Reguarding the kill marks on a Tiger, I've noticed that some will have kill marks of different sizes? What do those symbolize?

http://missing-lynx.com/gallery/german/tiger1_sheng.html

Also, I thought that the kill marks were just white. What are the black ones?

Cammeron

David Byrden will know more than I but German kill marks came in all shapes sizes and colors.
I have seen black,red,yellow,and white(which seems to be the most common) on all types of german armored vehicles and artillery pieces. In many cases especially with artillery a representation of the type of vehicle or aircraft destroyed or damaged was actually painted on the gun barrel,shield or turret side.

Kill marks consisted of rings(most common),dashes,dots,short lines,long lines,representations of national insignia or as mentioned above pictures.

Although all this is true I have only seen white or black/red ?(dark color in BW pictures)rings on Tigers. I have seen one pic a Tiger I believe from Schw,SS 102 that had the letters U.S.A. painted behind a plethora of kill rings scored by its 1st Company in France 1944.

The thicker stylised makings on the Tiger in the pic you attached were for propaganda purposes and a photo op for Micheal Whitmann and his crew. The thicker kill marks are for multiples of 10 kills leading up the the single rings close to the muzzle brake.

I hope this helps
Brian

This is Michael Wittmanns Tiger with 88 kills there are 8 thick black marks I would say these are 10 each and 8 thinner ones each representing 1 each the white on this tank is the whitewash. Tim

or is there writing on the thicker black stripes?

I'd guess they are the numbers the stripes represent.

The old Tamiya Tiger I in 1/35 had this as a decal