Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

[Sall]

Great job!

[Second Air Force]

I've been diverted from this model of late, but here are a couple of photos showing further progress. First is an overall shot of the assembled hull and turret showing the process of filling all of the tool mounting holes. This is in preparation for installing the Eduard PE stowage brackets and attaching points.

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

After all the holes were plugged and smoothed the PE application could begin. First is the Tamiya top deck screens. I had bought these earlier and applied the rear screens before I got the Eduard set. The Eduard screens are actually much nicer, but the Tamiya parts were already installed so they'll stay.

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

I practiced with the Eduard parts on the turret bustle. These are FANTASTIC to work with and will really add to the final product. Notice on the second hatch hasp that there is an actual padlock provided!

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

More on the hull PE later.

[No.1]

Nice upgrades, I have feeling that it will look like real one once when completed

[Second Air Force]

The Eduard set is really quite fun to work with. Some of the tiny pieces are a bit maddening at times, but well worth the effort and patience in the end. I can't wait to start on the track fenders. These were bent up quite a bit when the U.S. troops found the tank abandoned and I can easily model this with this nice, soft, metal PE.

[Sall]

Tiny parts,but they will look really nice when you finished this kit. Go ahead!!

[Second Air Force]

Thanks, y'all.

Here are a few more pictures of PE installation and the story behind why it looks like it does:

This vehicle was abandoned by the crew due to mechanical malfunction in the driveline. The photos taken of it just after being acquired by the Americans show that nearly EVERYTHING that wasn't welded to the hull was missing. Tow cables, survey poles, fire extinguisher, radio antenna, Pioneer tools, etc. were all gone, evidently salvaged by the German troops when they had to leave the machine. The theory is that there wasn't sufficient time to further disable the tank but just enough time to strip it of accessories that would be needed and in short supply. With this in mind, and the photo evidence in front of me, I decided to purchase the Eduard kit and install all the brackets, clips, and so forth with nothing to stow in them. That's why the tank will look relatively stripped and uninteresting when finished, just like it did when Dad was working on it.

First, the rear hull. This tank was missing the exhaust shields. Other photos of Tunisian Tigers show these were often damaged and sometimes removed. Also the Feifel air filters had been removed during the short service life of this tank. These were somewhat troublesome to maintain and were not always installed during operation, probably depending on the crew's or maintenance people's inclination. The silver bits are Eduard, the white bits are scratchbuilt styrene. I've also placed the left rear mud guard and one of the track fenders in this photo.

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

Left side of hull, again showing the new bracketry with nothing to stow in it. Still to be added when this photo was taken were the many stowage clips for the small tow cable that mounts to the hull side.

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

[Sall]

Excellent work mate!

[draken35]

[No.1]

Much of interesting info in your post mate and I like nice parts fit

[Second Air Force]

Here are a couple of photos of the front of 712. The Tigers that were used in Tunisia had some interesting non-standard features on them. These were some of the earliest machines off the assembly lines so there are a lot of variations in little details from later production models. The spare track/extra protection stowage is interesting. Someone simply welded heavy steel rods onto the hull and dropped several track links into the improvised holder. The center segment of track on this particular tank was from either a PzKw III or IV. There are also variations of the fenders and other items. One area I had to modify on this tank was the two vertical plates on either side of the lower hull (just inboard of the drive sprocket gearboxes). On this early production machine the towing clevises were located differently and the plates are of a different shape than later examples.

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

I've got to do some searching for better Panzer IV track links. What you see in the holder is three links from a vinyl track and it isn't very realistic. Somewhere in the scrap box is a section of plastic track from the same model........I hope!

[Sall]

Nice !
This spare track on hull is interesting.

[Second Air Force]

The track stowage varies a lot from one Tiger to another on the Tunisian vehicles. This is another reason I'm really enjoying building this model.

There is a wealth of information on the Tiger on the web, done by researchers that are extremely committed to studying the details of this machine. I've enjoyed much reading about just the Tunisian detachment and history of these few tanks.

[Second Air Force]

First try of the final color shade. This "desert sand" paint is rather elusive. I have a color photo of a Tiger in Tunisia and RLM 79 seems to match best.

Tunisian Tiger I (My Father's Tank)

[No.1]

This look good mate

[draken35]

Looks great for me too!