1st large scale tank: Tamiya 1/16 Tiger I

[panzer man]

From a color profile & a single picture in Panzer Colors III, Tiger tank S33 is missing a few side skirts, the turret S mine dischargers, some of the upper hull S mine dischargers, the Fiefel air cleaners & ducting. I will take a few liberties on my project & model what S33 may have looked like before the Battle of Kursk. I will include the equipment that is not present in the photos. The picture of S33 was taken in late winter of 1943. From information learned, I discovered that crews took a torch & cut off the bracket that supported the turret S mine dischargers. Not sure if S33 had these removed before Kursk. I may leave mine off. Does anyone know why they removed the S mine dischargers? Perhaps they were not effective. I'm not sure. My tank will represent a machine that has seen some action but has not been seriously abused. I will do some mud effects & light chipping when I reach the finishing stage. I will post more pictures over the weekend to show the other parts of the tank that are under construction.

[panzer man]

Peddinghaus at a guess?

Looking good so far panzer man.

Thank you! Never heard of Peddinghaus. I will do a search on the net to see if they are the manufacturer. Saves me the headache & expense of having custom decals made.

[DavidByrden]

Welcome to the world of modelling a specific Tiger!

There's a reason why you can't find "S33" modelled online; because it's a version of the Tiger that no manufacturer has ever released.

Before the "standard" turret bin, there were at least 5 other varieties of bin applied to Tigers. Here's a photo of "S33", you can see that its bin is unusually wide and has side supports and a cutout to clear the port;



You will also see that this Tiger is numbered "831". The historians at TIIF.DE have figured out that this Tiger became "S22" and eventually the "S33" that you are talking about

You will also notice a Chinese symbol on the forward hull side. It was on both sides and also the front of the tank. These symbols were still present when the tank was numbered "S33", as you can see here;




Other differences between "S33" and your model, are;
-it had no sheet-metal shields around the exhaust mufflers.
-the smoke launchers were cut off the turret because they were not useful (these were not S-mine launchers).
- the two small holes above the driver's visor were open
- the rod stored on the hull roof, either side of the turret, was in 5 pieces instead of 6

The crew don't ever seem to have used their Feifel gear. But be aware, it would have been the original type of Feifel with 2 drums, not what's in your kit.

David

[panzer man]

Thanks for your information on S33. The color profile was on page 73 in Panzer Colors III by Bruce Culver, not page 79 if you have the book. Just checked out the profile again & it looks very similar to the profile that Kiaser posted earlier. It is showing the turret bin away from the rear pistol port & of course the Chinese good luck symbol is not present. Your references could be correct & Panzer Colors could be in error or maybe this was correct when this tank was photographed in late 1943. My kit does come with the 2 drum Feifel air cleaner if you choose to model that version. I never knew about these other kinds of turret bins & two of these Tiger reference photos are new to me. I saw on another modeling website (Testors Scale Workshop) where a person modeled a dark yellow with dark brown camo scheme Tiger tank S33. Not sure if this scheme ever existed or is correct. Since I am an amateur & not an expert on the Tiger I or the German Panzer units or even a modeling expert, I will press forward & model Tiger tank S33 in the color profile presented above with the additions of the Feifel air cleaners & heat shields. It may not be historically accurate but it still can be a unique & interesting model. Too bad we cannot build a time machine & send someone back with a high resolution camera to photograph every Tiger ever built from every angle! Thank you again for the reference photos & for providing an education on the Tiger I.

[panzer man]

Panzer man . Paint masks click on Tiger 1 http://www.rctank.de/PAINT-MASK
Page 2.

Just clicked on. Thanks! All these decals are in my Tamiya kit. The S33 according to Panzer Colors III was red with a white outline. The stencils will produce the same S33 in decal form but what I need is a stencil or decal that has the center in red. The color profile however was very helpful on the page. Perhaps Panzer Colors III is in error with the colors of the turret numbers?

[DavidByrden]

I've been researching Tigers for 20 years, and one thing that I learnt, is to never trust a painted "profile".
The book publishers contract these jobs out to artists who are expected to be able to paint every kind of vehicle from every time in history, on demand. Obviously they can't be the greatest expert on what they are painting. But usually they don't GO to the greatest expert for advice. They don't KNOW who is the greatest expert. The book author may or may not be brought into the artistry process, and even if he is consulted, he may be a military historian who doesn't know the technical details of the vehicles.
There is a deadline for the picture, and the publisher doesn't care about the fine details. Why shouldn't the artist just pick the most widely published line diagram, paint over that with the most widely accepted colours, and call it done?

Take a look at this book cover. The Tiger is supposed to be Michael Wittman's "007".



The artist has put him in an early Tiger. Everybody knows that "007" was a 1944 Tiger.
I heard that this artist was explicitly told that he was drawing the wrong kind of Tiger, and was offered advice, early in the process. Advice that obviously was not taken.

There are some artists, including Mr. Volstad whom I have worked with, that really care about getting things right. But you can't assume every "profile" is good.

David

[panzer man]

I've been researching Tigers for 20 years, and one thing that I learnt, is to never trust a painted "profile".
The book publishers contract these jobs out to artists who are expected to be able to paint every kind of vehicle from every time in history, on demand. Obviously they can't be the greatest expert on what they are painting. But usually they don't GO to the greatest expert for advice. They don't KNOW who is the greatest expert. The book author may or may not be brought into the artistry process, and even if he is consulted, he may be a military historian who doesn't know the technical details of the vehicles.
There is a deadline for the picture, and the publisher doesn't care about the fine details. Why shouldn't the artist just pick the most widely published line diagram, paint over that with the most widely accepted colours, and call it done?

Take a look at this book cover. The Tiger is supposed to be Michael Wittman's "007".



The artist has put him in an early Tiger. Everybody knows that "007" was a 1944 Tiger.
I heard that this artist was explicitly told that he was drawing the wrong kind of Tiger, and was offered advice, early in the process. Advice that obviously was not taken.

There are some artists, including Mr. Volstad whom I have worked with, that really care about getting things right. But you can't assume every "profile" is good.

David

Yes, you have a valid point. I only had one black & white photo from the rear & the color profile to work with. I do not know what is right or not concerning this particular vehicle. Thanks for your input.

[jarndice]

I feel sure that David will do a better job, But here are some of the more obvious differences between the 1944 Tiger 1 and the picture,
The Cupola is from an early Tiger 1,as are the wheels,
And the headlights by the time of the Normandy campaign were reduced to a single light mounted centrally between the Driver and the Radio operator/m/gunner.
The picture does not show the spare track holder across the front and I do not see any Zimmerit coating on the body or turret
Like I said David is the expert and will point out everything that is wrong in the painting.
shaun

[jackalope]

Also be warned the paint mask kits from rctanksde do NOT come with anything to help you with the camo painting just 1 pic of 1 side of the tank the rest is up to you to try to figure out or make up as best you can. The kit comes with stencils for the numbers and any symbols the tank may have had that are large enough to be able to be done by stencil, little things are not included nor again anything to help with the camo scheme. They're not bad for the stencils but don't think you're getting a complete how to paint kit as you are not.

[panzer man]

Yes, I'm aware of those issues already. The interpretation of the other sides of the tank not shown is up to the model builder which makes it a challenge.