Jagdtiger

by: Eric Choy

 Normally I do not like kitbashing. But when a Tamiya King Tiger and an old Bandai Jagdtiger showed up on my doorstep, I decided to break my rule and use the parts of the newer Tamiya kit to update the Bandai classic. According to Jim Hensley’s The Modeler’s Guide to Jagdpanzer Part 1: Closed Top Vehicles (Ampersand Publishing), at least four production Jagdtigers got stuck with 88mm PaK43s because of a shortage of 128mm-gun mount. It didn’t take long for me to decide my model must depict one of those four short-tooth hunting tigers. 

I had to reduce the Bandai mantlet in order to fit the Tamiya barrel. My reference photos showed both mantlet and gun mount had casting texture, so I loaded an engraving bit into my Dremel tool and let it "danced" on the parts to rough up the surfaces. After a light sanding and a coat of Mr. Surfacer, they are now more or less authentic looking than before.

Late production Jagdtiger all had an anti-aircraft machine gun on the engine deck. I scratchbuilt one using sheet styrene and a leftover MG34 from the Tamiya Panther G kit I built some time back. Since no company makes any PE for Bandai’s Jagdtiger, I used Aber’s Henschel King Tiger set (for no particular reason except that it was on sale at the time).

 The March 1945 paint scheme was inspired by s.PzAbt.510 King Tiger article in Pat Stansell’s The Modeler’s Guide to the Tiger Tank (Ampersand Publishing). All Jagtigers went to two Panzerjager Abteilung- the 653rd and the 512th, the former which received more than half of the entire production. If any of the Pak 43 equiped Hunting Tigers were ever in action, the odds were that it belonged  to the 653rd.

It so happened their emblem from DML's 1/72nd Elephant kits fits so off it went to my model.As with most late production Jagdtigers, my tank did not carry any number on the superstructure. To show how hasty this tank left the factory, I painted the fire extinguisher red and used 'N' scale railroad data stencil for instructions. No tank model is complete without muc and contest judges be damned, I want my Jagdtiger muddy! For the road wheels and fenders, I used Floquil Flat Finish as an adhesive and stippled MIG Dark Earth (P033) pigment on with an old brush. For the really thick mud caked on the tracks, I used Tamiya's weathering Mud Stick . I transferred the paste to the model with the help of a scalpel and a toothpick. Then, I trapped the track mud with the same Dark Earth/ Flat finish mixture I used earlier to make the mud color consistent throughout.   

References 

  The Modeler’s Guide to Jagdpanzer Part 1: Closed Top Vehicles,

 The Modeler’s Guide to the Tiger Tank,