From the past and even the present days, I’m a modeller not too stirred in featuring the German “Tiger 1 battle Tank” of World War II (WW2) nor a “1:32 scale Military War Tank Toy" for this webpage. As a keynote, I believed the TIGER Tank has more than enough homage it could get from prevailing disseminated History. The last four feature in my scale model websites has all been circumstantially at one point of history or another "vehicles" from an “Axis country", so I have long been contemplating to feature an “Allied country” subject as my latest posting for a subtle political tone refreshment, I do have some primarily “American and British” even Russian machines in mind, I was just waiting for the right circumstances to start a build, which is the trickiest part of my blog-posting vice, you never know what the compelling inspiration will be and when will it strike., ironically all this being said, I still cannot avoid the Tiger’s presence in war history themed media outlets , online history enthusiast communities and pop-culture consumerism innately suggesting that any medium that covers the whelms of Battle Tank history will not be complete without it.
It was two holiday seasons ago , I went out to do the traditional last three days to Christmas (Xmas) shopping rush, when you have no one to be with during Xmas, this sort of things just becomes a part of your holiday celebration; I was scouring the Bazzaar stalls and shopping malls, most of the time for toys for my nostalgic enjoyment and giveaways for some godsons and the occasional Xmas-day door knockers. Walking the very narrow and crowded bazaar pathway admiring how seemingly well-made some of the bootleg products are, I glance upon a display rack with a line-up of battery operated toy tanks … one is pink and blue , one is red and yellow, one that transform into a robot, all most likely with the obligatory annoying lights and sounds, still quite a distance from the stall when one specific item caught my attention, … the shape is familiar and visually understandable even the color is somewhat appropriate, as I finally got to get a close-up look of the item in focus, it becomes noticeable that it was a tamed-down toy version of the German Tiger tank in scale.
Closely scrutinizing the “Tiangge Tiger” it became apparent that there are quite a number of technical inaccuracies with regards to how a real Tiger tank mechanically function’s, but for basic visual introduction this mechanical inaccuracies in relation with aesthetic presentation is hardly relevant to my intentions on this posting, and as a complete twist of faith on the glitches I’ve pointed out, it can be noted that some fine realistic details can be found on the toy together with again some defamative decorations added to enhance its appeal on the children’s market. One of the main feature of the toy that the vendor pointed out was it is “Radio controlled (RC)”, and it is! But it’s only “RC” in a sense that its your friendly basic “four wheeled” toy car covered with a body of a Tank it has fix-molded caterpillar tracks, this are not an overly undermining buying factor for me in this case since my foreseeing intention was re-modify for "static" display and it’s taller “1:32” scale is by now for me a more favored scale at my age, although scratch-building is always tedious work at any extent, the bigger size of this aesthetic rebuilding will be less strainful activity to my senses.
The crowd , the blaring yuletide musics , the haggling , the hawking and the anticipated build suitability of the item for a forty-seven years old child pumped-up my decision to buy the toy, but due to the excitement and spontaneous situation it was only when I opened my wallet that I realized that the money left-in was not enough to buy it, instantly recalling that my cards are also out fund. Its getting quite late in the evening and Im tired, so I just shrug my shoulder went home with the vendors intimidating reminder that it’s " the only one left" in her stock, which most of the time probably true in a bazaar situation.
While on the ride home, it occured to me that I may have sufficient utility cash leftovers at the house, but I'm not about to rush “Back and fort” to different distanceful locations for an “inanimate plastic toy tank” like a lovesick single late-aged man pursuing the girl of his dreams, so I decided to let the Xmas season to slightly calm down, after a few days I went back to the same mall bazaar to finally buy the toy Tiger … well; it was not on the display rack anymore…. I assumed it was sold, never inquired the grouchy salesgirl about it to avoid that “you should have bought it when you had the chance” stare. I must admit the model builder’s part of my consciousness was quite "heartbroken"; but I'm not about to kneel down, raise my hand up and cry for an "inanimate plastic toy tank" like a lovesick single late-age man that lost the girl of his dreams, instead I just carried on on my original thoughts to build and feature an Allied military vehicle or aircraft in my webpages sooner or later.
The idea of featuring a German Tiger Tank seemed to be finished in my future “must publish list” , but the holidays at this point is not yet over for me, I still have the rituals of again scouring the bazaars and malls in pursuit of that mythical “ninety percent off” New Year's bargains, this time I went to a different bazaar annexed in a mall in the relatively near vicinity of my town, prowling its still crowded pathways, my mind is set on finding some replacement “kitchen fixtures and utensils” that those "rats" keep stealing, I had enough of toys during the pre-Xmas scramble that I hardly glance at the toys stalls during this quest. Later on, I have completed buying my most sought-after utensils and weaving my way out of this merrily chaotic compacted market when I glance upon a familiar silhouette at a toy stall near the many exits of the bazaar , ….. It’s that Goat Damned Tiangge Tiger !!! …
I really wish that I can make this post as short as this paragraph … I hovered the display, visually confirming that it’s exactly the same as the Xmas toy I originally eyed for, I ask the vendor for the cost, it was fairly priced for what it is like the one in the Xmas bazaar and just to complete the "Flea-market" experience I casually beg for some discount , the vendor look at a female behind him, spoke in gibberish tongue and agreed to give me a “super-micro flea” discount and boasted that he will include Class-A Batteries for the toy’, by this time I also had enough of the holiday mode so I bought the toy without further ado and went home. My latest project acquisition was put it in storage with the motive that one day I will dig it up from deep storage and build or re-imagine it just like the other model kits and toys I had pre-bought in the past, if my socio-personnal situation will still allow it.
Two seasons have past and the idea of scale model building has been toning-down steadily in me since that time, never got into starting the “Allied Tanks” , left an aircraft model kit build unfinished, and totally forgot about the “ Tiangge Tiger” with the though of a man my age must have more sensible things to do (fall in love, have a wife and raise a child perhaps?). Then one day, from out of a Blue, about more or less two months before penning this feature that an unknown "spark" of beautiful alien inspiration rejuvenated me to look back at a wholesome activity that may be eccentric for some societies, but loved doing since I was biologically a "real" child. So after finishing some hefty household repairs and utility enhancement, I took out the Tiannge Tiger from storage and started its time allotted but consistent “re-working” with infected impulse to sensibly finish "asap" for web posting.
Even before I was just eyeing the subject on the display stall , I can already visualize the portions that will need some custom alteration, addition and omission to at least achieve a convincing silhouettal resemblance to a “Real World” Tiger I of WW2. One peculiar feature of the Tiger I is it’s staggered “road wheels” arrangement, My Tiangge Tiger has a very generic representation of tank tracks so I decided to grind down all existing stock details and re-mount some scratch-built road wheels made out of stop-washers and sculpted CD case panels, I figure that “mil to mil” replication of this mechanical characteristics will take me a Thousand years so I just aimed on the aspect of presenting the basic visual idea of a Tiger’s road-wheel layout. There are Details on the turret and main chassis that are quite mechanically and historically convincing but there also are over-the-top "caricatured" additions to be noticed, this abominations was all sanded , cut , and grounded off , then totally reversing this process by hand making and installing mock Machinegun barrels, armor panels and riveting details, constructive damages on the surfaces was filled-in with epoxy fillers. canned spray paints was used for the white base color and double-action airbrush for the “camo” patterns, small built part and accessories where hand painted, unit markings was made with decal paper. I decided to paint my tiger for winter or snowy conditions, the color combinations was inspired by some early Tiger units destined to the Southern Russian battlefronts, markings location are also based on reputable online images and articles of the tiger with the number values altered to the modeller’s preference. Although I’ve done all what I planned on the time spent for this build there is no one point to say that it is absolutely finish since more details is possible on the subject as I am writing this feature.
The Tiger’s basic technical designation is “Panzerkampwagen VI Ausfuhrungh H” ( Panzer 6, version H ), the versions changes throughout the Tiger’s operational history, only after the more advance versions of the weapon like the “King Tiger” were fielded that the terms “Tiger I - II was commonly coined. At the time of its first combat fielding the Tiger’s 8.8mm high velocity main gun also designed as an anti-aircraft cannon is boasted as the deadliest gun mounted on a main battle tank in all theaters of conflict , it can destroy its target at long distances even before its opponent can acquire the suitable range to effectively shoot or counter-shoot, it’s frontal armor can withstand "hits" by early front-line Allied tanks, and the Tiger did wreak havoc to it’s enemy’s Mechanized forces whether in the deserts of North Africa, winter environment of Russia or France’s back-country.
Most allied combatant had developed intuitive fear on the Tiger, war lores and academic statistics alleged that by ratio and proportion it took the “Allies” an average of Five to Eight tanks to destroy one Tiger Tank during the early stages of its offensive to liberate German occupied territories. But like most fascinating exploits of German WW2 Wonder-Weapons their seemingly groundbreaking “tech” innovations will cause its own undoing, the Tiger is over-engineered in exchange for exceptional battle performance and probably “psy-war”. Many practical mechanical consideration of its design were compromised, the thick frontal armor made it too heavy for many rural bridges given that its rear armor was relatively weak, arguably for better weight distribution a complicated roadwheel-track layout was used making it hard to maintain and repair, more so, the Tiger’s manufacturing process is notoriously expensive and arduous resulting it to be in constant short supply and prone to breakdowns in the battlefields throughout the war.
All in all it's formidable destructive reputation, the "Tiger" failed to stop the tide if defeat for Nazi Germany but it remained a legendary reminder of its obsessive quest to convince the world of her ideological superiority at all cost. In alternate contrast , it evoke's the story of the Allied forces apprehensive but tenacious resolve to find whatever means to defeat the seemingly supreme mechanical reincarnation of the " Grim reaper" for those unfortunately have to face it in real life combat.
:-)
1:32 scale Tiger-1 with generic army men figures, probably some are out of scale,
the tank commande's figure is scratch -made
the tank commande's figure is scratch -made
Test Photoshoot of War- tank toy before its re-imagination build.
scratch modifying Parts
Painting the white base paint
Applying the "camo" patterns
Sizes comparison: 1:32 scale German Tiger-1 and 1:30 scale U.S. M4 Sherman and a 1:77 scale German Stug III Tank destroyer.
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( see youtube description for more info on this video, music , contents etc. )
PS Disclaimer : The scenes and objects depicted in this blog are mainly for the blog authors personnal opinion and artistic expression only and not meant to claim absolute authoritative presentation of actual events and people that are often the inspiration for the subjects or topics featured in this site.
