Osprey Publishing

Modelling the Tiger Tank in 1/72 Scale

by Alex Clark

Reviewed By Dennis Tennant, #41582

MSRP: $18.95 USD

80 pages, paperback, 211 color photos

ISBN: 1-84176-942-8

Available online at www.ospreypublishing.com or through various retailers

This book is the latest title in the popular Osprey Modelling series (it’s number 28). Aimed primarily at intermediate and advanced armor modelers, the book explores a number of Tiger tank variants in 1/72 scale (Braille scale, to some). Like all the books in the Osprey series, the quality of the photographs and writing is superb. Alex Clark does a wonderful job covering the intricacies of building many different Tiger versions (this is his second Osprey title) and his writing style is both instructional and easy to read. A careful reader can look forward to spending two or three hours enjoying this book and walk away with ideas for improving future Tiger projects.

The book is broken down into several chapters; each covering a very specific topic.

The chapters range in difficulty from intermediate to master level and include:

  • Tools and materials (a complete list of all the tools and supplies you’ll need to do the projects in the book)
  • Modeling a Tiger II with Porsche turret (using both Revell and Dragon kits along with various resin and PE parts)
  • Panzerjager Elefant (combining both Dragon and Trumpeter kits with aftermarket parts)
  • An early Tiger I (an involved kit bash of the Revell kit with extensive remodeling of the turret backdating the model to the early Tiger variant)
  • Sturmtiger (combining the best of Dragon’s Sturmtiger and Revell’s Tiger I kits)
  • Jagdtiger (a master-level project melding Dragon and Revell kits with a ton of scratch building)
  • Gallery (photo collection of tiny Tigers from a variety of builders)
  • Kit and accessories listing (a very handy current list of all the kits available along with aftermarket PE and resin)
  • Color reference chart (interior and exterior color swatches with Humbrol reference numbers)

Each chapter covers building the featured kit in detail. Since this book is aimed at modelers already familiar with the basics, you won’t find a lot of that sort of advice here. Instead, the book explains how to add (or in some cases, subtract) zimmeritt, turned metal barrels and resin conversion parts to transform a kit Tiger into a miniature showpiece.

Also included are excellent tutorials in painting a very believable winter whitewash scheme, making a Tiger I kit’s symmetrical turret into the historically-correct asymmetrical turret and modifying link and length track for maximum realism. With the exception of the whitewash tutorial, this book emphasizes the building and not the painting of these models.

The Tiger tank was arguably the most famous tank of WWII. That fact, combined with the increased availability of high quality small scale kits, is sure to make this book a hit with modelers interested in improving their future Tiger tank builds. I thank Osprey Publishing for providing IPMS with a review copy.

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