What kind of tank is this ?

It is a German WW2 "Tiger 1" or PZKW VI. Here is a wiki link about it...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_I

Tom

It sure doesn't look like anything the U.S. Army had, or has. In spite of the lettering and the star.

Hot Water posted:

It sure doesn't look like anything the U.S. Army had, or has. In spite of the lettering and the star.

Funny that it has the US star and inventory number but it has the German Company/Platoon/Vehicle number on the turret. Interesting freight load none the less...

Tom

NICE model, but someone was apparently misinformed about its provenance. 

Tiger 1 is the correct identity, although a bit stylized, not an exact scale reproduction. You could imagine that it was captured by American GI's with markings indicating it's new owners.

Another option, although not probable, would be a Tiger painted as an American Tank to infiltrate American forces.

The Germans did convert (disguise) some of their Panther tanks as American M10 Tank destroyers during the Battle of the Bulge to infiltrate the American lines. English speaking German commandos, (dressed in captured American & British uniforms) were also deployed to infiltrate and sabotage the Allied advance.

Good ol' 214? Do I win anything? LOL

Nuthin like a German tank, with American lettering, made in China......theres a joke in there somewhere.

The turret says Tiger but the hull and gun...........

RickO posted:

Nuthin like a German tank, with American lettering, made in China......theres a joke in there somewhere.

The joke is, it really isn't a very good model representation of a German Tiger tank, anyway.

ironman1 posted:

Tiger 1 is the correct identity, although a bit stylized, not an exact scale reproduction. 

Yes, it appears to be a highly "stylized" Tiger 1.  Kind of a lousy representation - whoever made the model made it squished and stretched.

Below is the only operational Tiger currently in existence, No. 131. It has been used in several Hollywood movies, including "Fury." Below that is one of my models of the Tiger. Battle of the Bulge configuration.

play trains posted:

Good ol' 214? Do I win anything? LOL

You are so close...LOL

Now that's a Tiger, not the Kelly's Heroes T-34 version.  Real nice model too!

Captured tanks wore the enemies colors many times

bluelinec4 posted:

Captured tanks wore the enemies colors many times

And in the case of the American tankers it must have been a godsend to get out of their tin can Shermans and into Panthers or Tigers.

breezinup posted

…..  Below that is one of my models of the Tiger. …..

 

REALLY nice work!

I've been thinking about getting into a little 1/35 armor modelling. Work like yours inspire me.

Looks like we have some military modeling fans amongst our ranks.

That is the exact body of the Menards model tank but with a different turret.  May be someone got the turret from a model kit? 

Rick

Oh, I think we all know who owns that particular Tiger... 

Mitch 

always with the negative waves Moriarty.....

My late Uncle Jim bore a striking resemblance to Oddball....acted like him too.

ironman1 posted:

Tiger 1 is the correct identity, although a bit stylized, not an exact scale reproduction.

Correct.  The proportions of the hull are too long,  the gun mantle it is not correct and the main gun barrel is way too thick.   There is also no record  of any American forces actually employing a captured Tiger 1 or Pz.Kpfw "Konstiger" (a.k.a. King Tiger) in service.   Some WWII aficionados claim the Russians may have, but I've never seen proof of that. 

FYI, there are still operating Konstigers in existence,  Below is one at a museum in France, where this 70 ton monster is  being brought out for a display run:

Always liked the air cleaner system.

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Oh, I think we all know who owns that particular Tiger... 

Mitch 

The "Tigers" in Kelly's Heroes and Saving Private Ryan were actually T-34s that had been modified to look like Tiger I's,   The give away they are not actually Tigers is the fact their drive sprocket wheels are in the rear, whereas the ones on a real tiger are up front.

The only war film ever made using a real tiger was "Fury," and much of what you see in battle scene where it appears was done via CGI (in particular the damage it receives to the rear).

It turns out the Russians did actually employ several captured Tigers in service.   Found the following on a WWII forum:

"The first unit of the Red Army, which used a captured Tiger, was the 28th Guards Tank Brigade of the 39rd army of the Belorussian Front. 27th December 1943 during the attack of the tigers of the 507th tank batallion (sPzAbt. 507) near to the village Sinyavki one German vehicle was hit and left by the tankers. The Russian tankers of the 28th Guards Tank Brigade succeeded in pulling the vehicle to the Russian lines.

And the commander decided to use the vehicle in combat (in this time the brigade had only 7 T - 34, 5 T - 70 and 1 SU – 122). The crew were six men – commander of the tank Guards Lieutenant Revjakin, the driver-mechanic Guards Seargent Kilevnik, commander of the gun – Guards Seargent Kodikov, the gunner and radio operator – Guards Sergeant Akulov. 

In 48 hours the crew could learn to take over and handle the vehicle. The crosses were overpainted, on their place they painted two stars and wrote «Тигр». The first combat was 6th January 1944, when they fought together with one T – 34 and one T – 70 in the village Sinyavki, after digging the vehicles in, holding a fortified position.

Later the 28th Guards Tank Brigade captured another Tiger, 27th July 1944. The brigade had 47 tanks: 32 T – 34, 
13 T – 70, 4 SU – 122, 4 SU – 76 and two PzKpfw. VI Tiger.These vehicles took part in the operation “Bagration” to liberate Belorussia. 6th Octber 1944 the tank brigade had 65 T – 34 and 1 PzKpfw. VI Tiger ."

One last interesting video, showing how the German engineering ingenuity on these tanks was impressive.   They were designed so the Maybach engines could be started manually in cold weather conditions, by a hand cranked flywheel system (which removed the risk of frozen starter motors  and dead batteries).  Here is the Bovington Museum Tiger I being started that way: 

looks like an ODOT operation

This is actually  the first prototype of the Menards flatcar with a tank load. Bob 

there was a British show...Tank Restorers? They were working on a Panther, and they showed how over engineered the German tanks were...made them a night mare to work on in the field because you had to take so many parts off to get to what you needed to work on.

cabinet Bob posted:

This is actually  the first prototype of the Menards flatcar with a tank load. Bob 

May I suggest that the second prototype have an American Army tank?

Hot Water posted:

cabinet Bob posted:

This is actually  the first prototype of the Menards flatcar with a tank load. Bob 

May I suggest that the second prototype have an American Army tank?

It was

There was a TV special - probably on Public Television - that I saw about the making of Fury. There was as a lot about the use of the Tiger, about how it was the only operational one in existence, which made it particularly special. It was interesting to hear the commentary from the people who worked on the sets with it. They remarked about what an experience it was, witnessing the Tiger in action, the shear force and power of it just kind of gave them goosebumps.

breezinup posted:

There was a TV special - probably on Public Television - that I saw about the making of Fury. There was as a lot about the use of the Tiger, about how it was the only operational one in existence, which made it particularly special. It was interesting to hear the commentary from the people who worked on the sets with it. They remarked about what an experience it was, witnessing the Tiger in action, the shear force and power of it just kind of gave them goosebumps.

Here is the special I believe you are referring to:

That wasn't the one I was referring to. The one I saw, as I recall, was an hour-long show with in-depth information about the making of the show, the tank museum at Bovington and getting the Tiger from them, tank warfare in the European theater, the technical aspects of setting up the movie scenes and using the tanks, discussions with the technical and theatrical staff, etc. It's been awhile since I've seen it.

There are a number of shorter information pieces about the making of the movie on the internet, as well.

Looks like a good war movie which is nice. I read the Brits would not allow the Tiger out of England.