The German Waffenamt issued an order to design the VK4501(H) (as the PzKpfw VI Ausf. E was then known) in May 1941, just one month prior to the commencement of Operation Barbarossa. Interestingly, Henschel und Sohn of Kassel was charged with building the heavily armored chassis while Krupp, by far the largest munitionwerks in Germany, was given the task of developing the turret. The PzKpfw VI Ausfuhrung E (type E) was one of the first German tanks to feature a torsion bar with eight interleaved wheels, which was designed to support the weight of the mammoth 57-ton tank. The Ausf. E mounted a huge 8.8cm KwK36 L/56 cannon and featured two MG34 machine guns for close support against enemy infantry. By war's end, 1,354 vehicles had been produced, some rolling off the Wegmann assembly line.

This 1:72 scale Tiger tank from Dragon Armor perfectly captures the look of such a late-war vehicle, particularly in its unique paint scheme. Details are carefully reproduced with accuracy uppermost in the minds of the designers. This is a fine model of a rare Tiger with a most extraordinary history behind it. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 4-1/2-inches
Width: 2-1/4-inches

Release Date: June 2007

Historical Account: "The End Draws Nigh" - As WWII drew to an irrevocable end in 1945, Germany's panzer forces were scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of the armored vehicles it could field. One such example is the Tiger I represented in Dragon Armor's latest release. It portrays a hybrid Tiger, an early version retrofitted with steel wheels. This vehicle belonged to Feldwebel Beloff, and was part of the ad-hoc Tiger-Gruppe Fehrmann formation formed in the spring of 1945. This Tiger was actually blown up by its crew on April 11th, 1945, as Russian forces closed in.

Tiger-Gruppe Fehrmann was a hodgepodge of Tiger tanks collected together in Fallingbostel. To give some semblance of regularity, the unit's mix of tanks was painted in an unusual slate gray color, with green and brown patches of their older camouflage schemes still poking through.