Porsche
Vs Henschel Turret | 50
turrets with curve top and sides of the Porsche design were already in production
before it was rejected in favour of the Henschel design. These 50 turrets were
fitted to the Henschel chassis for the first 50 KingTigers. The more angular with
flat slopped surfaces Henschel turret was installed from June 1944. |
| Main
Gun | The
original main 88mm gun consisted of a one piece monobloc gun tube. This was replaced
from May 1944 by a two piece sectional gun tube that was easier to produce and
maintain. |
| Gun
Sight | The
binocular gun sight was replaced by a monocular gun sighting telescope in May
1944. This rersulted in only one aperture on the left of the gun mantlet instead
of two. |
| Spare
Track links | Brackets
for hanging spare tracks links were welded fore and aft on both turret sides from
July 1944. They were retrofitted to existing King Tigers from November of that
year. |
|
Camouflage Paint Schemes | From
August 1944, all King Tigers were painted with a standardised camouflage pattern
at the factory. This new scheme is now commonly known as the Ambush pattern and
consisted of patches of olive green and red brown over the dark yellow base coat.
From September 1944, the dark yellow was no longer applied as the base coat but
as patches same as for olive green and red brown. From December 1944, a base coat
of dark green was applied and a camouflage pattern with sharp contours was applied
using read brown and dark yelow prior to delivery. Prior
to this, all King Tigers were delivered with a dark yellow base coat over the
red primer undercoat and Zimmerit and each individual unit applied its own camouflage
colour and pattern in the field. |
| Internal
Painting | To
simplify production, from August 1944 the inside of King Tigers were no longer
painted an ivory colour but left with the red primer undercoat. |
| Zimmerit
Coating | Due
to a rumour that the Zimmerit caught fire from shell hits that could result in
the lost of the tank even if the shell did not penetrate, all King Tigers from
mid-September onwards were not coated with Zimmerit. Crew in thefield were also
ordered not to apply Zimmerit to tank delivered without the coating. Though the
rumour were proved unfounded during tests, the orders to drop Zimmerit were never
rescinded. |
| Armoured
Cover for Deep Fording Air Intake | From
mid-september, all King Tigers leaving the factory has a circular armour plate
bolted over the deep fording air intake vent to prevent shell splinters from penetarting
the fuel tank mounted directly below thisopening. This modification was also retrofitted
to all existing King Tigers. |
| Jack | From
October 1944, King Tigers were delivered without the jack mounted. The brackets
for the jack were also dropped. |
| Gun
Sight Aperture Guard | From
January 1945, an inverted U-shape guard was welded on above the gun sight aperture
to prevent rain water from fouling the gun sight. |
| New
Single-Link Tracks | From
March 1945, new King Tigers were delivered with a new set of single-link tracks
driven by new 18 tooth sprockets. |
