At the moment I'm building a King Tiger with Porsche turret (Dragon kit 6189) after a photo I found on the internet. I have some questions and hope that some of the experts here can help me out to finalise my build.

On the photo I'm working from the tank has the straight exhausts, much like the Tiger I which makes the tank one of the earlier Porsche Tigers I believe. I have already made the metal exhaust shrouds, but I can find no good dimentions or photos of the exhaust themselves. I would love some more information regarding these exhausts.

Secondly this first batch of Porsche Tigers also had the snorkel fitted on the back. I need to scratchbuild the cover, and Im looking for information and dimentions regarding this as well.

And lastly, on quite a few photos of early Porsche Tigers, including the one I'm working from, there are a few spare tracklinks fitted on front of the turret roof between the two lifting hoops, how were those tracklinks fitted?

I'm looking forward to some answers so I can finally start painting this monster of a tank!

Thanks!

edit; This is the photo I'm working from. As far as I know these are schwere Panzerabteilung 506 Tigers en route to the Arnhem area during Market Garden.

This is how she stands at the moment, without roadwheels for ease of painting. This was my first serious attempt at a zimmerit coating using Milliput white and Trumpeters zimmerit rollers. The hardest part was getting the Milliput on thin enough, but I managed pretty well if I can say so. The back of the turret was difficult though!

That Zimmerit looks great! You did a better job than I did getting the Zim on nice and thin. I used the same method: milliput and the trumpeter tools. Here's my attempt on a Normandy Panther:

I'm afraid I can't help much with your questions. Good luck! Your kit's off to a great start!

Looks like the tracks just sit on the roof from this mock-up photo;

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Munster_Koenigstiger_Porscheturm_Modell_detail.jpg

They could have been spot welded or had some hooks, maybe some thin rope, even. The links are very very heavy and the Tiger II wasn't exactly a race car so they're likely pretty safe up there.

As far as the exhausts, they're almost the size of the shrouds. There is very little room between the shroud and the actual exhaust.

There isn't much detail on the exhaust stacks either, with the excption of the exhaust hole (obviously), a small debris guard like you might see on modern trucks and heavy equipment, and five small posts which mount to a thin plate (the circle with the five bolts on them). In scale the exhaust and that plate are about 3mm apart.

EDIT:

Here are some exhaust photos from a build of a Tiger I;

http://one6armor.stinch.com/detailhullrear.html

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j81/AWOLAPF/2008_07_29TigerI009.jpg

And maybe Gerald can confirm this, but I think the Tiger I also used the same snorkel.

The tank is from the 506th battalion. This photo is widely reproduced in books, but your particular print is a bit murky. The exhausts pipes appeared to be the same diameter as the later exhausts, but had a circular flange welded to the end that allowed the fitting of the Tiger I exhaust deflector. Most had this replaced (like the tank in the background) when they were upgraded. This tank has been retrofitted with the armored coaming around the turret ring, but not the new exhausts, for some reason. While there appears to be something stowed on the turret roof for rail transit, other photos from this battalion do not show track links welded there. As far as I know, those are seen only on the two trial vehicles (which were heavily photographed, giving the impression that this was a common fit when it wasn't). The snorkel housing was the same device used on early the early Panther Ausf. D, and can be swiped from Dragon's kit, if you have one on hand (the Panther can be built without it).
This battalion had a fascinating combat history, but by historical accident, was not photographed as often as the 503rd, or the SS 101st/501st. The 506th used an odd system of numbering. The company number was painted to the left of the German cross, and the tanks were speed-numbered 01 through 14 on the right side of the cross (rather than having a platoon number followed by a number within the platoon). Unfortunately, "your" tank had not received its number when it was photographed on the rail cars.
Most tanks in the battalion were production turret ("Henschel turret") versions, but they acquired a few of these Porsche turret variants as they were released from the training and evaluation programs.

I don't know the Tiger B, but here are the mufflers from the Tiger E.



David

Thanks for the very helpful comments gentlemen, it's exactly what I needed! I will update this thread when I've made the exhausts.

my guess is that they just used "wire" to secure those tracks to the roof lifting lugs on the roof.

I imagined the same, but wanted to check if somebody had a better idea. I think they wouldn't take the risk of one slipping down and blocking the turret if it got wedged between.