1945

[Jake79]

1945 and there's not many camo patterns for the King Tiger, only found six at mo, on the hunt for more....

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[jtracks]

I find it interesting how the same tank grows and shrinks depending on the colors used. Thanks for the photo's.

Joe

[billpe]

There is a reason for the limited amount - All the King Tigers produced after 19th of August 1944 were factory painted and they all came from the same factory. So they all looked pretty much the same with a couple of minor changes to the factory scheme.

Going through those images:
1 - A very late one, probably last production batch.
2 - It's a pre-1944 August 19th tank
3 - Loosely based on the factory scheme but the pattern isn't right.
4 - The top tank is a real tank. The bottom tank has zimmerit so was produced early or mid 1944.
5 - It says its from the 509th. 509 had two types of Tiger II, ones with Zimmerit and field painted (yellow + dark green spots) and post zimmerit factory painted tanks. Some did get have extra tracks added as the picture shows but it doesn't really match any reference books in the colours. 509 gave quite allot of there Tiger II's to 506 ABT in December 1944 and these were all factory painted examples. There is a very famous photo of a 509th King Tiger in Hungary in 1945 with a close up shot of the zimmerit on the turret front and another a man sitting on the gun barrel covering up the muzzle.
6 - Factory colours with some whitewash- a fairly accurate reference to a real tank.

There is a fantastic page here on factory painted King Tigers: http://www.network54.com/Forum/47207/th ... -+Overview

There's also some myths about German paint which do not apply to KT's. For example there is no evidence grey was ever used on any of them and none left the factory painted in red oxide or used red oxide in the scheme.

[Bogeyman]

Thanks guys, very useful.

John

[Jake79]

That's what I like about this hobby, your always learning, billpe that was very interesting page....

Heres a few changes I've found, I'm not entirely sure all these are accurate, for the late K/T

-No jack and jack block
-No track mounting cable
-Fuel dump lines
-Reinforced front fenders
-18 teeth final sprocket
-No A-A ring on copula
-New rear turret hatch(with revelled upper corners)
-Rear turret hatch torsion bards and armoured covers, similar in length
-6 pairs track hangers per turret side
-Rain guard over visor
-D-loops for camouflage
-shields over engine covers

A couple of pics of late K/Ts......

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[billpe]

Those modifications are generally correct but they we're not always applied to all tanks for some reason.

[jackalope]

Those modifications are generally correct but they we're not always applied to all tanks for some reason.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say its probly because by that point in the war Germany was making due with whatever they could find to piece together anything to throw at the allies. Which would be why nothing you build (unless modeling a certain specific tank that LOTS of photos exists for) could be called "wrong". After all the combat and field repairs and upgrades done by tank crews using whatever they could get their hands on damn near anything goes!

[Jake79]

I think you might be right there Jack, also they were in a rush, I read somewhere that was one of the reasons the Tiger is using transport tracks not enough time to fit the combat tracks, another reason for the combat tracks were that they were too wide for train transport. Lastly the reason you may of seen missing track links on the turrets of later models is due to the fact they needed to be used as the supply of battle tracks had been cut off by rail links or allied bombing...
That's a few reasons for the tracks, the others like you said Jack prob lack of supplies and time.....

[ALPHA]

Hey Jake
the Octopus pattern




ALPHA

[billpe]

Evidence suggests the last 12 built came with transport tracks only. Where you see others with transport tracks it's just as likely the ccrew didn't have time to change them. Like with the Luftwaffe, the Panzer Corp could get tanks but couldn't get fuel or well trained crews.

Those modifications are generally correct but they we're not always applied to all tanks for some reason.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say its probly because by that point in the war Germany was making due with whatever they could find to piece together anything to throw at the allies. Which would be why nothing you build (unless modeling a certain specific tank that LOTS of photos exists for) could be called "wrong". After all the combat and field repairs and upgrades done by tank crews using whatever they could get their hands on damn near anything goes!

I don't think that is the reason. These changes were fairly cosmetic. Many were to simplify production yet kept being added, its more inconsistency than anything else. That octopus tank is a good example. Probably 5-7 tanks painted like that and the last out of the factory. Has the 18 teeth sprockets, reinforced fender but normal track mounts and AA gun rail. The photo above that is a tank made earlier, I think the photo is from Belgium. It has no AA rail - in fact it appears to have all the changes we can see anyway of a very late production variant but only 4 track links per side on the turret. It could have 6. THat photo shows the fuel air vent nicely though.

There probably is a genuine reason but the documents telling us just don't exist any more or haven't been found or published. But like the Panthers G, the King Tiger is pretty well documented and there are certainties about both of them because they were only built in certain factories. For instance if you're doing a historic tank - especially of a King Tiger or Panther G late, there is a right and wrong way to paint them. Some liberties can be taken however when you move to the factory painted era, there are lots of certainties.