I have heard that Zimmerit was never used on Early Production Tiger I tanks (I believe July 1943 was when Zimmerit was first utilized). However, on perusing Sheperd Paine’s wonderful book, “Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles”, pgs. 47, 61, and 65, there are photos of a 1/16 Tamiya model of what is clearly an Early Production Tiger I (high profile cupola with vertically opening commander’s hatch, dual headlights, smoke dischargers on the right turret–which were no longer installed after June 1943), modeled by Mr. Paine himself, with a very nice application of Zimmerit (which, as I understand it, was put into use in July 1943, the same month the low-profile cupola with the horizontally opening hatch was installed). Now, does Mr. Paine know something we don’t, is he taking artistic license, or did he just make a major research error on his Tiger model? He’s cutting it awfully close on the timeline. Does anyone know of any photographs of Early Tiger I’s with Zimmerit? Thanks!
Once this question is answered, I might be able to get some sleep again! 