Tiger 131. Modellers detail.

[wibblywobbly]

Tiger 131 at Bovington is the only running Tiger 1 in the world. It has been photographed a million times, but most people simply take 'photographs of the tank' and miss all of the detail that modellers need to create an accurate replica. Whilst at Bovington with the Bristol Armoured Division I walked around 131 and tried to capture everything that is unique about this tank.

Edit: Added a couple of pics that I didn't have.

[silversurfer1947]

Pleased to see you got a shot of the lifting pintle that got hit with the 6 pounder shell.

[wibblywobbly]

At great personal risk climbing on tracks, and balancing on the narrow seating. I wish they would have walkaround gantries next to the tanks, getting top-down shots is about as difficult as they can make it.

[silversurfer1947]

You should have had a selfie stick

[tomhugill]

I think these will be very useful rob thanks for taking the time to post!

[971wright]

Hi You missed the under barrel damage and the hole in one of the wheels , , but think you have the rest of it don't think there is much damage to the upper surfaces .


regards pete

[Tiggr]

I trust Bovington have restored it faithfully.
Obviously there are many photos of T1s in action between 1942 - 1945 with lots of variation of detail.

[wibblywobbly]

It's pretty much 'as it was found', they have done a lot of work on the mechanics to keep it running, and it has had a coat of paint faithfully matched to the original. All the dents and shell damage are still there.

I think I am right in saying that they welded a step loop onto the front to enable people to get on and off the thing. Lord knows how the German crews did it, I have climbed onto the Vimoutiers Tiger and that was hard work, getting off again was even more perilous.

[HERMAN BIX]

Yeah, I jumped off the Vimoutiers Tiger as well, just to see what it was like.
Getting up & down off these things is no simple feat.
Full battle kit, rifle etc would certainly have added difficulty as a riding sildier, crews not as bad without extra burden.
Great pics, thanks for taking the time.