The Tiger II "Königstiger" (Bengal Tiger) was the most powerful combat tank produced and deployed during World War II. Up to the end of the war, the Allies did not introduce anything that could effectively counter it on the battlefield. The Tiger II combined a powerful and effective gun with thick, sloped armor that was virtually impervious to any Allied tank or anti-tank gun. The Tiger II was armed with a long-barreled 88mm L/71 gun and had 150mm frontal armor and 80mm side armor. Front and side plates were sloped and interlocked, which created a strong defense against Allied firepower. This tank was known as the King Tiger and Royal Tiger.

This is a most unusual kit to review. It is of PSP – Pierced Steel Planking used during WW II to build runways quickly. It was also called Marsden Mat.

These runways were used mostly in the Pacific theatre of the war. They were assembled quickly by Seabees on the islands of the Pacific as the Allied forces got closer to Japan. They were usually painted olive or black and the steel showed thru as wear took its toll.

This kit consists of a 9.25 by 13 inch base molded in light grey plastic. Most of the base of PSP has some ground cover to show the accessories. The accessories are a lookout tower, sandbags, extra PSP, 55 gal. oil drums, and several petrol cans.

I first sprayed the whole base with a dark grey/black primer. I then drybrushed OD over the PSP and then lightly drybrushed steel to show the wear. I painted the ground surfaces several shades of sand. I used Vallejo acrylic paints on the painted surfaces.

As a member of the IPMS/USA Review Corps, I have had the wonderful opportunity to review a few items now from the Polish company Master Model. The topic for this review is a new set designed to upgrade your 1/32 scale Tomcat. Unlike most of the sets that I have reviewed, there is no one recommended kit to use these new parts on, so I compared the items to what Revell, Tamiya, and Trumpeter kits offer in plastic. As I have these kits sitting in my stash, I decided to show how all three big-scale Tomcats can be improved with these new parts.