historical fake

[Ivano Costantini]

Is someone in possession or has created the version "Tiger1 MId of 2010"?
Have you done historical research to decide which battalion to attribute it to?
I searched for documentation everywhere, I also consulted David Byrden. There has never been a Mid with rubber wheels and mantlet with a single hole for monocular optics. Do you have different information?

[Simon Peck]

Hi Ivano,

I have the 2010 ‘mid’ Tiger I. I think the only ‘mid’ you cannot accurately reproduce is one with the later style track links. The kit is a bit non specific, allowing you to adapt it to whichever actual mid you want. There were mid production Tigers in all theatres, East, Normandy and Italian (I think), but not N. Africa that wore the earlier style track links. Interestingly, some later mids are photographed wearing the earlier tracks. You are not limited.

Cheers,

Simon

[Stephen White]

Ivano, as Simon says, the kit is non-specific and you can make a number of build standards. The concept of "early, mid, late" is entirely artificial and made up by so called post war experts. They were not terms used by the Wehrmacht and are therefore a meaningless convenience. In practice, the Tiger 1 was the subject of a continuous product improvement programme of 35 major modifications introduced between August 1942 and August 1944.

The signature elements which people use to categorise early and mid are the change in cupola and the introduction of steel roadwheels. The new cupola with periscopes (Prismenspiegelkuppel) was introduced from July 1943, whereas the steel roadwheels began to appear from Feb 1944. The monocular optics, (Monkcular Turmzielfernrohr) was introduced on late March/early April 1944 production.

Of course there are also hybrid Tigers such as the well-known Fehrmann Tigers, which defied all post war classifications.

So - you can either do as you please or choose to model a specific vehicles. The Tiger was a bit like Chieftain - it seems as if it's hard to find two that were alike.

[Ivano Costantini]

Surely you are right too, I am neither a historian nor an expert. But there is no photographic documentation on tanks with rubber wheels and monocular optics. I want to imagine that they replaced the turret with a damaged tank.

[Ivano Costantini]

However, if steel wheels start appearing from February 44 and monocular optics in late March, how can we have a wagon with rubber wheels and monocular optics? Maybe they built tanks by assembling new parts on old parts. However for this case there is no photograph published for any battalion.

[Simon Peck]

I’ve found, at one time or another, a wartime photo of just about every mix of feature on the Tiger I. But the exception would be the monocular gun sight on rubber tyre road wheels. I’ve never seen a picture featuring that. So if you want to accurately model that, best to find a tank for which there are no known photos. I see no reason as to why a later low cupola turret couldn’t have been switched to an earlier hull. Maybe camo the hull and turret slightly differently to emphasise they weren’t originally together? This site used to be good for wartime pics of individual tanks: http://www.tiif.de/

[Ivano Costantini]

Hi Simon
i also answer the Facebook question, I do not make the change to the mantlet because I should also change the internal part that I have already completed. I should be doing biocular optics but I have not found detailed photographs. I also had the idea of ​​replicating the tank where there was no photographic documentation but I was unable to find anything. It's even more difficult for me because I don't know the English language. I have seen all the photos of "fire tiger", of all the battalions described but I have not found anything useful. If anyone has information from unknown tanks that can help me I would be grateful. Thank you!

[Simon Peck]

Another option...... see if you can buy a set of steel road wheels from Armortek? You maybe able to sell your rubber tyre set? But then the track links would be wrong.

[Adrian Harris]

I don't know the exact time frame but I would guess the previous batch of Tigers was the Late version, and the same programming was used on the mantlet, resulting in just the single hole.

Rather than stress about which tank this represents, just drill another hole

Adrian.

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Exactly that was the fact, in fact...

The 2010 mid was quite anachronistic. There were issues on the turret roof as well. There was a loader's hatch from Armorpax enclosed that was nice, but did just not fit and was for a late model. I chose to backdate mine to an early model and Armortek happily supplied parts for that. All I had to actually rebuild was the layout of the roof, deck and some details yet to complete. The good news is that the 2010 model was a big leap forward in quality. Several fidelity errors had been corrected (shape of the frontal armor, "lowering" of the engine deck etc) and the fit was fantastic compared to earlier vintages. Those were years when a lot of good happened. Dating it to a later model should be easier, as long as you avoid the steel wheels/chevron tracks.

Best of all: It is a fantastic runner, great to bring to shows etc. Always catches the eye of the spectators, who go home far before the 2010 tiger does (as long as you have the proper batteries!)
The 2010 tiger is pretty typical for Armortek models of that period: It lacks/errors in detail, but excels in engineering. But you Ivano, if anyone, know how to add the details!

Note: A couple years later, the entire machine park at Armortek was replaced with truckloads of new machines. I believe that had great impact on tolerances, making the models easier to build. Oh, and productivity! We went from a new model every one and a half years to two and a half models every year! Something like that.

[Ivano Costantini]

Well, thank you all for the information and advice. I will evaluate the possibility of making the second hole on the mantle. Anyone have photographs of binocular optics? Thanks Ivano

[Vince Cutajar]

Ivano
I think I have a diagram of the twin optics. I was going to send it to you via email but don't have your email address. Can you give me you email via PM?

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Photo of diagram sent via email.
Spero e quello che volevi.

Vince

[Stephen White]

These might help:

[Ivano Costantini]

I can't interpret this part!
I don't understand how it's made