Tiger I - January 1943 production "Tiki" 8./SS-Panzer-Regiment ”Das Reich”

[Robert1968]

Just caught this Tiger and although I was never really into Armour now I have a good interest.


This detail and accuracy to the exact detail is phenominal and I'm definatly going to stay and look in on this.


So far the work is really interesting to say the least


Kind regards.


Robert

 

[Tommy]

Thanks, glad that you are liking it so far...

 

[SlipMahoney]

Tommy, I'm with Robert on this one, except for the not being into armor part. I've got 12 braille scale panzers staring at me at the moment waiting to be built. In fact, I was looking for info on the Tiki Tiger for a small scale version of Tiki when I ran across the page on your build and had to check it out. I'm going to enjoy watching your work on this big cat.

 

[Tommy]

Thank you!


Never built anything in that scale, too small for me.


Let me know if you have any questions regarding the Tiki Tiger.


Looking forward too see your small scale builds!

 

[noble]

That's looking good so far I have my popcorn at the ready.


Scott

 

[monica]

amazing how much we just don,t relies is missing with the detail,


what a great job your doing on this one,

 

[Tommy]

Thank you Monica






And the result... added the periscopes, the holes for the steel rods on the splash screen and the notches.


And the narrow gap between the two front plates are filled with some putty.

 

[monica]

looking good so far,


will wait to see what the result is,

 

[Tommy]

Time to start with the turret.


In the above picture is the two gun mantles that was included in the kit. The top one is the earliest version and the bottom


one is a reinforced type of a little later date.


Unfortunately none of these two are of the correct type for the Tiki Tiger.






The above photo shows the Tiki Tiger during the same event as the previous photo I posted.


And as you can see the gun mantle is of a different reinforced type than the two that was included in the kit.


There was more than 10 different variations of the gun mantles for the Tiger I, so if you like me want to build a


specific Tiger, remember to check that out. It can easily be missed.


I'm currently working on the mantle I will use, it's made of resin and have a lot of excess material that needs to be cut off.

 

[0ne48thtel]

Just caught up on this one and it is looking good. I like the alterations you are doing top job.

 

[monica]

you real can see the difference with the 3 ,so do you buy after market ones, or build them


up or shelf,these type of things ,I for one will tend to look over,and just use whats in the box,

 

[Tommy]

I depends what the item is, some stuff I scratch build other I buy.


The gun mantle for this Tiger is a aftermarket product.

 

[noble]

Looking great so far.


Scott

 

[bazers]

Wow.

 

[PhilJ]

Really liking your methods Tommy, great work so far

 

[Tommy]

Thank you

 

[Tommy]

After a lot of cutting, sanding, dry fitting and cursing the gun mantle is finally in place and fits perfectly with the Tamiya turret and the metal barrel.


The letters and number you can see on the top of the mantle is a casting number. Not all gun mantles had a casting number, they was rather sporadic occurring.


The casting number could consist of only one digit to several. On photos of late turrets there was two or three capital letters instead of numbers.


On the mantle I use here have a mix of both digits and letters. I just need to sand them down a bit, as they look now they stand out a little to much.






Although this mantle is of good quality and detail there was a small detail that was missing.


And that was the small holes for the adjustments screws on either side of the mantle.


So I drilled two small holes on both sides and I accidently drilled the holes straight trough.


The holes should look more like a couple of round depressions, but that is easily fixed with a piece of a plastic rod.

 

[monica]

real like the look of that,gun mantle,the detail,real makes a difference,

 

[Tommy]

Been quite busy lately but here is a small update.






Some very simplified smoke launchers.






Scratch built stowage bin.


A stowage bin for this early Das Reich Tiger is not available in any kit or as a after market product.


So the only option left was to scratch build a new one.


The stowage bin for this Tiger is a unit made bin and was much longer than the later factory produced versions.






The stowage bin was secured to the turret on the sides and not on the top and bottom as with the later bins.






When Tigers with the newer turrets arrived (the ones with the right side escape hatch) the stowage bin become too long.


And the boxes needed to be adjusted. A cut out was made and then welded so the escape hatch could be opened.

 

[monica]

dose add a lot the added detail,,just by having the nuts howing on the storage bin,


just pickup on the weld line around the top of the turret,real like it,looks great,