I am having little or no luck finding information I need to jump start my stalled King Tiger. The late war version won't work so I am looking at one from the Russian front. Were there any King Tigers in the yellow with brown camouflage that did not
have zimmerit. I have decals for s.Pz.Abt.505 but the reference
photos I come up with show it with zimmerit. I want an easy scheme to learn to use my airbrush, the base color dark yellow is done and adding the brown can't be too difficult. I just don't want to try to make zimmerit or do a 3 color scheme.---John

With those strictures, you may have to fudge the accuracy a little.

The Army's 501st and 505th battalions served in the east, but had tanks built in the summer of 1944 with Zimmerit applied.

Trouble is, the regulations changed about the same time that Zimmerit was discontinued, and from August, 1944 on, camouflage painting was done at the Henschel factory, not by units in the field, so most patterns were standardized, three-color schemes.

The SS 501st battalion was transferred to Hungary right after the Battle of the Bulge, and all of its tanks were without Zimmerit. They had the three-color scheme, though. Likewise, the Army 503rd Battalion went to Hungary in September, 1944, and its third company had no Zimmerit, but again, that company also a hard-edged, three-color Ambush Scheme, with the little polka dots. The Army 509th Battalion went to Hungary in January, 1945, and it had hard-edged, three-color cammo (with whitewash, initially), but most had no polka dot spots. This unit appeared to have a dark base color (presumably the newly authorized Olive Green), with the Dark Yellow and Red Brown applied as secondary colors, though.

At the very end of the war, there were paint shortages, and some Olive Green King Tiger tanks were issued in the Ruhr Pocket fighting in March, 1945, with only a pattern of Dark Yellow (including the famous "Octopus Pattern").

Gerald thank you for the help. Are there any pictures of these olive green and yellow camouflaged tanks anywhere? I am halfway there with the yellow. What unit am I looking for? Thanks again.---John

It is now a King Tiger in Berlin 1945. I simply removed the small front and rear fenders, will leave off the skirts that cover the tracks and do it as machine number 100 in the Battle of Berlin 1945. It was dark yellow with green camo on the turret and barrel only.---John

Not sure about that scheme in Berlin. That was an SS 503 tank and notwithstanding what several colour profiles show, it was almost certainly in the standard three-colour ambush scheme. Anyone can interpret a monochrome photo to create a colour profile but that doesn't mean that it is accurate (neither does several people producing similar artwork of it!).

That had me wondering. I saw the actual picture but it really wasn't good quality. Looked washed out. Was it one from Hungary or Russia that was called back or was it one of the last production machines when there was a paint shortage? No one seems to have a definite answer.---John

This page has a photo of the "octopus pattern" cammo, which may have been a one-off, or perhaps one of a small batch in March, 1945. It's the tank with the large backwards swastika painted on the glacis (added after the war by someone who wanted their photo to be more dramatic). The turret side is scorched, but the cammo on the front is clear. There is also a color photo out on the web, but it looks tinted or colorized to me. That particular tank has some final production features, like the reinforcing ribs on the front fenders. It only has a set of narrow transportation tracks, as battle tracks were also running out.
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114441

What about the 502SS Tiger Battalion that finally got their Tiger II's in early 1945 and was sent to the Berlin area? IIRC they were in the Halbe Pocket with the German 9th Army. They had non-zimmerit issued Tiger II's and just had an ID number on the turret.

Thank you. I am finally getting somewhere.I will look for pictures of the 502nd. My next adventure is a Porshe turret with zimmerit. Next year I plan on purchasing the Dragon kit with zimerit molded on the kit. Than I can debate which unit, thinking France 1944 for that. Thanks again.---John

I have pencilled in the camo scheme for hull number 100 in Berlin 1945. I am thinking of using modelling clay to "mask" the dark yellow and paint the green. The little G's are what needs to be painted, G for green obviously. I don't think it was a very dark green, maybe a lighter olive green? Anyways I don't have my airbrush up and running, still need lessons, so I will use Tamiya rattle can to finish. I am hoping the clay might give a feathered edge, don't want too hard an edge. Then I can finish building and start weathering.---John