All 6 Tiger I’s in Tiger-Gruppe Fehrmann were basically rebuilt Earlies with steel wheels some with zimmerit and 5 Panthers supposedly equipped with IR in Kampf Gruppe Schulze. All production steel wheel Tigers had zimmerit. There were no examples to show otherwise, however ‘technically’ there were some hybrid steel wheelers with early production hulls/turrets that had no zimmerit which were rebuilt examples and in no way were representative of the production batch.
Academy 1/35 Tiger I Gruppe Fehrmann F13
’F01’ of Tigergruppe “Fehrmann” initially belonging to KG “Schulze” (then KG “Grossan”) and KO’d by a British Comet on 13th of April 1945 is an Early/late cross. Its one of the handful of rebuilt/cobbled together Tigers from the Truppeschule near Paderborn at war’s end. It wears zimmerit on the hull and turret and has late wheels and tracks.
Tiger ‘F13’ was painted overall dark panzer grey and the numbers were hand painted red with a white outline. This tank had the old dish type road wheels. Tiger ‘F13’ had zimmerit on the hull and turret.
These are the only 2 early Tiger I’s in existance with zimmerit as evidenced in photos.
[Source: Sead.Us]
- Highly detailed plastic pieces molded in tan
- New tooled parts
- Asymmetric turret
- 88mm cannon, mantlet, engine deck
- Photo-etched parts
- Waterslide decals
- Illustrated instructions
- Scale: 1/35
- Skill level: 4
- Kit # 13299
- MSRP: $69.00
- Street Price: $46.99 to $51.99+
MARKING OPTIONS:
1) Gruppe Fehrmann Essel Germany April 1945
2) Cruppe Fehrmann Achum Germany April 1945
3) Schwere Panzer Kompanie Hummel Belguim Ardennes December 1944 – January 1945
Almost 2 years ago I bought this subject from the other known brand. It ended up in the stash due to the lack of reference material. Now with the new Academy 13299 Tiger I Gruppe Fehrmann release I wanted to give this interesting Tiger I another visit. Surprisingly there is more reference material around nowadays to tackle this project. The instructions are the typical Academy fold out type and are very easy to follow. There will be some good parts left over for my kit bashing projects. Even a whole turret is left over for later use.
The zimmerit provided with the Academy 13299 model kit is via metal decals. It is the first time I work with this type of zimmerit and credit where credit is due, is does work as intended. There is really not much to write home about this kit if you have worked with a 1/35 Tiger I from Academy in the past. You’ll be getting in the box some familiar sprues with new tooled parts for the Gruppe Fehrmann. There are marking for 4 Tiger I tanks printed by none other than Cartograf. Needless to say, the quality of these decals is of that that we have come to expect.
I am very happy with this kit and I know that in this regard mileage might vary between model builders. It is a great option to the sought after Cyber Hobby F13 which by now is more a collector piece today. Good luck trying to find one for a decent price at the auction site. Meanwhile you have this nice Academy option and although it is a Special Edition with limited availability, you will have no problem getting one.
The only issue that grind my gears with this kit (no pun intended) was the supplied tracks. They are the usual tracks supplied with other Tiger I from Academy and for a Special Edition kit of the F13, something better should have been provided. Be ready to spend extra on after market tracks. Other than that, I highly recommend this kit if you want an F13 in your collection.
My sincere thanks to Model Rectifier for the review sample.
Fantastic modeling and painting!!
Thanks so much for your compliments,
Are the tracks at least able to be glued? What a disappointment if not.
Hello foolkiller, the tracks can be glued with super glue. Hope this helps.