It is difficult, and the photo quality sucks, but if you look close at the last road wheel, there seems to be the bulged ring characteristic of the steel wheels. Granted, there is a lot of “discussion” on this. Also photos of the other known tank from the Fehrmann group also show steel wheels. Granted, this is not conclusive, but it is all there is to go by. However, the general consensus is that it had steel wheels.
As I stated before, literally every detail about this tank has been debated and argued and to this day people do not agree as to what this tank actually looked like.
Ken, thank you for the links! Definitely interesting and well worthwhile. Much appreciated.
In regards to steel wheels vs rubber tires on F13, I didn’t see anything conclusive. Opinions seem to favor steel wheels. Given the lack on evidence, I’m inclined to go with the opinion of researcher @DByrden for an interpretation of F13 i.e. sporting rubber tires based on what’s written on his website.
If Jentz or Doyle’s research suggests otherwise, I’d be inclined to reconsider building F13 with rubber tires. If David drops by and offers clarification suggesting steel, I’ll reconsider.
Unless some new photos emerge, there won’t be much new to be found. At this point there is simply no other information out there. So this is a case of go with what you believe is correct, based on what you see. At least no one can tell you that you are wrong.
Ken
Michael, that’s very true. Being training vehicles, they probably had a few mishaps with trainees and needed extra maintenance too. Just my guess.
Ken, agreed. It’s inconclusive currently.
When the model gets finished the probability of a new photo being found with the set of wheels I didn’t pick will increase by a factor of at least a thousand. LOL
Added details, shock mount, pin pusher plate, rear plate interlock, texture & joining strip or at least the part of the joining strip that’s slightly visible.
The styles of Research & Conclusions for German WW2 AFV’s remind me of this old joke.
An engineer, physicist & mathematician traveled together through Scottland.
The engineer noticed a black sheep and pronounced, “All the sheep in Scotland are black.”
The physicist quickly corrected the engineer, that based on the objective evidence at hand all we could logically state was One Sheep in Scotland was Black, the coloration of the rest was unknown at this time.
The mathematician, took a deep breathe and corrected the physicist. Based on the actual objective evidence all they knew for certain at this time was that One Side of One Sheep was Black in Scotland. The rest remained conjecture and theory.
Applied to Tiger modeling, our engineer in the joke would likely build a nice panzer gray Tiger with zimmerit, steel wheels, turret smoke dischargers, revised cupola and it would look great.
Our physicist, would do a tri-color late mid-model Tiger with zimmerit & rubber tires after researching.
Our mathematician, would start building a specific Tiger, only after the chassie number or serial number was identified, cross referenced to the manufacturer and build date established. Actual wartime photos would be required of the specific vehicle being modeled.
Smoke dischargers & waffle zimmerit on an early Tiger, in the field in ~June 1944!
Per an old thread on Missing Lynx…
“Some Tigers of abteilung 502 still have the launchers in late 1943 and 1944 (page 137 of TIC1). Tigers number 332 and 315 have the launchers still in 1944 (caption says April 1944 in Rodinjaty). Tigers 302 and 218 still have them in JUNE 1944 (page 139 TIC1)”
Passing along the information, $89 for three new 1/35 Tiger 1 kits plus 1/16 figure of Otto Carius.
(I try to keep an open mind but I don’t like Takom (Pz III & Stug III) and don’t trust their research. Sharing information available and acknowledging my bias against the manufacturer.
Yes, I ordered it. Spare parts for my half dozen Tamiya Tiger kits at worst if the Takom engine deck proves to be jacked up.)
Agreed, Ralph, a Panther triple pack would rock and is a sweet idea!
My bias or not, Takom is making a Good Will gesture with that fantastic deal. I admire that. I also recognize, Takom tries to get better and that will go a long way in helping across the board.
There’s the following kits…
Tamiya Mid-Tiger “217” Otto Carius
Dragon Mid-Tiger “217” Otto Carius
Takom Mid-Tiger “217” Otto Carius
Tamiya have an Otto Carius Mid Tiger also, but I believe it was a limited edition? In any case, it does not have the unusual features that made his Tiger different from its comrades.
This item beside Tiger F13 appears to be a wheel hub. It appears in 2 photos.
@Armor_Buff I wasn’t interested in in that big box, thinking that the price would be insane for three nice tiger kits, but now that I saw the price… Especially since the pre-order is $133 on hobby Link Japan…
I’m kind of middle ground with the Takom kits. I’ve built a panther from them and it builds up nicely. It just takes a while. I don’t think I could ever be like you with all the scratch building and replacing parts, I prefer the painting. But you kind of have to have one to have the other
I don’t see a figure in it? I suppose that you mean it has decals for Carius’ tank.
It has decals for a couple of other Tigers also.
But there’s a reason why Carius’ tank was put out by Dragon as a separate kit : this Tiger had the “wrong” kind of track. For this version of Tiger, the new ridged track was factory-installed. But in the photos that show Carius in the tank, it has the older flat-surfaced tracks.
Rye Field give you only the ridged tracks in their kit #5010. That’s the same mistake that Tamiya made. Serious modellers who want to build exactly what’s in the photo, won’t use the kit’s provided tracks.
@DByrden David, thank you very much for your commentary. That’s a very insightful observation on the wheel hub that implies rubber tire wheels for F13.
Diamond & Gold, heart felt appreciation. Likewise, with pictures and all other information. Very helpful!
@CKPlasticModels Colin, thank you for rhe heads up on the RFM 217 Otto Carius. It just went on my want list! Thank you!
We could go Panzer-Verse at some point (an armor multi-universe) with a full four Otto Carius Tiger shoout out…aka will the Best Slim Shady Please Stand Up!
Let’s see how the 1970 Big T goes…
@RonW - Thank you so much. I’m struggling with time on this one with the wife surgery. Thank you again.
idea!
is coming. My grandkids want to know what I want. And now this! Im trying to get rid of my Stash. Y???
& Gold, heart felt appreciation. Likewise, with pictures and all other information. Very helpful!
