Introduction

Introduction 

The Tiger II was a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, often shortened to Tiger B. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd. Kfz. 182. (Sd.Kfz. 267 and 268 for command vehicles). It was also known informally as the Königstiger (German for Bengal tiger, lit. 'King Tiger'). Contemporaneous Allied soldiers often called it the King Tiger or Royal Tiger. 

The Tiger II was the successor to the Tiger I, combining the latter's thick armour with the armour sloping used on the Panther medium tank. It was the costliest German tank to produce at the time. The tank weighed almost 70 Tonnes and was protected by 100 to 185 mm (3.9 to 7.3 in) of armour to the front. It was armed with the long-barreled (71 calibres) 8.8 cm KwK 43 anti-tank cannon. The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless Jagdpanzer anti-tank vehicle. 

The Tiger II was issued to heavy tank battalions of the Army and the Waffen-SS. It was first used in combat by the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion during the Allied invasion of Normandy on 11 July 1944; on the Eastern Front, the first unit to be outfitted with the Tiger II was the 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion. Due to heavy Allied bombing, only 492 were produced. 

Development 

Development started in 1937 with a design contract awarded to Henschel. Another design contract followed in 1939, given to Porsche. Both prototypes used the same turret design from Krupp. The main differences were in the hull, transmission, suspension and automotive features. 

The Henschel version used a conventional hull design with sloped armour resembling the layout of the Panther tank. It had a rear-mounted 

engine and used nine steel-tired, eighty-centimetre-diameter overlapping road wheels per side with internal springing, mounted on transverse torsion bars, in a similar manner to the original Henschel-designed Tiger I. To simplify maintenance, however, the wheels were only overlapping without being interleaved—the full Schachtellaufwerk rubber-rimmed road-wheel system that had been in use on nearly all German half-tracks used the interleaved design, later inherited by the Tiger I and Panther. 

The Porsche hull designs included a rear-mounted turret and a mid-mounted engine. The suspension was the same as on the Elefant tank destroyer. This had six road wheels per side mounted in paired bogies, sprung with short longitudinal torsion bars that were integral to the wheel pair; this saved internal space and facilitated repairs. One Porsche version had a gasoline-electric drive (fundamentally identical to a diesel-electric transmission, only using a gasoline-fueled engine as the prime mover), similar to a gasoline-electric hybrid but without a storage battery; two separate drivetrains in parallel, one per side of the tank, each consisting of a hybrid drive train; gasoline engine–electric generator–electric motor–drive sprocket. This method of propulsion had been used on the rejected Tiger (P) design, which was rebuilt as the Elefant, and in some US designs. It was also put into production in the French World War I-era Saint-Chamond tank and the post-World War I Char 2C. The Porsche suspension components were later used on a few of the later Jagdtiger tank destroyers. Another proposal was to use hydraulic drives; Dr. Porsche's unorthodox designs gathered little favour. 

First Impressions

I reviewed the KV2 tank a few years ago, so this isn't my first encounter with these tanks. The artwork is good and captures your eyes when looking at it, and, no mistaking this for anything other than a king Tiger. After opening the box and opening the bag containing the kit, I was quite surprised by its size of the body of the tank  

Review

The box is an open leaf with openings for both ends and feels reinforced as I had a good squeeze of it and it hardly moved. The artwork, as I said already, is eye-catching and will turn heads.  

There are five sprues in a sandy colour. The lower hull is separate and not on a sprue; there is one instruction booklet and some decals.  

Sprue A, the largest one, contains the upper body of the tank with the rear housing plate, some tools, wire, and a headlight. There is some detailing on the upper hull: two large inspection plates, two fans.  

Sprue B has the barrel, mantlet, spare tracks for armament on the side of the turret, a jack, part of a machine gun, rope. The two exhaust Everything on this sprue. You can tell what it is, but not any real detail. 

Sprue C has the Henschel turret, another piece of the turret housing 

Sprue D is x 2 and is the wheels and driving cog, pins for holding in the wheels to the lower part of the hull and heat protecting cases for the lower part of the exhaust. U clamps. 

And finally, two rubber tracks that do have track markings on them.  

Conclusion

I can see where the fascination for these model tanks comes from, Meng, especially younger children, who you would like them to do some modelling instead of sitting in front of a monitor or computer screen exercising their thumbs and fingers! But I also think there could be an interest from people who play World of Tanks and have a favourite one, say for this instance the King Tiger and have it sat next to the monitor as their inspiration for playing the game. Now, anyone who has suffered with modeller's block as I have in the past, these could be a way of getting over that as no glueing is necessary, as it is a put together, and I have to admit I have already tried it with the upper and lower hull. 

Where was Meng when I was trying my hardest for my three boys to stop playing and start making? I am sure it would work with one of these World War Toon tanks  

It is a definite positive from me, go ahead and have some fun; you may get more joy with your children than I did.