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In early October
1942, plans for production of the VK 45.03 were reviewed，Initially
two designs were provided, one by Henschel and one by Porsche. Both used a
turret design from Krupp; the main differences were in the hull design,
transmission and suspension.
The Henschel version
used a conventional hull design with sloped armor resembling the layout of the
Panther tank. It had a rear mounted engine and used nine overlapping road
wheels per side, mounted on transverse torsion bars, in a similar manner to the
original Tiger. To simplify maintenance, however, the wheels were overlapping
rather than interleaved as in the Tiger.
Henschel won the
contract, and all Tiger IIs were produced by the firm. Two turret designs were
used in production vehicles. The initial design is sometimes misleadingly
called the "Porsche turret" due to the belief that it was designed by
Porsche for their prototype. In fact this turret was simply the initial Krupp
design for both prototypes. This turret had a rounded front and steeply sloped
sides, with a difficult-to-manufacture curved bulge on the turret's left side,
to accommodate the commander's cupola. Fifty early turrets were mounted to
Henschel's hull and used in action. The more common "production"
turret, sometimes called the "Henschel" turret, was simplified with a
flat face, no shot trap (created by the curved face of the initial-type
turret), less-steeply sloped sides, and no bulge for the commander's cupola.
The track system used
on the Tiger II chassis was a unique one, which used alternating "contact
shoe" and "connector" links—the contact shoe link had a pair of
transverse metal bars that contacted the ground, while the connector links had
no contact with the ground.
The Tiger II was developed late in the war and made in relatively small numbers. Like all German tanks, it had a gasoline engine. However, this same engine powered the much lighter Panther and Tiger I tanks. The Tiger II was under-powered, like many other heavy tanks of World War II, and consumed a lot of fuel which was already in short supply.
| Item No | 00948 |
| Item Name | Pz.Kpfw.VI Sd.Kfz.182 Tiger II (Porsche Early production vehicle Fgst.Nr.280009) |
| Bar Code | 9580208009483 |
| Scale | 1:16 |
| Item Type | Plastic Model Armor Kit |
| Model Brief | Length: 500mm Width: 188mm |
| Total Parts | 1500+ |
| Metal Parts | copper cable , steel tube , pin , spring |
| Photo Etched Parts | 3 pcs |
| Film Parts | n/a |
| Resin Parts | n/a |
| Total Sprues | 40 sprues, upper hull , lower hull , turret and tracks |
| Released Date | 2024-03 |
| More Features |
The kit consists of over 1500 parts >the kit w/refined detail >multi-slide moulded lower hull and upper hull >Full interior details >individual tracks links >Photo-eteched parts included |