I have just picked up an Italeri Tiger I Ausf. E/H1

Has anyone built this kit? Any advice or tips, bearing in mind I am still a beginner and will be building straight OOTB.

My first impression is that it doesn't go together quite as well as the last kit I did which was an Academy M-10.

The tracks look like they're going to be interesting, I have only used vinyl tracks before. Any tips for this?

It looks like I can build with the hatches open and fit a crew in, any recommendations for a crew? I don't want to spend too much as I am still learning and can't justify the cost of Verlinden figures for example.

Thanks, Roger

Hi Roger
I have built the Tiger in question a few years back and it looked good to me. But I did hear that the front Drive sprocket is wrong? And a few other things but it was a fun build. As for the tracks they are not as hard as they lookeasy really just follow the instructions. For a crew I like the Academy German Tank Crew, not the maintinance crew(OUT OF SCALE) Just have fun and learn?
HTH
Jeff Larkin aka beachbm2

Hi Roger, this is quite a good kit. The rivet counters will find something wrong in every kit, but I reckon it's accurate enough. As for the tracks I'm not a great lover of seperate links but these are easier than some - just be patient. Assemble them on a base that glue won't adhere to - I use a metal ruler; 5 links at a time with liquid glue, then into longer lengths andd before they're fully dry wind them round the model. As for crew, Tamiya figures should fit ok.

Mine is shown in the MSN galleries under "Dave's effforts"

Take your time building the kit, I ended up with a slight tilt through the whole chassis. I'm thinking some of the pieces might have been warped. If you're looking for a good, cheap set of figures, DML and Tristar both make a Tiger crew. However they're both really for later tigers, if you're not a rivet counter they'd be great. But if you are a rivet counter let me know and I'll tell you what's wrong with that Italeri kit!

I have two Italeri Tigers in my stock. One is an early model and the other one is a late model that comes with zimmerit plaques included. I never built Italeri`s Tigers but in the box they look good to me. I have seen some of them finished by experienced modellers and they look great. Someone told me that the drive sprockets are not in the prpper size (but not too wrong, you have to be a Tiger expert to note that). The only problem that you can find with the sprockets is if you change the tracks for an aftermarket set, they will probably not fit, but using the ones of the kit evrerything will go ok.
Good luck and let us see it when finished !

Does the Italeri tiger has the asymmetric turret?

It's symmetrical.