If you missed out on the Cyber-Hobby release of the Otto Carius Tiger you are in luck as Dragon as re-kitted it in a slightly simplified version that should make almost everyone happy.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Very nice review and a good companion, Rick, to your earlier review of the C-H white box version. Many of us who wanted that kit were left in the lurch despite pre-ordering it.

It's nice to be able to take advantage of all the hard work of our own David Byrden, who worked with DML to get things right on the C-H version. After all this time, there's no excuse for not having an accurate Tiger I. Kudos to David, DML and yourself for a fine review.

Great review.. I'll be adding this one to my pile of tigers ..Way to go Dragon.

Rick

Thanks a lot, for this great review

It's a great kit, I've just started building one for the current big cats campaign. Anyone who wants to see some in progress photos can check out that thread. My only gripe is that it has the DS tracks instead of magic track.

On a technical note, your photos are suffering from some white balance issues. Looks like you have two different temperature light sources, probably window on one side (cooler) and fluorescent (warmer) on the other. This is an easy thing to fix even if you don't have any editing software, just be careful to only shoot in consistent light, and to make sure the white balance on your camera is set properly if you are using artificial light.

Flea, you are exactly right! What I don't know how to do is get enough light to shoot a nice clear photo first time, every time. I supplemented with a florescent but I think it was more trouble than it was worth. May just go back to the old set-up which wasn't great but maybe a bit cleaner. Thoughts?

Nice kit, i'm working on it right now.
Only critic from my side is the unrealistic zimmerit on the hull. It's too light molded. I need to rework it with putty. But i really love the zimmerit on the turret, very realistic. Far better than on earlier kits

If a window alone isn't enough, you're better off moving away from a window and having at least two lamps (one generally isn't enough, and will produce harsh shadows) pointed at your subject, one one each side. If you haven't seen the feature about making a light tent, definitely check it out. There are also commercially available ones. Now, tents are very nice but they aren't always strictly necessary. Sometimes you can get away without the diffusion they give you. Hope that helps!

There will be incessant disagreement as to "Magic Tracks" vs "DS Tracks". I like both- I've been able to very successfully model "DS Tracks" with the appropriate track-sag as seen on WWII German armor by using a simple technique of mine.

As I've written in ARMORAMA Forums more than just a few times, DRAGON's "DS Tracks" WILL conform to the proper sag on the upper run of tracks with the VERY CAREFUL application of thin liquid cements, such as TESTOR's or TAMIYA's, or, EVEN MORE CAREFULLY, your favorite cyanoacrylate.

The not-so-secret technique is to apply your cement to the UNDERSIDE of the upper track run, shaping the track to the proper "look" as you go. I like to weigh the top run of tracks down with whatever is practicable, helping the track to keep its desired shape as the adhesive sets up. It's a simple alternative to the hours of work required with "Magic Tracks".

I don't understand why SOME (certainly not all) of you guys complain about "DS Tracks" when YOU KNOW that you're going to replace your kit-supplied tracks anyway, whether they are "DS Tracks" or "Magic Tracks"... You'll spend a boat-load of money on Friuls or whatever other after-market tracks, and then muck them up with centuries worth of mud and gook, obscuring all that great detail, and wasting your time with all of that extra work!

Before you sentence me to slow death by roasting over a Bar-B-Que Pit, THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION, so please don't take offense.

I like the "DS Tracks", especially when they are used on US AFVs. Ever since before WWII, the vast majority of US tracked vehicles have used "Live Tracks", which are specifically designed to curl up on themselves, thereby increasing the life-expectancy of the vehicle, and decreasing the work-load and wear upon the vehicle's entire drive-train, from the engine, transmission and final drive, right on down to the tracks themselves.

For example, the US WWII M4-series tank, equipped with live tracks, had a track-life expectancy of 2500 miles. Conversely, the average German tank, and even more so the vaunted Tigers and Panthers, could only hope for 500 miles out of their tracks, many times falling short of even that low figure.

Too bad that ASUKA/TASCA never developed their own version of "DS Tracks" for their "TOP NOTCH" US M4 Medium Tank-series kits. We'll probably NEVER see anything new from ASUKA/TASCA again. Thankfully, we have independent after-market companies such as TMD, FORMATIONS and TANK WORKSHOP, among a few select others, to keep us supplied with alternatives to what is offered my the mainstream hobby manufacturers...

Not to knock the idea of yet ANOTHER Tiger I kit- it just seems like there so many of them out there. How many different Tiger Is have DRAGON released in the last 10 years? I'll probably wind up buying one of these myself.

Still, to repeat myself yet again- We could stand some newly-tooled, state-of-the-art M3 Lights, and an M8 HMC. And if you're into obscure WWII German stuff, couldn't we use an all-new Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf A with the five big Road Wheels? There was also an experimental Pz.III with a FAMO suspension that had inter-leaved Road Wheels; the wheels look like something off of an Sd.Kfz.7, though...

I got this kit in my stash...love the fact that it's a Tiger I with zim already added.

Horray! Another Tiger 1 kit from Dragon! Lucky for me I appear to be full-up and so don't really care, but it is great that the kit is available, if only to stop the speculators from selling their Cyber kits for ten times what they paid for it. Grrr... Knowing me, I'll probably misplace part of my stash and need one after all.

Frank? This kit was released over 2 years ago. In fact it's probably time to release it again!

David

Frank is a necromancer, bringing dead topics back to life.

Maybe his broadband speed is just really slow.

I mucked around with my pics but I have come back to, 2 100 watt cool daylight bulbs, one in each normal desk lamp and 1 large piece of white paper/cardboard under the model and curved up behind it. It seems to work pretty well and is a cheap option.
Here is one of my latest pics with a point and shoot camera, it was taken at night. There has been no Photoshop done other than cropping and resizing




Lol
Just saw how old this thread is