History and Facts

The trailer depicted here is my research is correct is a Renault UK trailer that is in captured German service the trailer were used and obtained during the fall of France, about 3000 UE and UE2s had been captured by the German Wermacht.

What's in the Box

• 6 sprues of grey plastic
• 2 photo etch frets (1 for trailer and 1 for the jerry cans)

The Build

Let me start by saying this was a fun build. It started out as an in box review but the model looked so cool it ended up getting built. You start by assembling the suspensions and the running gear. Do not glue part Ga 5to the leaf springs this will allow you to tip the trailer later to suit which ever vehicle you are going to connect it to. I also did not glue the road wheels bogie units to Ga 5 until after the model was assembled and again was to allow the trailer to pivot as mentioned.

The Tiger II Ausf.B, Konigstiger, King Tiger or Royal Tiger, as it was called depending where you were from, was the most powerful tank produced by the Germans. It became operational in July 1944, during the Invasion of Normandy. This formidable tank fought on the Western and Eastern Fronts until the end of World War II.

Hauler is located in the Czech Republic, and produces high quality photo-etched sets for AFVs, aircraft, cars, railway vehicles and resin accessories for dioramas and resin kits.

This set fits the 1/72 scale Revell Tiger II kit, and comes nicely packaged with the two photo etch frets inside individual clear plastic bag. The instructions are folded and everything is stapled to the folded over cardboard backing.

I am not going to spend a lot of time going into the history of the King Tiger. This vehicle has long been an extremely popular tank in the armor modeling community. It was the one of the most famous vehicles fielded by the German army in the late days of WWII. It weighed in at an impressive 70 tonnes and was armed with the venerable long barreled 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 anti-tank cannon. This particular new boxing from Dragon represents a late model King Tiger with the Henschel Turret and Zimmerit.

In recent months, we have seen a plethora of King Tiger kits hit the market. Most notable have been the Takom releases of the Sd.Kfz. 182 with full interiors…and it seems these have so far been a hit with armor modelers around the world. ICM and Meng have also released similar models of this iconic tank so it should not be a surprise that Dragon has also entered the fray with yet another release of this “king” of the WWII battlefield. One can point out numerous Dragon releases of this tank in past years but this time around they have upped their game to stay competitive. The question is, will these extras be enough to keep this newest Konigstiger on the Forward Edge of the Battlefield?

This is one of those detail sets that you don’t know you need it until you need it. It is a pre-painted fret of US straps and tie downs. Packaged in a typical Eduard re-sealable package with card stock to protect the contents. This pre-painted fret utilizes the new steel media to produce a thin and accurate strap. The straps can be manipulated fairly robustly without the paint chipping.

There are five different types of straps. The first one has a clip on the end that will have to be folded. There are three of them. The second one is a strap in tan that can be added to the first one to ‘lengthen’ it. There are two of these straps. The third strap is a ‘leather’ looking strap that can be added to one of the other straps. There are two of these straps. The fourth one is another tan/canvas style of strap, that again can be used to lengthen the others. The fifth strap is another leather style strap. There are three of them to use.