David, could you explain what you mean by hybrid Tiger I? I'm not familiar with that term. Are you referring to the version with the later cast cupola and the original stamped roadwheels?
If my memory serves me correctly "hybrid" was used to describe a Tiger I That had the late war steel road wheels fitted with the early turret which had the drum style cupola. With a bit more time I can dig up more info.............
If you look in the book TIGERS IN COMBAT II by Wolfgang Shneider, and I am referencing the soft bound editions here, there are a couple color plates showing the "HYBRID" Tiger I. These are shown as having the steel road wheels and an early turret with drum commander cupola. One is shown as serving with 4./schwere Panzer Abteilung 506 Wetern Germany October 1944, turret number 411 light blue outlined with white and the other is from the armor school at Bergen assigned to Tiger-Gruppe Fehrmann serving in the Ruhr Pocket area April 1945. This small armored unit had 6 Tiger I with turret numbers F01, F02, F03, F04, F05 and F13 red outlined in white. I know that somewhere I have read an explanation for this configuration but without digging deeper I can not quote a source. Seems like maybe it was a topic on the MISSING LINKS board?
For Steve, i don't have this book ,sorry ,i'm sad !
So ,if i tried to resume for making one hybrid Tiger , i have just to take one early turret with drum commander cupola , the steel road wheels ,and making the zimmerit ,it's right?
i think that the "F01" and the "F13" are more interresting (hybrid from an early type with steels road and the heavy zimmerit for the "F13")
Steve,have you got one thing about the color supposed to be on the "F13" please?
And thanks Marlowe for the links,they are very very interresting for me!
Note that the hulls are also early style - no zimmerit, and headlights on each superstructure front corner. Some turrets had the storage bin removed revealing the original color.
I made a hybrid Tiger this year. The changes I made are the ones the others have mentioned already. This article is basically about the painting, but it should give you an idea of what can be considered a "hybrid tiger"
Great article, Sven! I do have a question though...why do you spray with Mr. Surfacer first? I can guess that it would fill in any small blemishes, but based on what I have read about using it on Shermans, does it leave a cast texture to the model?
Mr. Surfacer is actually a priming coat. I prime most of my models with it. The paint adheres very well and withstands the heavily weathering I normally add to my models.
People also make a casting surface by applying it with a stiff brush, creating some sort of texture. But this is not the original purpose of Mr. Surfacer. Yet a nice effect though !