The first release of an asymmetrical Tiger I turret to the market was from Armoured Brigade Models (ABM) a few years back. ABM offered two types of turrets for the middle and late production Tigers. As ABM was a one man company, there were not a lot of these turrets produced. Not until earlier this year had another manufacturer released similar turrets. This was Tiger Model Designs with turrets for all versions of the Tiger I. Now, Blast Model offers another excellent option for us, an accurate late and final model Tiger I turret.

Contents

This set contains side wall, roof, mantlet, commander's hatch with inner details and separated arm, Commander's cupola details, loader's hatch and details, escape hatch and details, ventilator base and closed cap, and clips for spare tracks. Steel plate in the middle of rear storage bin and its support brackets are provided in the kit too.

Casting

The set is cast in cream coloured resin. Bubbles can be found in several areas on bigger parts but 99% of which are still covered with a thin layer of resin. The loader's hatch has four holes for attaching the handles on the inner side. These holes go through to the other side in my example. There is a gap on the left hand side of turret wall, see the top image in the second photograph. Fortunately, all Tiger I in this batch had Zimmerit and this gap can be easily covered with it.

Instruction Sheet

The instruction sheet consists of photographs of the parts and line drawings. Two photographs show all parts with numbers attached to them. Other photographs show where those parts, with their numbers, should be located. It was pretty clear and easy to understand for me.

Comparing with References

I have taken measurements from turret parts and line drawings in "Germany's Tiger Tanks - D.W. to Tiger I" and here is the result. Key: Blast Models kit / D.W. to Tiger I (all measurements are in cm.)

1. Width (on widest points) - 6.85 / 6.68
2. Width (front) - 4.72 / 4.55
3. Length (bottom) - 7.04 / 7.08
4. Height (rear turret wall) - 2.32 / 2.39
5. Height (front) - 1.63 / 1.72

Turret Wall

The additional armour on the bottom of front chin is missing or too thin in the kit. I have found a picture of vehicle featured with cast commander cupola and rubber ring road wheels having such fitting so the March-June/44 batch should have had this feature too.

The escape hatch is correctly moulded in terms of details. Blast Models has done their home work for this one. The locking mechanism is moulded separately in four parts. A cut-out hinge is also presented in the kit. This feature was introduced due to a turret ring guard added in Feb. 1944.

Turret Roof

As the turret roof of my example is twisted a little bit at front, I can't provided measurements for comparison. Three sockets (Pilze) for jib boom (Behelfskran) are moulded with the screw inserted. And two stanchions for a canvas rain guard for the commander's cupola are presented. A weld seam right behind loader's periscope crossing the whole roof is also in place.

I do notice that there are several things different from the line drawing.

1. The the three Pilze are a little bit oversized. The one in front of loader hatch needs relocated a little bit.
2. The location of the ventilator should be moved to almost dead on the centre line.
3. There is no cast number on the spare track clip.
4. For the batch completed in May and onward, three slits cut on the commander cupola to drain off rainwater are missing. They are located between the first and seventh, the second and third, and the forth and fifth periscope guards (counting clockwise from the one facing at 12:00).

Mantlet

Here again, I took measurements of the mantlet and compared it with line drawings.

1. Width - 4.74 / 4.54
2. Height - 1.51 / 1.57
3. Collar - 0.93 / 0.88

The T.Z.F.9c monocular gun sight was introduced in late March 1944, almost same time with the introduction of 40mm turret roof. As the kit has the 40mm roof, there is no choice to put single gun sight on the mantlet. A mantlet cast number, 863, is on the top of the mantlet. The steel bumper stop on the rear upper edge of the mantlet is also presented. There are two tiny holes on both 11:00 and 1:00 locations of collar. From some of pictures, there should be screws in those holes. To cast holes instead of screw heads, I guess, would be easier. Especially, those screw heads are not lager than 0.2mm in 1/35 scale.

Putting the parts together

The mantlet is fixed to the turret with two lifting lugs, one from each side. There is a gap between the lug base and recesses. To put turret roof into place may require some sanding off of the edges here and there but no big deal. The escape hatch is about 0.5mm too long in vertical length for s closed position. Since it has very well defined details, I don't see any excuse not to place it in opened position. Details of the loader's hatch is also well presented but slightly too big for close position too.

The location of the locking bars on the inner side of the loader's hatch is not well defined. It is better to put the handles in place before hand. This will avoid both parts conflict each other.

A rain cap for the ventilator on the turret top is provided in the kit. Cleaning the cover requires extreme care. I have accidentally cut off one lug. It is excellent fit between the cap and ventilator base. The open one provided in Tamiya kit, which is more commonly seen on the real vehicles can be used instead. The location holes for it may be too shallow. Either deepen the holes or cut off the legs on the Tamiya's cover can solve the problem. The interior of commander cupola is moulded on inner side of turret top. Some wing nuts are provided to be added to both side of periscopes. The commander's hatch rotating mechanism is moulded separately. No fit problem with them. The commander hatch and its arm fits well too.

The last parts to add are the spare track-link mounting brackets. The upper ones are easier to clean or need no cleaning. It can be built workable if a hole is carefully drilled through on the hinge. A tiny handle from brass rod needs to be added on to complete the details. The lower part is also fragile that requires extreme care when removing it from the resin tree. Another small section of brass rod needed in here if you want to build it without a track-link attached.

The turret fits to upper hull of Tamiya Tiger I like a charm. The width may cause problems for locating gun barrel cleaning rods. The turret can also fit to the Academy Tiger I. There will be not just the width problem though. The length is also prevents the engine hatch from being opened even with the turret rotated to 3:00 or 9:00.

Conclusion

With two similar turrets currently on the market, Blast Models provides another more complete option. With some cleaning and building with care, this asymmetrical turret will be a great improvement to original model kit. It is definitely the best choice if you want to build all hatches opened. Highly recommended.

References

1. Germany's Tiger Tanks - D.W. to Tiger I, by Thomas L. Jentz & Hilary L. Doyle
2. Tiger I and Sturmtiger in Detail, by Bruce Culver and Uwe Feist
3. Ground Power No.029, October 1996, PzKpfw VI Tiger[3]