I've recently started the Dragon late version Tiger 1 and I'm hoping to replicate a 2nd Company tank from the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion (turret No 232)

I've noticed from photos that the outer loader's hatch handle is offset in the kit. The hatch on the real tank is central.

Why are they different? I've read somewhere that there was a difference in turret roof thickness. Would this explain the different turret hatch?

Thank you in advance.

Des

This image shows an offset handle.

http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/Tiger1-2002-Picz/Tiger1-101-Normandy-Destroy.jpg
image captioned: A Tiger I of late production, belonging to s.SS.PzAbt.101, destroyed in Normandy, 1944.

webpage:
http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/tiger1.htm

I've just read that from march 1944 the turret thickness was increased from 25mm to 40mm so I'm presuming tank 232 had a pre March 1944 turret.

Des

It could be.Seen crazier things with German panzers over the years.

Original one could have been blown off and a replacement welded on offset of the original stubs.
My dad was in a Utility Squadron in the Pacific during WWII and he once said that makeshift pieces (brackets etc.) were fitted over damaged pieces in the planes that came in to be repaired and sent back into combat, so who really knows what might have happen to this one.

Tiger 232 had a hatch with a central handle, therefore it had a 25mm roof (weld line near the front, no mine-launching weapon at the rear right, a raised rim around the loader's hatch). The hatches are not interchangeable.

David

Fantastic answer David, thank you.