Tiger!  The mere mention of the Tiger caused many an allied tankers' gut to pucker up at the thought of meeting one of there fearsome monsters on the battlefield.  Models of the Tiger continue to be popular with tiny 1/285 models from GHQ to the metal tracked models by Tamiya.   For years I thought nothing could add to the Tiger's story as told by Walter Spielberger and Hillary Doyle in Tigers I and II: And Their Variants.   Excellent text on the developmental history and evolution of a design combined with Doyle's drawings and heretofore unseen photographs made it and outstanding work for any modeller or Tiger I enthusiast.  Not limited to the Tiger I and II, the prototypes and the variants like the Elephant, JagdTiger, SturmTiger are also covered in this tome.  This book belongs on the shelf of any enthusiast.

Recently released is Uwe Feist and Bruce Culver's Tiger I.  While it does not supercede the work of Spielberg and Doyle, it compliments it incely.  While not as strong in the technical details, it also has excellent drawings by Feist and more photographs that have not been seen before.  However, the major contribution of this book is a brief history of the various units both Army and SS that were equipped with the Tiger I.  Germans f*cked up too and one platoon was directed to a bridge that collapse under the Tiger's weight (photo of an upturned Tiger showing its belly to the sky on page 163).  Thanks Luftwaffe flak officer - you saved some Allies' lives.  There's also commentary by Tiger Ace Otto Carius on the Tiger I and II.  Carius did not feel the heavier armor or superior gun of the Tiger II were a good tradeoff for its decreased maneruverability, decreased reliability and increased weight (p187).  What was really surprising is Carius' comparison of the layout of the Tiger I and the Leopard II:  "The fighting compartment of the Tiger I was more spacious than the interior of the new Leopard II.  All the controls were practical and well laid out" (p186).  You also get insights into the deployment of the Tiger (scout the ground first to make sure its suitable with ability to use the Tiger's long range gun to its advantage, no use of Tigers in isolated conditions, no orders from infantry as they will always put the Tiger in the front and expose it needlessly to harm, etc.  Finally, the book has plenty of color plates that will be useful to modellers.

Interesting i ordered same book From amazon. Should be here any day now.  
I thought it would be good tech book to accompany tigers in yhe mud and others

I play a Tiger I quite often in the Xbox360 edition of World of Tanks, which is about as close as I can get to doing any tanking these days. I built a ton of models of the Tiger I, and read a number of books on the magnificent beast.

The day I graduated from the Armor School at Fort Knox, I made one last visit to the Patton Museum, during which they had the Plexiglas off the sides of the King Tiger cutaway. The curator and an assistant were working inside and I struck up a conversation about the tank, whereupon the curator asked if I'd like the grand tour. After sound in off with an enthusiastic "YES, SIR," I climbed into the TC's position and listened as the curator laid out the features and equipment inside the fighting compartment.

It was a religious experience for an enthusiastic young tanker.

I had a chance to sit in the Bovington tank model.

I made a scene because I didn't want to leave the tank.

I'm jealous.  I tried to go to Bovington Camp but didn't know which train, so I looked at the map and went to a place 20 miles away.  Then I learned there was no inter-county bus service and that I would have to return to London go get there.