jknaus
Administrator
I thought I had a thread already going but I cant find it. I'm building the HobbyBoss King Tiger "Porsche" turret. I am doing one of the 5 KTs of FKL316 in Normandy. From Axis Forum: The Panzer-Kompanie (Fkl) 316 was formed on 1 April 1943 and equipped with 10 StuG III as control vehicles. In September it was attached to Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130 of the Panzer-Lehr Division and was reequipped with Tiger I control tanks. In January 1944 it was ordered to be reequipped with Tiger II tanks and was redesignated schwere Panzer-Kompanie (Fkl) 1. In June 1944 became the first company of Panzer-Abteilung (Fkl) 302 and left its Tiger II tanks in the Chateaudun area and was reequipped with StuG III.
Basically this unit was used to control the Borgeward Ausf A tankette which was driven to the front. The driver then departed and the control tank remotely steered it to the target. There is released its charge and backed up until far enough away to detonate the charge. Because of their speed they seldom made it to the target. I believe I read somewhere that only one was successful.
5 of the first King Tigers were delivered to this unit and all had the "Porsche" Turret. There are bits and pieces all over the net but the very best write up I found was here http://loiret3945.forumgratuit.org/t169-1-la-panzer-kompanie-316-1-panzer-abteilung-302-france-1944
I originally decided to do 12 but may end up doing 11. It is the most photographed of the lot from what I can find. Its an interesting web page and I recommend if you don't read French to use a translator.
There are some pics from my thread asking for research help where I got aquite a bit of info: https://modelersalliance.org/forum/help-me/153975-tiger-ii-reference-requested
Also:
The last colour plate is kind of bogus though as from everything I can find and after carefully looking at the pictures, all the tanks where German Yellow with Dark green cam. They all basically follow the colour plate of 12.
The HobbyBoss kit is a new one and I must say I am very impressed with it for detail and ease of construction. I love the zimmerit they provide. Its awesome stuff to work with.
I have had to do some conversion work to make this proper. These tanks had the pot covering a snorkel mast on the aft deck. The kit came with the later screen covered circular vent. Also the exhausts for the one I wanted were with extended pipes. The kit gives the regular pipes and short pipes. I'm following refs as i get to each sub assembly to make sure I have the correct details. When I get to the turret I wont be putting on the hooks for the spare tracks as these were not there then.
Here is where I am so far.
Basically this unit was used to control the Borgeward Ausf A tankette which was driven to the front. The driver then departed and the control tank remotely steered it to the target. There is released its charge and backed up until far enough away to detonate the charge. Because of their speed they seldom made it to the target. I believe I read somewhere that only one was successful.
5 of the first King Tigers were delivered to this unit and all had the "Porsche" Turret. There are bits and pieces all over the net but the very best write up I found was here http://loiret3945.forumgratuit.org/t169-1-la-panzer-kompanie-316-1-panzer-abteilung-302-france-1944
I originally decided to do 12 but may end up doing 11. It is the most photographed of the lot from what I can find. Its an interesting web page and I recommend if you don't read French to use a translator.
There are some pics from my thread asking for research help where I got aquite a bit of info: https://modelersalliance.org/forum/help-me/153975-tiger-ii-reference-requested
Also:
The last colour plate is kind of bogus though as from everything I can find and after carefully looking at the pictures, all the tanks where German Yellow with Dark green cam. They all basically follow the colour plate of 12.
The HobbyBoss kit is a new one and I must say I am very impressed with it for detail and ease of construction. I love the zimmerit they provide. Its awesome stuff to work with.
I have had to do some conversion work to make this proper. These tanks had the pot covering a snorkel mast on the aft deck. The kit came with the later screen covered circular vent. Also the exhausts for the one I wanted were with extended pipes. The kit gives the regular pipes and short pipes. I'm following refs as i get to each sub assembly to make sure I have the correct details. When I get to the turret I wont be putting on the hooks for the spare tracks as these were not there then.
Here is where I am so far.
