"A Killer Beauty"Kingtiger Porsche Turret Design MENG 1/35 (now with a figure)

[FrancisGL]

Hi pals,
While I'm deciding whether to start a new kit, I was rummaging through my spare parts box and found some very old figures that had been there for ages. After looking at them, I chose one from Tamiya which, despite its age, is still of good enough quality to try painting.
Besides, it would give me some practice without having to buy anything new for now.
After working on it for a while, I managed to get a decent enough result to add it to one of my finished models, the MENG Tiger I (KT) tank.
I also took the opportunity to correct the color of the tank's gun barrel to the correct one, as some fellow modelers had suggested.
Thanks for watch and comment as always.
Cheers,
Francis 👍

Link to original RTI before including figure:

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235134865-a-killer-beauty-kingtiger-porsche-turret-sdkfz182-meng-135-finished/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 7 by FrancisGL

[Stef N.]

Excellent additions to an already fantastic KT. Top job Francis.👍👍

[Armorrich]

That looks fantastic!!! The figure as well. I like the plain, no markings approach. It draws the eye to the quality of the finish. I'm a Henschel turret man myself but this looks really sleek and sexy. Very nice work.

 

Cheers....Rich

[StuartH]

Outstanding model and very well finished Francis 👏

[Nemanja]

Francis, you did an awesome early Königstiger, all the details are superb and the heat resistant grey primer barrel is a masterful touch.🍺

[Muchmirth]

Oh lovely Job, figure looks great!

Paul

[FrancisGL]

On 03/10/2025 at 13:56, Stef N. said:

Excellent additions to an already fantastic KT. Top job Francis.👍👍

Hi Stef,

many thanks for your reaction and kind words, much appreciated mate

Cheers

Francis 👍

[Kingsman]

Nice. 

 

I haven't tackled any German subjects for many years.  But with Bovington announcing the project to restore and re-mobilise Tiger ausfuhrung B Flusseisen Versuchsfahrzeug zwei, better known as King Tiger V2, and I have the privilege of being able to see the beast regularly now that it is back visible again and I live half an hour away, I managed to pick up the Takom Initial Production Tiger B kit which has the parts for V2.  Very hard to find now in the UK.  Plan is to depict V2 as discovered at Haustenbeck.  But maybe a little earlier without the odd exhaust pipe additions from its time in the Klimahalle or gashalle test chambers.  They were added to pipe the exhaust outside the chamber.

[FrancisGL]

On 03/10/2025 at 15:05, Armorrich said:

That looks fantastic!!! The figure as well. I like the plain, no markings approach. It draws the eye to the quality of the finish. I'm a Henschel turret man myself but this looks really sleek and sexy. Very nice work.

 

Cheers....Rich

Hi Armorrich,

many thanks for your reaction and kind commnets, i'm glad you like it, much appreciated mate.

The Henschel, so to speak, is a classic. In fact, when we were kids, the only thing available was the Tamiya version, and the Porsche. I only discovered it much later, as I didn't even know that model existed until an acquaintance who also made models showed us a book (a great book) that talked at length about Tigers and KTs, with tons of photos... but it was in German... lol... I vaguely remember asking a sister-in-law (??) who spoke German to please translate it for him... we're still waiting for it..... fortunately, it's no longer necessary in the internet age... little stories that were "important" back then... how nostalgic...
I don't know if you've seen my Zvezda KT Henschel model (Dragon rebox) posted on the forum. If not, and you're interested, you can look it up, or I'll send you a link if you need it.
Cheers

Francis 👍

 

[Terry1954]

This is a fantastic result. You have brought the beast to life!

 

I love it.

 

T.

[Kingsman]

Not forgetting that both turret types were designed and made by Krupp, and Henschel had proposed using the 'early' turret on VK45.02 before Porsche proposed it for his VK45.03.  Because it was an available design, not because he had any hand in designing it.

 

There is a push to move away from Porsche and Henschel to 'early' and 'late' or 'pre-production' and 'production' to describe the turret types.  Because they just confuse everyone and are just plain wrong.  Like calling the German Army the Wehrmacht, which it never was.

[FrancisGL]

On 03/10/2025 at 16:54, StuartH said:

Outstanding model and very well finished Francis 👏

Hi Stuart,

many thanks for your like and kind comments, i'm glad you like it, much appreciated mate.

Cheers

Francis 👍

[FrancisGL]

On 06/10/2025 at 20:16, Nemanja said:

Francis, you did an awesome early Königstiger, all the details are superb and the heat resistant grey primer barrel is a masterful touch.🍺

Hi Nemanja,

many thnaks for your like and kind comments, i'm glad you like it, much appreciated mate.

I let that small detail go before, although I realized it at the end, but I was too lazy to change the color. Now that I added a figure, I took advantage of it because it was a small thing and I think it turned out a little better (and more precise).

Cheers

Francis 👍

[mick]

great work

[providence]

Very nice weathering, great job !

 

Regards

 

Providence

[FrancisGL]

On 07/10/2025 at 16:18, Muchmirth said:

Oh lovely Job, figure looks great!

Paul

Hi Paul,

many thanks for your reaction, follow and kind commet, i'm glad you like it, much appreciated mate.

The figure, even though it is very old, is not bad in quality and I have even been able to get a decent finish, making the model look a little better.

Cheers

Francis. 👍

[FrancisGL]

On 07/10/2025 at 19:01, Kingsman said:

Muy bien.

 

No he abordado ningún tema alemán durante muchos años. Pero con Bovington anunciando el proyecto para restaurar y volver a movilizar a Tiger ausführung B Flusseisen Versuchsfahrzeug zwei, más conocido como King Tiger V2, y tengo el privilegio de poder ver a la bestia con regularidad ahora que vuelve a ser visible y vivo a media hora de distancia, logré recoger el kit Takom Initial Production Tiger B que tiene las piezas para V2. Muy difícil de encontrar ahora en el Reino Unido. El plan es representar V2 tal como se descubrió en Haustenbeck. Pero tal vez un poco antes sin las extrañas adiciones al tubo de escape de su época en las cámaras de prueba de Klimahalle o gashalle. Se agregaron para canalizar el escape fuera de la cámara.

Hi Kingsman,

Thanks for the detailed information you usually provide.
How fortunate you are to be able to see these machines whenever you want, as they are part of history, for better or worse, and to have a firsthand source of information.

Cheers

Francis 👍

[FrancisGL]

On 08/10/2025 at 10:33, Terry1954 said:

This is a fantastic result. You have brought the beast to life!

 

I love it.

 

T.

Hi Terry,

many thanks for your reaction and kind comments, i'm glado you like it, much appreciated.

I think that apart from the work we are able to do with the model, photographs are a perfect complement to show it, and if they are taken care of, they can also bring "life" to the subject, if we are also able to include at least a decent figure (I'm happy with that, even if I manage to improve in that field), then it's the icing on the cake.

Cheers

Francis 👍

[DaleBowman]

That's fantastic work, love the weathering and final finish.

[FrancisGL]

On 08/10/2025 at 16:42, Kingsman said:

Not forgetting that both turret types were designed and made by Krupp, and Henschel had proposed using the 'early' turret on VK45.02 before Porsche proposed it for his VK45.03.  Because it was an available design, not because he had any hand in designing it.

 

There is a push to move away from Porsche and Henschel to 'early' and 'late' or 'pre-production' and 'production' to describe the turret types.  Because they just confuse everyone and are just plain wrong.  Like calling the German Army the Wehrmacht, which it never was.

Thanks for the info. The other day I saw a VK45.02 kit in a model shop, and it caught my attention because of what you said.
I'm leaving the kit reference here in case you weren't familiar with it and are interested in seeing what it's like.
Cheers

TAKOM TAK2191

Francis 👍

[Kingsman]

Yes, VK45.02 proves that Henschel were proposing to use that turret design some time before Porsche and Henschel made their pitches for VK45.03. Porsche simply chose something available: in fact they both did for VK45.03.  At that time the redesigned turret did not exist.  Krupp redesigned it essentially to simplify production: it was hard to make, especially bending the left side plate for the cupola.  Eliminating the frontal shot trap was a bonus.

 

So the whole Porsche and Henschel name thing is in fact complete nonsense.

 

I saw the other day in something in German where the initial design was being called versuchs producktion and the later design serien produktion.  I like that: it makes sense.  It essentially mirrors the English "pre-production" and main production".

[Mig Eater]

There was no Porsche VK45.03 BTW, Henschel designed three Tiger variants VK45.01(H), VK45.02(H) & VK45.03(H) and Porsche only two, the VK45.01(P) & VK45.02(P).

 

The Henschel VK45.02 was conceived as a updated version of the Tiger I that could be quickly put into production while the VK45.03 was in development. More and more changes were incorporated into the VK45.02 until it would have taken just as long as the VK45.03 to go into production defeating the purpose of the design, leading to its cancellation. 

The Porsche VK45.02 followed the same idea of updating their previous VK45.01(P) design with new sloped armour but suffered the same fate, being canceled in favor of the VK45.03(H).  

The early Krupp turret was designed for the VK45.02(H), VK45.02(P) and VK45.03(H) simultaneously, it wasn't designed for one of them specifically and then inherited by the other(s) etc.  

 

 

[Kingsman]

There were just too many VK45s......

[robgizlu]

Great looking Tiger!

Rob

[FrancisGL]

On 12/10/2025 at 17:21, mick said:

great work

Hi Mick,

many thanks for your comment, i'm glad you like it,

Cheers

Francis 👍

Edited November 1 by FrancisGL