The “King Tiger” tiger needs no introduction, and there’s hardly a company that has not issued a kit of it. While the angles and sizes of various armor plates would rarely be the subject of scrutiny in 1/72 (and even less often are corrected on models), tracks remain an important detail of the kits.
There are several types, including multiple patterns of the wider “combat” and narrower “transport” ones – a situation similar to the first generation of Tiger tanks.
The finished article. Paints and effects used:
– acrylic paints by Gunze, Tamiya, Vallejo for the camo job,
– MM Gun Metal for the armament and track base color,
– Tamiya X-11 for track bare metal effect,
– various dark metal shades for the chipping effects,
– thinned Revell browns used for the washes (darker on the hull, lighter on the tracks),
– Agama patinators and Koh-I-Noor pastel chalks for dust, smoke and heat staining on the exhaust heat shields,
– Alclad II Engine manifold on the exhausts for that extra oily exhaust look, feel and SMELL,
First thing to do is to get rid of the molded-on tools. Considering the absurd ideas to make the hammer our of 3 layers of PE and the jack out of 9 layers – some tools were replaced with items from the Attack’s set “Implements and tools”, and I kept the jack almost stock. For the time being I glued on the retaining PE clasps and straps for them and the tow cables.
Aside from the molded-on tools and the symmetric turret there are few other issues with the Revell kit:
– directly sticking the spare tracks to the turret walls – there are brackets for this on the actual machine – I used PE items form the Part set.
– the gun that is very crudely molded in one piece together with the muzzle brake – replaced it with RB Models item 72B26 turned aluminum barrel with bronze muzzle brake. Since the barrel is turned there are visible traces from the lathe on its surface – I sanded down with 800 and 2000-grit sandpaper.
Years ago the Poles from Part have released 3 PE sets to improve the molded-on details of both Revell’s Braille scale Tigers. The three packs basically have the same main fret and mesh set, plus a third metal sheet that holds details specific to the version – P72-092 for the Ausf. H, P72-093 for the E, and P72-094 for the H1.
I got myself a set for the late variety, and here it is.
As you can notice there’s heaps of tiny detail, some so small really you will not even bother remove it from the metal sheet. There’s useful stuff like all the tool retaining straps and clasps, the side mud flaps, the exhaust heat shields, the ammo belt and can for the commander’s MG, as well as the mesh screens that are SO missing from the Revell kits.
The Tiger tank needs no introduction, so I’ll get straight to the model kit.
The Revell offering has been around for more than a decade – it was the first MODERN rendition of this important machine after the Hasegawa and Fujimi (which is 1/76) offerings. Technology advances have made the inclusion of much better detail possible, so at the time of release the model was what we call “state of the art”. After the very early H model came the late Ausf. E, with the appropriate changes – new wheels and different right turret half.