[A3driver]

1/72 King Tiger, Porsche Turret w/Zimmerit, s.Pz.Abt.503, Western Front 1944 (DRR 60263)


(Picture from the Dragon Model USA website)

Nothing against another Königstiger, but I am curious about the differences between this new model and the old 60105 / 60106. And no tools attached to the side?

[chascbv]

Sadly, Dragon zimmerit is usually a poor job, and to avoid moulding difficulties all surface detail, tools, and hangers/supports are simply deleted from zimmerit-coated areas. All their King Tigers with zimmerit have this same problem and look most odd and unrealistic; the same happens with their Elefants and (incorrectly zimmerit-coated) Ferdinands, where even the characteristic "giant" rivets have been removed from the hull sides. Only Panthers in zimmerit seem to retain all the detail.

C'mon Dragon, you know better than this!!

[DirtyACE]

I get a feeling that Dragon is getting lazy on detail.

Was there an actual vehicle like this without any tools at all?

[mikeb1958]

Originally Posted by DirtyACE

I get a feeling that Dragon is getting lazy on detail.

Next we will be informed that "All the Dragon Armor, including the Tiger #60001 is under manditory recall due to high-lead content".

[Legio LXXII]

Originally Posted by mikeb1958

Next we will be informed that "All the Dragon Armor, including the Tiger #60001 is under manditory recall due to high-lead content".

Interesting you should mention that. My brother emailed the North American distributors or manufacturers themselves asking about lead content and only heard back from the Hobby Master and FOV distributors. Dragon Models USA, Admiral Toys and MRC (Easy Models distributor) never took the time to get back which makes you think twice.

With all the recalls of products manufactured in China, I'm sure many diecast products do contain lead paint.

[DirtyACE]

chascbv does your extensive library of references contain any pics of this particular tiger? I'm curious to see if it actually went to battle like this without any tools or cables.

[chascbv]

chascbv does your extensive library of references contain any pics of this particular tiger? I'm curious to see if it actually went to battle like this without any tools or cables

I have no picture of 323, but there is no hope that Dragon got it right here. These two pictures are from Porsche-turreted King Tigers of sPzAbt 503. Even if the crew of 323 were particularly lazybones in nature, and decided to "lose" their tools and cables on their way to the front, one thing they could have not removed is the conspicuous (see second picture) set of hangers and supports to which such tools were attached!

Dragon has done the same thing with all their zimmerited King Tigers, the reason being difficulties with the mould making process. All these zimmerit-coated Tigers look wrong because of this. Interestingly, the first thing I noticed when I first saw one of these model tanks was that "something" was wrong with the overall looks, but could not tell what it was. I went through the shapes and structure details over and over again, and everything seemed to be alright, but then the model still looked definitely wrong. I finally discovered that the wrong looks derived from the "naked" skin of these things when I realized that the non-zimmerited models by the same manufacturer looked pretty good, and then the lack of supports, cables and tools became obvious. I then went on to examine the other zimmerit-coated models by Dragon and found that they all had the same oversimplifications, except maybe the Panthers.

[A3driver]

@chascbv: it's about time to thank you for the reviews and researches you share with us here, so - thanks!

[chascbv]

Thank you for your kind words, and also for your contributions to the forum A3driver!

[DirtyACE]

chascbv, thanks for posting the pictures and the info. I believe Dragon has made the King Tiger from the first picture. Take a look http://www.dragonmodelsusa.com/dmlus...p?pid=DRR60042

I have always thought that if you can't do a good job on a model that requires some difficult techniques, then don't make the model, or wait until you do have the abilities to get it right.