Fantastic work so far mate. I have been following this one from the start. The detail you are going to is fantastic.

Where are you getting all the details for the interior from? The Maus was always a fav of mine but it is so hard to get info about the inside guts of them!

Pictures from inside the hulk of the Kubinka hybrid plus a quite a handful of published articles and books. Information is generally adequate, though I must admit that there are very few areas where it is lacking. One example being the mechanism to raise the driver's podium so that he could drive with his head outside the vehicle. In the end it won't be visible, but I would have loved to replicate it...

The partition between the engine and the fighting compartment has been added:

For improved visibility, the driver could drive with his head outside the vehicle. Unlike the rest of the German tanks that only had the seat to raise, the Maus was designed with a hydraulically actuated podium that included the controls and the driver's seat.
The base for the driver's podium is done:

And this is how it looks in its place, dry fit:

Another dry fit test, this time with the base for the radio operator's seat included:

Nothing is glued in place yet as there are spots that require further refining.

The door for the hatch on the rear of the driver's compartment is now glued in place. It is thus bulged to make room for the compressor of the initial motor of the Maus, a modified DB603 aviation engine.

Fantastic attention to detail mate. Loving the build.

"Pictures from inside the hulk of the Kubinka hybrid"
How on earth did you get those?! or are they in a book somewhere I can get?

Late edit: the link is no longer working

http://tankograd.narod.ru/kubinka/maus/index.html
There was another, more complete walk-around on plasticowe.pl, but they took it down...

Fantastic, thanks very much for the link. I have never seen inside it before!

WOW really nice work, I have wanted to do the same to a Maus for years. I want to say that I heard from a Pegasus Models employee that went to Russia to check the Maus out for their 1/72nd model, he said that the electric motor/transmission I don't know what the long "thing" is connected to the engine. And maybe the engine are still around at a Russian technical museum/institute.

The other thing I wanted to ask is do you own a Japanese model magazine that features a destroyed Maus based on the photos of it at it's end. I have some pictures from it if you want them pm if interested.

Oh I wanted to ask could you provide the link or info on the third Maus. The idea just sets my imagination on fire.

Keep up the great work I look forward to viewing your work, its turning out to be quite a masterpiece.

I've got this document in its .PDF form from the French Service Historique de la Défense. It is dated 18th of June, 1945 and states that one Maus, built in October, 1944 was sent to Berlin, and two were sent to Kummersdorf (my italics).
It is in French, I'll translate it for you:

CONCERNING: German tank Pz.Kpfw "MOUSE"

1.- The search by Team Number 7 for the "MOUSE" at Böblingen (Germany) was fruitless, however interrogating Karl FROHLICH, Director at the Böblingen complex has revealed that:
1- The tank was built at Stuttgart in 1944
2- A specimen was put together at Stuttgart in October, 1944
3- Specimen was sent to Army Museum in Berlin
4- Hull was built by Krupp
5- Powerplant was an 1000 HP Daimler-Benz aviation engine
6- Transmission built by Z.F. in Friedrichshafen
7- Electric equipment was from Siemens in Berlin
8- Radio equipment was from Telefunken
9- Miscellaneous equipment was built by F.A. Telekin
10- A wooden model was at Krupp, Essen
11- Assembly was made by F.A. Alkett in Berlin
12- Two models were sent to Böblingen
13- New engines were installed at Böblingen
14- The models were then sent by rail to Berlin Wimsdorf or Kummersdorf

2.- All the plans for the "Mouse" were taken by two British Officers prior to Team 7's visit.
No "Mouse" type vehicle currently exists at Böblingen.
Signed, Josset [...]

Here it is in facsimile:

Thanks for posting and translating that wonderful piece of information. Hmmm well maybe it was either scrapped, lost or found by the Soviets and sent to Russia and scrapped or again lost.

Man that would be something to find, the LARGEST tank ever lost!
Well the American TD the t28/95 was found in some woods in the 60's or 70's and that was thought to be scrapped and it was rediscovered by a farmer! So there's hope!

According to the French document Maus number three was in Berlin. This corroborates rumors of a second survivor in Russia that was captured intact in Berlin, after the final battle. Hopefully it will show up one day just like the U.S. T-28 super-heavy did in 1974...
And for the record, The T-28/T-95 was never intended as a TD, it was bunker buster, being too slow and unwieldy to engage mobile targets.

Here is a link to a picture of the driver's area showing the back of the podium, with hoses for hydraulics, and levers.I hope this helps:

https://www.google.com/search?q=maus+interior+pictures&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=eUr&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_3JKUfGYFdfJ4APAyYHgCA&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=767#imgrc=8w0AOP7XeCd0xM%3A%3Bb0MFQBr7CUF4uM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.whq-forum.de%252Fcms%252Fuploads%252Fpics%252Fmaus-07.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fforum.worldoftanks.eu%252Findex.php%253F%252Ftopic%252F52511-question-about-the-maus-in-minsk%252F%3B510%3B354

Thank you, Rick! This well known photo shows the driver's compartment of the 1:1 scale mock-up that was presented to The Führer on 14th of May, 1943.

Hey FlorinM, would the driver seat mech that you are after be the same in the E100? They look very very close and I just found a pic of the mech in the E100?

Wish it were that simple... But this is Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's work. Something else completely. Commonality of parts with other German tanks reduces to armament, headlights and the convoy light, communication equipment and the close defense weapon on top of the turret. That's it.

The E100 mechanism worked like an accordion, it lifted and retracted only the seat by muscle power, similar to the one on the Panther G. This is the E100:



For the Maus the entire podium with the steering controls would have raised and lowered like this, being hydraulically operated:

Wow, OK that is very different! cancel that then. I would've hated to be one of the maintenance crews for these things. Every bloody tank is different!

No wonder they threw some $$ in to the E series, at least it would've given the maintenance crews a fighting chance. I will keep looking

The engine cooling section has its skeleton built: this is where the radiators and their cooling fans were mounted. The gap towards the back is to clear the exhaust pipes.

Edit - redundant post: This is what can be now seen inside the carcass of the V1-V2 hybrid in Kubinka, mangled and torch cut. As such it does not reflect the operational V2 vehicle I am building, please ignore this!

The bulkhead between engine and fighting compartment is now complete.

http://s1322.photobucket.com/user/Alexander_Gerdow/library/Das%20Maus made this to help you and others with pictures of the Maus.

Good stuff in there, much appreciated. Thank you!

The electric motor mounts are glued in place.



After long searches I've found what will become the electric motors. The tube sections may be colorful (for now), but have the right diameter!

The rear bulkhead of the fighting compartment is more or less done - the vertical slits had some covers as electrical wiring passed through them, these covers are yet to be built.