I have been after Joe, of TMD, to release sets of his company's namesake and he FINALLY listened!  It has been worth the wait.  I bought all eleven of his recent Tiger I products, including all four turrets, and most of the reviews will seem the same.  So, I have specified what is different under asterisks.


*****352101*****

This is the early version of the turret with one pistol port and an emergency escape hatch.  This is correct for a Tiger built between December of 1942 and April of 1943.  If your kit includes a loader’s periscope and spare track link holder for the turret, you can create the type manufactured from Aril to mid June of 1943.  By looking at the top piece, the asymmetry is obvious.  Best of all, it matches the plans on pages 100 & 101 in Tom Jentz' "Germany's Tiger Tanks-D.W. to Tiger I"  

*****Common Parts to all turret sets*****

I was surprised that the commander's cupola and ventilator were not included (hopefully a future release with clear resin episcopes).  Instructions are not included either but since these are placement parts for those in a kit, they are not missed.  There are three more sprues:

1) Escape hatch
2) Close defense weapon, pistol plug, loader's periscope shield, and three different hinges for the escape hatch (none of these parts are used since the turret includes the hinge)
3) Lifting lugs (3 pieces)

*****Construction*****

The flash was very easy to remove.  The bottom of the turret is another matter.  It is heavily flashed but TMD has made it easy to use a saw and remove it.  My next step it to sand it on a film of sandpaper glued to a plate of glass.  


This new gray resin used is very forgiving and not as brittle as the previous one.  However, be careful with your knives.  I accidentally cut one of the ears off the turret roof.  The casting is first rate without any air bubbles and the surface texturing is subtle.  There was some warping of the large turret pieces but a bath in hot water cured that problem.  The top piece had a tight fit but nothing serious.  I only found one small sinkhole to fill but it would have been covered by the stowage bin.

This is an excellent offering and the quality is what we have come to expect from Tiger Models.  Well worth the 4 and a half stars!