I'm working on the Tamiya King Tiger, production turret, with cavalier zimmeritt, what I'm looking for now is some idea of camo.
I'm interested in building a tank that may have been seen in Belgium around '44, where can I get some ideas about camo that may have been used.
Also would the " Ambush Scheme" have ever been applied to zimmeritt Tiger II's?...curious
Thanks for all your time
Pete

Hi Pete ...I did a quick look for info on 506 KT's ..This is what I found so far ..Apparently they had a few of the very early Porsche KT and the seem to have been painted in a dark yellow and green camo...If you are looking for the Henschel Turreted tanks they seem to have been painted dark yellow and heavily cammoed in red brown and dark green ..They had a Balkenkreuz in the middle of the turret .The tanks were number from 1 to 14 ..The company digit was painted on the left and the other digits on the right of the balkenkruz. The second company had red numbers with white outline ,the third company had black with yellow outline.

Rick

Dont know if any King Tigers had zimmerit during the bulge battle,there may have been the odd few,but i think they were quite new Tigers at that time so no zimmerit.ill give you a link to some Tiger sites. http://www.worldwar2aces.com/ http://www.homepurchaseprogram.com/tiger2.html how theres will give you a good idea.

I've seen a couple of photos of 506 KTs at the bulge with zimmerit, so that option should be okay. As for ambush camo, I don't think it was put into use until just after zim was phased out. There may have been a (very) little overlap, but it seems doubtful. For what it's worth, I've never seen a photo of a KT with zim and ambush spots. Of course that doesn't mean it can't have happened, but the likelihood seems remote.

OOPS! forgot to mention that most of 506th KT had zimmerit but yes they did ,and no there were never any ambush schemes on the zimmerited tanks ..or at least that is what I have read on other forums.

Rick

Joker -

I've been working on the Tamiya "Ardennes Front" King Tiger and based on my merger resources/research, I go along with what "thebear" has stated. The references indicate that 506 was issued new Tiger IIs Ausf Bs (August 1944), was at Osterboek (near Arnhem) for "Market Garden", and fought in defense of Aachen. For the "Ardennes", sPzAbt 506 was with 6th SS Panzer Army (Armeetruppen AOK. 6) and was the only Heer Tiger Battalion at the Battle of the Bulge and fought around the Bastogne area. My references seem to indicate that "506" had a mix of Tiger Is and Tiger IIs, and that the King Tigers had a possible mix of zimmerit and non-zimmerit but were painted in, as "thebear" said, "...dark yellow and heavily cammoed in red brown and dark green", the three color scheme, not "Ambush". That's what I've found, but if I'm off or others have more, please let us know.

Blade48mrd

That is a new one to me Blade, and one I would be very interessted in to know more about. As I am aware the only heavy armour at Arnhem was the II ss-panzercorps, consisting of 10 ss- division Freundsberg and 9 ss-division Hohenstauffen . The only other units in the area were a training school just north of Heelsum, which was the unit which blocked the initial advance of 1st and 3rd battalions into Arnhem, but they did not have King Tigers..

Cheers
Henk

Henk 506th arrived in the Netherlands between 22-24 09 1944 . The third company 15 tanks were attached to the 9th SS Panzerdivision. Employement with Kampfgruppe Spindler south east of Oosterbeek (there 1 KT burns out after a PIAT hit ) The rest of the tanks fight with the 10th SS panzerdivision in Elst.

Rick
p.s. Info taken for Tigers in Combat I

I see, Thanks for the info Richard. I know the KT you are talking about, there is a picture of it in 'Arnhem, tragedie of errors'. When I get home I'll have a look for some more details. I thought that the KT's at Oosterbeek where redeployed from Arnhem after the bridge had been recaptured. Learn something everyday...
Cheers
Henk

Richard -

My thanks also for filling in the details. My data was a little vague (apologies Henk, didn't want to mislead) and I'm working on "updating" my references. That's one of the great things about Armorama, everyone chipping in and helping each other out with needed info. I've learned alot more also. Thanks guys!

Blade48mrd

Thanks for all the info lads!, I think I started on this line of thinking when i saw a photo over on "Panzerworld" of a knocked out production turret Tiger II, " some where in belgium" the turret numbers read 113, any more info on this vehicle? What say you experten?newbie needs guidance.
Cheers
Pete