I sketched a scene where a tiger ended down a embankment end lost a track, while a allied officer commands the crew of the Sherman M32 to recover it. Because the crew knows that they never will be able to salvage this huge beast they are looking very confused and stunned at the scene.

The title I had in mind "YOU MUST BE KIDDING, RIGHT .... SIR??"

the reason I want to use a Tiger tank is because the M32 is not able to recover it (to heavy) a Pzkfw IV is possible a Tiger never.

Since I never did a german tank before I was wondering what kit is a good one (I never used PE, so I like to do it OOB) and can I get away with not using zimmerit?

#:-)

The Tamiya one is good for OOTB, if you build one Early production or Initial production, then no Zimmerit is needed for most of the Early/Initial Production Tiger I. The Initial Production saw extensive service in North Africa, but since I don't build any Allied one, so I am not sure if the M-32 was around in the North Africa though. HTH.

The M-32 went in to active service in 1943 so I need to make it Italien or European campain

If I have time tonight, I will go check my Tiger I at Western Front book, and see if there is any picture shows that the Early/Initial Tiger I served there around that time period.

Hi Ronny
Some of the Italeris Tiger kits come with a glue on zimmerit kit made from the same plastic. Some people have slated this as a gimmick and others as the zimmerite is too thick. maybe with a bit of carefull sanding from behind, it will come out OK. I bought one of the newer Tamiya tiger kits a while back but have not attempted it yet. I have never built single link tracks or zimmerite and I thought Id have a go at the Italeris with zimmerite first.
Just an idea!

Does not Academy make the Best OOB Tiger I? Their was an article either this year or last year on Tiger I's in FSM mag.

I never built one from Academy, so I really can't tell. I think money for value, you are absolutely correct that with the interior and everything, Academy Tiger definitely has a lot of merits. Does it come with individual track link or horrible rubber band just as the Tamiya?

If you just want to get things close, here's a basic list of things that I would consider -

Which unit?
Most Tigers (e.g. 90%) served in independent battalions. The unit and the theater/timeframe will be highly related.

Which Type of Tiger?
The four basic categories are Initial, early, mid or late. The initial and early models were fairly common in Italy, so you could do a tank without zimmerit. If you pick a mid model, you'll need to research more to determine if zimmerit would be appropriate. ALL Late models had zimmerit so no steel wheels without zimmerit.

Which kit?
The Italeri is the cheapest, it's also the hardest to build well... the turret is especially frustrating, but can be built into a nice kit. Italeri makes an early and a late model.

The Academy Tigers are actually pretty nice. The Academy kits are early and mid models. The one with interior is really closest to an early production tiger. Some Academy kits do come with individual link tracks that are nice. Academy also released the links at a very low price.

The newer Tamiya kits are the absolute best tigers out there... however, they are also consistently the most expensive. Some of the Tamiya kits come with individual link tracks that are pretty nice. Tamiya makes all four models.

Cavalier makes a nice zimmerit set for the mid and late models... this makes the zimmerit very easy.

Later,
Tim

I have never built an Academy Tiger, but I did a Tamyia. I am however a huge fan of Academy. The price is about the same or
cheaper than Tamyia and Academy throughs in a lot of little extras. They seem to go the extra mile on a lot of there kits.

Ron,
Are you familiar with MILITARY MODELING MANUAL put out by hobby japan ? Their issue #5 which came out around 1996 has an article in it called -After the War"Ordnance"-,usually their English,what of it there is ,is sometimes uninteligable.But anyway it `s a fairly large diorama showing two M32`s placing A partially disassembled panzer IV Ausf.H onto an M26A1(not the Tamiya`s dragon wagon but a resin model of a later version).At least half of thedio`s crew look really dismayed but I`m not sure why. If you can look it up it sounds right up your ally.
GOOD MODELING prbesch

Hi Ron,

I Checked my book "Tiger I at Western Front". I think you can do a Kompanie Hummel Tiger I, which does not have the Zimmerit, and go by the number 407, it took part in the battle of Bulge. It's a bit tricky, because it's a Hybrid with Later Hull, and early Turret, the Muzzle brake is of early type too. It's on Pg135 of that book. If you want more information, you can PM me. HTH.

I have done the Academy Tiger I mid-production with the interior and thought it was a terrific kit, the interior has a few short comings, but these weren't too hard to fix. I am not so sure an M-32 would have ever been sent to recover a Tiger, though. Since so few Tigers were actually recovered by the allies, an attempt to recover one would have had enough importance to warrant a couple M-26's. It does sound like an interesting diorama idea. I am the kind of idiot who would go one step further and send in an M-26 to recover the M-32 that had blown an engine trying to recover the Tiger. This thought only comes up because I have been toying with the idea of doing the same with an M-26 towing another M-26 that has a Diamond T wrecker on the trailer, or something to that effect. It sounds just ludicrous enough to work.

As for Zimmerit, they stopped putting it on after Sep 44 (I think) so a late production without Zim would work. Tamiya and Academy both put out kits with individual links and with rubber bands, so make sure the one you buy has individual links. Sounds like a good opportunity to display a thrown track, maybe imbed it in the mud and have a jeep with a tow cable trying to pull it out.

You are correct about when Zim application was stopped. The last 'late' Tigers were built in August 1944, so they all had Zim. Early King Tigers had zim, not the lates.

Andy