Kit: No. TA979
Scale: 1/35
Manufacturer: Academy, distributed by Minicraft Models, P.O. Box 3577, Torrance, CA 90510, phone 310-325-8383
Price: $55
Comments: Injection molded, 750 parts (4 photoetched, 28 vinyl), decals.

Placed in service in 1942, the Tiger was the most heavily armed and armored tank on the battlefield. With its dreaded 88mm antitank gun a Tiger could take on enemies well before they could get close enough to use their own weapons.

Academy’s Tiger is the first to include a complete interior. All major components are present in the engine and fighting compartments and the turret interior.

While the interior is impressive, the exterior also is done well — the best early Tiger I yet. The kit can represent just about any Tiger I built from December 1942, when the escape hatch was installed on the right side of the turret, until May 1943, when an improved engine was introduced.

There’s a lot of plastic in this box — more than 700 well-molded pieces. Most of the exterior is molded in tan, while interior components are light gray. More than 200 individual track links are molded in metallic gray. The kit also includes a small fret of photoetched metal screens for the radiator covers.

The excellent instructions contain detailed assembly drawings, detail photos of a finished model, and a center-spread cutaway of all major interior compartments. Markings drawings and a parts map fill out the 20-page booklet.

I started construction by installing the suspension arms on the hull. Temporarily skipping the road wheels, I attached the main bulkheads in the hull. I installed as much as I could before painting, and then built the transmission, engine, and the gun breach.

While assembling the breach, the position of parts J2 and J42, the elevation mechanism, was not clear. Test fit them before cementing. Also test fit the transmission assembly to the hull to make sure it doesn’t interfere with the glacis plate (part B2) or you’ll have problems later. I glued the turret halves together, trapping only part C18 so I could clean up the seam in the rear of the turret before adding the turret interior. You’ll have no problems adding the breech and gun later.

Next I painted the interior components with Floquil Classic Military colors. My references suggest Tiger interiors were painted light buff down to the bottom of the sponsons, medium gray below that. The interior of my engine compartment is red oxide primer.

While I had the airbrush out, I also sprayed many of the detail parts. Once the paint was dry, a wash and a dry-brushing were applied to the interior components.

I glued the hull’s top components to each other and not to the hull so I could open the model to show the interior. Test fit the top when installing the radiators and cooling fans. If the radiators are not seated properly, they’ll interfere with the hull top. I left off the exhausts and the turret basket to ease painting, and left off the fenders until the tracks were installed.

The kit provides “S”-mine launchers for both rear corners of the hull (parts E2 and A20), but they are not shown in the instructions. The photo on the bottom of page 8 shows where they should go.

Academy provides markings for six Tigers (one commanded by Michael Wittmann); I chose the Afrika Korps version. The instructions call for armor dark yellow, but my research pointed to an experimental tan. (The instructions place this tank in the 502nd Pz while it should be 501st Pz.)

I used Testor Model Master II RAL 8020 Afrika braun ’42 (No. 2102) for the exterior. The interior of the main crew hatches should be painted the exterior color, not the interior color.

When the paint was dry I installed the running gear. Follow the instructions closely when installing the road wheels; I almost forgot to put on the idler wheels, and they would have been impossible to attach after the road wheels were on. In case you get your road wheels mixed up while painting, Academy has thoughtfully molded a small part number on the inside of each.

I glued each link with Model Master liquid cement (No. 8872 in the black bottle with the needle dispenser). After the tracks dry for 15-30 minutes, they are flexible enough to be wrapped around the road wheels and have the sag worked in between the wheels. I used 96 track links on each side.

Installing the turret floor is tricky. I attached the support arms to the turret with super glue, then the floor to the arms. While the floor wasn’t perfectly aligned with the hull floor plates, it didn’t affect the fit of the turret to the hull. Clip off the tabs on the turret ring, as they interfere with the sponson ammo bins, preventing the turret from facing straight forward.

The kit’s decals went down well with a little Solvaset. The black areas of the crosses seem too narrow, though.

The most disappointing parts of the kit were the vinyl hoses that run to the air filters. They were too long to fit properly, and were difficult to modify.

The two most-helpful reference books were New Vanguard’s Tiger I Heavy Tank 1942-1945, and Verlinden Publications’ On Target No. 1, The German Tiger Tanks.

The finished model measures almost exactly to the dimensions given in references. Of the major interior parts, the problem I found is the ammo storage racks should hold shells four deep, not three.

I spent about 40 hours building my Tiger. That is twice as long as I spend on an average 1/35 scale armor kit, but this is no average kit. I had a great time building it. The large number of parts and all the detail painting may be too much for a beginner to handle, but experienced modelers will be able to tame this Tiger.

John Plzak