Scale: 1 / 35
This Tiger kit from Rye Field is something of a "de luxe" edition, having a full interior and some transparent body panels to display it. Its tracks have 3-piece individual links.
The six optional transparent panels comprise the upper faces of the hull and the entire turret shell. They can be mixed with opaque panels as desired. They omit some equipment from the inside turret walls to aid visibility.
The kit builds an "Early" Tiger issued in the period March - May 1943. The interior parts are inherited unchanged from a previous Rye Field kit, "Eastern Front Tiger" kit. None of the faults in that kit's interior have been corrected here.
Decals for two of Michal Wittmann's Tigers are provided: "1331", his mount during the Battle of Kursk, and "S04" which featured in a photo shoot of him and his crew. The kit's interior is a quite accurate rendition of "1331", but it does not match up with "S04" because that vehicle was a "Command Tiger".
There is an upgrade set, "Engine pipeline parts", that provides much of the detail that is missing from this kit's engine room.
History of Tiger S04
On 14 January 1944, in a tiny village in central Ukraine, Untersturmführer Wittman was awarded the Knight's Cross in a brief ceremony [1, see page 121] . A photographer captured Wittman, his crew, and - most important for us - his then Tiger, numbered "S04".
But this was not Wittman's only Tiger. He had fought the battle of Kursk in another one, but his unit left their armour behind when they transferred to Italy in August 1943 [1, see page 118] . There, they were issued new Tigers. Wittman got Tiger "S21" and his company commander, Hauptsturmführer Kling, must have got "S04". The unit returned to the Ukraine in October 1943 and resumed battle.
On 30 December 1943, Wittman took over command of the company and therefore, in theory, "S04" became his vehicle. He reportedly disliked the "Command Tiger" variant, because it carried less ammunition than normal. But even if he continued to use standard Tigers, it was "S04" that he was photographed with.
Photos from the ceremony show 88 "kill rings" on the tank's gun barrel. They were probably painted for the photographer and removed soon afterward, because Wittman's unit was very wary of drawing attention to their commanders' tanks. That is why they named this Tiger "S04" intead of "S01", and it is why - months later - they had an "007" instead of an "001".
As a Command Tiger, "S04" carried two radios and was intended to be a mobile command post. But it had an 88mm tank gun and could fight like any other Tiger [1, see 3.2.5] . At the time of the photographs, "S04" was configured as a Sd.Kfz.268.
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