Hi everyone, my next build is a King Tiger

Another King Tiger you say? Well yeah, but not your average one. Tiger ''11'' was one of the first 5 Tiger ausf B which were assigned.

It was assigned to Panzer Kompanie (Funklenk) 316 which was deployed in France 1944. All 5 Tiger II''s were lost in August ''44 without seeing combat (only Tiger ''13'' fired a shot) due to breakdowns and were destroyed by their crews.

Not quite a succes at that time.
These Tiger II''s with the ''Porsche'' turret (actually, both ''Porsche'' and ''Henschel'' turrets were designed by Krupp) had some features which made them distinct from later ''Porsche'' KT''s...but we will go in detail later on during the build.

As a base for this Tiger I''m using Dragon kit 6302

along with that I''ll get me some goodies, like a Tank Workshop Engine and interior, though I''ll use the interior partially:




After that some AM schurzen will come, probably Voyagers...now, all this stuff isn''t cheap so I''ll buy the goodies spread over a couple of months...

I thought that Tiger ''11'' would make a nice theme for a dio too:


I already made a start with the 'fun' part: the wheels:

and you gotta love these Friul tracks, they are superb, and you get some metal drive sprockets too, luckily for me because the ones provided in the kit aren't correct on the initial Tiger II's

One thing I have to correct is the cut out in the glacis, this was done to give the radio operator a better view, but the initial Tiger II's didn't have this, so I have to fill that up

Also this has to be adjusted, I marked the part to be filled in red:


One thing I was wondering though. To my knowledge, none of the 5 Tiger II's of the s.Pz.Kp. (Fkl)319 were taken out by enemy fire, they all broke down...however, next to the welded shut ejection shell port there's an impact hole...

does anyone know more about it? Did the allies test their guns on it later on or so?

Cheers

Wow, this is gonna be some build - looking forward to it! Just a thought on that shell hole - perhaps an allied tanker fired a shot just to make sure no-one was at home????? Stevie.

This one is on my want to do / future projects list. I sit and watch closely. For now it looks good. I don't have any idea about the shot in the turret.

spit

thanks for joining guys, hope I'll do the model justice and I'll try not to dissappoint you

btw Pawel, when are we seeing an update on the Ersatz KT? ^^

Cheers

This kit is next on my list after my current build, so I'll be pulling up a chair to watch. I'm particularly interested to see how you find the Tank Workshop interior set. You might want to consider replacing the muzzle brake as well. If I recall correctly, the kit provides multiple barrel options but doesn't provide the early heavier muzzle brake the initial Tiger II's carried.

If you haven't already discovered it, here's a link with a number of good photos of FKL 316 vehicles, including number 11:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=19525&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=fkl316&start=120

Good luck!

Bill, thanks for joining mate, the Tank Workshop interior and engine arrived today. I'll be using only the front parts like the transmission and driver seat. The rest I'll keep for a later 'Henschel' KT

here are some of the parts:



There's a significant amount of flash, but the detail is great on it.

And if you guys thought that the Dragon instructions were bad...the Tank Workshop ones are even worse

Thanks for the link btw Bill, I knew it already, but nevertheless great to be reminded of it

I forgot about the muzzle break, thanks for pointing that out...on the plastic gun the big muzzle brake is in the box so I might be using that one...since this kit has a turned barrel already I'm not considering another AM one at the mo...

Cheers

Wouter,

If you don’t mind I’m also interested in sitting in on this one too! I don’t know how accurate a representation you want to depict with your build? From the amount of AM goodies that you’ve posted it looks to be a serious build? In the event that you may not already know and may be interested here is a link to a build by Marco Sari, aka ‘Jupiterblitz’, that also is of one of the same 5 Initial Production Tiger II’s that you will be putting together. To date his build is still unfinished and awaits painting. At some point in the future I too will be putting one of these Tiger II’s together.

-Eddy

Hi Eddy

You are most welcome mate, I do know of Marco Saris blog indeed. It has been very usefull to me so far. At first I even didn't know there was such thing as an initial Tiger II

I'm going to try to make the build as accurate as I could, although 100% is not necessary, there's always a bit of artistic license ^^

Anyway, I'm glad you are joining since I noticed in Marcos blog that you can bring some very useful info

Cheers

So, finally an update on Tiger '11'

I have been working on redoing some small details and also remove a couple of them. Other than that I started with assembling the Tank Workshop interior.

First of all I had to fill the cut out on the front tow shackle holders. I used the 'norma' green Milliput for this:

I also removed the commanders vane sight on the turret since the intial Tiger II's didn't have this feature. Dragon got this completely wrong btw, since it has to be alligned with the Cupola on the left side on the turret and not like Dragon did: moulded onto the right side.
I used a handy tool to remove this btw: the Micro Chisel

The engine deck has the fuel vent lines moulded on, these have to be removed too:

Assembling the interior wasn't too hard, though it lacks accuracy on many things. I'm not really going to bother adjusting them or adding extra detail, since not much will be seen of it afterwards. I also placed the engine at the proper spot, but of course, all this is dry fitted:





And this is what you get to see with the hull on top :

You can also see that I removed two small bits of the zimmerit on the glacis. It's quite hard to get the finish smooth and I have to figure out a way to achieve this. I think removing the zimmerit on the turret and adding the impact mark will cause me a lot of blood, sweat and tears I guess :-/


Other than that, I tested a configuration of the Tiger on a base...It's hard to find the correct angle for the Tiger to be placed: on some photos it looks like it's on a steep angle and on some photos it seems like it isn't
This is what I came up with:


Well, that's it so far really

Cheers

Looking good so far - nice clear photos. Those tracks must have been a bear to assemble. They have five parts per link? Also, any major problems with the interior so far?

Thanks Bill

those tracks...yeah...when I started the hobby a bit longer than one year ago, I bought them for my Ardennes KT...silly me I started assembling one run untill I noticed they were the wrong tracks of course . Luckily for me, that means I only have to assemble one run...looking forward to that

the interior is ok, but there's a significant amount of flash on some parts, especially the transmission. I think this is an older kit from Tank Workshop because their Tiger II engine doesn't seem to have the same amount of flash. And the instructions are very unclear...just horrible!

Other than that, it's not very accurate too, but still, not much will be seen visible so I don't really bother ^^

Cheers

Good work by now and very good pictures. Have you found the armoured cover of the air intake on the engine deck? It's not easy to get...

spit

Thanks Spit

Yeah, a fellow modeller on another forum was so kind to send me the Panther D sprues with the cover ^^

Just added the zimmerit to the back shackle holders today and filled the cutout of the radio operator with some Milliput and did some zimm on it...hope I didn't mess up

Will post some pics a bit later on

Cheers

Update time. I didn't do very much, just adjusting some little bits and add some stuff onto the turret and engine deck.

Now, the most frightening part for me was filling up the cut out on the radio operators side, and adding zimmerit on it and it had to blend in into the rest of the zimm on the front glacis. I never did this before but I think the result is moderate ok. I used milliput and a screwdriver for this:

I also had to simulate zimmerit on the flat parts of the shackle holders on the back. For this I just softened the plastic and used again a screwdriver:

Some more Milliput filling up, I know this photo isn't too clear but it's a bit visible:

The Snorkel config on the engined deck arrived and was put into place:

And this is how she looks so far:


It's not too clear on the photos but I intentionally built the suspension so that it's not level since the wreck has to be put onto a muddy surface.

I also made a start on the turret interior btw:


For the fenders I'm still hesitating wether I'd use the LionRoar fenders or use the plastic ones and thin them a bit...

Well, that's it pretty much so far

Cheers

Slow progress means a great build. I'm considering doing a King Tiger, so I'll be watching this one.

good work so far, Im gonna build mine this summer so Im watching closely, I may build the "unidentified unit" eastern front or the Abt 503 Hungary as Im more interested in the Eastern front.
should I also remove the commanders vane sight and the fuel vent lines?

Short answer, "yes."

An impact hole like that one would've set off the turret ammunition and likely resulted in an explosion that would caused "11" to flip its lid.

The overwhelming majority of Tigers lost were from crew sabotage and/or mechanical malfunction. The reason was usually lack of fuel at the end.

Nice progress Wouter.

A small comment:



I have an impression that the grill on the snorkel cover is not centered as it should be (or it's just the angle from which the photo was taken). Did you glue the engine bay cover? The hole is not the best one we can see. You can cut it off and replace it by a U shaped piece of metal sheet.

Can you tell which digital camera do you use? Have you tried taking pictures on a white background?

Matt: thanks buddy ^^

Jamal: thanks dude, I'm not sure but I don't think you have to remove the vane sight on the later Porsche turrets, though, if it's moulded onto the right side of the turret you have to replace it to the left ^^. I'll try to look into my refs if I can find anything about the fuel vent lines ;-)

Bill: thanks for clearing that up :-)

Hi Spit, thanks mate

yeah, the grill on the snorkel needs to be recentered, I messed up a little bit there

The engine bay cover isn't glued into place yet so I can still change it, thanks for the tip

I'm just using a simple Sony Cyber Shot 7.2 Megapixel DSC - W55...(a pink one, not mine, my girls' ), nothing too fancy but it does the trick ^^

I tried taking photographs on white backgrounds but it seemed to me that a black one pops out the model a bit more, you don't agree?

Cheers

Nice progress,

I am doing the same KT as you, but without the "ditch and hole"

Got to say this topic has been great help to me, mine is all but ready for paint, but i completely missed the cutout on the front towing brackets!

Remember as well, you will have to remove the blowtorch access port under the exhaust pipe at the rear.

P.S. if you think those tracks are a pain, try doing them with torn ligaments and tendons in one hand like i did!!!

Lol, I can imagine I guess

Glad this thread was of help to you...btw, the blowtorch acces port underneath the exhaust...I was aware that some initial Tiger II's didn't have it, but it was to my understanding that '11' did have it on the backplate (as far as photos of it are clear)

btw: do you have a thread on yours?

Cheers

Pz. Fkl. 316 got the first 5 KT produced. As such, I assume these would be the 5 assembled in Jan 44' (Fgst.Nr. 280001-05)

The blowtorch access port was fitted on KT from Feb 44 onwards, as the coolant heater was fitted to the HL 230 engine.

I haven't got a build thread about my KT up, mainly because mine is stored in a box just now. I have to finish redecorationg my room first, but once i have, i'll post some pics up.

Sean,


The armored blow torch access port cover for the coolant heater located below the left hand side exhaust armor cover was present on only 2 of the 5 initial production Tiger II's allocated to Panzer Lehr (PzKp.(Fkl) 316). The armored port cover was introduced into production starting in February 1944. Fgst.Nr. 280001 - 280003 were produced in January ‘44 and Fgst.Nr. 280004 and 280005 were produced in February ‘44. These are the assigned chassis numbers for all five of the Panzer Lehr (PzKp.(Fkl) 316) Tiger II's (Fgst.Nr. 280004 being identified as having Turret Nr.12, currently the only Tiger II of the 5 vehicles with a known turret number for the chassis number). The above production and chassis information for the initial production Tiger II’s is taken from the book ‘Germany’s Tiger Tanks, VK45.02 to Tiger II’ by Thomas L. Jantz & Hilary L. Doyle.

I am no expert on the subject vehicle were it concerns the Tiger II, I am however merely an enthusiast much as yourself. I hope that you will find the information useful as I have in making a selection on which of the above-mentioned 5 initial production Tiger II’s to model. I would much like to take a look at your Tiger II project and look forward to your posting of a photograph either here or on a separate posting. I hope that your hand has now fully recovered and wish you success with your rooms redecoration.

-Eddy

Hi All,

Well, i dragged the Big Cat out its box, seeing how a couple of you wanted to see it.











I did the following things on the kit:

Fitted friul ATL-22 Tracks
Remade hatch handles with brass wire
Added wire leading to the front headlight
Filled and zimmerited the radio operators cutout
Added snorkel cover
Added cut down tiger 1 exhaust covers
Thinned down the side track guards

I still have to remove the commander's vane sight, do some blending around the front end, and fill the front tow shackle cutouts.

Does anyone know for sure if 11 had a blowtorch access port? I'd like to avoid grinding off a detail if it's actually meant to be there!!

Sean

Sean, she's a beauty mate, you can be proud of it...and nice to see those Friuls on it...

I'm not 100% sure but I thought there was a photo of '11' where you can see the back and it looks like the blowtorch port is there, though the photo is quite blurry

Just one small point: is it possible you added the snorkel cover reversed?

Cheers