Introduction
Throughout the years, the German Tiger tank has remained one of the most popular AFV’s with both historians and scale modelers. The various versions and components of the Tiger have for a long time, been offered by a wide range of model kit manufacturers –ranging from the major plastic kit manufacturers all the way to the cottage industry resin outfits. With the various Tiger kits and accompanying aftermarket items available today, there is no version of this vehicle that cannot be accurately modeled, especially in 1/35^th scale. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Dragon Models has finally decided to develop their own (and arguably superior) version of this legendary vehicle. 

The kit
Since this is a “three in one” DML kit, it contains almost enough parts to build another model. The kit contains roughly 400 parts on no less than 14 separate sprues/runners. The kit literally “explodes with parts” and this becomes painfully obvious when you open the box, sift through the contents and unsuccessfully attempt to return everything.  

Concerning quality, the parts are representative of what we have come to expect from DML with its recent kits –superb design and quality. Plastic parts are all made of the new and more rigid DML plastic and a majority of them appear to be made with DML’s touted “slide mold technology”. Due to the excellent molding, all the parts fit almost perfectly as there are almost no noticeable gaps between any of the parts. The Magic tracks and spare tracks with hollow guide horns are other innovative features of this kit that simplify the process of assembling the highly accurate link-by-link tracks.

Included also (perhaps as an after thought) is a seated figure representing Tiger Ace Michael Wittman as he would have appeared during the Normandy campaign. To remain consistent with the excellent quality of the rest of the kit, the figure (which is referred to by DML as the first “2^nd generation figure”) comes with no less than 12 slide molded parts and a small photo etched fret containing the figure’s various accouterments. 

Aftermarket parts
The kit comes with some equally impressive aftermarket parts that enable the modeler to build a highly accurate model without the expense and inconvenience of ordering several aftermarket parts. The aftermarket parts included in the kit are the recoiling aluminum barrel, several Photo etched frets, brass shells, metal tow cables and towing hooks and an assortment of other brass parts. The sheer number of aftermarket parts included in this kit makes it of truly unparalleled in value. No other 35^th scale Tiger kit on the market can boast of including even half of the aftermarket parts included in this kit.  

Decals
As with all other recent DML releases, the kit comes with a single sheet decal set printed by Cartograf. The quality of the decals is consistent with the quality of the rest of the kit –simply excellent. Included are tactical markings and numbers for various tanks of the 101^st SS Tiger Battalion in Normandy including several of those used by Michael Wittman.  

Conclusions
It appears that DML has successfully engineered the most accurate kit to depict the three main versions of the late Tiger 1 in 35^th scale. However, this has come at the cost of an “over-engineered” and highly complicated kit that is rather difficult to recommend to beginners. The kit, without most of the PE parts is already a tough challenge while it becomes a lengthy and frustrating chore when one tries to use all of the “barely visible” and fidgety PE parts (especially those for the turret bin locks!).  

Overall, this is a very high quality kit of excellent value, considering the contents and the tag price (roughly 20$ here in Manila). Though this kit can easily be considered to be the best 35^th scale kit representing the Tiger 1 late version, (based on accuracy, value, fit, build options, etc.) it fails to be a truly enjoyable build due to the busy instruction manual, overwhelming number of parts and the overly complicated and microscopic photoetched parts.   

Despite the undeniable excellence of this kit, it is perhaps best avoided by beginners or novices and recommendable only for the more experienced modeler looking for the next AMS challenge.