White Köningstiger?

[Maurice]

I have a question for a friend of mine. He is building the tamiya self proppeled large scale King tiger. He wants to paint it now, but is wondering if they also appeared in plain white. I looked at the net, but couldn;t find much on paintingschemes. I can imagine that during the Ardennes offensive, or in Russia, that examples were painted white. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance!

Maurice

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Maurice, I see no reason why these vehicles were not winter whitewashed during the winter of '44/'45. Photos of these vehicles are fairly scarce but maybe one of the members here knows of one in this colour scheme.

Cheers, Ade.

[Greg]

Hi Maurice,

Some info from Tiger IIs in the Ardennes only (I don't have any comparisons from Ostfront) -

There are a couple of photos of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 Tiger IIs in the Ardennes that appear to show whitewash. Here's one. This is number 312 in late December or January 1945, after it was abandoned (US Army photo). It appears to show whitewash on the hull side and rear, and on the mantlet and part of the gun tube. It's possible that the lighter areas at the front and rear of the left turret side are also whitewash. But it wasn't all white.

Of the other Tiger II battalion in the Ardennes, Heer s. Pz.Abt. 506, none of the photos that I'm aware of show whitewash.

Regards,
Greg

[Greg]

Another view of 312 (this one from the Axis History Forum). The turret front and mantlet areas do look like whitewash.

Regards,
Greg

[Aave Johns]

I have a question for a friend of mine. He is building the tamiya self proppeled large scale King tiger. He wants to paint it now, but is wondering if they also appeared in plain white. I looked at the net, but couldn;t find much on paintingschemes. I can imagine that during the Ardennes offensive, or in Russia, that examples were painted white. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance!

Maurice

I have only seen one Tiger painted pure white and that was on the Eastern Front, it must have been done just before the photo was taken. Most were dappled, or line patterns as there was nearly always a shortage of white wash. The white wash got dirty very quickly in combat from the crew getting in and out and the smoke and powder from firing the main gun. If you can't find any sites with suitable pictures, try model (as in plastic) sites as they are always in colour and show a variety of patterns used.

Regards
Johnsy

[Douglas Jr.]

White King Tiger

Hi,

I found this picture in my files... I think this picture was taken during the Battle for Budapest, around January, 1945.

Hope it helps.

Wishes,

Douglas.

[Maurice]

Thanks to everybody who replied!
He is very accurate, it is very good to have some photograhic reference. I assume he will be very happy with this information, will give it to him tomorrow.
Kind regards,

Maurice

[Stirling]

That's one of the coolest kingtiger pics I've seen in ages.

Do you now what that is behind the tiger? I think it's like a mobelwagen with a flak43, is that a PZiv idler I see?

Any better ideas anyone?

[Douglas Jr.]

Another one

Hi,

I found another one...

Wishes,

Douglas.

[Rich G]

Your friend will have his hands full! I would say the white-wash is the hardest finish to achieve in painting, especially to make it look realistic.

Hopefully we will see the finished results?

Rich