Holger Kranich
One of the best Tiger I kits available, in my opinion!

John Van Kooten
Yes, I totally agree. It is very, very good! 👍

A very highly detailed kit with a lot of extra goodies, so there's basically no need for any aftermarket items 🙂 IMHO, it can't really get any better than this!

This kit is a bit hard to get these days unfortunately. I was lucky (again) to be able to buy this one (second one in my stash) from a fellow modeler. It's about time Dragon does another production run of these😉

Holger Kranich
I absolutely agree with you! The only thing to add ist perhaps the Atak Zimmerit... But this is a late production Tiger and he doesnt need necessarily Zimmerit if produced after september `44!

One of the mates here offers one for 30€ + shipping... Its tempting me very much...😢

John Van Kooten
Yeah, indeed, the Zimmerit is something that is missing but I'm very glad they didn't mold it into the plastic parts and left options open 🙂 like you said, after 9 Sept.'44 zimmerit was discontinued due to (mistakenly) assuming it could be set to fire by shells and I like to build tanks from that late war period. So no Zimm needed on this one (for me) and if I do need Zimm I can always make it myself 😄

If you can get it at that price, I would say do it! 👍 👍 it is really, really worth it as you know 😄

Holger Kranich
It would fit well in my stash and the other one is not lonely anymore!😉

John Van Kooten
Hahaha! I love your reasoning 😛 and I agree fully! LOL 😉 So, did you mail the mate already? 😛

Holger Kranich
Oh you can bet your butt! The mail is out, i´m just waiting for the answer😢!

H K
Sorry, I have to bring bad news😉 Tiger I production ended in August 1944, so zimmerit is mandatory for this one.

John Van Kooten
Awesome! LOL! 😄 I really hope you can make a deal so that you can add it to your stash!! 👍 👍

John Van Kooten
Ooooh... H K... you bearer of bad news, you 😛 😉

You are absolutely right of course! That totally slipped my mind. Thanks for setting the record straight! 👍

And to make matters "worse", they started production of mid/late version Tigers after Zimmerit was introduced, right? So basically every Tiger I Mid/Late would have Zimmerit applied.

Urban Gardini
Thankfully there's ATAK to the rescue!

John Van Kooten
Indeed! ATAK is absolutely great and relatively easy to work with 👍

But the "Milliput" method also works great. If one is careful not to add too much milliput. Otherwise it will look look too thick and way out of scale😉

Urban Gardini
Yeah! The Miliput way is to take what you think you need, then direct make that half n' after that make it half once more before you even put it on the tank...

Thorsten Drescher
I buy this Kit last week at ebay with Atak Zimmerit and a Friul Track for 35€. 😉 Lucky shot...

Urban Gardini
That's a nice deal!

Thorsten Drescher
😄

John Van Kooten
Yeah, that's a good deal for sure 😉

Quite the contrary on this one though: Ebay.nl Item - Dragon 1 35 German Pz Kpfw VI Ausf E Sd Kfz 181 Tiger I Late Production 6253

😛

If anyone buys that one... they are both VERY desperate to get this kit AND out of their mind 😉 how can anyone seriously ask a price like that for this kit... I mean... really...

H K
Holy sh.... Is anyone actually paying that much? I mean, it isn`t a limited cyberhobby kit. ( and even then I would not pay that much).
And to answer your question John, the very first mid tigers did not have zimmerit.

Augie
Wow.. I mean funky buttloving.. that's insane..

John Van Kooten
Yeah, it truly is insane!

And ROTFLOL at the "funky buttloving" comment 😄 😄

But the weird thing is... someone, somewhere, is probably going to buy it. Some people seem to be unable to control themselves and simply wait for a little bit until a kit at a fair price comes available. Which pretty much always happens at some point.

And I fully agree: there is no way in HELL I would pay that much for ANY kit from the Dragon / Cyber Hobby 1/35th scale ranges. Not even for a Cyber Hobby whitebox Gruppe Fehrmann Tiger I kit (#6335), which is probably one of the most sought after whitebox limited editions and nigh impossible to get.

@H K : thanks for the additional info on the Mid tigers! 👍 I most definitely need to go back and regain some of the knowledge I seem to have lost 😉

Augie
hehe 🙂

Holger Kranich
I did some research... Late Tigers was fitted with Zimmerit when came from the production line (so HK is absolute right) but some crews where scarred about the rumors that Zim could burn that they took hammer and chisel and removed it from their tanks and applied a new camo as soon as paint was available.
The artistic freedom has therefore no limits for us😢😢.

H K
Interesting information Holger 👍

Barkmann
Let me add my bit of trivia here: the use of zimmerit was discontinued in september/october 1944. When it became clear that the reason for it (Soviets using new magnetic mines) didn't materialize. The application of the zimmerit took, depending on the use of special equipment, between 1-8 days. This delay was also a strong motivator.

Besides that, when you study wartime photos (late '44-'45), you'll notice "hybrid" Tigers where hull or turret are lacking zimmerit. This can be attributed to repair workshops using "used parts' to repair vehicles.

Holger Kranich
A good and strong point, Barkmann! Thank you for info!
And yes, combat, towing and workshops coud cause the partial lack of Zimmerit!

Do you have a nice link with pix of those hybrid Tigers?

Barkmann
@ Holger
I'd love to help you out with those pics! Unfortunately I didn't see them online, but rather have them in my personal library. You see, I stopped modelling actively some 30 years ago, but the interest didn't go away. So if I can't build'em, I'll read about them! So I built up, quite manicly, my personal WWII reference library.

Rest easy though, pictures of those hybrids are easier to find than some of the more rare beasts like the Zerstörer 45 or Objeckt 212, two of my "will-build" projects...

Holger Kranich
30 Years is a long time! And now you found your way back to the mighty glue?😢
It sticks, even after 30 years😢

Barkmann
It did stick allright! "Back in the old days" sure has a different meaning here. It was the time that I bought my kits (mostly Tamiya, Esci and Italeri because there wasn't anything else) in a little shop not far from here owned by Francois Verlinden. There weren't any aftermarket sets, no photo-etch, no hairspray technique, no sheet styrene, no superglue and the only paints to use were Humbrol and Tamiya. It was the time when drybrushing was the pinnacle of modelling and the first experiments with oil-based washes. Sheperd Paine was the trailblazer modeller back then.

A funny afterthought is that at one of the modelling contests were I presented an "upgraded" Panther A, I got the following remark from one of the judges:
"Your model is out of scale: the turret is nothing like the one in the kit".

Today, so many years later, a model built out of the box, would get the opposite comment.

Holger Kranich
Haha, yeah, thats truly funny!
I remember those times, too as i replicated exhaust stains with a lighter😄!

Do you enjoy the possibilitys, the hobby gives you now with all the pe´s and resin etc.? Not to mention the Dragon, AFV and all the other manufracturers?

Barkmann
Well Holger, to be completely honest, I've not yet looked around much for kits. I still have a few relics laying about, but the cost of upgrading them to current standards doesn't really warrant the building of them. In other words I'm not willing to spend €50-€60 buying PE and upgrades for a kit that was first released in the 70's (thinking of my Tamiya KV Ic). In the last few months I've spent a lot on getting the tools, paints and stuff. Unlike most I had to start from scratch. So an airbrush with compressor, sets of brushes,thinners, primers... took a very big chunk out of my budget.

I guess it'll be a trial-and-error period for me. Browsing the web (and this website) I get the distinct impression that quality-wise there are brands worthy to be investigated. Dragon being one, but Trumpeter and Academy look promising as well.

The resin aftermarket sets and PE sure make the hobby that much more interesting. It seems like it has (finally) matured. But to be really honest, it also in a way disappoints me. With so many kits on the market nowadays, it's kinda hard to find that one unique project. I guess I miss the feeling you get when you work on something truely unique, like a variant or conversion that you know nobody has. It used to give me a sense of accomplishment.

Holger Kranich
I can imagine that this is a touchy situation for you. Let alone paints... Its by far not only Humbrol or Tamiya on the market, as you have seen. Some of them are wonderful for planes, some more for figures, some more for AFV´s. This can confuse the modeler. Some even have special preferences of what a paint should do.

Alone the question what the best airbrush is and what compressor workes best with it could distract the modeling society.

I know the feeling very well when you come out of the hobbyshop with new brushes, glue, tweezers etc and have a look in your wallet and it is: empty!😢

I dont think it hard to find the unique project. Because i always add my personal tough to my models. There is surely no variant of the Panther that was never build before but you can always make it personalized. Its "the look" of a model that makes it unique. Its my personal matter of concern that my models gives the one who look at it, a "mood" while watching!

But more than everything i build models for me! As long as i have fun, i am satisfied!😄