nuts shaved off the hubs of some old Tiger I road wheels.
And thats where i am now, the basecoat has been applied … no pictures though, and soon i can move on to finishing. I hope this answers your question from the other thread Tigerman ?
Any questions and comments are welcome.
That’s a wonderful job! 
Sorry, I thought I had done replied here…
DISASTERMASTER
