Takom 1/35 Jagdtiger SdKfz 186 Early/Late Production Tank (2 in 1) (New Tool) Kit

Jagdtiger ("Hunting Tiger") is the common name of a German casemate heavy tank destroyer of World War II. The official German designation was Panzerjäger Tiger Ausf. B as it was based on a lengthened Tiger II chassis. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd. Kfz. 186. The 71-tonne Jagdtiger was the heaviest armored fighting vehicle used operationally during World War II and is the heaviest armored vehicle of any type to achieve series production. The vehicle carried a 128 mm PaK 44 L/55 main gun, capable of out-ranging and defeating any Allied tank. It saw service in small numbers from late 1944 to the end of the war on both the Western and Eastern Front. Although 150 were ordered, only between 70 and 88 were produced. Due to excessive weight, the Jagdtiger was continuously plagued with mechanical problems.

The Jagdtiger was first issued on September 1944 to the Western Front in the hands of the 512th and 653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalions. Otto Carius, a Tiger Ace, commanded the 2nd Company of 512th to defend against the Allied offensives. He comments that the Jagdtigers could not be brought to their full potential on the battlefield due to many pressing issues. The two most pressing issues of the Jagdtiger were the mechanical failures and lack of crew training on the heavy beasts. The mechanical issues forced many Jagdtigers to be disabled and eventually destroyed by their own crew as they abandoned it. Only 20% of the Jagdtigers on the Western Front were lost in combat, the rest was due to mechanical failures or out of fuel.

Today, three Jagdtigers survive in museums. One is in the Bovington Tank Museum in England, which is one of the 11 Porsche-suspension versions and was captured on April 1945 by the British. Another is a Henschel-version at the National Armor & Cavalry Museum in Fort Benning, Georgia of America after being moved from the US Army Ordnance Museum, this was captured on March 1945. The last is in Kubinka Tank Museum in Russia, a Henschel version that was captured on May 5, 1945, in Austria and is in the best mint condition of the three survivors.

This Jagdtiger is the first of the new items of the "Blitz" series, starting with No. 8001 in August. With this new series, Takom promises an affordable new approach to building plastic model kits, designed for quick and easy assembly. With accurate details and a reduced parts count, this exclusive new series is ideal for beginning modelers that require quality, and advanced modelers that require convenience. Each kit is carefully designed to focus on fit and ease of assembly without compromising accuracy or detail.