Do all of the early versions of the tiger 1 have the filters on the back? When in the war did the men take off the filters if they where damaged or did they leave them on? Thanks alot!
Beth

The early versions had Feifel air filters on the outter corners that look like two flour siffters (?)
It looks like the ausf EAO2 were the last of them.
In summer of 43 the ausf E didn't have them

The initial "Leningrad Tigers" of the 502 didn't have any at all.
The lessons learned from the steppes had them introduced, and so were seen on the earlies until - IIRC - after the early mids were introd.

There were two styles, IIRC the twin "flour sifters" were the 1st, followed by the pair that looked like they were siamesed together in the middle.
Yes, they were frequently damaged and not likely replaced.

Thanks for the help guys.
Beth

Beth the previous posts are spot on! this is what i
have in my refernces
very early or initial production
saw non fitted then feifel filters fitted november 1942
in march 1943 a modified oval shaped filter was replacing the first pattern series
and then in october 1943 the order came to discontinue production and mounting of feifel's
you also asked in your question whether they removed because of damage ?
then i can say this much
i have seen a good many original photos of early tigers with damged fiefel filters on them all seem to be left untouched ,

Beth, if I remember correctly you are building a mid-production, so your kit should not have them. They definitely are NOT on a mid-production Tiger

Steve's right Beth if your building a mid prod then dont even worry yourself over the filters! they didnt hang around very long in the scheme of things !

Feifels appeared on the prod line starting Nov 1942, the later filters appeared in Mar 43, and then all discontinued in prod in Oct 43.

"Mids" were intro'd approx July-Aug 43.

So there is the possibility that a few mids were fielded with feifels. Just as there were the few mids seen without zimm.