RYE FIELD MODEL [ MORE REVIEWS ] [ WEBSITE ] [ NEW STORIES ]

Built Review
135
Fehrmann Tiger I
Gruppe Fehrmann Tiger I
  • move

by: Adam Mann [ MANNLOON ]

Introduction

The new Rye Field Tiger depicts a rather rare set of vehicles. In the beginning of 1945, Kampfgruppe Schulze and Oberleutnant Fehrmann formed a division of six Tiger I and five Panther tanks with the intention of going into the Ruhr area. The Tiger tanks were commanded by Oberleutnant Ferhmann and were designated with 'F' to denote their 'Gruppe' commander hence F01, F02, F03 and up to F13. These were all knocked out rather quickly, but have become a very popular subject for model companies.

The tanks are usually configured as an early Tiger, retrofitted with steel wheels and having some Zimmerit. I think their hybrid nature is what creates the interest for scale modelers and Tiger fans. This is Rye Field's 3rd Tiger, and they seem to be getting better with each kit.


Steps 1 & 2

The gun breach and mantlet assembly is exactly as it was in previous kits with the barrel length corrected from the second kit on. As with the Tunisian kit, there is no interior detail inside the turret. I do think a simple breach is usually good, but knowing what the interior assembly works like in the interior kit I can see why they leave it out of these kits. The turret roof has the same components we've seen in previous kits from Rye Field, detailed loaders hatch, ventilator and not too much else. All looks good though.

Steps 3 - 6

The cupola assembly is almost good as is, but I had to trim the bracket that holds up the hatch as it seem too long to me, and has in previous RFM kits. Other than that, it's a very nice cupola assembly. The rest of the turret consists of the turret ring, escape hatch and stowage been, all nice components we've seen and all are very nice. New to this kit though is the spare tracks on the turret. The hangers on attached to the sprue in the correct shape to glue to the turret, which is an interesting way to do this. I do suggest you do all of this before putting putty on the turret to represent Zimmerit.

Steps 7 & 8

The lower hull is identical to the previous two kits in regards to the suspension. This time I chose to not make the torsion bars workable, and things went better than the previous builds when I had made them workable.The exhausts and final drives are again the same as previous kits and perfectly good. The rear plate has tools and the inertial starter plate attached and then goes on to the hull. I had issues with this step, but I am unsure if it was something I did or the kit. There were 2 separate parts in the kit for the rear lower hull extensions and perhaps I used the wrong one. I will pay very close attention to this step in the BergeTiger kit and let people know if it's a me or RFM thing. I filled the area with Mr. Surfacer as I had to sand the rear plate extensively to get it to fit. I put the wheels on in this step as they're steel and I didn't need to paint a rubber rim later. The rest of the rear plate went together perfectly well.

Step 9

The side plates and jack are done in the next step and all went well. This is all my choice at this step as you are given the choice for steel or rubber rimmed wheels.

Step 10

Now we have our option for PE tool clamps which I chose not to do. The plastic clamps in this kit are pretty good, although I would drill out the middle to make them more accurate. The upper hull plate is pretty straight forward and I had no problems. Tools, engine hatch, intake vents, all went well, however the hammer (Part O21) gets in the way of the next step. The workable hatches are nice assemblies, but as with all other RFM kits the hammer gets in the way of the drivers hatch. I suggest not drilling the holes for this tool and remove the pegs and just attach it after the hatches are on.

Step 11

Here we're putting on the lights, cables and PE grills. This went without incident and I found this all went very fast. You do have the choice for more PE here, which again I didn't go with. At the end of this step we assemble the front plates and bow MG. IF you're going to create F01 like I did, you may want to use PE clamps to have an empty shovel mount on the front plate. We're instructed to do the tracks here as well, and as always they are ModelKasten style, and go very well together. They are of course, time consuming and have fragile guide horns.

Step 12

Final assembly is easy, and all we attach after are the S-mine mounts and spare antenna tube. The S-mine mounts are not exactly correct (See tiger1.info) but i chose to just build the kit as suggested.

Conclusion

All in all I enjoyed this build. Rye Field is picking up momentum in the fight with Dragon for the money of Tiger kit builders. This kit was quick and easy, and really has the feeling of an affordable multi-media kit. I just wish it had modeled on Zimmerit.

Here is my post build "After Action Report"
SUMMARY
Highs: Good molding, All the photo etch you need, workable tracks.
Lows: No turret interior, no Zimmerit molded on parts.
Verdict: Very solid offeing from Rye Field. Best Fehrmann Tiger for the price.
Percentage Rating
88%
  Scale: 1:35
  Mfg. ID: 5005
  PUBLISHED: Jul 16, 2016
  NATIONALITY: Germany
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 78.00%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 89.40%

Our Thanks to Rye Field Model!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

View Vendor Homepage  |  More Reviews  

About Adam Mann (Mannloon)
FROM: WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

I am a professional video game artist specializing in hard surface modeling and PBR texturing. I started making armor models a few years ago and have been trying since to translate my digital skills to paint and plastic, which isn't always easy. My specialty is German Armor in 1/35.

Copyright ©2021 text by Adam Mann [ MANNLOON ]. All rights reserved.



Comments

Rommel didn't have any Tigers. The Tigers in Tunisia belonged to Generaloberst von Arnim. The barrel in Rye Field's kit #5001 is too long. David
JUL 23, 2016 - 07:45 PM
OIC.
JUL 23, 2016 - 07:58 PM
OIC. [/quote] It's merely the competitive market place at work. Rye Field is the new guy who did a new Afrika Tiger. So Dragon dusts off theirs and contacts the Tiger experts to make the ultimate Afrika Tiger kit. So of course theirs is better. The Rye Field Tigers are quality kits. They should sneak in and do a Tiger that no one has done yet (Das Reich at Kursk maybe?) Everyone does the initial Tiger or the oddball Tiger, but no one does the later early series production with the reinforced mantle and "s" mines and so on. Or no one has quite gotten it right.
JUL 23, 2016 - 09:48 PM
OK, is longer, not shorter - in any case is out of scale. Rommel is high ranking German Commander in North Africa Theater. Tigers I in Africa aren´t part of DAK, but Desert Fox uset both Schwere Panzer Abteilung as "Firefighters" on critical places on front.
JUL 23, 2016 - 09:50 PM
Rommel was made the head of all German forces in the theater on 23 February 1943. He left Africa permanently on 9 March. He was the commander of the Tigers in Africa for only 14 days. During those days he fought the British near the Mareth Line in southern Tunisia. The Tigers remained in the north. He did not use his Tigers for anything, as far as I know. Some Tigers participated in Rommel's battle at Sidi Bou Zid in February, but they were only on loan to him. Could you give us an example? David
JUL 23, 2016 - 11:17 PM
He won't because he can't. I'm guessing he's very new to all this and that's why he's spouting fallacies. If you recall the Sherman Tank Scandal book thread he was on the author's side, being caught up in the "German Armor>All others" mythology.
JUL 24, 2016 - 02:49 AM
12.1.1942 Tigers destroyed 34 allied tanks and 6 armoured cars. On to begin of December ´42 Tigers (4.12 ´42)Tigers destroyed around 184 US Tanks. In 19th January on Battle near Keebir sees Tigers destroyed around 25 AT guns and one hundred od soft skins. 14th February in Battle on Sidi boud Zid Tigers destroyed: 112x medium Tanks 5x light tanks 12x 155mm guns 80x half tracks 10x self propeled guns 15x armoured cars 77x Jeep Willys MB 10x 10t Heavy trucks 64x GMC medium truck (2.5t) 12x 4ton tractors/heavy haulers and 40x watches From H.C. Butcher 1947 In last battle on Africa theater near Pont du Fahs and 25 allied tanks and remains 9 Tigers damaged around 150 allied tanks to 10h May 1943. On Africa Theater was deployed 22 Tigers. On the (combat)loses of 10 lost Tigers (in combat) two was abadoned and three destroyed by their own crews... PzKpfw VI Tiger I in NAT have around 300 allies tanks kills....
JUL 25, 2016 - 12:19 AM
That does not answer David's question about Rommel's use of Tigers, and at any rate the dates listed are outside the time frame of Rommel being in charge of all German forces in Africa. There is no shame in admitting you were mistaken about Rommel influencing the mystique of the Tiger.
JUL 25, 2016 - 12:34 AM
Well, from my own count, there were 31 Tigers deployed to Africa. But that's beside the point. Most of the battles that you listed were not Rommel's battles. He was in Libya; these battles were in Tunisia, and they were the responsibility of Generaloberst von Arnim. Tigers did participate in the Sidi bou Zid battle. They were not Rommel's property even then; they were on loan to him. And in this battle, the Tigers were not "Firefighters". There was no "fire". The Axis forces initiated the battle. So, no examples. David
JUL 25, 2016 - 12:45 AM
   
ADVERTISEMENT


Photos
Click image to enlarge
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
ADVERTISEMENT