Polistil Tanks Part 4

By Robin Godwin

C.A. 103 Tiger II Königstiger , again at 1:50 scale, was issued in 1974 in the usual large box with three diecast accessories (two soldiers and a five-piece firing mortar, along with 10 plastic rounds on a sprue). The box ‘dispatch note’ details Tiger II activity around Nemours, France (south of Paris) in October of 1944, but it’s “hand written” in German, so a bit difficult to decipher.

This is a large and impressive model of a large and impressive tank. Polistil took the opportunity to manufacture wider (battle) tracks, which were required to support the weight and provide mobility to the near 70 ton tank in combat conditions (there were also narrower “transport tracks” available for rail shipping). This is the only Polistil tank of six produced that has wider tracks. Perhaps there was a long range plan at one point to include other German tanks in the range that utilized wider tracks.

Tiger II #105, according to The Online Tank Museum, was abandoned in Stavelot, Belgium during the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944, so this finish is unlikely. The colour here is closer to the pre-production Tiger II that would have been displayed in The Tank Museum, Bovington, in the 70s, perhaps the colour inspiration for the Polistil model (but different in many other details). The model displays beautifully alone or with the other Polistil tanks, but many flaws become evident when compared to a modern collectors’ model closely scaled. Note spare track mounted on the forward part of the turret. The splay on the top link is evident on every Polistil Tiger II model I have seen, so I think it’s more indicative of the track assembly process at the factory rather than a QC issue.

The Henschel built Tiger II started production in November 1943 with the first 50 having a horizontally curved turret front plate, which created a “shot-trap” (essentially a design flaw that could trap incoming shells between the hull and turret). A new flat plate design to eliminate the shot-trap and reduce the frontal area was used on all remaining Tiger IIs, and that is the version modelled by Polistil. Sources differ slightly, but total production was around 490, far short of the planned total, but Allied bombing raids severely disrupted production.

The tank itself was armed with a powerful 88 mm gun. This enabled German crews to fire accurately over longer distances than Allied tanks. Combined with heavier frontal armour, it was a formidable design and nearly indestructible in a frontal assault. The penalty for the extra armour was the weight and, subsequently, fuel economy, the power-to-weight ratio, and the mobility. The drive train was initially relatively unreliable (rear engine, front drive) and broke down frequently in action. One reference indicates that the Germans themselves destroyed more Tiger IIs than the Allies did, as they abandoned broken down vehicles. A change in Allied tactics to flanking manoeuvres, where possible, increased their success, as the Tiger II was more vulnerable from the sides.  It carried a crew of five and was powered by a 12 cylinder Maybach gasoline motor generating 600 horsepower initially, with later versions developing 700 hp.

The wider track is also a different pattern, seen here next to the Chieftain reviewed last time. The distinctive cast “Polistil” logo is the first appearance. Both the Chieftain and T-62 featured a font similar to that used for Königstiger on the base. Road wheels aret incorrect for a Tiger II in that there were actually two separate rows of wheels, inner and outer, that were not interleaved as above. The Tiger I did have interleaved wheels, so this is possibly just an error, or the foreshadowing of a planned future model, or perhaps a manufacturing consideration to make everything assemble or roll easier

Here is where one can criticize the Polistil effort. The lower model is a 1:48 scale Hobby Master Tiger II, made as a collectors’ model in 2006. If one assumes Hobby Master did a better job on scale, as I do, then it’s apparent that Polistil got the gross measurements wrong (length and width) as well as barrel length and turret details.

Polistil has erroneously mounted a generic machine gun (also used on the Centurion, which will be reviewed in the next part) in front of the loader’s hatch. The gun ring around the Commander’s cupola is wildly overscale and is where the machine gun should be fixed, as per the Hobby Master. My references indicate that the rear centre mounted antenna on the Polistil makes this a command version

The plastic cup distributes the weight of the model over a greater area, and ensures the styrofoam does not fail in shipping. To left are the mortar rounds still on the sprue

I have read articles from some collectors who are happy to dispose of older models once a newer more accurate version becomes available. I’m not one of those, particularly as the Polistil Tiger II is one of only six tanks in the series. Despite my criticisms above, this is still a wonderful model that displays really well by itself or with the other Polistil tanks. It’s big and heavy (only the chassis is metal on the Hobby Master, so is comparatively quite light). I have mentioned before that some of the plastic parts can be easily lost, and I’m sure I had both rear towing loops when I started writing this series. They clip on separately and are quite fragile, a point to note if buying from the internet. The next article will cover C.A. 104 Centurion.