Tiger Model Designs
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Tiger Model Designs has released a series of upgrade kits for Tiger I models. This Early Tiger I Cupola w/ Interior detail is their latest release. Although the label only states 'Cupola' but the cupola is cast on a turret roof with interior details, which is more attractive to most of Tiger I fans. Contents This set contains a
A loader hatch and a ventilator cover from original model kit are required to complete the roof exterior. Casting The set is cast in light grey resin with crispy details. Only three bubbles on the front side of commander cupola and one on the ventilator were found in the sample I have. A small amount of two part epoxy should solve the problem. The cleaning work only requires for the loader entry and commander's cupola. What you may need to be aware of is resin is a little bit softer than what is used for their earlier products. Instruction Sheet There are three close up pictures on a finished set and three notes in the instruction but no detailed descriptions on which part goes where. Although, there were some questions on the location of a few parts during the construction, most of the parts are shown in the pictures and can be easily identified. Comparing with References The kit represents a Tiger I turret roof produced between August 1942 and March 1943, after introduction of grenade launcher and before the loader's periscope. I did not compare the kit with any scale line drawings as it is made to fit on existing model kit. Any measurement flaw could be just simply because it was not correct in the model kit. I will leave it to other modelers and only compare the appearance details. Roof interior details There are some details are added to the model kit roof. The sealing guard bar right behind mantlet is reproduced while the depth of it is too much. The weld seam located behind it, as well as the one that jointing the roof and turret wall, is missing. Eight bolt heads are added to the original eight holes presented in the model kit. Most of roof interior details are represented. There are only a few missing items.
The items below are something that need to be corrected if the roof interior is displayed.
Commander's hatch There seem to have two different kinds of retention stop for drum cupola hatch. One is just a bar welded to the hatch, which can be seen in Tamiya’s model kit. Another one can bee seen in earlier production of drum cupola, the type that TMD offers in the set. The key lock is molded separately and the key hole is presented. There are four hatch lock levers provided in the set and can be built into different combinations with different directions of those levers. I have seen two differences in the references. Commander's cupola So far I have not seen a drum cupola from any of existing Tiger I models has rain drain holes. This feature is not only presented in TMD kit, but also the holes go from one side to another, just like real rain drain. While they are presented, the holes on both sides are a little bit oversized. There is a gap between middle and bottom sections on outside part of real cupola. It is not well reproduced in the kit. A small section around 11:00 is completely sealed. The interior of commander’s cupola is well reproduced. The only thing may require rebuilt is the oversized lock lever of vision block frame. The drum cupola was welded from outside and bolted from inside of the roof. The details of the inside are also well presented in the kit. Construction The roof I started at the biggest part of the set - the roof. Although the roof in the set is in asymmetrical shape, it is stated as for both Tamiya Early Tiger I with asymmetrical turret and Academy Early Tiger I with horse shoe shape turret. The result of dry fit to both kits is no dead fit to either one. A lot of work on dry fits and adjustments to both resin roof and original turret walls is required. After cutting off the resin block attached to the front edge, I found it still too long, comparing to the original kit part and scale drawing in the references. I cut further 1 mm off from the front edge. During dry fit, the roof stood up a little bit too much from the turret wall. Upon first observation, I though it was because of the interior details pushing against the roof support ring on turret wall. I cut off several places of the support ring and tried dry fit the roof again. The problem remained. Another observation was made and I figured out the problem was on the thickness of the roof. It is much thicker than the roof provided in the original kit. I decided to cut off the whole support ring. If you want to build a full interior with removable roof, you could build a weld seam surrounding the wall as the sport ring. One of the ('U' shaped) handgrips is supposed to be placed near the loader's entry (Figure 1). It is not presented in the instruction sheet. Other two go near commander cupola. An 'ear' on each side of the sealing guard bar right behind the mantlet is provided in the kit. For easy dry fits, I cut them off in the beginning but reproduced them with a small piece of triangular styrene strap after the roof was glued to the turret. The three splash guard bolted to the sealing guard is reproduced with styrene straps. They should be presented only on top side of sealing guard bar for Early version of Tiger I. Commander Cupola Cleaning the commander and loader entries does not require too much work. As mentioned in the Casting section, the resin is a little bit on soft side, cut a mini-meter or so away to the edge and sand off that one mini-meter unwanted part with micro adjustments. Then I glued the cushion pads to the cupola. Although there is no location mark for them, it is not that difficult to find the location by marking the center of the two bolt heads (Figure 2). The vision blocks are made with clear resin and a little bit too hard for cleaning. I left it aside for painting separately. One of the three bubble holes mentioned earlier was too shallow to hold epoxy. I drilled it a little bit deeper and filled it, as well as other two holes, with two part epoxy, and then flattened them with sandpaper. Two small copper tubes were added at 12:00 and 6:00 locations. The purpose for them in real vehicles is still not clear. Not all Tiger I had them. Commander Hatch One side of the counterbalance springs in the sample I have was cast in bad shape and was broken when I tried to fix it to right place. I ended up scratchbuilding both springs with brass wire. The three hatch lock levers are turned into different directions when the hatch is in opened position. The mechanism of the retention stop in the instruction is not really clear. I had to search through my references to find the answer. Although the plate for locking the hatch in open position is provided in 'T' shape in the kit, it should be flattened.(Figure 3). Placing the roof to turret Since I didn't intent to build the interior, I glued the roof to the turret wall with 5 support points made with styrene strap to hold the roof properly. Then a weld seam surrounding the roof and turret wall, as well as one located right after the front edge, were added with styrene strap. Recommendation This upgrade kit, just like other excellent kits from TMD, provides fine detail roof interior as well as refined commander cupola with rain drain holes that are going through from one side to another just like the real ones. If you want to build a Tiger I early turret with full interior, this set will be the first choice. Highly recommended. References
Thanks to Paul Owen for the review sample. |
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