Mystery King Tiger

njmlondon · 22-01-2008

Hi there
I am currently planning a huge project - a 1/16 Tamiya King Tiger with numerous aftermarket detailing parts.
I have been researching which King Tiger to model and have come across a very interesting tank from the Ardennes campaign which seems to have a unique Winter scheme according to some mystery sources but where all of the hard evidence I can find points to a more typical Ambush scheme.
Let me give you some details and if you have any ideas I would love to hear them...

1st up the Tiger in question is #213 of s.SS.Pz.Abt.501/101. This Tiger was knocked out at Werimont Farm, La Gleize, on 22 Dec 44 and was removed to La Gleize village square after the war and restored by the December 1944 Historical Museum.

#213 was originally SS-Unterscharführer Franz Faustmann's tank but apparently it also served as SS-Obersturmführer Dollinger’s command tank at La Gleize. It is rumoured that Dollinger probably took over command of 213 because as a battalion staff officer he needed a tank to exercise command and manage his sector of the battlefield from, and his 009 had apparently dropped out.

All photos of this tank I have found seem to display a standard ambush scheme and this has been modelled as such several times. There are some great models such as this one by Michale Tay

http://www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/...geriimt_2.html

However there are also three indications that #213 might have been a bit different...

1st up this page of profiles I found... look at #213... see the rather tasty paintjob!

http://tiger-ostpanzer.nm.ru/Colors/sSSPzAbt101.htm

and then there is fantastic model by Fabien Deschamps...

http://www.hyperscale.com/galleries/...igeriifd_2.htm

and finally a prepainted diecast version too...

http://www.flyingmule.com/products/HM-HG0108

All three references I can find have no extra information...

Can anybody help??????

tigertc · 22-01-2008

I believe some, if not all the information you require lies here- http://www.ss501panzer.com/

njmlondon · 22-01-2008

Hi TigerRC... I guess you must be the tiger expert! I have been through that site in immense detail but cannot find a reference to the whitewash anywhere. Maybe I am being dumb but whilst there is a good history of the tank and a lot about the restoration there is no reference to this paint-job.

tigertc · 23-01-2008

HI NJ,
Accept my apologies on this one, i seem to have sent you on a wild goose chase. I quickly checked the tags on my bookmarks before rushing off to work. It had whitwash and 501 in the tags so i pasted!!!

Anyways,.. to find an actual real picture of 213 that accurately portrays the winter camo scheme will be difficult (that's if one exists at all ). Early German tanks that were built and factory painted foir winter conditions (Due to knowing before hand where they were destined) Had oil based whitewash (winter camo scheme) applied.

More often than not tanks had standard camo factory applied then winter schemes added in the field. the type of whitewash applied in the field varies dependant on early or late war.
1. Early war 1939-1943 = oil based.
2. Late war= water based

The water based whitewash being applied in the field by hand due to lack of oil based thinners for the paint (No coincidence that the Third Reich had run out of fuel). This type of whitewash would easily wash off in rain and flake in the sun (i guess you can let your imagination run wild with the weathering techniques for your model).

The assumption would be that the battle constraints around La Gleize at the time would have meant that the whitewashing took place quickly and when the weather changed washed off just as quickly leaving bits of the wash stuck in nooks and crannys.
I am summising that the Germans probably thought that the water based a better solution, after all ..if they had used oil based they would have had to repaint the entire tank when the weather changed.

In some of the black and white pictures on the site it seemed to me that a few of the Tigers looked like they had the remnants of whitewash on them. It can also be seen the variations in paint schemes across the board as the rag tag remnants of the 501st was then made up of Tigers from different divisions.

To track where all the tigers came from would be a mammoth undertaking.

Just like todays army, if it starts snowing .....out comes the whitewash.

njmlondon · 23-01-2008

Thanks for the insight! I had no idea the late tanks whitewash was water-based. Explains perfectly how it could have existed in that form but ended up looking normal by the time it ended its life at La Gleize.
Definately one of the more interesting schemes out there. I do enjoy modelling the winter whitewash versions of tanks but the only other KT's I can find with whitewash are those of 505. Unfortunately they have zimmermat which I hate modelling!
Looking forward to getting started!
Thanks for your help.