"Tiger I" Ausf. E - German heavy tank

Pz. Kpfw. VI. (Sd.Kfz.181) "Tiger" - a German heavy tank of the Second World War, one of the most famous combat vehicles of that time. The German "Panzerwaffe" command had the idea of creating a heavy tank since the beginning of the war, but the first attempts were unsuccessful. In 1939 and 1940 they were carried out slowly and inefficiently, but after the clash on the Eastern Front with the T-34 and KV-1, work on the new heavy tank accelerated. In 1942 April 20 the prototype of the new tank, named VK 4501 (H), was tested on the range in the presence of Adolf Hitler himself, and soon after it was put into mass production. The first production versions were named Pz. Kpfw. VI Ausf. H1 (later Ausf. E). During production, in the years 1942-1945, the tank was systematically modernized, for example, by adding "Feifell" dust filters, different placement of headlights, modernizing optical equipment, changing the commander's turret, etc. Maybach HL230 P45 12-cylinder carburetor engine installed in "Tigers" , whose power reached 700 h. p. The Pz. Kpfw. VI tank, although it did not have such a sleek body, as the T-34 or "Panther", was heavily armored (frontal armor up to 120 mm), armed with a very effective KwK 36 L / 56 88 mm gun, so earned a reputation as the most effective tank of World War II. It was a much better fighting machine, than the Allied M4, "Churchill" or the Soviet T-34/76. On the other hand, the Pz. VI had certain disadvantages - in particular, its production was very difficult, and the quality of the "Tiger" armor deteriorated in the later period, which led to the fact, that the German economy did not reach molybdenum deposits. Despite these shortcomings, the "Tiger" proved to be a very effective weapon on the battlefield. He fought successfully in Tunisia, the Kursk Arc, Normandy and the Eastern Front.

A well-designed, substantial, well-detailed model without interior detalization. But due to its rather complex shapes, complicated chassis and abundant external detailing, it is only intended for intermediate and advanced modelers. The model reproduces the external appearance of the tank of the commander of the "Hitlerjugend" SS Panzer Division Witttmann.