A KILLER BEAUTY, Kingtiger Porsche Turret Sdkfz.182 MENG 1/35 | Armorama™

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A KILLER BEAUTY, Kingtiger Porsche Turret Sdkfz.182 MENG 1/35

This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/a-killer-beauty-kingtiger-porsche-turret-sdkfz-182-meng-1-35
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So an initial production turret NOT a Porsche turret, other than that looks an nicely finished Tiger II.

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Hi Littorio,
Excuse me, but I don’t quite understand your comment.
The MENG kit (in sand finish) is a KT Porsche, or Kingtiger II, the other tritone camo is a Zvezda Henschel KTII.
I don’t understand the initial initial production thing.
Many thanks for your kind comment, i’m glad you like it. :thinking:
Cheers
Francis. :+1:

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"hi Francis, there is a misconception regarding the name for the initial production King Tigers. I believe someone incorrectly named them as Porsche turrets which is apparently wrong. Initially the contract went out to Henschel & Porsche but both used the same turret from Krupp.

This explanation is from Wiki.

Henschel won the design contract, and all Tiger IIs were produced by the firm. Two turret designs were used in production vehicles. The initial design is often misleadingly called the “Porsche” turret due to the misbelief that it was designed by Porsche for their prototype; in fact it was the initial Krupp design for both prototypes. This turret had a rounded front and steeply sloped sides, with a difficult-to-manufacture curved bulge on the turret’s left side to accommodate the commander’s cupola. Fifty early turrets were mounted to Henschel hulls and used in action. In December 1943 the more common “production” turret, sometimes erroneously called the “Henschel” turret, was simplified with a significantly thicker flat face and less-steeply sloped sides, which avoided the need for a bulge for the commander’s cupola, and added additional room for ammunition storage"

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First time I have heard that information or at least presented in a format I understand.

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@Francis_GL Please see @Johnnych01 John’s explanation.

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Really? I thought this was known for years now.

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Barrels were delivered to the factories in a dark gray protective lacquer, so they would not be in the Rotbraun primer.

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The terms “Porsche turret” and “Henschel turret” are modelling folklore, made up in ignorance decades ago and repeated so often they became factoids. The simple truth (as I read it ages ago) was that Krupp produced all the turrets, and the first fifty were the curvy more complex so-called “Porsche” design, replaced by the more slab-sided later turret for a number of reasons including ease of manufacturing (speed and thus cost savings) plus the elimination of a big shot-trap under the chin. Henschel assembled all the tanks, adding the Krupp-made turrets onto the hulls they built.

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Thanks for the clarification. It’s mind-boggling to even think that the whole “Porsche/Henschell” deal with the turrets has lasted this long without anyone actually clarifying it.

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Francis, thank you for sharing your work. A fine looking King Tiger. Thanks to you, not only do we see a good model, it has also generated a couple of very informative posts from the community. Good work.

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The original “historical photo” is actually from a well known series of photographs taken of 1st company of Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 on the tree-lined avenue at Chateau Cantaloup near Caen.

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Hi JPTRR,
Many thanks for your like (I hope…lol), and kind words, i’m glad you like it.
Well, you’re right, I didn’t know what they were saying, although to be precise, Krupp assembled all the manufactured machines, but…the design of each tower was the responsibility of each designer, one from Porsche and the other simpler, Henschel…yes I understood correctly.
Therefore, I don’t think it’s that important either.
It’s good that there was a debate, although it was not my intention, at least I have learned something interesting.
Although for me the important thing is to make a model that I find beautiful and interesting to look at, and if someone else likes it too, so much the better.
Cheers
Francis
+1

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Hi Chepster,
Many thanks for your comments and info, much appreciated. :grinning:
I already knew this about the photo, if you look at the header of the W/B photo, I put “hypothetical”, because by changing the main vehicle, the photo is already “somewhat different”, although I have no problem with it. change to the correct geographic location.
Cheers
Francis :+1:

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Definitely liking and kind words. :grinning: