Tiger II No. 332

Tiger II No. 332

Tiger II No. 332
with Chris Potter, UK Battlefront Office
I’d heard rumblings of a new plastic kit for the Bulge: German book, and fervently hoped it was for my favourite tank of the Second World War – the Tiger II. When I ‘accidentally’ (after 3 days of trying I might add) stumbled across Tim Adcock’s desk and before he could lock his computer, I sweet talked my way into conversation with him about the upcoming project he was working on… An all plastic kit for the Tiger II that was being designed in parallel with the Jagdtiger. Then Covid cruelly took away the release date and through the pandemic, with release dates being sadly pushed back to Mid 2022 I was left looking through the glass of the sweet shop. So close, but so far…

Then when I heard that the shipment was enroute from our factory in Kuala Lumpur, I begged my line manager Matt Sulley to get early access to a Tiger II. Cries of “Sprue! Just one Sprue Master!” echoed around the office. Whether through a determination to shut me up or because he was impressed with my persistence, a Tiger II sprue indeed landed on my desk just in time for the 4 day weekend we Brits enjoyed for the Jubilee of the Queen. No special favours for Battlefront Staff, that’s how late I got my Tiger II!

Tiger II No. 332

Tiger II No. 332

Immediately after putting my new toy together, I could not wait to start painting, but rationale kicked in and I did a little research. Again Tim Adcock came to my rescue with one of his many, many books on all things Tanks and I sat down with some of the stories about Tiger II fighting in the Ardennes in 1944, and throughout the Battle of the Bulge. One stuck with me, which I wanted to briefly share with you. 

The full account can be found here...

And I have also included the reference picture I used, courtesy of The Tank Encyclopaedia...

Essentially Tiger 332 was captured intact and sent back to the USA where it was tested and confined to a museum, with most of it’s side cut away to show a cross-section of the interior. But the interesting part of the story (which is a great story actually on how it was captures) is that the colour scheme which is applied to the tank in all reference photos is allegedly the original as the Americans never re-painted her, other than re-adding the turret number at a later date, but still in the same style. Most other images of Tiger II in 1944 are black and white photos. But 332 is shown in a great three colour camo, with contrasting Waffen SS blue turret number.

Tiger II No. 332

Tiger II No. 332

Back to my own version, now that I had a reference picture, I set about painting my shiny new tank. As this was the first German Late War tank I had properly painted to historical accuracy, I was really desperate to get the colours right. Despite being too heavy with the Middlestone, I managed to convince the Sales Office to help me rescue the paints and I came away with a great looking model once I used the right colours. If only I had used the Colours of War painting guide which I normally refer to religiously, but being the young whipper snapper I am, I thought I knew best. The most satisfying part was washing the model with the Sepia Wash. The panel lines, tracks, road wheels and engine deck all came out perfect. There was very little to clean up once I did the details on the tools and I immediately showed 332 off on Facebook, where everyone has been too kind. She now sits pride of place on my model cabinet. The only issue is I am really in the mood for painting an entire German Army for Bulge: German and there are some ideas forming on what to include.
~Chris