Tiger ausf. E : Sprocket wheels

Technical information on the Tiger and related tanks

 

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Tiger sprockets

The Tiger's sprocket wheels (the ones with teeth) have a ring of bolts on their rim. The bolts allow you to replace the tooth ring if you break a tooth.

Sprocket teeth on Tiger 712

The tooth ring has a bolt hole exactly under each tooth. This Tiger in Saumur museum is missing two bolts, and the bolts that we can see are facing in opposite directions. Technically the direction made no difference, but photos from that time usually show the nuts on the outside.

Notice that the "arms" linking this ring to the hub are placed exactly between bolts. Almost all Tiger sprockets had their "arms" there.

Sprocket teeth on Tiger V1

But at the start of Tiger production, a very small number of sprockets were made with the "arms" aligned to the bolts and teeth. The first prototype Tiger, called "V1", had them. This is its left-hand sprocket. The "arms", the bolts and the teeth are all in line.


Rye Field's parts

This kit contains three kinds of sprocket wheel; part "D47", which is a late version and should not be used; part "D46", which is replicated on the E sprue; and parts "W1/W4". They are on the "W" sprue, which was newly tooled in the early 2020s for Rye Field's updated African Tiger kits.

W sprue sprockets

Unfortunately, the newly tooled "W" parts have a flaw. The bolts on their outer ring are between the teeth. No Tiger ever looked like this.

On the reverse side of this part, the heads of the bolts don't line up with the nuts. Fortunately they will be out of sight.

Because the "W" parts are obviously wrong, you can increase your kit's accuracy by using part "E1" or "D46" instead.

 
 

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