Arguably one of the most well-known tanks in the world, the Tiger I was officially called Sd. Kfz. 181 (short for Sonderkraftfahrzeug = special-purpose machine) or PzKpfw. VI 'Tiger'.
Work on this heavy tank started in 1937 and saw two competing versions: the VK 45.01 (H, stands for Henschel) and the VK 45.01 (P, stands for Porsche). The two companies eventually built many other tanks (like the VK 30.01 P or the VK 30.01 H) and presented their designs on 20th April 1942, Hitler's 53rd birthday.
While the Porsche design featured much thicker armor and a revolutionary electrical transmission (a concept which would only re-emerge in the 1980s), it suffered a mechanical breakdown, thus leading Der Fuhrer to choose the Henschel design for production. Eventually, the 20 or so Porsche prototypes were redesignated as PzBfWg (Panzerbefehlswagen=command tanks).
The Tiger Ausf. H1 (also called 'Tiger I') entered production in August 1942, just in time for the Kursk Offensive. At first, it proved to be unreliable, as many of the components had to deal with too much weight (nearly 54 tons).
Throughout the war, the Tiger I would see only one more modification: the Ausf. E which weighed 57 tons. A monster to be reckoned with, the Allied and Soviet forces would always find themselves outgunned by the few Tigers that were deployed against them. Quite often, tanks like the M4 or the T-34 could not reliably penetrate the Tiger's armor from any distance over 400 meters. Tank crews had to wait for either the air force or some anti-tank platoons.
Eventually, production of the Tiger I ended in late 1944 in favor of the more modern Konigstiger (the Tiger II). With over 1300 units produced, the Tiger was one of the most feared tanks on the battlefield. Few of them have survived the war. One of the most famous surviving Tigers is, of course, the Tiger 131, captured in Tunisia in 1943 by the advancing British army. It now rests at the Bovington Tank Museum where it takes part in the yearly Tankfest.
Controls:
AG 1 for the main 88mm gun (it also has recoil!)
AG 2 for the front light.
AG 8 (activated by default) for the hull MG.
W, A, S and D (Pitch and Roll) for moving around.
Trim to control the gun, VTOL to control the turret.
Have fun! :)
Specifications
Spotlights
- RAF1 6.9 years ago
- FlyingThings 6.8 years ago
- TAplanes 6.9 years ago
General Characteristics
- Created On Windows
- Wingspan 13.6ft (4.1m)
- Length 34.3ft (10.5m)
- Height 15.0ft (4.6m)
- Empty Weight 125,282lbs (56,827kg)
- Loaded Weight 127,548lbs (57,854kg)
Performance
- Wing Loading 17,393.9lbs/ft2 (84,924.6kg/m2)
- Wing Area 7.3ft2 (0.7m2)
- Drag Points 15013
Parts
- Number of Parts 535
- Control Surfaces 0
- Performance Cost 2,218
Can you build an American T34?
@TheLatentImage I'm glad you like it! Just recently decided to stay away from fantasy stuff and started building tanks that did exist.
Anyways, this was one of my long-term projects. Someone asked me if I could make it back when I still had my old account.
Oh, and good luck with deleting nonsense posts. You gotta have lots of patience for that ;)
Thank you for your kind words.
This is a really well done build. It's nicely detailed and functional, and I really like the gears on the front end. Nice build man.
@Pilotmario It's a 57-ton heavy (here, it's got close to 58).
One tonne less can make a big difference.
It's a 60-ton heavy tank. @AudioDud3
@BogdanX It's a heavy tank. It has a 700 hp engine strapped to a nearly 57-ton tank, so don't expect to do police turns with it.