S.P.R. Tiger, Inside and out.

WOW! All mistakes aside, this is still a great presentation.I know of no where else you can get these pictures. I 'm really glad you put these up.

I don't think there is anywhere you can get as complete pictures of the "Kelly's Heroes" Tiger. This is a real "Jewel".

Thanks.........

              Steve
 

I will have the owner of this one try to find out if the Tiger from Kelly's Heroes is even still in existance. It's really only since the 80's that film production companies started either saving or selling their vehicles... before that, they were pretty much scrapped (or stripped down and rebuilt as something else). The exceptions being the vehicles that were "Hero cars" in big blockbuster films.

As I said, i do have more pictures, and i will post them later in the thread. The owner has quite a nice collection, including the M2/M2A1 in my Avatar, a German 105, a Japanese 37mm, and an M-24, just to name a few. The M2/M2A1 saw action on Guadalcanal, and has bullet pock-marks from Japanese direct fire on the grill slats. I have pictures of that vehicle too.

 Oh, and the second job that I referred to in the OP is restoring these vehicles. So if you have something that you are modeling, and need reference, just ask, we may have worked on one.

One more picture... of three of his other "toys"

Two of the three are original and were built by Higgins Industries in Louisiana. Contrary to popular belief, there are still a few around, but like these, the were coated with fiberglass to add longevity and workability, thats why the D-day museum had stated that there weren't any left, and had to build one... they were looking for original plywood craft. 

Hi...Just saw this post...

Is that the Tiger mock-up sitting at Saturday's out on Rt.15 south of Mechanicsburg in Pennsylvania?

I took a look at it about a year ago. Nice group of vehicles that he has sitting there along the highway.

Thats the one! At the moment it isn't running. As soon as the weather breaks, we will be loading it up and bringing it down to the shop. It will be getting a complete tuneup and repair on the engine, and a fresh coat of paint... oh, and new markings to reflect one of the two Re-enactment units that use it occasionally.

The vehicles that are there are just the ones that won't fit in his warehouse... so that is only a portion of his collection. 

Very nice up-close shots, thanks for sharing! It's interesting to see just how well they were able to obscure the T-34 lines in favor of the Tiger's well-known profile...the shot of the front hull in particular is very informative. Perhaps we'll see a CH kit of this one in the near future? Can't ever have too many Tigers....

Where's the engine grill covers? LOL Don't they make PE parts 1:1?

Thanks for the great photos. 

I can assure you, you have found a source of much interest on this site. This is wonderful. Thank you again.

                                            Steve
 

Very interesting...a restoration of a mocked-up Tiger on a T-34 chassis.

Where will the refurbishment take place? Are you looking for volunteers to help out? 

I belong to a local AMPS chapter and may be able to arrange some volunteer help if you are interested. 

I hate to be a toady, but in this case.......

Great post and great pics.  I new the SPR tiger wasn't a tiger, but I didn't know it was a T34.  I wonder how hard it was to find it - seems like a they could have found something fairly modern to modify??

Thanks again!

IA Novice wrote:

I hate to be a toady, but in this case....... Great post and great pics.  I new the SPR tiger wasn't a tiger, but I didn't know it was a T34.  I wonder how hard it was to find it - seems like a they could have found something fairly modern to modify?? Thanks again!

With the break-up of the former Soviet Union, T-34s became readily available from all sorts of places. There are still some nations, even now, with them in their operational inventory. Dimensionally speaking, the T-34 is a pretty good match to the Tiger vs. more modern equipment as well, making it a better choice.

In Band-of-Brothers, they used a British tracked APC (can't recall the exact type off the top of my head) as the chassis for a mocked-up StuG III, so more modern items can and do show up in the movies/series if you look carefully enough.

Excellent pics. What an awesome thing to own. The engine covers look proper too. And thick. I bet they were a bu##er to make.

Thx for posting and keep us informed about the Kellys hero Tiger.

...Guy

Most of the Tiger part of the tank is actually made of wood, including the engine covers. They seem to be done quite well, but are starting to show wear and tear. One of the plans dicussed for the refurbishment of this vehicle (since it is used in re-enacting) is to replace all of the wood with re-enforced sheet metal.

You can find videos of the Tank in action at various events on YouTube. You'll see that they are listed as being owned by the 9th SS re-enactment group. This is not true... and is the main reason that the actual owner may not be letting them rent it again in the future. 

666Irish wrote:

Most of the Tiger part of the tank is actually made of wood, including the engine covers. They seem to be done quite well, but are starting to show wear and tear. One of the plans dicussed for the refurbishment of this vehicle (since it is used in re-enacting) is to replace all of the wood with re-enforced sheet metal.   You can find videos of the Tank in action at various events on YouTube. You'll see that they are listed as being owned by the 9th SS re-enactment group. This is not true... and is the main reason that the actual owner may not be letting them rent it again in the future.

rios wrote:

Did SS102 have markings on left front of the hull?

That was a source of much debate on several other forums... some did, some didnt. the ones that did looked just like these, hand painted, and in the proper light pink. Overall, I think that the prop builders did quite a good job. The layman can't tell the difference, they did quite a good job with the Zimm and color scheme, and if you look at it from a 45 degree angle from the hull up, it is quite convincing. Up close, though...

Hallo Kamraden,

I am new to this group.

Just wanted to let you all know that the "433 SPR Tiger" is here in the states as well.

Our group purchased and imported it last spring and has been using it in reenactments here in the midwest.

You can see some pics of "Thor" and other equipment of our group at www.panzergruppewest.us

Danke

Volker

Off hand question:

Does anyone know what the number of this tank was in the film (This is the one that had the track blown off with the 'sticky bombs')? I can't quite make it out, and I don't think that the current number was the one used during filming.

Nice tiger!  I would love to see some more pics, or a link to an online album... :P

If anyone is interested in how they've been making conversions; check out the dvd set of band of brothers, there is an in depth feature on there about converting the APC to the STUG and a T34 into the Tiger.  Pretty neat.  

Apparently the soviet union still has some warehouses full of mint T34s lying around; periodically they sell them.  Tom Clancy also seems to think that they've got a top secret hollowed out mountain filled with T55s...would love to see that one... 

Current state of the S.P.R. Tiger:

Well, after going over it and seeing what needed to be done, it was decided that the engine needed a complete rebuild. Apparently the group that was using it for reenacting didnt quite understand that the oil pump needed to be run for at least five minutes before setting the glow plugs and turning her over. The were just jumping in and firing her up. What this equals is a burned up engine.

At this point, we have the motor almost completely stripped, and are in the process of deciding what parts need to be milled, and what can be saved. After this, we still have the transmission to tackle. Here are a few pictures:

And to give you an idea of the sheer size of those pistons, that shiny spot is a U.S. Quarter:

wing_nut wrote:

Go to THIS LINK and check the screen shots.  #2 has a good view.  And the Notes section, toward the bottom, are interesting too.

I've seen this site before- but that's awesome that you've got pictures of her on here- I'm sorry I missed this post back in 08- hey, that last screenshot on that ^ link up there show Tom shooting his .45 at the front of the Tiger and the drivers port has removed- like the 4th picture down on your original post, any ideas why that was removed? And assuming this wasn't the tank prop they blew up with the P51- any idea why both Tigers were missing the part?

Thanks again for the pictures and good luck on that engine, too bad about the reenactment group missusing it.

yeah, both of the 'Tigers' were used for both scenes (in town, and on the bridge). The drivers port was made to be removable on both so that the driver could see when there was no one hanging out of the hatch to direct their movement.

There is a complete T34/85 under that skin, which means that it's seating position is a bit farther back. With the 'Tiger' vision port installed, the driver is essentially blind, save for a small slit of vision directly in front of him.

666Irish wrote:

I will have the owner of this one try to find out if the Tiger from Kelly's Heroes is even still in existance. It's really only since the 80's that film production companies started either saving or selling their vehicles... before that, they were pretty much scrapped (or stripped down and rebuilt as something else). The exceptions being the vehicles that were "Hero cars" in big blockbuster films. As I said, i do have more pictures, and i will post them later in the thread. The owner has quite a nice collection, including the M2/M2A1 in my Avatar, a German 105, a Japanese 37mm, and an M-24, just to name a few. The M2/M2A1 saw action on Guadalcanal, and has bullet pock-marks from Japanese direct fire on the grill slats. I have pictures of that vehicle too.  Oh, and the second job that I referred to in the OP is restoring these vehicles. So if you have something that you are modeling, and need reference, just ask, we may have worked on one.

ya gj 9thSS for blowing up the eng. guess thats why they dont get to use to cool toys anymore :)

Oh ok I gotchya, that makes sense- that site linked above had a theory that it was because of whatever the crew had used to wire the tank to blow up for the P51 scene.

Thanks again for sharing!