I purchased a 1/16th scale radio controlled Tiger tank by Tamiya. I must say that it's the first time in a very long time that I have had so much fun with a "toy". Oh, don't get me wrong. The Tamiya Tiger is no toy in the usual sense of the word. It's a very sophisticated piece of equipment.

Features

 
When the huge 88mm gun is fired, not only does the barrel recoil into the breech but the whole tank recoils just like the real one. When it fires, there is a deafening "boom" and a bright flash of light at the end of the barrel.
 
 
 
An MG42 machine gun rounds off the firepower that also produces machine gun sounds and muzzle flash.

 
The turret turns and the 88mm canon can be raised and lowered just like the real one, all with very realistic sound effects.

 
And the whole thing rides on 16 triple bogey wheels featuring real rubber tires and a working torsion bar suspension just like the real one. Two electrical motors supply the power, one to drive each track.

To add further realism, Tamiya sent a sound team to the town of Saumur in France. The museum in Saumur is the home of one of only 2 running Tigers left in the world. The other one is in the Tank Museum in Bovington, England. The Saumur Tiger has received a post war paint job and is equipped with the narrower transportation tracks.

The purpose of their visit to Saumur was to record the sound of the Tiger. They recorded the sound of it starting under battery power and then also starting under "cranking" man-power. This involves manually turning over of the huge Maybach 700HP engine until the beast starts. As well, they recorded the sound of the engine idling and accelerating as well as when it was turned off.

Tamiya then digitally incorporated those sounds into their model of the Tiger. As a result, the 1/16th scale Tamiya Tiger actually sounds like a real Tiger when you turn it on, while idling, accelerating and when it's turned off. A nice touch involves the noisy gear-like sounds of the turret when it turns as well as the distinct sound of the huge 88mm canon being raised and lowered. Very cool!!

Running this model is a gas. A 4-channel radio control unit is required to operate the 2 electrical motors, fire the 88mm canon and MG42 machine gun as well as turn the turret and raise and lower the 88mm canon.

A battle system is also available that will enable you to "fight" with friends who have similar radio controlled tanks. The other radio controlled tanks offered by Tamiya are the Sherman, Pershing and King Tiger although I believe the electronics in the King Tiger are not nearly as sophisticated. The battle system unit plugs into the electronics and will register "hits" which will at first "cripple" your tank in various ways and ultimately disable it. Not to worry, 15 seconds later, you're back in the battle.

Building my Tiger

I only have one small complaint about this kit. Why Tamiya did not include the headlight cables and rear deck engine screens is a mystery. These are easily built from scratch but at the price this kit sells for, you would have thought....

Painting my Tiger

Most German tanks in WW2 were also painted in some form of camouflage. It's known that the colours used for camouflage purposes were red/brown and green. In 1943 and early 1944, camouflage was applied in the field by each crew. As a result, camouflage patterns varied widely and no two tanks were alike. Unfortunately, all contemporary pictures of camouflaged Tigers are in black and white. The colour pictures of German armour in museums are all repaints and, in most cases, bear little similarity to the original paint jobs. So although camouflage patterns are identifiable, the colour of the paint (red/brown and/or green) used is left to the imagination. By late 1944 and early 1945, camouflage was applied at the factory and some standardization was obtained. Though by 1945, so pressing was the need for armour at the front that many tanks left the factory in their base primer.

With so many variations of Tigers and wanting to be as realistic as possible, I had to decide on what period to model. After much deliberation, I finally decided to model a "battle weary" Tiger that took part in the "Kursk" offensive of July 1943. Known as "Operation Zitadelle", it was the largest tank battle in history where over 5000 German and Russian tanks and assault guns clashed. Of the Tiger units that took part in the battle, the schwere Panzer-Kompanie 8./SS-Panzer-Regiment 2 of the 2nd SS-Panzer Division "Das Reich" figured prominently. One of the elite divisions of the Waffen-SS, "Das Reich" took part in some of the bloodiest battles on the Eastern Front.

 
One of the camouflage patterns often used on Tigers in 1943 was the so-called "octopus" pattern. This consisted of broad stripes of green and/or red/brown painted over the base coat of dark yellow. Many of the "Das Reich" Kursk Tigers sported this type of camouflage. According to several excellent books on Tigers, including "Tigers in Combat" and "Armour Battles of The Waffen SS", "Das Reich" Tigers at Kursk were painted a base of yellow with broad, and/or thin lines of green. So I decided to use the base yellow colour with large green stripes.

Numbering my Tiger

S01 was badly mauled at Kursk but returned to the front sometime after Kursk. It was abandoned and blown up by its crew on 24.03.44 near Proskuroff, Russia. About 10 days prior to the abandonment it had been damaged in an engagement with 10 AT guns. All 10 Russian AT guns, 2 T-34s and 1 KW-85 were knocked out by Tigers S01 and S02 which was also abandoned and destroyed by its crew shortly after.

As well, "Das Reich" used unique tactical markings and symbols during the Battle of Kursk that made them easily recognizable to friend and foe alike. The tactical symbol used by ""Das Reich" during this action consisted of two vertical bars over one horizontal bar and was positioned on the left rear fender and right front of the hull.
 
Another unique feature of the "Das Reich" Tigers that fought at Kursk involved the application of a gnome-like creature called the "Dancing Devil" to the sides of the turret. The "Dancing Devil" and "Das Reich" Kursk tactical symbol are both included on the Tamiya decal sheet.

Suggestions, Problems and Solutions

Suggestions:

• Get a set of metal tracks. Kenny Kong sells very good metal tracks. They are more realistic and last longer than the resin tracks that come with the kit. It also adds weight to the model without putting a strain on the suspension.
• Get a speed/gear reduction upgrade kit by Schumo. Without the speed reduction kit, the Tiger is too fast, expecially when turning. The scale top speed of the stock gears is 69 km/h when the actual top speed of a Tiger was 38 km/h. The speed/gear reduction upgrade also gives your Tiger more torque especially if you use metal tracks.
• Buy the rear idler wheel bushings. It will help keep your track tension steady.

My Tiger's biggest problem was with the turret rotation unit. Most of the time, it didn't turn at all or it turned and stopped. The main reason for this is poor design. I tried several things but will only outline what worked for me.

Solutions:

Part of the problem was that the rotation unit clutch gear did not mesh totally with the rotation ring. Only about 1/2 of the clutch gear was in contact with the rotation ring. So I added washers between the rotation ring and metal bar holding the rotation ring to the turret. This had the effect of pushing the rotation ring down to mesh completely with the rotation unit clutch gear. Check to see how yours meshes before doing this. Yours may be ok.

Next, I put an rubber/elastic band around the rotation ring. This did two things. First, it secured the rotation ring between the 3 rotation ring guides. Mine did not make contact with the rotation ring resulting in a "wabbling" of the turret when the Tiger was in motion. Secondly, by doing this, it forced the rotation ring against the clutch gear.

Lastly, I put tie wraps around the 3 posts that attached the rotation ring to the bottom of the hull. I noticed that one of these posts was cracked from over tightening the screw which made the rotation unit "bend" under pressure. This strengthens the posts but you still want to be careful not to overtighten these screws. The third post is not visible in the picture at right.

The last thing you want to check is to make sure that the parts of the hull and bottom of the turret that meet are smooth. If you paint these areas, they will be slightly rough. I smoothed these areas with fine steel wool and added a coat of paste wax to make them slippery. These solutions may not cure your problem totally but for me, they cured most of it.

My Tiger

Cool Stuff

I was fortunate enough to buy the last Tiger buckle from an entrepreneur here in Canada. When I first contacted him, he said that he had recently sold the last one and since they were a specialty order, he didn't know if he would be producing any more but would let me know if he did. A few weeks later, he e-mailed me that he had found one "lying around". I snapped it up. He no longer has a web site.