I’d like to build an early Tiger in German Grey. Would the Border early be suitable for this? if not, what are the recommendations for an out of the box build? (keep in mind I am NOT a fan of Dragon kits. too expensive and fiddly for my tastes). Is the Tamiya kit okay? Not looking for super rivet counting. reasonably close is fine.
Grey Tigers were very rare .
There are two Rye Field kits that will build you a legitimate grey Tiger:
and
Be aware that the Leningrad ones were whitewashed most of the time, and the other ones were whitewashed, then it was washed off, so you got a very weathered grey. Also the decals may not be exactly right. Talk to me if you care about that.
Tamiya led the pack in Tiger accuracy back in the '90s, but they’ve allowed everybody to pass them by. They firmly believe they have a kit for a grey Tiger - but they don’t.
David
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Thanks for that. The Leningrad Tiger looks the business. I expected air filter hoses on the rear deck? And did all early/grey tigers have the side mounted turret bins?
The Leningrad Tigers didn’t have the filter system. Only one of them had side bins, and the Rye Field kit builds that one and no other.
David
Ah. Childhood expectations shattered.
Is the RFM DAK tiger any good? Might stick with that for an inititial.
Apologies for hogging in with a question.
@DByrden David, you’ve mentioned the Tamiya 35216 1/35 Ger. Tiger I Early isn’t really a gray Tiger.
Is the Dragon/DML kit Tiger I, Dragon 6252 (2005) closer to being a gray Tiger?
Thank you
David has a fantastic site with a very large amount of detail on Tigers. Check it out, you will not be disappointed:
He also has a page with links dedicated to his investigations on many Tiger model kits out there:
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The Afrikakorps didn’t have Tigers.
Rye Field’s African Tiger #5050 is quite a good kit and has a full interior. The interior isn’t right for the version - mostly the turret is wrong, and if you know where the parts should really go, you can correct it fairly easily. The outside of the tank is quite good. There are decals for only one Tiger in two different guises.
David
Dragon’s 6252, and its later re-releases such as 6600, build Tigers that were genuinely grey when new. But they did get covered in whitewash when winter set in.
David
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@DByrden David, thank you! 
I feel much better about Dragon’s 6252 now.