1/35 Takom Königstiger

[Floki]

Next up the 1/35th Takom Königstiger.

In 1943 the Waffenamt issued a specification for more powerful and better armed heavy tank, capable of defeating any likely battle tanks the Allies could develop during the course of the war. The required armament was to be a new tank gun, the 8.8cm. KwK.43, L/71 developed from the Pak 43. It was the most powerful weapon to be used on a production tank in WWII. The resulting Tank was the Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B The ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 182. Also known under the informal name Königstiger the German word for the Bengal tiger. Often translated somewhat incorrectly as Royal Tiger or King Tiger by Allied soldiers.

The Königstiger had a crew of 5 and followed standard German practice and training. Th driver and radio operator/bow gunner sat alongside each side of the transmission. The crew in the turret consisted of the gunner to the left of the KwK.43 and the loader to the right. The Commander sat behind the gunner below the cast armor cupola in the turret roof.

The Hull was welded from sloped glacis and upper side plates, with a reverse angled rear plate and vertical lower sides. Armor thickness for the glacis was 150mm side and rear armor was 80mm, with a 25mm thick hull roof.
The Henschel turret armor had a straight front plate a 180mm thick with a Saukopf (Boar's head) mantlet which provided far better ballistic protection that the curved Porsche mantlet. The side plates were straight bends and the conspicuous bulge for the cupola from the Porsche was eliminated.

Only 484 Königstiger were built from January 1944 to March 1945. The Königstiger entered service with sPz.Abt.503 during the early days of the defense of Normandy. The appearance of the Königstiger caused much concern among Allied tank units. The new tank was vastly superior in most respects to the Tiger I. The sloped armor increased the ballistic protection by over 30% without adding more armor to the turret or hull sides. The glacis was resistant to every antitank gun and projectile the Allies had until February 1945, when the T26E3 Pershing reached Europe, but there was never a recorded encounter between the Königstiger and Pershing. The Kwk.43 was capable of destroying all Allied vehicles at ranges of over 2,000 meters (1.25 miles). Manned by experienced crews, The Königstiger was the master of the battle field.

Panzerkampfwagen Tiger II *Königstiger*

Crew 5 men
Panzerfuhrer (Commander)
Richtschutze (Gunner)
Ladeschutze (Loader)
Funker (Radio operator)
Treiber (Driver)

Combat weight 69.8 tons
Armament
1x 8.8cm KwK43
1x MG34 7.92mm turret co-axial
1x MG34 7.92mm radio operator
1x MG34 7.92mm stowed for use by the Commander
1x MP40 9mm stowed by Commander
1x Walter 27mm flare gun

Munitions
68rds. Stowed, 16rds. loose on turret platform
MG34 32 belts 150rds. each 5,850rds. total
MP40 6 magazines 32rds. each 192rds. total
Flare gun 24rds.

Engine and Transmission
1x Maybach HL 230 P30 gasoline, V-12cyl.
600-700 horsepower
Transmission Maybach OLVAR B401216
8 forward gears
4 reverse gears

Fuel capacity
860ltr. in 6 tanks

Max speed 42Km/h
sustained speed 38Km/h
Cross country 15-20Km/h

Range
250Km road
145Km cross country

So after a bit of background what am I going to do with this kit?
Every kit I build I try to do something new, on this one I have a few
1. First kit from Takom that I will build
2. First kit with full interior
3. First time doing a cut away display

My idea for this is just to have it sitting on a clean mono-color base (probably black) with the turret off the hull and sitting next to it.
not sure how I'm going to display the turret, one idea is Meng has a maintenance hull stand or hanging from a hoist.

Another thing I have read about the Takom kit (and the Meng) is they sit to high in the rear since the tank they referenced had the engine removed. I'm not going to bother with lowering it for one I also plan on having the engine removed and sitting outside the tank as well. Even if I wasn't going to do that I wouldn't go about trying to lower the rear by as little as 1mm.




Just a few of the sprues their is a bunch in this kit.

[speedgraflex]

I am beyond thrilled that you are going to make this project a cutaway design! What are your thoughts on how you will do this?

[KSaarni]

Ooh, Cutaway stuff!
Something I am really curious to see how done in practice!
Beyond thrilled, as Bruce said, applies to me as well!

- Kari

[Floki]

Thanks guys the cut away will be on the drivers side, not sure if it will be clean cuts or more jagged, probably clean. Got a lot of research to do still, comparing the kit parts and instructions to my references make notes about placements etc. Takom really made a nice kit here.

[Stikpusher]

This should be a nice project to follow. The cutaway display is a great idea so as not to waste all the effort on the interior.

As far as the historical aspects of the tank, I would debate a few points. The Soviet IS-2 and IS-3 both mounted a larger, more powerful 122mm main gun. And the quality of the armor plate itself of the Tiger was supposedly superior to that of the Tiger II, due to late war armor being more “brittle”. The Tiger also had superior mobility due to both tanks using the same engine for a better power to weight ratio. But yes, under optimal conditions, the Konigstiger was a most fearsome opponent on the battlefield.

[Floki]

This should be a nice project to follow. The cutaway display is a great idea so as not to waste all the effort on the interior.

As far as the historical aspects of the tank, I would debate a few points. The Soviet IS-2 and IS-3 both mounted a larger, more powerful 122mm main gun. And the quality of the armor plate itself of the Tiger was supposedly superior to that of the Tiger II, due to late war armor being more “brittle”. The Tiger also had superior mobility due to both tanks using the same engine for a better power to weight ratio. But yes, under optimal conditions, the Konigstiger was a most fearsome opponent on the battlefield.

Ah the IS-2 and IS-3, I don't think the IS-3 seen much service in WWII, I might be wrong about that. But they wasn't designed to be main battle tanks, that was the direction I was going with the above. The Germans also fielded the 71 ton Jagdtiger or Hunting Tiger with the 128mm PaK 44.

[Stikpusher]

There is debate about the IS-3 being present at the battle of Berlin. But it was entering service in the final days of the war in Europe. It was definitely in service before the surrender of Japan. But the IS-2 was certainly in service as a heavy tank from 1944 onwards, as was the King Tiger. The concept of Main Battle Tanks did not emerge until the late 1950’s/early 1960s when countries stopped developing separate light, medium, and heavy tank designs. The original MBTs were the Leopard, Chieftain, AMX-30, M-60, and T-62. MBTs combined the firepower of heavy tanks with the mobility of medium tanks, and armor somewhere in between, depending upon the design.

[Thomas_M]

I also have the same kit here with me, so this build is a "must watch" for me. The detail given in Takom´s kit is amazing!

Found this picture on the Net, sadly without being able to give credit:


Here is a shot of the ammo used, possible taken at Munster:

[Stikpusher]

Wow! I wonder if that is strictly “out of box” or if additional stuff was added on that cutaway build. In any case that is great work!

[Floki]

Wow Thomas that's a excellent looking build and gives me a better idea on how to go about the cut away.