The Panzer VIII Maus is one of the financial black-hole Paper Panzer projects that actually progressed to a working machine. Two Mauses were completed to operational hulls, one equipped with a weight-test turret, and the other with a real turret armed with the fearsome 128mm KwK 44 L/55 gun with a coaxial 75mm KwK 44 L/36.5 gun. A Maus currently resides in the Kubinka Tank Museum, and is a combination of the two vehicles captured by the Soviets.
As a fantastical and completely impractical vehicle, the Maus makes a great subject for WWII’46 fantasy projects. If the war had actually gone into ’46 and beyond, without some of the crippling setbacks that set the Third Reich up for defeat, many projects could have seen completion and implementation. In reality, the E-series of tanks would have begun to replace the aging Panzer fleet, and the E-100 would have fulfilled the role of super-heavy tank. The Maus likely would have not made it past the handful in production during development, but it’s fun to speculate. Even in ’46, operational Mauses would have spent most of their time avoiding harassment by Allied bombers and would probably not have been useful for anything much more than near-static reinforcement of positions.
This Maus is sporting an Olivegrun-based scheme like that of some late-way King Tigers. I added etched-brass turret-side machine-gun covers, and a machine gun to one of the hatches, as well as light conduits and fuel lines, and aerials, and that is really all that the DML 1/72 Maus needs. Even the figure came with the kit! The weathering came out a bit too heavy, with more drybrushing than I should have done for the scale, but I am otherwise happy with it… it’s interesting to note that the 1/72 Maus is about as long as a 1/48 Tiger I. Included in the pics are some shots with the Scaletiger.
Prometheus Rising Studios 