Tiger ausf. E : Hull hatches

Technical information on the Tiger and related tanks

 

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Hull hatches

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The Tiger's hull hatches were locked from inside by a rotating lever that pushed three arms outwards from the hatch to go under the hull roof plate. When the hatch was locked, this lever pointed directly back toward the rear of the tank. When the hatch was unlocked, this lever pointed inwards towards the middle of the tank. In other words, the lever rotated by about 90 degrees.

This kit's designers have reproduced all the parts of the hatches, giving them the correct handedness etc. But they made one error that is visually annoying. The arms don't align with their own attachment points.

Hull hatch locking lever

This is an assembled hatch. I have drawn a yellow line along the middle of an arm. In the real tank, it was hinged on an axle built into the central rotating cylinder. As indicated here, the kit's arm does not run directly toward its axle.

The kit's cylinder is correctly sized, so the arms are at fault. It may be possible to fix this by cutting the arm group (parts Q63, Q64) and realigning the three arms.

 
 

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