15 Feb 2011

April 1942

VK 45.01 (H)


I think it will help to consider VK 45.01 (H), which was completed in April 1942, as the blueprint for following Tigers.  I will describe its features here in a retrospective, assuming we all appreciate the attributes of an Initial or Early Tiger.  VK 45.01 (H) is similar to the upcoming production Initial Tigers, but certain ‘items’ are missing/different.

VK 45.01 (H) identiying points are;
  • The prototype Tiger had no OVM tools.
  • It had no wing-nuts for fording gear on the MG ball.
  • There was no MG fitted in the Kugelbende on the three photographs I have, I will assume the coaxial MG is similarly missing.
  • This was the first Henschel Tiger – it had the first Henschel-style mantlet without a cut-out at the lower left border.
  • The prototype had a horn on the upper hull.
  • VK 45.01 (H) had no periscopes in the driver’s or radio operator’s hatches.
  • The prototype had a flat-hatch style opening stopper for the cupola lid, which opened fully-flat, this means that there was no swing-arm for the hatch opener, or spring gear; the hatch would have been opened manually & dropped.
  • The MP Klappen were asymmetrical.
  • There were no S-mine launchers or smoke-launchers on this Tiger 1.
  • There was a Vorpanzer.
  • The sprocket wheel external bolts were aligned with the wheel spokes, as were the sprocket teeth, but the hub nuts were not aligned with the spokes.
  • The sprocket wheel hubs were the earlier ‘reverse-dimple’ style.
  • One would have thought that this Tiger would have had ‘mirror’ tracks; in the photographs I have seen it did not.  I wonder, therefore, whether this Tiger sported the first type of non-mirror tracks, a decision which was ‘modified’, then later re-simplified?
  • There was no sighting wire on the forward cupola slit.
  • There were no rain cover posts on the cupola.
  • Despite sporting the Vorpanzer, the forward sections of the hull had holes for tow shackles.
  • The turret roof extraction fan had an armoured cover applied in the photographs I can see.
  • There were no hatch hooks on the rear hull deck grates, but there was one on the engine hatch.
  • There was no crank starter plate.
  • There was no towing apparatus on the lower hull rear plate.
  • The engine hatch (like Tiger 111) had no rectangular air intake aperture in the forward position.
  • There were no lightweight front mudguards; these were solid metal extensions of the glacis pate, further – this area had no circular cut-outs for ‘lorry camouflage’.
  • The exhausts had no shrouds, but also had no flappers, or bolt mechanism for attaching circular metal covers; the upper aspects of the exhausts were blank discs with a hole in for exhaust gases.
  • The rear mudguards look the same as the Initial Tiger 1’s.
  • This Tiger had a rectangular convoy light, as seen later on Tiger 111.
  • Fgst.Nr.V1 had no armoured guards around the final drives.
  • This Tiger had a metal antenna base at the upper right of the rear plate and a rubber antenna mount on the right side of the hull roof.
I think this Tiger was (at some point, at least) Primer Red.  Having discussed this I have come to the conclusion that the barrel is a darker colour, one assumes it would be the heat resistant dark grey we hear so much about, furthermore the Bosch lights & the hooter were speiclist supplies, so would have been delivered in Panzer Grey, creating a bit of a patchwork Tiger.  Looking at reference pictures of April 1942 VK45.01(P) did have rubber antenna mount for an aerial; I am sure that VK45.01(H) would have the same, albeit without an actual antenna.  This Tiger was prepared for a head-to-head with the Porsche prototype on Hitler's birthday, 1942. I read that VK45.01(P) was Panzergrau at that trial; it was allegedly completed only minutes before the rail shipment left for the proving ground trials; after working around the clock for six days the vehicle was operationally ready and inspected on 17 April 1942 just 40 minutes before being loaded with its cross-country tracks onto a railcar for transport to Hitler’s headquarters in Rastenburg, for the competition with the Porsche VK 45.01 (P) contender held on 20 April 1942.

This modelling project used the following items;

  • Dragon PzKpfwVI Ausf E SdKfz 181, Tiger 1 Initial Production, ref 6252
  • MasterClub  Tiger 1 early tracks, ref #MC135007W
  • Voyager Model Tiger 1 Initial Type PE set, ref PE35346
  • RB Models 8.8cm KwK 36 L/56 Tiger I (early model), ref 35B01
  • Academy Tiger 1 early sprocket wheels modified with cast resin hubs
The completed pre-priming build looks like this:


I hope you like it.


Bill

2 comments:

  1. Love it. Not an expert y any means but good to have something like this to refer to. I'm kinda ify about Voyager PE, how do you find it? Any chance of closer shots,?

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    Replies
    1. Hi James

      Thanks for looking in & commenting.

      I love Voyager Model PE - having tried most of the PE sets out there for a 1/35 Tiger I think the Voyager range beats them all.

      I will upload close-up shots of every build in time, before priming. Do you have any particular requests for which parts you want photographed on a macro?


      Bill

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