Hi guys, a quick question on king tigers (which I hope isn't a stupid one).

Did all of them (porsche or production) have zimmerit, or just some? The reason I'm asking is i've got the Dragon kit and the tank on the cover has zimmerit, while the pictures on the instructions for painting don't.

Thanks in advance.

Both of them had zimmerit if im not mistaken, but it realy depends on hte date of production of hte tiger you are modeling. Ive got a few ref pics of tiger 2's without zim.

Thats the best i can answer Il let the more knoledgable(sp?) finish the job

Frank

Late in 44 Zimmerit application was stopped as it was thought to be flammable.

So a Tiger II can be built without ZImm, think only production turrets

I believe all Porsche Turreted King Tigers have zimmeritts. As for Henschel turreted King Tigers, it defends on many things. Early Henschel turreted King Tigers do. I think zimmerits were dropped in September 1944. Some units have KT with zimmeritts well after Sept. So check your reference.

Llew -

As others mentioned, it will depend on the when, where, who situations. What Dragon kit do you have as there is one for the Porsche turret, Henschel (production), then the "Ardennes" kit. If you have a Porsche turret, then it will have "zimmerit" as will many of the early production Henschel. Units like sPz Abt 505 in East had "zimmerit" as did sPz Abt 506 in West even during "Ardennes". However, the King Tigers of sSSPz Abt 501 during "Ardennes" didn't have "zimmerit". So let us know which kit and what you want to depict and we can give you more specifics. No questions are "stupid" as we're all here to help and learn. Hope this helps some,

Blade48mrd

Hi Guys, thanks for the replies.

I have the Dragon kit with Porsche turret #6189. So I guess that means zimmerit.

Being somewhat new to modelling I haven't ever picked a subject, but I've just been building to increase my skills. But that sounds like an interesting idea. I've got the book "The King Tiger Tank" by Horst Scheibert and it has some pics, so maybe I'll use one as I guide.

One interesting photo on page 15 is of tank 114 concealed in some trees as captured British soldiers distribute supplies. Maybe I'll try that one. If anyone has more pics of that tank that would be really helpful.

Here's how someone else did their 114

http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/olt2/olt2.htm

There's also Didier Lodieu's book '45 Tiger en Normandie' on the 503rd.

You could back date your kit to the prototype and not apply zimmerit. The MMiR Modelers Guide to the Tiger tank has a great article on doing this.

Cheers

thanks for the tips guys! I think I'll try the 114 angle. That looks like a very good article. I hadn't noticed it before.

One more thing...

Its your model, it only has to make you happy and no one else. Zimmerit the thing only if you want to.