German 38cm Assault Mortar Sturmtiger

Tamiya 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Summary

Introduction

Sturmtiger was a World War II German assault gun built on the Tiger I chassis and armed with a 380mm rocket-propelled round. The official German designation was Sturmmörserwagen 606/4 mit 38 cm RW 61.

Its primary task was to provide heavy fire support for infantry units fighting in urban areas. The few vehicles produced fought in the Warsaw Uprising, the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Reichswald.

The fighting vehicle is also known under a large number of informal names, among which the Sturmtiger became the most popular.*

F i r s t L o o k

Hot on the heels of their Elefant, Tamiya has now released another German heavyweight in 1:48 scale, the Sturmtiger.

Tamiya released a 1:35 scale Sturmtiger way back in 1994. This was a great kit at release and still stands the test of time well today.

I was lucky enough to receive a test shot of Tamiya’s forthcoming 1:48 scale Sturmtiger. The test shot sprues are presented in grey plastic, although the final kit will almost certainly be presented in Tamiya’s familiar dark yellow styrene.

The kit comprises around 194 parts, ten polythene caps and four cylindrical metal ingots. There are no decals with the kit as the subject vehicle has no markings. To be fair, nobody would be likely to mistake this gargantuan vehicle for anything else, so markings are probably superfluous!

Unlike its 1:35 scale big brother, the hull and superstructure sides are moulded as one full side each with separate panels for the engine deck, casemate front, rear and roof.

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Thumbnail panels:

Separate sponson covers are supplied too.

The internal casemate permits the gun to elevate and traverse thanks to polythene caps.

The roof hatch is supplied in two pieces and may be posed open, but there is no interior detail. Mortar barrel counterweight and the shell loading crane are both included.

Typical of Tamiya’s 1:48 scale military kits, four cylindrical metal ingots are supplied for the lower hull to add “scale weight” to the model.

The lower hull is moulded as a single tub with the swing arms / axles moulded in place.

The road wheel and drive sprocket detail is very well done.

Tracks are made up from a combination of individual links and two different lengths  -  short and long. The long lengths are for the straight sections of the top and bottom runs.

Outer and inner surfaces are well detailed.

The plastic parts are rounded out with a Commander figure. He is well moulded and the facial detail is particularly nice. He is designed to stand next to the vehicle, or perhaps on the engine deck.

The instructions are well laid out over 18 steps with clear illustrations supplemented by text directions where required. The section dealing with the tracks is especially well done.

It would appear that all production Sturmtigers were treated with Zimmerit anti-magnetic paste on the hull sides, rear and front; as well as the front and rear mudguards. Tamiya will be releasing a separate self-adhesive Zimmerit coating sheet for the Sturmtiger as Item No. 12672.

C o n c l u s i o n

With their 1:48 scale Sturmtiger, Tamiya has once again delivered a well-detailed and easy to build model of an iconic vehicle.

All you will need to add is zimmerit, and Tamiya makes this easy by offering a separate self-adhesive zimmerit set specifically for this kit.

Tamiya's Sturmtiger is another great kit in their 1:48 scale series. Sit back, relax and enjoy the build!

* Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to Tamiya for the sample.

Tamiya products are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited