King Tigers seems to be enjoying a renaissance, with new 1/35 scale kits from several manufacturers. Ukraine’s ICM joins the fray with a Henschel-turreted Königstiger. Cleanly molded in light gray plastic, the kit features vinyl tracks, separate hatches, and partial interior detail. No crew figures are provided.
The lower hull builds from three parts: Interior detail includes torsion bars, bulkheads, and partial flooring. The torsion bars puzzled me, because they don’t attach to the separate suspension swing arms for a movable suspension.
The one-piece upper hull includes full fenders. This is commendable for simplicity, but means extra work to model a tank with missing sections. The kit supplies separate, neatly rendered tools.
Each run of tracks consists of two vinyl sections. The old-fashioned material resisted styrene; I used strong super glue and melted the connecting pins for sturdy joins. The tracks are a tight fit around the suspension and don’t sag. Fortunately, the fenders conceal the upper run.
The turret interior features a full breech but nothing else. The two-part gun barrel incorporates the muzzle brake and part of the mantlet. The fit was perfect and the seam disappeared. Trouble-free describes overall turret assembly.
I painted my King Tiger with Ammo of Mig Jimenez’s King Tiger exterior paint set. In addition to the three camouflage colors, it includes paint for the tracks, tools, and for winter schemes.
The kit provides decals for four vehicles; I chose 008, which fought at the Battle of the Bulge. References show it was a command tank with an additional “star” antenna and hull mounting base, parts not in the kit.
I completed the King Tiger in 24 hours. It captures the rugged look of the real vehicle. The kit’s simplicity makes it a good project for novice builders as well as a palette for advanced modelers to turn into a showpiece.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the July 2017 issue.