August, 2019
TIGER I Ausf. H2, 7.5cm KwK42
(Dragon/Smart kit, 1/35 #6883)
INTRODUCTION
This Tiger I Ausf. H2 was a prototype by the Henschel company. Only a wooden mock-up of the turret was ever made, as Henschel eventually decided to focus on the H1 type in late 1941 and the turret with the 7.5 cm gun was discarded. In any case, has been recreate this Tiger H2 prototype with Dragon’s latest kit. This kit enter in the Category "What if?", the kit coming with decals of three different schemes as if he had been in combat, but in spite of that, this vehicle it not was finished and much less It entered into in action.
BRIEF STORY
On May 26, 1941, the German high command requested to the manufacturers Porsche and Henschel to make proposals for a heavy tank, 45 tons, with the requirement of being armed with a 75mm gun with a 100mm front shield and sides 60mm and at the same time check if it was possible to mount an 88mm gun, which should be available by mid-1942. Porsche worked on the upgrade of an already developed prototype, the Leopard VK 30.01 (P); In turn, Henschel worked on an improvement of his tank VK 36.01 (H), renaming it VK45.01.
There was the preference to arm it with a 75mm cannon as long as it could drill 100mm of armor at 30 degrees at a distance of 1,400mts, as this allowed for a lighter tank and more space to carry more ammunition. First, the 7.5cm KwK 42/70 cannon was chosen for the tank and the company Rheinmetall was selected to develop the turret to mount this cannon in the VK45.01 chassis. This turret was called VK 45.01 (Rh). However, the Krupp company was already manufacturing 100 turrets equipped with the 8.8cm / 56 gun at the request of Porsche for its prototype, so Henschel developed the variant of its chassis to receive this same turret, the only problem with this gun, it was that it did not meet the penetration requirements.
Henschel, presented his two prototypes: the VK 45.01 (H) H1 armed with an 88 mm L / 56 and the VK 45.01 (H) H2 with a cannon 75 mm L / 70. Both prototypes were sent for testing at the armored school in Berka, Germany. Clearly the version of Henschel showed to be more effective, and was the one that entered production. The Tiger I was about to be manufactured armed with the 75mm cannon, but the choice of the turret took an unexpected turn, first, the scarce availability of Tungsten, which used the 75mm ammunition to achieve the required penetration and second, the new 88 mm AP (Armor Piercing) ammunition that complied with the requirement. What decided the final version of what would be the fearedTigre I. Dragon continues with its new generation of Kits now presents the Tiger version Ausf. H2.
THE KIT:
The particular characteristics of the turret VK 45.01 (Rh) are present in the kit, such as the side embrasures, the exhaust outlet on the right side, communications port on the left and a machine gun mounted on a spherical support at the rear. The chassis part of new mold and the suspension is now much easier to assemble, since the set of wheels, decreases, of 48 parts, as in previous kits of Tiger I, to only 16, facilitating the alignment and decreasing the time of armed. Early "Feifel" type air filters are included.
The kit has continuous vinyl DS main tracks. The tools are included molded with brackets, the driver's viewfinder is movable, the MG comes perfectly detailed. It contains new domes to every detail characteristic of this version, as well as the transparent periscopes are molded independently.
The hatches of the radio operator and the driver can be opened and contain all their internal mechanism detail. The jack is manufactured in several pieces and can be placed extended / retracted, the tips of the drag cables are molded in one piece.
The driver's vision port can be opened / closed. The kit contains internal components such as radiators and fans which are molded independently. It has photoetched for the ventilation grilles of the motor.
Extensive sheet of decals that can decorate up to 11 tanks: 3 tanks belonging to the 13th Rgto.SSPz., Liebstandard Adolf Hitler, Prokhorovka July 1943 (411, 412 or 414); 4 tanks of s.SSPz.Abt. 101, Zhitomir, November 1943 (S22, S24, S52, or S33); and 4 tanks belonging to the Pz.Abt. 503, 1943 (211, 231, 233, or 323).
Zones with strong color are parts will not be use for the construction!:
