Every now and then something ground breaking occurs in the modelling industry. I believe that the introduction of this kit qualifies as such an event. In a world flooded with Tiger kits Academy have decided to offer something different to the armour enthusiast. This kit features Individual track links, photo-etched air intake screens and comprehensive interior detailing. Virtually everything is there from the transmission in the front to the engine at the back and everything in between. This is not a kit for the faint hearted, for starters there are nearly seven hundred parts to cut from sprues and clean up. Building this kit is no weekend project! I was recently asked to build this kit, and if possible to have it finished within two weeks. It took me a lot longer than that to finish the model even though I built it straight out of the box. I was also asked to build the model so that it could be pulled apart to enable the interior to be seen in all it's glory. I won't bore you with another potted history of Hitler's first big cat but rather I will concentrate on the kit. I did do some research for the project but this was limited by time constraints so I may revise this review at a later date. Walter Speilberger's Tiger book is an excellent reference source for all aspects of the vehicle's interior and will really help those seeking to improve this aspect of the model.

Construction

The model should be treated as a series of subassemblies to be built and painted as you go because some parts simply cannot be painted after assembly. I jumped around the suggested construction sequence a lot in order to speed things up. Generally speaking the kit is very accurate in its dimensions and has excellent detail. The kit can be improved by refining some of the details and this is a reflection of the limitations of injection moulding technology more than anything else. There are a few minor accuracy problems but most of these occur on the inside of the model. The is no texture to speak of on the model. My references indicate very light pitting on the drivers' plate and some light casting texture on some of the engine deck parts. The kit would need some minor backdating to do one of the very early production Tigers with twin pistol ports although a second port is conveniently provided in the kit. Most ejector pin marks are placed where they are the least obtrusive to minimise the amount of filling and sanding required during the cleanup process. Most parts are virtually flash free. Overall the fit of parts is excellent and poses few problems for the average modeller. I will cover the outside of the model before venturing into the interior.

The Exterior

I started construction with the lower hull and suspension. The detailing on the lower hull is excellent. Academy have even portrayed the fluted flange where the hull sides meet the sponson floors in both horizontal and vertical planes, this is something even Tamiya didn't bother to do. I assembled the road wheels as per instructions. Be very careful with the pair of road wheels that fit between the track guide teeth (parts 5 & 6). It is very easy to get these wrong if you are in a hurry with the result that your outer road wheels will end up outside the tracks. The wheels and sprockets use the old poly cap method of attachment which Tamiya have largely dispensed with. The suspension and road wheels are finely detailed and look good when finished. The road wheel hubs look very accurate when compared to some nice close up photos I have. Interestingly the hubs in the Tamiya mid production Tiger is of a different pattern to the Academy ones. The early pattern drive sprockets are also excellent. The individual track links are well done. They do not have hollow guide teeth but then nor do Tamiya's. Many links are relatively free from sink marks which speeds cleanup. I cleaned up the tracks and pre-painted them on the sprues. The fact that the sprue attachment points are hidden after assembly made this a viable option.

The upper hull is well detailed and allows for all rear deck plates to be modelled in any combination of open or closed. I did mine all closed up as I left the hull roof removable as a unit. The hatches for the driver and radio op can be modelled open or closed (as one would expect). I found that I had to relocate the sledge hammer on the front of the hull roof because it would have prevented the driver's plate from butting up to the roof properly. The two Bosch headlights and mountings are relatively crude and purists may wish to substitute more accurate versions from the spares box. The tools have their clamps moulded on and could benefit from the addition of handles from lead foil or photo-etched parts. The tow ropes would be best replaced with brass picture wire. The track replacement rope on the hull side appears to have wrong attachment points for an early version. For some unknown reason the two bolts with wing nuts either side of the hull mg mount are defying gravity and are pointing upwards. The 5 S-mine dischargers on the upper hull are a little heavy and cold be replaced by more delicate renderings if you are that way inclined. The kit jack is not wonderful and has mounted brackets moulded on. A choice of two styles of Feifel air cleaners is provided. One of the weakest points of the kit must be the Feifel hoses. These are done in soft vinyl, presumably to make them suitable for use in a pull apart model but they don't look very good and it is virtually impossible to clean them up properly. In short I would recommend replacing them with scratch built items. The photo-etch screens supplied with the kit are more than adequate and save the modeller from having to buy these as a Tamiya style add on extra. I brushed liquid cement onto the grills and pushed the photo-etch screens into this and got a surprisingly good bond. I left the glacis/drivers plates removable as a unit to enable the transmission to be viewed. Some weld seams are not represented e.g. where the hull sides meet the hull front and back. These can be simulated by gluing on file strips of styrene which can be textured with a fine burr mounted in a motor tool. Refer to pictures to get an idea of the texture to aim for remembering that Tigers were finely crafted by the proud engineers of Henschel who produced some very tidy welding. The front plates can be textured with a fine burr in a motor tool but go VERY easy on this as the armour plate used on the Tiger I was generally quite smooth.

The turret is again very well executed. It represents a turret produced between December 1942 and June 1943 because it has an escape hatch with bevelled sides in the position where earlier versions had a second pistol port. There are some minor improvements that detailers could make. The turret bin latches are just blobs and could be replaced with photo-etched substitutes. Early Tigers often had a support bracket to secure the commanders hatch in the open position. This can be added after referring to photos to get its shape and location right. The Cupola could also have the drain holes added by drilling them around the top ring using photos as a guide. Photos show small tubes protruding up from the cupola at the front and rear which could be added from plastic rod. Detail on the hatches is a mixture of cast on and separate parts. The cupola has internal detail representing the vision blocks and their surrounds. The turret roof on my example was a tight fit. The 88mm gun goes together well and I had no problems when eliminating the join seam.

The Interior

The turret comes with a reasonable representation of an interior. I painted as much as I could before assembly as painting details in tight confines is not my idea of fun. If you are not going to have the model come apart then the turret interior is more than adequate. If you wish to make an open or cutaway model then some extra detailing work may be required. Some of the interior details appear to be simplified while a few are just plain wrong. For one thing the 88 barrel between the mantlet and the breach is not moulded to represent a solid tube. It is erroneously portrayed by a strip at the top and another strip at the bottom with fresh air in between. I don't know why Academy did this but it really should be corrected. A number of the interior fittings appear to be over sized and thus won't fit properly if arranged as per the real thing. Various cables and tubes could be added if desired and if you have suitable references. The Mg ammo bags provided in the kit look a little over scale to me. The turret basket is reasonably well done. Fitting the turret basket was probably the trickiest part of the whole assembly process and caused me a few problems before I got it firmly attached and aligned in the correct position. Another curiosity is why there is no interior detail behind the pistol port. You could add the stowage basket that was mounted under the commander's set. This had a flat sheet metal back and curved a wire mesh front. The linkages between the traverse mechanism and the turret position indicator could be added from plastic rod.

Turning to the hull rear interior all the major components are there, fuel tanks, radiators fans and an engine. The engine proportions are a fair way out resulting in very shallow air cleaners. This is not too much of a problem when the engine is left in its bay. The engine would require a lot of rebuilding if for example you wished to have it hanging from a crane in a maintenance diorama. Some effort has been made to represent the plumbing in this area but some additional improvements can be made. You will need good references to do this effectively. I painted the whole of this area in red primer including the fuel tanks. The radiators and fans were painted a dirty dark grey colour which I the shaded, highlighted and weathered with artist's oils.

Moving forward past the firewall is the fighting compartment. The fire wall is detailed with various levers and gizmos. All the torsion bars in the lower hull are provided as separate parts (including those in the engine compartment where they are virtually invisible). A drive shaft connects the motor with the turret power take off unit and another couple of drive shafts connects this to the transmission. Two tread plate pieces make up the false floor of the fighting compartment. Surprisingly these are marred by visible ejector pin marks. Ammo bins sit above these in the four corners. The main ammo bins in the sponsons are represented by vertical pieces of plastic with only the top row of shells provided to fill in the gap. The kit shows the shells stacked 3 wide when in reality they should be stored 4 wide. There are enough spare shells to fix this and fanatics may want to entirely fill the lockers with shells and brackets. The floor and side walls up to the sponson levels were painted a dark field grey misted over a panzer grey undercoat. The false floor plates were painted in a dark red primer shade.

The driving compartment comes complete with transmission, final drive units, driver and radio operator's positions and a few bits and bobs thrown in for good measure. The radio mounting frames are not square when assembled. This is not really a problem unless you want to open the model up, in which case you could cut out the radio faces and build new framework and radio bodies from styrene sheet. Careful study of reference photos is required in order to determine where to place the two hydraulic cylinders on the hull side walls. The transmission and final drive are very nicely portrayed but will be virtually invisible if the model is built closed up. The driving compartment will again benefit from the addition of extra plumbing and electrical cables. I painted the floor of the driving compartment the same colour as the fighting compartment floor. I used the light interior colour on the walls and sponson areas. The transmission and final drive units were painted a dark panzer grey.

Painting and finishing

I decided to paint the vehicle from Das Reich that featured an attractive 3 colour scheme.I aimed to represent a fairly new vehicle with a light covering of dust but nothing too heavy. The road wheels were left off the model during most of the painting process. The model was pre-shaded with a dark brown spray. I applied Tamiya dark yellow acrylic over this. Very little dark yellow was used under the sponsors. I sprayed X