Pz.Kpfw. VI Ausf. B “King Tiger” with Schmalturm
ROCO 1:87 Scale Vehicle Review
This ROCO 1:87 scale Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. B “Tiger II”, Sd.Kfz. 182, represents the main production version of the “King Tiger” with the improved Krupp Schmalturm, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as the “Henschel turret” to distinguish this vehicle from the “King Tiger” with “Porsche turret” (ROCO 133).
Evaluation
ROCO has equipped the “King Tiger” with Schmalturm with a noticeably more powerful gun, which has a diameter of 296 mm directly behind the muzzle brake, compared to the much more realistic-looking 174 mm of the “King Tiger” with “Porsche turret” (ROCO 133) from the same manufacturer. It‘s possible that this is a variant of the 12.8 cm Panzerjäger gun that ROCO used in the Jagdtiger (ROCO 171).
The Panzerscheinwerfer headlight on the front hull armour plate is clearly visible on some of the tank hulls in our inventory, but on others there is only at hint of it left. Spare track links, spare road wheels, rack jack, Abstandsrücklicht, lifting eyes, and many other details are missing. However, those who enjoy model building and need a cheap “King Tiger” for simulation games should be able to transform this dated ROCO “Tiger II” into an attractive model.