Hobby boss Tiger II work in progress. There's apparently two gun choices, as seen in this picture:



Are there any information about the two? Which one was more common?

The monobloc gun was the initial production version (Jan-Mar '44)

The two piece gun went into production in Apr '44, through the rest of the war.

Not knowing exact numbers, probably half of these turrets had each type of gun, from production.

Field replacement would have been only the two-piece gun.

I'm sure others are more knowledgeable.

How many rounds were a barrel good for? I would figure the Porsche turrets, being the first 50 tanks off the line would have had the one piece out the door. When would they have need to rebarrel? I know s.Pz.Abt. had a couple of Porsches that lived to see Hungary in 45.

Not sure of the historical accuracy but doing a build as a tank assigned to training or a development facility pressed into service in Der Vaterland in April / May 45 with a 2 piece barrel in grey primer might be something a little different.

Looking through the book "Germany's Tiger Tanks, VK45.02 to Tiger II: Design, Production, and Modifications", page 70, paragraph 6.3.3.4, indicates that a two piece barrel turret was installed from chassis 280018 (the 18th production tank), March 1944. A monobloc barrel'd turret was installed in 280035 and 280037 in late May/early June.

It would seem that from available productions records (referenced in the book), 19 of the 50 original Krupp turrets had the monobloc barrel. The other 31 turrets left the factory with the two piece barrel.

Also remember only the first 47 production vehicles, 280001-280047, (along with VK 45.01(P)/02(P)/02(H)) had the original turret installed.

Mark,

Thank you for not referring to them as Porsches.

So only 47 was produced with the early turret? Not 50?

Krupp produced 50 turrets of the original design. The first three were installed in the development vehicles. The rest in the first 47 production vehicles.

Agree. It bothers me when I see that. Lots of folks don't realize that Krupp built ALL of the turrets for the Tiger II. The original design (280001-280047) and the official production version from chassis 280048 on up.

But, that's what I love about this site. I'm always learning.

I use "Porsche" because it's easier to type than "Pre-production". Kind like it's easier to say "Panther" than "Panzerkamfwagen v Sd.Kfz 171". And everybody knows what you mean.

On the two piece barrels, when replaced in the field, would both parts be primer or would it just be the thinner section?

‘P2 Turm’ is even quicker to type and is actually correct. Likewise ‘Serienturm’ for the production turret.

Just a heads up I chose the two part barrel.




I have a question regarding the engine deck mesh (as seen mounted on in the second pic).

1) what's the purpose? (best guess anti-grenade)
2) Are those frequently mounted or were they easily lost/damage?

Why only on the one side and why a grill over a grill and a section of just armor? Something to mess with the Soviet's minds? (If one gets captured the Russians will go insane for weeks trying to figure out what it is.)

The screens purpose is to keep foreign objects (any type of) from getting into the rear compartments.

As you can see in this picture, screens can be missing. You can use builder's license to do what you want.

In reply to earlier posts, both parts of the 2-part barrel would be factory-finished in the grey lacquer. It was one barrel, just manufactured in 2 pieces screwed together before final bore finishing and rifling. The 2 pieces stayed together as a single barrel thereafter.

The design life of the original KwK 36 was 6,000 rounds. I can't imagine that the KwK 43 was significantly less. Field replacements were more likely because of damage rather than wear. Very few KwK 36 spare barrels were made: a double-digit number IIRC. Wearing out was not anticipated.