King Of Panzers

Historical Background

On 26 May 1941, Adolf Hitler met with officials from the Waffenamt discussing panzer development. By Fall 1942, designers at Porsche and Henschel started work on a new heavy tank that would replace the Tiger Ausf. E, which at that time, had not yet fully entered service. In January 1943, Hitler ordered that the tank would be armed with a long-barreled L/71 88mm gun and protected with 150mm frontal and 80mm side armour. The armour plates would be sloped and interlocked, similar to the then-new Panzerkampfwagen V Panther. Development work was given to Porsche and Henschel as both companies had started work on heavy tank designs since  1939 and 1937 respectively. Porsche provided two projects designated VK4502(P). The first one, Typ 180 (Turm Vorne) A/B had its turret mounted centrally while the second, Typ 181 (Turm Hintern) A/B/C had a rear-mounted turret. Both designs share the same hull and chassis with a gasoline-electric drive system. Henschel's design was more conventional. Designated VK4503(H), it has sloped armour reminiscent of the Panther with a suspension system similar to the Tiger I.

The contract was eventually awarded to Henschel with production beginning in January 1944. Officially, it was known as Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, or Tiger B with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz.182. Informally it was known as Königstiger (German for Bengal Tiger) which was mistranslated by Allied soldiers as 'King' or 'Royal' Tiger. The first 50 vehicles were equipped with the so-called 'Porsche' turret while the rest were equipped with 'Henschel' turret. The designation was due to the erroneous belief that the turrets were designed by both companies for their respective prototypes; in fact, they were both designed by Krupp, with the 'Porsche' turret being the initial design. The earlier turret has steeply sloped sides and a rounded front (creating 'shot traps') and a bulge on the left side to accommodate the commander's cupola. The latter turret has a thicker, flat face (eliminating the shot trap) and less sloped turret sides. The turret was traversed by a hydraulic motor which was driven by the engine through a secondary drive shaft. The Tiger II has the same Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 petrol engine powering the lighter Panther (45 tons) and Tiger I (56 ton) tanks. This made the Tiger II (68 tons) underpowered and have a poor fuel consumption rate.

The Tiger II was armed with a Krupp KwK 43 L/71 8.8-cm gun and two MG34 7.92mm machineguns. Combined with the Tzf 9 monocular sight, it was an accurate and deadly weapon. Penetration of typical armour plate inclined at 30 degrees was 202mm at 100m and 132mm at 2,000m using PzGr.39/43 APCBC-HE rounds and 238mm and 153mm at the same ranges using PzGr.40/43 APCR rounds. HlGr 39 (HEAT) round had a 90mm penetration capability at any ranges and was used as dual-purpose round while SpGr. 43 round was used against soft targets. The combination of heavy armour and powerful long-range gun gave it an advantage against all Allied and Soviet tanks. None of the Western Allies tanks can engage the Tiger II head-on until the introduction of the 90mm-armed M26 Pershing heavy tanks and M36 tank destroyers, and to a lesser extent, the Ordnance QF 17-pounder gun arming Sherman Firefly tanks and the Archer and Achilles tank destroyers.

Apart from research, training and a five-tank detachment (the first five production vehicles actually) with the Panzer Lehr Division, the Tiger II was only issued to Heavy Tank Battalions (schwere Panzer Abteilungen) of the Army and the SS. The Army (s.H.Pz.Abt) battalions were the 501st, 502nd, 503rd, 504th, 505th, 506th, 507th, 508th, 509th, 510th and 511th while SS (s.SS.Pz.Abt) battalions were the 501st, 502nd and 503rd. The Tiger II first saw action in May 1944 near Minsk. Two companies of s.H.Pz.Abt 503 were present at the Battle of Normandy but mechanical problems, coupled with Allied fighter-bomber activity and naval bombardment took their toll and all were lost by August 1944. s.H.PzAbt 506 took part against Operation Market-Garden in September 1944 while s.SS.Pz.Abt 501 took part in the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944. On the Eastern Front, Tiger IIs took part against the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive in August 1944 where 14 Tiger II of s.H.Pz.Abt 501 were lost in ambushes. On 15 October 1944, s.H.Pz.Abt 503 took part in Operation Panzerfaust, the taking of the Hungarian capital Budapest, ensuring the country remaining in the Axis camp until the end of the war. The 503rd remained in Hungary for 166 days, destroying at least 121 Soviet tanks, 244 anti-tank guns and artillery pieces, a train and five aircraft while losing 25 of their number. Feldwebel Kurt Kniespel, the highest-scoring tank ace (162 kills) served with the 503rd and was killed in action on 26 April 1945 at Czechslovakia. Surviving Tiger IIs continued to be used until the end of  the war.

The Kit

Tamiya came up with a new-tool 1/35 kit of the King Tiger in 1993, releasing both versions of the tank (i.e the 'Porsche' and the 'Production/Henschel' turret). The kits were well-received, being crisply moulded and has a very good fit. In 2002, Tamiya re-released the 'Production Turret' kit as 'German King Tiger Ardennes Front'.  The latter is basically the same kit as the former, moulded in dark yellow plastic which is another hallmark of Tamiya AFV kits. The tracks are still the one-piece glueable vinyl type with a sprue from Tamiya's King Tiger separate link tracks set to be used as spare tracks mounted on the turret. The difference is the inclusion of a smooth, late-style gun mantlet, a DKW NZ350 motorcycle and three figures in addition to the original commander's figure. Markings are provided for four tanks: #008, #204 and #332 from s.SS.Pz.Abt 501 during the Battle of The Bulge and #555 from s.H.Pz.Abt  502.

Construction

Because of the Schachtellaufwerk road wheel arrangement, the wheels were assembled and painted first. The completed wheels were set aside and I turned my attention to the lower hull. The suspension arms have positive location tabs although care needs to be taken when cementing them to avoid unevenness. This was followed by the final drive cover and the idler mounts. Before proceeding any further, I painted the lower hull XF-60 Dark Yellow. The road wheels can then be cemented onto the lower hull, taking note the two types of wheels which need to be placed at their allocated slots. The rear panel was then fixed to the main hull although the fittings on the rear hull would be left off at this time. 

For the upper hull, I started by cementing the periscopes for the driver/co-driver. The upper hull was then test-fitted to the lower half. Tamiya suggested that the hull halves be taped together temporarily during construction. Feeling confident, I cemented them anyway. The minor sub-assemblies for the headlight, machinegun mount and the engine access was done first before attaching them to the hull. For the headlight I added the power cable using solder wire, I however believed that I used too coarse a wire for this purpose. As for the machine gun mount, I assembled it without the barrel in place, to ease handling. They were followed by the driver/co-driver's hatches and several other small parts but certain others like the towing eye and pioneer tools were left off for the moment. Next were the engine and air intake grille covers. While Tamiya provided a piece of mesh material (to be cut into shape) for the air intake grilles, they have this habit of not having the PE screens in many of their kits and modelers have to buy them separately. Thankfully the local Tamiya distributor has what I need although the separately-available parts still annoys me. To enable fitting of the tracks, the fenders were left off at this time too.

Moving on to the turret, I started by assembling the interior of the turret which consists of crew seats, gun breech and the ammo racks (although no ammunition pieces were provided - again they are available separately). The barrel was then assembled and it was here that a decision has to be made as the smooth gun mantlet was only applicable to tanks #008 and #204. I decided to finish my model as #204 and so the smooth mantlet was used. The turret shell was then glued together and the various fittings can be cemented. Tamiya provided two styles of the turret ventilator but did not mention which was needed for a particular tank. The barrel assembly was then cemented to the breech while the commander's hatch and the MG mount was left separate at this time. Because of the fenders and to maintain continuity of the camo pattern, I finally had to put the tracks in place. The tracks were first painted a mixture of XF-1 Flat Black and XF-64 Red Brown and once dry, they were looped and glued, using superglue. The lower hull and the wheels were painted XF-60 Dark Yellow. The tracks were then slipped over the wheels and this is where the weakness of belt-type tracks is apparent. I have to study pics of King Tigers (mainly those missing their fenders) and then apply super glue at the proper road wheels to get the best look for the draping tracks. Finally the fenders were put in place.

Painting and Decalling

The German 'ambush' camo scheme was painted using Tamiya paints, that is XF-60, XF-58 and XF-64, starting with XF-60 as the base colour. The problem however is that Tamiya only provided the left, front and rear views only and none for the top and right side. I have to look around the internet for photos of #204, even including completed models as a guide. The dots of the camo scheme was done using a brush dipped in the respective paints (Dark Yellow on Red Brown and Olive Green areas and Olive Green on Dark Yellow areas). While I think the dots are fairly accurate size-wise, there were probably too much of them, according to my references. Once the painting was done, the decals were put in place. While they adhere well, the number 204 were translucent, allowing the colour demarcation lines and dots to be visible beneath them. The cables, jack and the metal parts of the pioneer tools were painted Metallic Grey and then washed with AK Interactive Track Wash solution. The gun cleaning rod was painted XF-59 Desert Yellow as also the wooden parts of the pioneer tools. 

Finishing

Firstly, the pioneer tools and the cable 'sets' were permanently fixed to the hull. Next, the exhaust assembly was cemented to their places at the rear of the hull. Afterwards it was the turn for the more delicate parts such as the headlight (Parts C31 and C25), the hull MG barrel and the commander's machine gun. The latter was spruced with an anti-aircraft sight from the same PE engine grille set. The model was then subjected to a wash. To make mud, I first mixed Mig Productions Russian Earth and Euro Dust pigments and applied them 'dry' on the tracks. The same company's Pigment Fixer was then applied to fix the 'mud' in place. This was followed by an application of AK Interactive Earth Wash. While many photos of King Tigers showed them without any stowage, I decided to symbolically place some items on the rear deck - a Panzerfaust 60 from Dragon, a StG 44 assault rifle from Tamiya's old German Infantry Weapons Set and three jerricans. The weapons, together with the King Tiger itself are to symbolise the advanced weapons available to the Wehrmacht later in the war and the fuel cans to symbolise the Achilles' heel of them - oil.

The kit provided three figures - the loader, commander and the motorcycle dispatch rider. What was not mentioned is that the kit also included the commander's figure from the original kit 35164. Anyway, the original figure was used in my Panzer III kit. Of the new figures, I decided to use the loader's torso, reposition his right arm and use the commander's head and left arm. The conversion was easy and I only need a little bit of putty to cover the resulting gaps. I painted the uniform in the SS-Erbsenmuster ('pea') pattern using the template provided in the instructions and also Tamiya's own camouflage pattern sheet. But before that I sliced off the moulded on Nazi Eagle and SS Death's Head (just a blob really) on the officer's cap in preparation for the Tamiya German insignia decals. While I had a bit of a problem handling them on the Tank figures (for my Panzer IVF), I have no difficulties whatsoever this time. The figure was then put inside the commander's hatch, finishing the build.

Conclusion

The Tamiya King Tiger continues the marque's tradition of easy-to-build, reasonably detailed kit. While apparently the kit is less accurate than its Dragon rival, I am not really concerned with that as first and foremost, I do not suffer from AMS and the finished model looks like a King Tiger. The inclusion of the motorcycle and extra three figures also added some more value to the kit, although the lack of PE parts (at least for the more obvious areas) is still a bane for modelers (Tamiya did re-release this kit with PE parts and metal barrel, but at a higher price). As for the motorbike, I assembled it but put it in storage.....