Tiger I

Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung H

Flames of War Tiger I, 1/100 scale

The Subject

My knowledge of tanks is extremely limited.  I know generic things like Sherman, Stalin, Churchill, Panther, and Tiger, and I know the Japanese tanks were small compared to Shermans, but ask me to describe a Tiger I versus Tiger II, or a T-34/76 versus a T-34/85, I get flummoxed. 

To be fair, I went down a rabbit hole of online reading trying to figure out a decent paint scheme for this model, but most of what I learned was summarized well in the wiki article linked above.

The Tiger was a heavy tank designed by Henschel and was the first to use the 88mm gun derived from the very successful flak gun. It dominated the battlefield when it able to operate as intended, usually limited by fuel demands or weather (freezing mud/ice tended to jam the road wheels).  Unfortunately for the Tiger, Northern Europe tends to get pretty cold in the winter, and Germany’s fuel woes became critical when the numbers of Tigers finally became large enough to be of real concern.

The Model

This is a tiny kit.  I’ve been told it’s 1/144 and also 1/100.  My caliper and calculator says it measures to 1/96 scale.  

It was an extremely easy build, taking me an hour or so to remove the parts and glue them all together.  I then sprayed the entire model Vallejo Dark Yellow primer, and then brushed on a Vallejo red brown and Vallejo Green.  The tracks are a dark gray metal color with a red-brown and tan wash.  This took a day only because I had to wait for the colors to dry.

I sort of weathered.  A tread-head friend showed me how to use a simple graphite pencil to rub some edges and give it a more metal appearance, that and the washes on the tracks was all I did.

Summary

This was fun!  A bit small for my tastes but if I were a war gamer I’d be all over these.  

Thanks for looking…