Trumpeter 1/16 King Tiger Kit Review
James Goddard
Getting home with two of these beasts wasn't easy but I managed it and needed a sit down and cuppa before doing anything else. The box is big, heavy and has a carrying handle. It weighs around 10 kilos. Trumpeter's big cat has made it to us in a big box!
This kit has 1285 parts in it and Trumpeter has spent time and care in the development of this kit - 2 years I think - and it shows. Inside the big boxes are smaller boxes containing the parts. This is kit presentation at its best (italeri take note - your S-Boat packaging is a disgrace!) I'm sure that it added to the cost of this kit, which is a very expensive kit but worth it to protect the parts.
The tracks in this kit are prebuilt in assort of gunmetal grey colour. I'm sure that those who do get this kit on seeing this will be reaching for the steel colour in their paint box - I will be! The tracks are well packaged in their own box with spare links and also track pairs for attaching to the turret exterior. The track links are fully articulate, made out of ABS plastic and have ejector pin marks.
The turret comes in 2 flavours in this limited edition kit.... Grey plastic and clear. They are well formed and I couldn't see any seams etc. They come in their own boxes Red for the grey plastic and green for the clear. There are 3 main parts for the turret - base, exterior and interior. The clear versions are really clear.
The parts are well protected with a black plastic former to hold the parts inside the turret boxes.
The upper hull comes in both grey and clear plastic and both are well protected in boxes. Red for the grey plastic and green for the clear one. There are a few ejector pin marks which probably won't be seen. There is no zimmerit on the hull or turret which may produce a groan and scream from modellers as the box art shows Zimmerit, but Tigers did enter service late in the war without factory applied zimmerit. Nothing to stop you doing your own though!
The etched brass in this kit is mainly the grilles over the engine deck and shell bases. They come in their own plastic bags and even have thin sheets of plastic around the parts as well to protect them even more. This is the first time I've seen this in a kit and it seems that trumpeter have thought long and hard over this kit. There are also two diameters of twisted copper wire and a turned aluminium barrel.
The Hull bottom is grey plastic and comes in its own box. There are ejector pin marks but it is very well detailed. The plastic on this is quite thick and it is a very sturdy piece. Once parts begin to go in I think that all the ejector pin marks will be covered up.
There is a box where the sprocket and idler wheels are. They are well protected in a black plastic former with a clear lid. Also in this box are various springs and rods for tracks and a couple of bolts. Unusually the sprocket and idler wheels are cast metal. The detail (for me) on these is excellent and it makes me wonder what trumpeter had in mind for this kit when they did the R&D. A motorised version perhaps?
There are also some opaque parts that are for the road wheels. These help to hold the roadwheels on without glue and makes it look like a motorised version was, or is planned.
Now for the major part of the kit - the sprues.
There's loads of them and they come in two boxes a small and large one. Inside the large one there is a divider half way down. This protects the parts underneath from damage and is another indicator on how much effort has been put into this kit.
The sprues are well formed and really well detailed with slide moulds being used for more than the full load of shells provided in the kit. On the down side there are plenty of seams and ejector pin marks which may well need dealing with, but I suspect that most (if not all) of them will be hidden during the build. There is also, quite unusually for trumpeter flash on some parts. Despite this, the myriad of parts will keep anyone who has this kit happy for ages!
The sprues shown below are in alphabetical order (missing I and O) as those letters have been missed. And information about the sprues can be found underneath the sprue picture
This seems to be parts for the engine.
Sprues S & T seem to be some kind of rubber for the pipes etc round the engine bay and elsewhere in the tank. You have 2 halves for the majority of the pipes and I'm wondering what glue to use and there's no indication in the instruction manual.
Road wheel 1 Differs from Road wheel 2
Sprue SH contains 3 different types of shell to make up a full load for the shell racks. They've been slide moulded I think and there are seams to be dealt with.
The instructions and paint guide are a bit confusing at times. They provide colour plates for the exteriors of about 6 tiger II tanks and say that the winter camouflage one should be an all over gloss white - apart from the Vallejo colour which they quote as dark sea grey! Gloss white? I would have though that a matte white wash over the normal camo colours would have been more realistic for something this scale. Also the exterior colour numbers don't seem to match with the normally accepted late war camo colours. Also the instruction booklet IMHO should have been broken down into more steps and sub assemblies. It is quite easy to miss something especially with a kit this size and with the amount of parts there are. There is also a remarkable lack of painting instructions in the assembly instructions. There are one or two and they seem to have been put there as a general guide. So for the interior painting the modeller is basically on their own to make it up as they go along.
There are decals for the shells and one or two dials and exterior decals for the illustrated tanks. Now, unless my counting is wrong (and it could well be) there are 3 sets of shell markings short of a full set, but it should be easy to hide the shells amongst the full load.
This has to be the best kit release this year. Trumpeter has got this kit spot on (for me) with the packaging and kit itself. There are s few downsides (flash, ejector pin marks and seams, painting and instruction manual), but apart from that any decent armour modeller that does WWII in any scale should have this on their bench. Trumpeter has spent 2 years bringing this to the modelling community and it does show by the amount of work that has gone in. No kit is perfect, but with effort and time this kit could be made into an outstanding showpiece and competition winner. I'm glad that I've got 2 out of 2400 worldwide and look forward to their next 1/16 release. A Tiger II with "Porsche" turret, or a JagdTiger and maybe, if we're really lucky that Tiger II hull with the artillery piece that Trumpeter put out in 1/35 scale..... now THAT would be a kit and a half in 1/16 scale.