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The "007" was the Tiger I in which the famous panzer ace Michael Wittmann found his death on August 8, 1944. In fact, this Tiger belonged to the 101. sSS.Pz.Abt. (Waffen SS heavy tank battalion) commander, Stubaf. Heinz von Westerhagen, who had been wounded and had left the unit just before. Wittmann, who was the leader of the 2nd company, was appointed as temporary commander of the 101. and thus only used the commander’s tank for a short period.
The events that lead to the destruction of Tiger I "007" have been subject to some debate in the modelling and WWII history Internet forums. Nowadays, the most accepted account of what happened in the morning of August 8th near Cintheaux is that a group of Tiger I of the 101. sSSPzAbt which tried to mount a counterattack against Allied forces, which the previous day launched Operation Totalize, were ambushed by tanks, of which some 17 pdr Sherman Fireflies, of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry. In the action, five of the eight participating Tigers were knocked out, among them Wittmann’s "007" in which, an internal explosion of the ammunition killed the five crewmen.
For this reason, the "007" is probably one of the most famous Tiger tanks, and a popular subject among modellers, despite only one photograph (and not a very good one) of it is known. This photograph was taken long after the Normandy battles were over and shows a view of the Tiger’s rear plate, with its peculiar aerial bin arrangement, and the turret lying upside down several metres away. This picture has been reproduced in several publications, and for example can be seen in page 111 of Jean Restayn’s "Tiger on the Western Front".
The kit used for this model is Tamiya late Tiger I (ref. 35146), with the following aftermarkets: The gun barrel came from Jordi Rubio (ref TG08), the zimmerit was from Cavalier (ref 101, veeery nice), the towing cables were from Elefant (ref. 35510), some few bits from a Verlinden detailing set for the Tiger I (ref 1177) and the photo etched set-- well, I started with an old Eduard set (ref. 35131) but I soon discovered that its quality was quite mediocre so I purchased the comprehensive Aber set (ref. 35015). Anyway, some parts of the Eduard set were useable, so I made good use of them. Besides all this "commercial" articles, I also used the usual "home made" stuff, such as metal wire of different thickness, plastic card, etc. I want to especially mention the side fenders that were made from printer shop aluminium sheet with the addition of the bolt heads, which were shaved off from the plastic fenders provided in the kit. Some add-ons were made in order to convert this model in a Befehlstiger (command Tiger), among them the bases for the extra aerials carried, and the cylindrical bin for spare aerials on the read plate. The model was painted with acrylics and weathered with enamels, oils and pigments.
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