With the 80th D-Day anniversary just around the corner and just the one decade on since I purchased this, I have finaly got round to popping the lid.
What can I say about this kit? Well after 19 years since its release it still looks to be the gold standard of Tiger I kits. Tiger guru David Byrden had a hand with technical advice with this one and his website https://tiger1.info/ is invaluable to anybody who likes to model these big cats. He even has a page dedicated to pointing out both errors and fixes for pretty much every Tiger 1 released to date https://tiger1.info/kits.html Scrolling down to this particular kit https://tiger1.info/models/products-page/DR6253 we still have a few small bugs to address. No big issues, but a few little anamolies that David points out and advises how to solve. Looking at all the current big box Takom builds on the tinterweb, I notice even these brand new releases still have there issues. Some of which were not present on this kit 19 years ago
The one big bonus over this Dragon kit and one that the current crop
of Tiger I late kits over the last decade have adopted, is the inclusion
of moulded on zimmerit. Although some folks still prefer to make there
own or use resin sets, I think the majority of modellers welcome this.There have been a few re-releases
of this kit since, the first omitting allmost all of the PE goodies,
metal barrel and even replaced the magic links with rubber band tracks 
Further releases did eventually add moulded on zim but still excluded
many of the original goodies. I notice the most recent re-release this
year, does re-add the metal barrel, a few 3D printed items and a new
figure, but its still not a patch on the original release IMO. These
first boxings came with a huge host of additional multimedia parts. It’s
not all doom and gloom if photo-etch is a turn off either, as there are
styrene alternatives. So, let’s pop open the box and inspect what is
reputed to be one of the very best of what this manufacturer produced
back in the day.
Further releases did eventually add moulded on zim but still excluded
many of the original goodies. I notice the most recent re-release this
year, does re-add the metal barrel, a few 3D printed items and a new
figure, but its still not a patch on the original release IMO. These
first boxings came with a huge host of additional multimedia parts. It’s
not all doom and gloom if photo-etch is a turn off either, as there are
styrene alternatives. So, let’s pop open the box and inspect what is
reputed to be one of the very best of what this manufacturer produced
back in the day.
It’s a comprehensive 3 in 1 package in which you can build three different Ausf E variants. A late, a late command vehicle and the final version. There are a full five frets of PE including track guards and extensions, preformed exhaust surrounds, engine grills, command tank aerials and multipart tool clamps to name just a few. There is an additional turned metal barrel and seven different brass ammunition shell types, two types of metal shackles and pins, metal tow cables and yes, there is even a pre-formed metal bucket
You get two plastic ammo crates and a figure resembling the famous
tank ace Michael Wittmann. You also get a working torsion bar
suspension. There are plenty of options depicting the differences
between late and final versions including two turret roof types and
final type patterned steel wheels. TBH the box is packed with almost
every conceivable extra and was considered back when released,
everything you could possibly need. Well, almost everything 
As already mentioned, unlike later releases with far less parts and
rubber band tracks this kit does NOT have any moulded on zimmerit.
Although the inclusion of anti magnetic paste ended in Sept 1944,
production of the Tiger I ended in August, so all late and final builds
would have received factory zimmerit. Why this kit didn’t come with any
moulded on I couldn’t say. I don't possess any other Tiger I kits so I’m
not qualified to say how successful their later moulded on zimmerit
was. It was never a massive issue for me as aftermarket manufacturers
released their own not long after the kits release. Although it is
fairly tricky to track down these days, I’ve gone for a safe pair of
hands with the ATAK specific set. This includes two resin mantlets, two
pattern types for the turret (course and matching to the hull), with two
equivale matching patterned escape hatches and resin vision ports. I
also tracked down a set of Friul metal tracks back when I purchased the
kit to add some track tension realism, not to mention a huge chunk of
heft to the build.
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