Early tiger 1

[Aussie]

Also does anyone know anything about the Colours of the turret numbers of Tunisian tigers. I have had conflicting information from various sites, some saying they are red, some saying they are black, and some saying they are the basic camouflage colour of the tank with a white boarder.
If anyone could clarify I would be immensly grateful .[/quote]

No one on this planet could clarify that mate , no matter how much they tell you they know about Tiger 1 history.

[Aussie]

Also , early Tunisian Tigers had the tow ropes reversed and spare track links mounted low down on the rear plate under the zorsts.

[jarndice]

Aussie is absolutely right about the Tow ropes and as to the colour of the Turret numbers that has been an argument since long before I joined the Forum,
All the decals say red core and white outer, Military practise says black core and white outer, In truth we don't get much of a choice because all the decals of that campaign show red core white outer. I favour Military good practice but my Tunisian Tiger 1 has the Peddinghaus Red core and White edge
The Exhaust shrouds are quite different from the semi-circular ones on the later Tiger 1 and the rear mud wings/Fenders are again completely different I am not aware of the exhaust shrouds or the Rear fenders being available so you have to scratch build them yourself, You can buy the double pot Air cleaners, they were part of Tamiya's Static Tiger 1 early and the Sprue that contains them can be bought from "AXELLS",
The particular sprue you are after is the "K" sprue,
http://www.axels-modellbau-shop.de
The Main Gun Mantlet is different from the later Tiger which you can adapt but the material is very thin and may need a lot of filler but if you buy the Air cleaner sprue the modified one is also there,
Other detail such as the Starting Handle being located on the bottom of the rear panel can be masked by the early winch and spare tracks, these latter two items were soon removed and are rarely seen in photographs of the period.
But the most obvious difference is the Stowage Box,
The first Tiger 1s had no external stowage and then they had a pair of storage pods ,one each side of the Turret and then they were removed and replaced by adapted Panzer 111 rear stowage boxes which were then expanded to fill the whole curve of the back of the turret before settling for the Tiger 1 stowage box that remained standard from then on.
The different Stowage modifications can be got from---
http://www.an-bri-rc-modellbau-de
Good luck,
I will follow your choice with interest.
Shaun.

[Tiggr]

Also does anyone know anything about the Colours of the turret numbers of Tunisian tigers. I have had conflicting information from various sites, some saying they are red, some saying they are black, and some saying they are the basic camouflage colour of the tank with a white boarder.
If anyone could clarify I would be immensly grateful .

No one on this planet could clarify that mate , no matter how much they tell you they know about Tiger 1 history.[/quote]


Have a look at this link, scroll down to about 3 quarters down the page - there is a photo of Tiger "141" here.
There is definitely a white outline and the infill is definitely not black. The infill looks like the dark yellow overall tank colour:

http://www.tiif.de/thread.php?threadid= ... 84caeec24f

[C.Ellis]

Thanks for the links guys.
Had a look at the K sprue, looks like it might help, and it does claim to have "early armoured exhaust covers" on it as well as the other things you mentioned jarndice. The only thing wrong with it is ITS REALY BL***y EXPENSIVE!! I'll have to think about it.

Tiggr, that website is extremely helpful, and I think I might have to agree with you about the colours of the numbers in that photo. Tiger 141 and most of the other tigers in that thread seemed to have the same coloured numbers. While searching other sections of Tiger im focus I came across a thread which showed pictures of all the tanks in the 501th, including 141. Some of the pictures showed it missing it's front road wheels on each side. Is this just damage or some sort of field modification?
http://www.tiif.de/thread.php?threadid= ... dc89472943
Here is the link.

[Aussie]

Missing front road wheel was a field mod done to prevent the wheels icing up and breaking things.

[B_Man]

Axel's is a great shop that stocks a lot of hard to find parts but last time I used them their shipping costs to Australia were ridiculous. It seems they use DHL exclusively for international shipping now and the minimum charge to the sunburned country is around 35euro which really stings when you are ordering a set of sherman periscope guards and a couple of other small parts that would all fit in a small padded envelope. As they were the only option for what I was after I used a mail forwarding company called mailboxde.com. You pay Axel for local shipping to the forwarding company and they send it on via Deutsche Post for postage plus a small charge. It worked out much, much cheaper and my parts turned up in a week and a half.

[jarndice]

I,m sorry about the price of the "K" sprue especially as the exhaust shrouds are not the true early ones that I was talking about,
The early ones were made up of Two Flat full length Panels joined by a centre curved full length panel, the side panels had a series of three vents on each side, all of which I think you will agree in nothing like the exhaust shrouds on the "K" sprue or the ones on your Tank.
If you buy the "ABER" Tiger 1 Exhaust Photo-Etch, because they are flat sheets and have the correct mounting points you can adapt them to the correct pattern,
If you can get hold of a copy of "Wolfgang Schneiders" "Tigers in Combat Volume 1" ,Page 52 has a well detailed photograph in black and white of an early Tiger 1 being lifted onto a ferry for Tunisia which shows the whole rear panel,
Trust me there are very few pictures around with such detail of an Early Tiger 1.
Another thing on the "K" sprue that is easy to miss is the Rear Light/Reflector which is not on the Taigen Hull if I remember rightly,
There is nothing on the "K" sprue apart from the Figure of the Commander that you cannot make or modify yourself if you have the Patience and the tools, so if needs must go for it, after all you would have to make the Front and rear Mudguards/fenders anyway.
Shaun.

[C.Ellis]

Hi
For now I think the k sprue is out of reach, so I think I'll have a go at modifying the existing parts or scratch building new ones. I think I'll start off with the basic fixes on the Tiger, like removing the left side antenna tube ect.
Aussie, wheels icing up doesn't seem likely to happen in Tunisia, even though it was winter.

[jarndice]

I am glad your about to address the Aerial fix,
The Cupola and the aerial really get me wound up with the Heng Long, Taigen and Torro Tiger 1s,
They have been told for years that they are wrong and they must have had new moulds long ago when it could have been fixed but no they leave it to us,
Although in support of Heng Long at least, They have always been honest and called their products "TOYS", Rant over
You live in Australia and while us up here think of your Country as blessed with wall to wall sunshine you know that it rains and a desert after a rainstorm is MUD,
And so it is in the North African deserts,
The wet mud would be forced into the spaces between the wheels and dry and then more wet mud would be forced in and it would very quickly destroy the double front wheels on a Tiger 1, so just as the same problem occurred in Russia so did the same solution.
Shaun,