JK Resin

Zimmerit Pz.VI Kingtiger "Henschel"

This set is meant to equip the Revell Tiger Ausf.B (better known as King Tiger) with Zimmerit.
Before I start discussing the parts, we need to look into the Revell kit itself and determine which version it represents.
King Tiger production started in January 1944. The first 50 were produced with (what is known as) the "Porsche turret". In June 1944 the "Henschel turret" became available.
During production of the "Henschel turreted" versions, some changes were made. In bold below the features of the Revell kit. As you can see, it kit corresponds best to a September 1944 version. September 1944 is the month that Zimmerit was dropped from the production requirement and, as a result, the Revell kit doesn't require Zimmerit.

As can be seen from the table, it would not be difficult to backdate the kit to an earlier version that does require Zimmerit. An August 1944 version would only need a small modification to the engine deck and the actual Zimmerit.

The set contains all the usual suspects:

• resin Zimmerit for the upper and lower glacis,
• for the hull and turret sides,
• hull rear and for the
• turret front and turret rear.

Of these, only the hull rear is a replacement part, all others are in the wafer thin Zimmerit that JK Resin also offers as separate sheets, and thus needs to be glued to the kit parts.

Also provided are parts that are not specifically aimed at Zimmeritting the kit, but more meant as an update:

• two resin C-hooks, which are needed, because these are cast integrally on the Revell rear hull part that needs replacing;
• PE engine meshes.

Regarding the latter, and remembering that we would need to (slightly) backdate the kit to ensure that it requires Zimmerit, it would have actually been a good idea if the PE sheet also contained a small mesh for the deep wading vent on the rear of the engine deck.

Dry fitting the parts on the Revell kit, we see that the

• parts for hull sides are about a millimeter too long. Detail for the Schürzen attachments are provided (which the base kit lacks), meaning that it will be easier to build the kit with (parts of) the Schürzen removed;
• the glacis parts are spot on and already contain the ball mount;
• the turret sides are half a millimeter too long;
• the turret mantlet fits perfectly, as does the turret rear;
• the rear hull fits perfectly and has better detail than the original part (jack block, rear convoy light);
• the engine meshes fit perfectly, but are not mentioned in the instruction leaflet.

As all the parts are cast to the usual JK Resin standards, this is a set that can be recommended, but would gain even more by the addition of just one tiny extra PE mesh.

References

[1] Panzerkampfwagen Tiger, Achtung Panzer No. 6, Mitsuru Bitoh, Dai Nippon Kaiga
[2] Panzers at Saumur N°1 - Tiger II, Jagdtiger, Luchs, Panzer IV L48, L70, Dai-Nippon Kaiga
[3] German Tiger Tanks, VK45.02 to Tiger II, Design, Production and modifications, T.L. Jentz, H.L. Doyle, Schiffer
[4] Kingtiger Heavy Tank 1942–45, New Vanguard 1, Hilary Doyle & Tom Jentz, Osprey
[5] World War II AFV Plans, German Late War Armored Fighting Vehicles, George Bradford, Stackpole Books
[6] Tigers in Combat I, Wolfgang Schneider, Stackpole Books
[7] Königstiger, L. Gladysiak, M. Koenig, J. Szafranski, Kagero Photosniper 15

Review sample kindly provided by JK Resin.

JK Resin kits can be purchased from

Article Last Updated:
19 May 2018