As WWII progressed Germany was facing armor threats from U.S. and British forces to their south and west, but German commanders were able to deal with these threats thru a combined use of armor, anti-tank weapons, tactics, and sheer numbers. The drawback for the allies was that they were limited by what could be transported by ship to the continent.
To the east was an entirely different matter with the Russians as they could simply drive, or transport by rail, to their front lines whatever they needed or anything newly developed. With the Germans facing the ever growing threat from heavy Soviet armor, they pushed to develop bigger and more effective combat vehicles in an attempt to slow the Soviet drive.
Among the first of their heavy tank series was the Maus (Mouse) which it was anything but small as the name might lead some to think. The Maus was to be armed with a 128mm KwK main gun, and a coaxially mounted 75mm gun. In a parallel development, Germany also began work on the E-100 which was based on an enlarged Tiger II chassis and was supposedly to mount the turret of the Maus as well. Try as the Germans did, only the hull of the E-100 was completed by the end of the war.
The kit
Trumpeter has been releasing these “paper panzers” pretty regularly for some time now. Since these vehicles never saw completion, some are going to have a hard time arguing the accuracy of it. One thing that is apparent is the difference between the Dragon offering and this one. The new Dragon kit features the turret of the Maus with a slightly different looking gun tube, while the turret of this kit resembles a Henschel turreted King Tiger, albeit on steroids. You can see the resemblance in the pictures and also the difference in the Dragon Maus turret, which is on the left and the Trumpeter E-100 turret on the right. My first impression of the kit when I cracked the box open was how big it was, and how few parts there seemed to be. The box top states 102, but I have read anything from 170ish, to 256 and I was not about to count each individual piece. Suffice to say there aren’t that many, so construction should move right along.
There are a total of six sprues with two containing the side skirts, turret bottom, gun tube, night sights and assorted smaller parts such as the pioneer tools. The remaining four sprues are the road wheels and suspension. Everything else is separate. The one piece tracks are nicely done and about as wide as the day is long, measuring in at a whopping 29.45mm or just over an inch. The small fret of photo-etch brass for the intake screens, looks very well done and usable. The turret and hull interiors are cavernous and since this vehicle never came to fruition, the modeler has ample room to outfit an interior however they see fit. A simple looking gun breech is included as part of the kit. It would definitely be an eye catching piece should one be built with an interior.
Assembly is carried out in 26 steps and finishes up with the attachment of the massive side skirts. The included color painting guide features one vehicle with dark green over dark yellow camouflage and green smoke rings on the skirts and another vehicle in the standard three tone camouflage of dark yellow, red-brown, and dark green. Both illustrations show the main gun tube as being in dark red primer, along with both vehicles sporting the IR night vision scopes mounted on the TC cupola, but no IR parts are included for the driver’s station. Either paint scheme will make for an attractive model. Decals provided are generic white outlined red numerals and four Balkenkreuz’.
Conclusion
If you're looking for a fun project that’s near impossible to research, and leaves ample room to super-detail the interior if so inclined, here is one to tempt your taste buds. When finished, you’ll have one serious looking piece of armor. Couple this with some figures and you’ll have the makings for an interesting diorama. Having faced armor on the battlefield I can safely say this is one I would not want to have come across.
SUMMARY
Highs: Low parts count which should result in a quick build. Crisp detail on moldings. Attractive paint schemes and box art. Lows: Pretty hefty price tag, hence the 90% overall rating. Lack of IR gear for driver stationVerdict: Nice rendering of an 'almost was' piece of armor. One to get if you can afford it.
Our Thanks to Stevens International! This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.
Hi all
I am in the middle of building this beastie. Only a couple of probs at the moment 1: engine deck hooks the 2 rear ones each side face same way, 2: no vision blocksfor coupla, 3: what is the hole on top of coupla for?,4: instructions say tracks can glued with plastic cement this is not happening for me !!
But apart from these few blibs a easy to build kit,some of parts just seem to snap together. Will look good sat next to my dragon E100 and trumps E25
hope you find this helpful thanks Darren
I hate to burst your bubble on this one but red oxide primed barrels did exist, numerous photographs in the german propaganda magazine "signal" and other colour wartime sources confirm it beyond question
I will definitely buy this tank model. I have always been interested in German paper projects at the end of WW II, both armor and aircraft. It is refreshing to be able to build some completely different models instead of the slightly tweaked same old, same old. Trumpter should be applauded for their efforts in this little explored territory. I do note that the Trumpter box-art shows a machine gun port on the tank's front hull, but the actual model does not have this machine gun port.
However, as an E-100, I think Trumpter got it wrong. From the research that I have done, their E-100 appears to be the German E-75. Dragon is right on with their version of the E-100. Germany had several models proposed under the "E" series of tanks. They ranged from the small E-10, the E-25, E-50, E-75 to the giant E-100. the number stood for the approximate tonnage of the vehicle. The idea behind the "E" series was to have as many parts as possible to be exchangable between all the tanks in the series. This was for ease of production and parts replacement. The E-75 was an upgraded version of the King Tiger, which the Trumpter model does strongly resemble. From captured plans and documents, the E-100 looked exactly like the Dragon model.
Now all we need is an E-50, since Trumpter has also released the E-10 and E-25 in model form. The E-50 looked a great deal like the Panther tank, but had a "schmalturm' type turrent. Hopefully, Trumpter is working on the E-50. Their E-75 looks great.
Uhm.... you should know that this turret on the Trumpeter E-100 is a fictional one, right? Not based on anything ever planned by the designers. The chassis IS an E-100, not an E-75.
The kit as presented here is based on several scratch-built so called E-100 Ausf. B models. However a diminutive turret like this with a 128 or even the later 155mm gun is completely impossible. The gunmounting is just never going to fit in this turret, or at best, the recoil would rip the turret frontface apart with the first shot.
They at least use the Maus turret as shown on plans in Spielberger's Spezialpanzer book.
Not even close to an E-75, this model is larger than the E-75.
Both the E-50 and E-75 have the exact same external dimensions for the chassis, the E-50 having thinner armourplate resulting in more internal space.
Also, depending on which factory was involved (Weserhüte, Adler etc.) gives you different designs, with varying running gear layouts.
And while an E-100 was being built, very slowly, none of the E-designs was ever conceived as being a proposal for series production, they were all new ideas to get rid of nummerous design flaws in the current gamma of German Panzer production.
The E-5 for instance would take over from ALL Schützenpanzerwagens, light recce tanks and some extremely light tanks.
The E-10 would become the replacement for anything tankhunting under the JagdPanzer 38(t) and the JagdPanzer IV, Stug IV. These would in their place be substituted by the E-25, which was deemed the definitve at that moment tankhunter.
Than the E-50 was to get the place taken by the Panther/Tiger-E with the E-75 taking over from the Tiger-B.
The E-100 would be the tank that would become the stop-gap vehicle, a mobile bunker toting the gun of the JagdTiger and the Maus.
But none of these would ever enter production. The E-series are only studies, to test new ideas.
Standardization was, contrary to what many believe, NOT the main issue with the E-series. The E-series often is said to mean Einheits-series, but it is in fact Entwicklungs-series.
The main points upon which the Panther/Tiger tanks would be improved:
- much simpler to produce and maintain suspension, at the cost of a slightly less comfortable ride
- More internal space for more ammo-stowage.
- Belly escape hatch
It is my belief that at least some part of the E-50/75 design was already introduced into the Panther-F production at war's end, namely the new suspension units and layout.
Hi Leo -
To help clarify the kit as produced by Trumpeter, this kit is based off a hypothetical futuristic 1946 model that I built back in '04. The turret design, armament, and sighting devices are all entirely fictional and nothing more than pure science fiction on my part. I did try to make it believable on some level so I did base the design upon current German tank designs then in production at the time, but this tank is not real in any sense of the word.
Same with the designation E100 Ausf B. -- there NEVER was such a tank, not on paper nor ever intended by the Germans, so fundamentally there is no research for such a vehicle and Trumpeter simply reproduced the model that I made for fun. However, the model proved more popular than I thought and Trumpeter felt it would make a great kit and from what I've been told has been a successful seller, which makes us all happy. I had only wished the box info or instructions had not given the illusion this was a "real" paper panzer and had been more forthcoming about the origins of the model. My design has nothing to do with the E-50/75 proposals and was only intended to have a passing family resemblance. Yes the hull is based on the E100 as seen from the captured hull, but beyond that the tank is purely fictional like I said above.
Herbert - I based the design of the turret along the revised length of the proposed superstructure of the never produced Jagdtiger mounting the longer Pak L/66 12.8cm gun as seen in Panzer Tracts #20-1 page 59, which means the turret is capable of handling the recoil of the long 12.8cm mounting. At least in theory anyway. In no way, would I call that turret "diminutive" as it is nothing more than a slimmed down Maus turret.
Here is the link to the original model in case you guys haven't seen it before:
Original E-100 Ausf. B
Best,
Mike
Hello Mike,
Thanks for the clarification with the "E-100 Ausf. B." The size of the chassis did seem to be too big for anything smaller than an E-100, but I could've sworn this was an E-75, based on drawings I have seen of this paper panzer. Wishful thinking, I guess. In any event, it is a great looking model.
By the way, you seem to have an "in" with Trumpter models. Do you know if they have any future plans to develop a German E-75 or E-50 model tank?? It would be great for them to produce the full series.
Michael,
I would like to thank you for presenting the armor modeling community around the world with your extremely well thought out creation. I recall first seeing this work of art over on the Missing-Linx armor website many years ago and how excited and delighted I felt that there were modelers like yourself willing to share a purely hypothetical but workable vehicle for all modelers to see.
This is the kind of stuff that dreams are made of and nothing starts first without a dream. Your creation has touched and inspired many armor modelers around the world enough that it is now being produced so that many of us that may be unable to recreate what you did can have a piece of your dream too! The best part of this whole thing is that you added the most important ingredient to modeling for me and for many modelers both young and old alike - FUN.
I do not know how to speak my mind very well to tell you how I feel but I now have a copy in my small pile of armor kits to be built and dream of how I may want to recreate my E100 Super Heavy Tank. I am certain that I am not alone here as the sales of this kit are proof of that!
Thank you so very, very much Michael you are truly an artist.
-Eddy
Leo -- Currently I don't know Trumpeter's future plans to produce the E-50 or -75 kits. Logic would dictate that, yes, they will come, but I do not when at this time. Whose to say maybe Dragon plans to offer these kits as well, judging by their own track record lately to go head-to-head with Trumpeter.
Eddy -- you are far, far too kind, but thanks all the same. It was indeed a lot of fun and actually my first model back into the game after a 15 year break from the hobby like many others here. I chose it so I didn't have to conform to historical accuracy since I had such limited resources at the time. There were also a couple of other modelers that engaged in similar projects for a while during that period; sort of like a mini E-100 group build. Anyway, glad you like the subject and that, of course, is what this is all about. Enjoy!
Best,
Mike
I would expect that there will be an E-50/75 in plastic at some point since you can slap a swastika on it. . . I know that I would really like one and would snap one up (and will snap up the nice resin one if that's all that's available when I clear my backlog). However, heaven knows what they'll do for it. Hilary Doyle's drawing are based on what is available for tech reference but doesn't have the rear mounted drive sprockets (which makes sense as he's using the existing documentation and it doesn't seem that this was worked out on paper) and no turret was specified. in addition, if they use the Cromwell model as a reference they might not know that the suspension is changed from what Bruce Crosby researched out (his documentation was that the sprocket and tracks would be similar to the Porsche Jadgtiger's). It would be nice if whoever does this kit uses actual research.
Whom I kidding, I'll buy one anyways!
Matt
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