Features:
• Building difficulty: 8/10
• Anticipated assembly time for players with average LEGO experience: 2.5 hours
• Number of bricks: 1056 plus extra spare bricks
• 1:33 minifigure scale.
• Dimensions: L19.76 x W10.8cm
• Full interior hull structure.
• Working suspension.
• Open-up design: easy to dismantle.
• Compatible with LEGO® bricks.
• See the instruction of the new barrel here.
£55.99 – £59.99 Excluding VAT
Step back in time and build your very own iconic WW2 German Tiger 1 tank in Lego compatible bricks! Widely regarded as the most iconic tank of World War II, The Tiger 1 was developed by Germany in response to the Soviet T-34 tank. Its heavy armour and a powerful 88mm gun made it a formidable opponent on the battlefield. Its distinctive design and role in key battles such as the Battle of Kursk and Normandy landings have cemented its status as a symbol of the war.
The best way to judge the accuracy of a model is to put it side by side with the real thing.
Checkout our stickers to decorate your heavy tank:
The Tiger 1 tank is the first heavy tank recreated by Dr. Ruibin Zhang. It has undergone several revisions since its inception and remains the undisputed centrepiece of our collection. With 1056 high-quality ABS bricks that stick to the rule of Lego, this Lego compatible Tiger tank accurately captured all the authentic details that make it so special.
On the whole, the armour plates are mostly vertical with some slight sloping in areas such as the frontal glacis plates and the rear armour plate. This resulted in the very distinct, boxy appearance of the Tiger I’s hull . As for the turret, the sides and rear had a distinct curved shape. This was achieved by bending a single long 80mm-thick armour plate into the shape of a horseshoe by means of a giant press (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Krupp giant press used to produce the horseshoe curve of the Tiger I’s turret.
Additionally, this kit features the schachtellaufwerk interleaved and overlapping road wheel arrangement for its functional suspension. The original purpose of this design was to spread the Tiger I’s ground pressure out evenly across its tracks.
Figure 2. General Eisenhower inspects a Tiger II tank which was overturned in a sector of the Falaise Pocket during the Normandy campaign in August, 1944.
The attention to detail doesn’t stop on the surface: this Lego compatible Tiger 1 tank also has interior structures such as the driver seats, the control panel, the turret ring and the engine. Its accurate design provides an educational experience, allowing you to learn about the tank’s history while enjoying the relaxing process of building. Whether you’re looking for a centrepiece for your shelf or 1:33 units for wargames, the Tiger 1 Lego compatible kit is the perfect choice!
Instruction booklet of this kit can be purchased by itself and the XML file is available upon request which can be uploaded to Bricklink to order Lego bricks if you want to build this kit in pure Lego.
| Weight | N/A |
|---|---|
| Please select | Economy kit (bricks+digital instruction), Gift kit (bricks+booklet+box) |
2023 Buildarmy® construction toy. All design & instruction are copyrights of Buildarmy LTD.
LEGO ® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies. The LEGO Group does not sponsor, authorise or endorse this website nor any of the customised/modified products or sets.
Evan S. (verified owner) –
Just finished this kit and an very pleased with the build quality! on top of that the detail to variant of tiger is great as well as interior detail! I had a blast assembling the little brick Maybach HL230 engine! great work build army!
Denni –
Top Set The best thing was that I had really cool interior design and it was fun to build just a cooler tank
Shae Stinson (verified owner) –
Amazing building techniques alot better than my custom tiger no missing parts all around amazing kit although I do have to say your tiger is a mix of the H1 and the ausf E
minizem (verified owner) –
Ce kit est juste magnifique , l’intérieur est une bonne surprise et très sympa. L’extérieur est irréprochable.
La qualité des pièces est bluffante sans problèmes de teintes.
(Seul problème j’ai du couper un maillon de chenille pour le faire rentrer à l’avant du char)
Si vous aimez le WW2 foncez!
Johanna Jordan (verified owner) –
Reaaaally cool. I love the way it looks. Easier to build as the wheels went in nicely. I will definitely keep buying products from Buildarmy. Great designs, quality products and great customer service. Keep it up!
Max Poynter (verified owner) –
Sturdy build, was just missing a few pieces but nothing too major. Would definitely buy from again.
Buildarmy (store manager) –
Hi Max,
Thanks for the feedback. Could you please report the missing pieces to service@buildarmy.com?
Felix (verified owner) –
It was perfect and it looks so good
Christopher T. (verified owner) –
Great 4-5 Hour build, Great details and amazingly movable turret for display
Bartosz R. (verified owner) –
Anonymous (verified owner) –
It is probably the most detailed tank I have ever built and I would definitely recommend getting this tank.
Brodie –
Will you be smoothing out the barrel any time soon?
Buildarmy (store manager) –
Yes, the updated V4 will be ready this month.
Todd (verified owner) –
Anonymous –
There simply are no other LEGO-alternative Tiger I models that compare to this on the market. This product (and the others on Buildarmy) are leagues ahead in design over any other competitors. Even Cobi sets look like Duplo compared to these.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
All the bricks have the same quality like the bricks from Billund.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Hunter (verified owner) –
Riccardo M. (verified owner) –
Phil Boyland (verified owner) –
First tank bought from BuildArmy and have finally gotten round to finishing it. Lovely model and very enjoyable build and the only thing that would make it better if the gun barrel was not so flimsy. Am tempted to super glue it on but feel that is cheating so would love a better design on that.
I have since bought a whole host of tanks, light vehicles and artillery, all waiting build. You are my goto WW2 lego compatible supplier 🙂
Suggestions – Make a late model camo version of all teh german tanks that ave not yet been done.
– Have a way to buy BA unique spares if we would like more to modify existing kits.
Buildarmy (store manager) –
Hi Phil,
Thanks very much for the feedback! I just checked the history and you purchased our Tiger 1 before I revised the barrel, which is now much stronger. If you add a note in your next order, we’ll send you the pin with fiction to upgrade the barrel.
Cheers,
Ruibin
John (verified owner) –
Love the model, but the black exhaust piping could do with some refinement
Buildarmy (store manager) –
It has been revised!
Ronald Kobyleski –
Great Kit very detailed! One of the most realistic Lego Tiger I out there!
Anonymous (verified owner) –
My boyfriend loved building it
Ondřej Josef Polášek (verified owner) –
Absolutely glorious masterpiece, one of he best of all custom-tank builds I’ve ever met. The Pzkpfw VI Tiger is my favourite one of all the WW II tanks and this one has amazed me with the detailed structure of it’s both exterior & interior. If you’re hesitating, go ahead and buy it – you won’t regret it! Thanks a lot for this magnificent kit!
Peter-Gabriel (verified owner) –
A very detailed set and an awesome display piece. Definitely one of the best recreations of the Tiger 1 that can be bought. My only issue is that the engine pipes on the back of the tank are somewhat difficult to position. This could be fixed by making them slightly longer. Other than that, 10/10
Mats-Lewe Reinhold (verified owner) –
Benjamin (verified owner) –
Chris Hitchens (verified owner) –
Brilliant set, worth getting and good instructions. Definitely going to get more to build. Highly recommend
Cathy K. (verified owner) –
My son enjoyed building this. The detail is fantastic. Will be ordering more.
Marko S. (verified owner) –
Josh Simpkins (verified owner) –
Wei-Cheng Liao (verified owner) –
Scott B. (verified owner) –
Cool kit! Looking forward to constructing the Panzer! Thank you!
Jacob (verified owner) –
One word. Beautiful.
The final look of this model is amazing and packed with details and the build is complex enough to keep it fun but it’s not too difficult as the quality of the instructions was great.
Kieran Pieragostini (verified owner) –
I had the gift box version and it was a fun build. No important pieces were missing and it came with lots of spare pieces. The tracks move and the suspension is really well designed. The hull is extremely solid, the instructions ( including the updates ) was really easy to understand and it’s just an all round professionally designed, sturdy, fun kit to build
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Very fun build that looks incredible and did not disappoint. Bricks are good quality and I would recommend this to anyone.
Noah (verified owner) –
Very detailed model. Some Parts were different than it Was shown in the instructions but no Problem for the build. The price is good for this Quality. Only taxes sucked.
Edward (verified owner) –
This is my first Buildarmy set and I am beyond impressed! I’m a long-time fan of Cobi’s military sets but this is on a whole other level. Detailed interior? Turret basket?! Fully working Schachtellaufwerk suspension?!? I don’t know what sort of dark wizardry Dr. Zhang is using but the end result is best summed up below:
Buildarmy (store manager) –
Thanks Edward I’m really flattered :).
Cheers,
Ruibin
Scott (verified owner) –
Very good, only problem was some of the bricks were slightly different to the ones in the manual so that led to a bit of confusion but overall very good!
Logen Oliver (verified owner) –
Amazing model and definitely a flagship of the Buildarmy tanks in terms of quality and attention to detail.
Stephane DUFOUR (verified owner) –
pbxt99 (verified owner) –
I have just finished building this model and I wanted to write a review before I forget anything! The Tiger I is obviously Buildarmy’s best set; the scaling, detail, and accuracy of the tank are absolutely superb and unparalleled by any other kit on the market! Here are a list of things that I love about this model:
For starters, let me just say that I did not have any missing parts; in fact, I had a plethora of extra pieces at my disposal when I finished the build.
Second, the exterior detail is phenomenal. The iconic slope of the Tiger I is truly a difficult thing to capture with bricks, but this model recreates that slope brilliantly. The turret is probably my favorite section of the tank, the spoke grenade cannons and the rear of the turret being my favorite. I love the “modular” instructions included at the end that show you how to modify the turret to include extra armor and tracks—these little details really did bring the whole thing together. The rear of the tank, especially the section right around the engine, was also incredibly detailed and intricate. The rear of the Tiger is perhaps just as formidable as the front, and I am glad to see Buildarmy remain thorough throughout the design in areas other builders might neglect.
Third, I really love the interior. The driver’s and gunner’s seat, although not quite large enough to support a whole mini figure, are simple yet concise and accurate.
Fourth, I really like the track system. Although the tracks do not turn very easily, the “layered wheel” design, another iconic aspect of the Tiger I, is captured perfectly. The tracks also lend themselves to supporting the “sloped look” I referred to earlier.
While I do not have many complaints about this set, I will include a few just for anyone else looking to buy. For starters, the set is scaled to mini figure size, but they cannot fit inside the chassis or the turret. You can fit about half of a figure in the turret just for reference (see image). The barrel of the gun is also a little flimsy, and it does hang down ever so slightly. Lastly, the tow cable is far too long for its purpose. While I was able to tie the cable around another part of the tank in order to shorten it, it was a bit difficult to do.
With all of that said, I must give this Tiger a five star rating. I was really excited to get my order, and my expectations were met! I will note that this is a display set and not a play set, but I never intended to play with mine! I have pictured the Tiger alongside my Panzer IV, my first set from Buildarmy for scale. This set is a best seller for a reason, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in WW2 bricks!
Stefan (verified owner) –
5/5. very cool building techniques
Blair B. (verified owner) –
Gergely B. (verified owner) –
The bricks and manual are suprisingly good quality, like lego. This Tiger I is not for beginners, challenging for my son having plenty of lego building experiences.
Boris Zahn (verified owner) –
Not build yet. But fast shipping product looks good and detailed 😁
Dominic Borrego –
Hi I was wondering when the Tiger 1 ausf E will be restocked. When it is I will be looking forward to getting it since I have the t-34/85 and I loved it so I have high expectations for this tank!
David Ceccantini (verified owner) –
Sono assolutamente soddisfatto del mio primo acquisto su questa piattaforma
Ottimo prodotto e fedele al vero modello di Tiger 1 ausf E
Grazie!!!
Dan D. (verified owner) –
Amazing build and fun but the wheels was the biggest pain but after hours of tampering i sorted it
christian doerk (verified owner) –
TOP MODELL!!!
Jack M. (verified owner) –
Very enjoyable build. Not all parts accounted for but made up for by substituting longer/similar parts. Eg: a 4 length piece was missing but made up for by having 2 extra 2-length parts. Altogether would recommend this set and this site
Dusty Moi (verified owner) –
Von G. (verified owner) –
The kit went together very well, and I had no missing pieces. There was 1 part that was deformed, but I was able to hide it so it didn’t detract from the look of the model. The instructions where clear, although there was one or 2 steps where they needed updating to the version 3 changes in the design. Over all a really good build, and will have to buy more products eventually.
Anonymous –
Will this be back in stock soon? I wanted to buy this for my son after he asked me to get it and I took a look but he didn’t have the pocket money to get it. It’d be great to know when this is back in stock as he’s getting desperate.
admin –
Hi the Tiger 1 will be restocked this month. You can follow us on Instagram to see the update.
Daniel W. (verified owner) –
Very good quality set in general. Some pieces were slightly tight and took some force to attach but I‘m extremely happy with my purchase.
Steven C. (verified owner) –
Fantastic product. So much detail and so fun to build!
Steve (verified owner) –
Excellent model, and excellent customer service. also bought the King Tiger
Lucas Scott-Hamilton (verified owner) –
Fabrice Thurnherr –
Bonjour,
Mon fils a reçu ce char en cadeau de Noel 2020. Nous l’avons reçu cette semaine ( merci le COVID et le BREXIT d’avoir retardé la livraison).
Nous ne pouvons pas monter le char : la notice de montage n’est pas avec les pieces( 8 sachets dont les ieces pour faire les chenilles). Du coup, beaucoup de déception ce soir.
Pouvez vous m’envoyer par mail cette notice pour que nous puissions le monter au plus vite?
Vu les commentaires,il doit être top… mais ce soir, j’ai un petit garçon passionné qui est triste.
Merci d’avance pour votre réponse
admin –
Hi the PDF file should have been sent to your email. Could you please check it? Thanks.
Basile (verified owner) –
The kits are so good!!! Many options for it!
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Artem (verified owner) –
That model is great! Love it so much! Detailing is great, very accurate and close to real Tiger tank. Suspension works smoothly, interior includes many details. As a fan of german tanks, looking to buy Jagdpanther and waiting for Ferdinand and Jagdtiger 🙂
Antonio (verified owner) –
No me gusta la escala. El panzer IV, es igual de grande. Por lo demás me gusto mucho.
David (verified owner) –
Good fit, clear instructions, well priced
Antonio Bautista (verified owner) –
Niklas (verified owner) –
Fast shipping, and good instructions. One or two pieces missing though. Can’t get the counterweight on the turret to work… One part missing. Fun to build!
Jonathan B. (verified owner) –
tracks were a little finicky getting lined up
jon (verified owner) –
The end result is glorious. Definitely was a good intro build to Build Army’s tanks. My only gripe is the barrel and the tracks. By tracks i mean where they are supposed to be on the turret and the front, couldnt get the lower glacis spares to stay. Turret tracks took some finessing, but stuck after so. The barrel i ended up super gluing the first piece to prevent sag, the rest of the barrel was self supporting. Over all, this set caused me to buy 5 more 🙂 (more in the mail!)
admin –
Hi Jon,
Thanks for your comment. Is the weak point of the barrel of the Tiger located between the two “minifigure heads”?
Oreste (verified owner) –
Love this model!
Juan De Vega Cubillo (verified owner) –
A pleasure to build. The Best Tiger in This scale.
Sebastian (verified owner) –
The design itself is what drew me to this specific model. It’s unique in the sense that the “execution in bricks” brings out a lot of small yet important details particularly when it comes to the turret. Very pleased with the outcome, so much so that I ordered another set to customize.
Marco Hoch (verified owner) –
The barrel is a bit unstable
Das_Naegg (verified owner) –
As some others have already said in their reviews, this Tiger tank is probably one of, if not the best looking Brick-built one that you can buy right now. The model looks absolutely amazing and has some extraordinary details, which I haven’t seen on any other Tiger model out there.
The quality of the bricks is extremely good, and the colours match the ones from Lego almost perfectly. They connect very nice and very strong to each other, which makes the model really sturdy.
A little bit confusing was the part list: I assume it was still from the second version, as when comparing it to the parts I received, I apparently got almost double the amount on some pieces, while missing multiple other ones. So small advice for others: Just start building it and worry about possible missing pieces at the end 😉 I personally was only missing a single piece, which is completely understandable on a 1’000+ pcs set.
While the interior looks really nice while building the model, after you finished assembling it, you sadly don’t see that much of it anymore. The drivers and machine gunners area especially. In order to look at the engine, you need to remove the sand filters (if you mounted them) which you might want to avoid once you have them in the right place, as it’s not easy to get them into the right position…
Yet still an absolutely amazing model, would recommend to anyone looking for Brick-built tanks, especially since its really cheap compared to other ones (e.g. Brickmania), yet you still get this extremely well made model. Thanks for the fun 🙂
Sebastian (verified owner) –
thanks a lot, looks great only 5 stars 😉
Xavier (verified owner) –
It’s difficult to get the tracks running smoothly, but very good model overall
Jürgen S. (verified owner) –
Schneller Versand. Alle Teile vorhanden. Bauanleitung gut verständlich. Von meinen nun 5 verschiedenen Tigern das Beste!
Mirko (verified owner) –
Harry Harrison (verified owner) –
Absolutely brilliant. I have no complaints. I cant wait for future builds so my army can get bigger. Keep up the great work!
SHAM LAIRIK (verified owner) –
I bought 2 of these as soon as they were restocked earlier in the month and I have no regrets! The model is so spot on in detail from it’s dimensions, to it’s weight (it’s hefty once assembled), to the interior! I really appreciate the design work that has gone into making this model.
The only thing I could ask for more is that the hatches be functional, there is a commander hatch and loader hatch, and while both hatches work, you couldn’t put a minifigure through the hatch like you could for example in the Stug III model. I understand that in a turret with limited space, this would sacrifice structural strength but I was able to play around with the design (and some lego pieces) to make the hatches work :D. Not a negative whatsoever, but it seemed a shame especially when the interior looks so great with the driver compartment and hull gunner compartment.
Will be buying more and can’t wait for the new releases 🙂
admin –
Thanks a lot for your comment! Yes indeed some of our tanks don’t have enough space for a strong yet functional hatch. Feel free to talk or share your ideas with me on Instagram @buildarmy.
Ken S. (verified owner) –
Recently finished building this Tiger. Before I begin my critique, let me first say that once built, this Tiger model looks absolutely amazing. Quite possibly the best detailed/looking building brick Tiger model currently available. Despite some of the issues that I write below, the kit is worth the cost and I highly recommend the purchase. The issues that I write are just comments that perhaps Build Army can use to make a few fixes. Many of my comments below mimic that written by Dean Banh above, except I was not missing any parts.
1. I too had difficulty with the Feifel filter hoses. For me, the hoses were too long. If I followed the instructions, the C-clips were in a location in which there was no way the hoses were going to fit correctly. If I moved the C-clip up a stud, the hoses were then too short. The solution was to get that C-clip to a midway location that allowed the hoses to reach it while not being too long. But there was still a problem.
2. As written in Dean’s review, the rearmost panel is held in place by a ratchet joint. This wasn’t a problem for me until I connected the rubber hoses that go to the filter boxes. The problem is that these hoses tend to push the panel outwards resulting in a rather noticeable gap between the deck and the rear panel. I think there needs to be a way to solidly connect the rear panel to the deck. But, in the meantime, I solved this gap with the tow cables.
3. I found the tow cables to be much too long. I ended up wrapping the tow cable around the left side filter box which resulted in pulling the rear panel closer. It ended up being a nice workaround that solved the rear panel gap and the overlong tow cables.
4. The 1×1 round studs with handlebar that Dean was missing were included in my kit. However, the gray colored ones were all useless as the underside connecting point is too wide. Luckily there were some clear colored ones included that worked. There were enough of the clear colored ones for the gun elevation and depression but not enough for the turret basket build. Since I’m not one to really show off the insides, I decided to not build the turret basket and simply set the turret onto the hull. Since the turret still rotates just fine, it may be a good alternate building option.
5. I’m not sure if I made a mistake or it’s an error in the design, but the turret ended up being slight offset to the right. The problem seemed to be the connecting location of the turret basket ring (Step #48). The issue was solved by using standard 2-stud on top 1×2 plates instead of the single-stud on top 1×2 plates.
That’s it. Again, I must stress that once built, this Tiger looks fabulous. I’m building Buildarmy’s Panther next.
admin –
Thank you so much! I’ll integrate all those valuable suggestions into our next batch of Tiger 1.
Torsten Konietzny (verified owner) –
Terrell Fair (verified owner) –
I also forgot to mention the customer service is pretty good as well. I didnt get a tracking number for a good week but once I emailed about it. The reponse was pretty snappy so i also wanted to give a thumbs up on that one
Terrell Fair (verified owner) –
The build was pretty good i gotta say.
I had extra peices left over so i made some custom mods. Like the MG on the commanders hatch. The minifigures dont actually fit in the tank but despite that the tank is pretty f**** cool. Definitely going to pick up the king tiger . I tried uploading a picture of my finished product but the site kept crashing when i did that 🙂
Hindenburg (verified owner) –
Very good looking tank.The bricks are good.
Price performance is great.
Jordan (verified owner) –
Probably the best tiger tank made out of bricks that you can find. for your future builds I’d recommend doing what Brick mania does with their muzzlebrakes. will add a lot more authenticity.
admin –
Thanks a lot for your comments and suggestions!
Lee M. (verified owner) –
Great tank, really enjoyed building it.
Lee M (verified owner) –
The design and build of this kit is very impressive. The end result produces an impressive looking (and in my opinion the most accurate) model of the Tiger. I didn’t have any problems, or any missing parts with the kit. Looking forward to another build.
Great work guys 🙂
fast1only (verified owner) –
Very good tank. Had some issues here and there with some pieces being difficult to connect and also the tracks at the front lower glacis can’t stay in place. Apart from that and excellent looking kit and will fit well in my ww2 moc/diorama.
Philipp Reiterer (verified owner) –
Kevin D. (verified owner) –
The parts aren’t Lego, and that’s okay, because the price of these kits aren’t ridiculous but are still of good quality.
There was a snafu with missing parts, but Build Army is on it. Love this kit!
DEAN BANH (verified owner) –
To preface my review, I want to mention that my order was in the first batch of the version_3 design, and as such it was missing a large number of pieces (over 20), many of them crucial to the construction of the complex shaping of the Tiger.
I was fortunate enough to be able to locate either the same parts or adequate substitutes across my various LEGO brick caches in storage. This way, I was able to somewhat complete my Tiger so that it looks presentable from the outside, but not without modification of some areas. It is my understanding that future orders will not have this issue with missing parts, so no one else should have to do as much work as I did in finding substitutes moving forward.
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Because this is the first set I have purchased from BuildArmy, I will briefly discuss the quality of the brick used here. For starters, it is no secret that they are not official LEGO bricks, but I can happily assure you that their quality is still very good. Clutch power of the pieces to the studs is sufficient for all of the designs, a very important aspect of the brick manufacturing. Additionally, there is little to no mold flash present on the parts, meaning that there should be no trim work necessary with a hobby knife or nippers anywhere. Although, I still kept a razor handy for removing some mold nubs on the edges of some parts for aesthetic reasons. However, some of the bricks had some subtle scratches in the surface (probably from the manufacturing process), which I simply turned inwards while building so that the “good side” faces out.
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The Tiger I model produced by BuildArmy is a very impressive model. Much careful planning was put into recreating the exact sloping angles seen all over the Tiger I’s design, however minor. This I certainly appreciate from an engineering perspective, but if one is looking to purchase this model also to use as a toy, then I must warn that certain parts of the model are fragile and must be handled with care.
Starting from the bottom up, I can say that the hull is solidly-constructed, save for the front and rearmost areas. The frontal transmission had to be shaped the way it is to nail the sloping seen on the real-life tank, but I must warn that attempting to pick up the Tiger by the frontal transmission/glacis plate will result in damage to the design. I suggest gripping it by the bottom of the hull with your thumb on top of the main “box” section of the hull, above the driver’s vision block.
The rearmost armor panel (with the mufflers) is attached to the model by two male/female “clicking” or “ratcheting” joints on the bottom of the hull. This grants the Tiger a very realistic rear slope, but unfortunately the “clicking” interval is not exact, meaning that the teeth on the female ratchet are not fully-in-place in order to accomplish this slope. This means the back of the hull is liable to swing back about 15 degrees and click into place if any force is exerted on the rear of the hull. Pushing it back into place will hold it there, but it should be noted that so much weight on just two ratcheting joints mounted on a reverse slope would only be expected to make it fall back. I am not sure as to the longevity of such a design choice holding the back plate up over time.
The road wheels and suspension are a very attractive feature of this model. As one of the few (if not the only) mass-produced brick-based Tiger models on the market with a working suspension, I saw this as the main reason for me to buy this model. The suspension does not disappoint, as it is very sturdy and looks excellent to boot. However, the procedure of manually placing all of the 12 road wheels per side was fairly difficult, as pushing the wheels onto their axles require quite a bit of force, and many of the wheel pairs do not have exact stoppers to help measure exactly how far in the axle bars must be pushed into the technic peg parts. Because of this, a bit of guesswork and close attention to the instruction images was required to get the wheels to be spaced perfectly to hold the tracks in place.
The tracks themselves are the standard LEGO Technic design, meaning they are about 3 studs wide and unfortunately do not roll at all on smooth surfaces. On rough surfaces (like cloth or bedding) though, they work very well, and allow the suspension to show itself off when rolling over wrinkles in a bedsheet or obstacles placed by the user.
The construction of the interior of the hull was very interesting, and the amount of open space inside caused no issues with the structural integrity, to my relief. The driver and bow machine-gunner/radio operator positions are detailed with folding chairs, a clutch and steering wheel, and MG34 handle, but they are too small to fit an actual minifigure. This is because the tank itself displays well with minifigures alongside it, but the exterior scale does not translate to a suitable scale to house figures (understandably). The rear Maybach engine and additional internal components are nice and detailed as well, and are covered on top by grille pieces.
Some complains I have about the design is that many areas are built using several smaller bricks when I feel that they would be more efficiently and sturdily-made if they were built with a single larger piece. For example, the hull sides use a large number of 2x1x3 standard bricks consecutively, which I believe somewhat compromise the strength of the construction during the process of building the Tiger. Replacing these with a few 6×1 or 8×1-long bricks would help a lot, I’d imagine.
Also, the grilles and panels sitting on top of the engine area are held on by only a couple studs each. While this allows them to be removed to view the components inside, it makes the Tiger very difficult to pick up from the rear. Since I normally place my fingers under the hull and my thumb on top, the absence of any rigid plates for me to rest my thumb on means applying any leverage to pick up the Tiger would result in me displacing some of the detail parts on the engine deck. I have to pick the Tiger up from the front to avoid this.
Furthermore, regarding the engine deck, the use of rubber hoses for the Feifel sand filter pipes always seemed a bit flimsy to me. Perhaps it was due to the missing parts issue above, but I received 4x of the same-length rubber hoses that were too short to reach the C-clips on the rear of the engine deck, meaning that I had to ditch the hoses entirely.
Without those pipes, the Feifel air filters mounted on the back plate of the hull (which looked really good) became pointless. As such, I removed them from my model and used the bricks in them to compensate for the missing pieces in my order later in the build. With this, my Tiger basically switched from an early production version to a late production version with smooth rear deck.
The details on the hull are rather sparse, although not much is to be expected of the Tiger I’s design anyway. A tow cable is mounted on the left side of the hull, but it was much too long to place convincingly, forcing me to wrap it around one of the side plates to help with the extreme length (you can see this in one of the attached images). The frontal upper glacis plate was supposed to clip on a shovel, but I received no pioneer tools in my set, possibly another missing part. As such, I used a LEGO pickaxe part instead, which just barely manages to fit on there under the bow machine gun.
There were supposed to be spare track links on the lower glacis plate, but sadly I found that due to the design, there is no way that spare tracks could actually be secured in place and manage to look decent without falling off. The images in the instructions that show it seem to use impossible physics to place the tracks where they shouldn’t be able to hang on, so I sadly had to forego the spare tracks on the hull.
The turret, which is apparently all-new for the version_3 model, is a nice thing indeed. The curvature around the rear and the sloping on the sides and top are all magnificently-recreated, although it uses the same tactic as the back full plate of only partially-clicking the ratchet joints, meaning that the curved rear plates are somewhat loose and not securely-fitted until the entire turret is complete. Fortunately, the rear bustle storage container and the top plates secure the sides in place.
The top of the turret is nicely-adorned with a driver’s and loader’s hatch, although neither have space underneath to actually store a minifigure, maybe just a torso-upwards. The front sides have 4x smoke dischargers mounted on articulated parts that allow for a very realistic look, although in real life the Tigers had 6x dischargers (a discrepancy forgivable at this scale). Optionally, spare tracks may be fitted onto the sides of the turret, but I was missing parts that would allow me to cover up the studs like in the instructions, so I didn’t go with that choice of extra armor.
The biggest disappointment with the missing pieces came with the mounting for the gun mantlet. I had none of the 1×1 round studs with handlebar on the back needed for the mantlet nor the turret basket underneath, so I was completely out of luck with mounting the 88mm cannon.
Luckily, I managed to scrounge up a 2×1 hinge tile with 2×2 plate (the same as used in the turret rear side curves) in LEGO that I managed to mount instead of the intended hinge design in the instructions. You can see this as the only light grey part in the gap behind the cannon from above in the images below. This modification allows me to elevate the barrel upwards by about 20 degrees, but I have zero gun depression and cannot aim it below the horizontal. I do not know if the intended design (the one I was missing bricks for) is able to depress the cannon.
The cannon barrel itself is of a fairly sturdy design, and is accomplished without using any specialized pieces at all; a remarkable feat. However, I noticed that there is a weak point in the fattest part of the gun barrel near the mantlet; the two grey “minifigure head” parts are connected only by a single stud, meaning that a careless stroke by the user could sever the barrel at that point, but so far I haven’t had any issues with the barrel coming apart by itself.
Although, it should be noted that the part where the barrel pegs onto the mantlet via a Technic pin is loose, allowing the abrrel to rotate freely and throw the muzzle brake out of alignment. The barrel also sags by about 5-8 degrees at this point, sadly.
As I mentioned before, the missing parts did not allow me to complete the turret basket part below the turret’s main assembly. As such, I cannot comment on its design, although from what I can tell it is intended to plug into a stud on the mount at the very bottom of the hull’s interior. As it is though, the Tiger had enough parts in my copy of the set to produce the round 8-stud-wide turret ring, allowing me to at least mount the turret in place without it falling off. Since the turret basket isn’t visible from the outside anyway, this meant I was able to get a presentable Tiger nonetheless after replacing the missing parts myself in the various internal areas while leaving the outside mostly-as-intended by the designer.
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That pretty much covers everything in my review. Again, I must specify that future orders of the model should not have any missing parts, and so my review may be less accurate in that time. But regardless, I wanted to review this model now based on what I have with me at this moment. BuildArmy has already reached out to me about sending me the missing pieces (before I even complained about it), but due to my location, I will not receive them for a very long time due to the delays in processing international mail. As such, I hope this review has been helpful in analyzing the design of this Tiger I model for the time being.
admin –
Your review is so deep and impressive! I can tell you are an experienced builder and Tiger tank fan. Hard to imaging how you managed to build it with those missing parts. This version of Tiger is quite different to the previous ones in which I tried to push the limit to achieve the accurate scale ratio, angles and details. It has a increase of more than 50 pieces. However I was too eager to publish it before Christmas and rushed my staff in China, which caused the mistake in bricks. Apologize to all buyers of the first batch.
Indeed I have noticed and agree to most of the flaws that you have mentioned. For example the main issue I concerns at the moment is the rear slope of the hull. In LDD the teeth of the clicking joint perfectly but with the real non-lego bricks it’s a bit lose. I have planned on how to fix this. The rubber hoses for the rear exhaust pipes must be wrong as two of them should be longer than the others. But I don’t see the issue of “barrel sags by about 5-8 degrees”, although the barrel can rotate freely around the pin.
I will print out your comment and put it by my side when I revise the Tiger V3. Thank you so much!
Isak V. (verified owner) –
Mariano Floris (verified owner) –
It was a very nice model and I enjoyed it very much there was Also a good balance between difficulty and building itself
Thanks for Reading my comment
Have a good day
admin –
Many thanks for your comment! I’m working on Tiger version 3 and the upgraded instruction will be free for you to download. Cheers.
Sander (verified owner) –
Perfect! 🙏
Markus B. (verified owner) –
David (verified owner) –
Mariano (verified owner) –
The design and scale of the Tiger tank is fantastic. I will buy the other tanks because I had so much fun constructing this tank, there was only a small problem the strength of the barrel is weak but this is a minor problem and we should also consider that this tank is only 64.90 euros i hope in the future you can make the Königstiger (Tiger 2) or the german tank destroyer (Jagdpanther),
have a good day
Markus_Blattner (verified owner) –
Got my Tiger today (btw super fast shipping to Austria / Europe! Great service!!!) Had to build it right away, and i have to say i am very satisfied, only gripes i have are the weak barrel construction and that it cannot move up and down.
Thanks again, and it won’t be my last purchase!
admin –
Thanks for your comment. I’m working on revising the barrel for the version 3.
Clayton Tobin (verified owner) –
Sander (verified owner) –
The design and scale of the tiger tank are super. Very detailed, best i’ve seen so far. Only downside for me is the mounting of the tracks, mine keeps sagging thru its axles, the bricks connecting the wheels to the body dont stick right. But as a displaymodel its fine.
admin –
Thank you for your comment. The suspension was recently added to the wheels of this revised version (V2) which may have caused this problem. I’ll try to revise it and publish version 3. Anyone who have bought V2 can have the instruction and bricks that are needed for upgrading for free.
Ben (verified owner) –
Great design. Instructions a little tricky to follow and had a few more bits then expected at the end. The non lego bricks are pretty good with generally decent connection – although not same as the real deal. Will certainly buy other models.
Nikolaos Argyrakoulis (verified owner) –
Excellent quality, great end result. The instruction manuals need a bit of refinement (couple of steps needed figuring out). All in all, definitely worth the money and effort. Highly recommended!
vins03 (verified owner) –
best Tiger on market
Willi F. (verified owner) –
Barbara Vidussi (verified owner) –
Kiki (verified owner) –
Very nice model, full of details. Good scale as well, not too big next to minifigures. Respect the dimensions of the real tank from all angles. Just two minor downsides : the barrel is weak and fall appart easily, and it’s difficult to put minifigures inside. But overall, very satisfied.