Königstiger Rescue, Part II

This is the second installment of my Königstiger refurbishment project...


After rebuilding the turret gun mount and exhaust systems, it was time to decide on a paint job for the Königstiger. I did a lot of research, both in books and online, to determine a sort of camouflage pattern appropriate to the Porsche turreted early production tank. After many hours of reading, it became unfortunately apparent that the Tiger IIs with the early Porsche turret were produced and fielded before the adoption of the neat-looking ambush camouflage.

However, there were still some great marking options! I chose to use the markings of a unit that first fielded the King Tigers in Normandy in 1944. There were some wild variations in field-applied camouflage, with a large serial number painted on the front sides of the turret, with no other apparent markings. This would give a good distinctive look to a tank that by sheer size is bound to be a focal point in my army. Since my Flames of War late war German army is mostly based on the battle of France and Holland, this would fit in perfectly!

Disaster strikes! in an effort to retain the family friendliness of my blog, I will refrain from transcribing my response, but as I was cleaning up the airbrush table, the tank slipped from my hands and met with the concrete four feet below.

You can see where pieces of the rear hull sheared off when it hit. I've re-glued them, but some gaps are still apparent. Thankfully, this tank is covered in zimmerit anti-magnetic paste, so I can probably pass off the cracks as the coating chipping off in the field with some careful painting.