introduction

The Dragon Porsche turreted King Tiger has been out now for a long time. In addition the Premium edition of the Porsche turreted King Tiger has recently been released by Dragon. Now into the frame comes Cyber Hobby and their rendition of the one of the Initial Production King Tigers.

the kit

Beautifully presented, as you expect, in much the same way as a new Dragon kit would be, the same ‘card’ bearing the Dragon name, and including all the goodies we’ve come to expect from Dragon and/or Cyber Hobby. The card this time holds a couple of small clear sprues for the periscopes, two lengths of metal tow rope, a decal sheet, two cupolas, and a largish photo etched fret. There is also a small black tray with metal towing shackles, some pre-bent wires, a length of chain, two pre-formed exhaust shrouds and of course, an aluminium barrel. Sprue wise, we are given 11 large sprues and 23 medium sprues, 16 of which contain track links. Try as I might, this one just didn’t want to go back in the box, so I’ll have to build it!

detail

The instructions in this kit are done the same as the original King Tiger instructions, i.e. of the photographic sort. I think the line drawing type are much clearer, and since they’ve been changed anyway, I would have preferred that type. As far as I know, all of the Initial production King Tigers all had Zimmerit, although I’m not 100% on this, but earlier sets from manufacturers such as Cavalier and Atak should fit.

The kit is in the main the same as the Premium edition kit. Nearly all the same contents are provided, on all the same sprues. There are a couple of new ones though! First off, the tracks! As mentioned above, these are newly-tooled, and there are 16 sprues of track links provided, these are the multi part 800mm Gg24, each link alternating with a 4 part link, so they’ll take some building, and cleaning up off the sprue, but they should look absolutely superb when complete!

Sprue A is the same sprue as issued with the Premium kit too, but there is a new section added that holds the requisite 18 tooth sprocket, and there’s also a new idler and drive housing too. There is also a sprue I included, which actually has no identifying letter on the sprue itself, although in reality it’s sprue J from the Premium Panther, minus the turret, although when you see this on the instructions, you’ll be very surprised at just how little of it you actually use. Two small triangular pieces for the snorkel pipe cover, and the snorkel housing itself! That’s it!

The small sprue TB which holds the jack also has a small addition in the form of two new S-type towing shackles. There is also a new small sprue P that holds the surrounds for the new drive housings and the new profile for the towing shackle points. The hull is of the early type with no cut-out on the glacis (the same as the Premium) and with regards to plastic, that’s the sum of the differences between this kit and the Premium King Tiger recently released. In brass though, we do get two new, nicely pre-formed exhaust shrouds.

For those of you who haven’t seen the Premium edition of the Porsche turreted King Tiger, there are some really nice touches in this kit, for example, the turret rear hatch can be displayed open, with a beautifully etched inner door in brass, and the pistol port can be left open too, with a small length of chain included for this purpose. The Porsche turret still has the locating points for the spare track link brackets, which somebody pointed out to me today were never actually on this turret. Two newly tooled exhaust covers are included, and the cast texture on these is done beautifully, as you can see from the pictures. The close in defense weapon can be modelled deployed or stowed, and the cupola has to be seen to be appreciated. The On vehicle tools are all supplied with or without moulded on clamps, and therefore photo etched clamps are provided. Of course the engine grills are all provided as photo etch also.

marking options

Five options are provided for on the decal sheet, all from France 1944, all in overall dark yellow, 3 of which are over sprayed with a green and brown mottle pattern, and the other two with green pattern.

in conclusion

A great kit! You’ll have to source some Zimmerit, but everything else you need is here, highly recommended.

My thanks to Cyber Hobby for the review sample.