1/35 SchPzAbt 503 Tiger Is Kursk 1943 Operation Citadel 3.Kompanie Marking Decals

A pull-out-all-the-stops 3rd Company marking set for sAbt 503 Tiger Is during the Kursk offensive "Operation Citadel". Essentially, it's all about the markings and organization of the 503rd Heavy Battalion during Kursk '43, making it crystal clear. The greatest variation of styles compared to 1st and 2nd Company Tigers. The set removes much guesswork, like which style of numerals and Balkenkreuz were used on each Tiger. Even the spacing between each digit, spread wide or close together, neatly aligned, sloped towards the front, or unevenly applied, are now a non-issue. A straightforward, zero-fuss approach to application.

Of great interest are Tigers "314" and "323". Both had an additional black outline, even though the digits had black in-fills. These are clues that they were originally white numbers with black outlines. The Tigers at Rostov had used two sets of stencils (white with black outlines). One that was commonly seen, the other less common, had a narrow/tall appearance (on AXT351053), from which "314" and "323" originated. Instead of a complete repaint of numbers to conform to the all-black-with-white-outline standard at Kursk, they were just in-filled with black, with a thin separation of white in between blacks. "314" was neatly done, whilst "323" a bit sloppily done. All the details of "323" digits were faithfully captured, including all the scratches (inner black) on the right side of the turret.

The illustrations also highlight which production batch each Tiger came from, including unique details (if there were any) that were installed on the vehicle. The entire company is covered, in one way or another (not inclusive of all possible replacement or replaced tanks that were missed out), thus revealing the full organizational structure of the company itself.

Battalion emblems (4 variations) are provided, researched and drawn from actual markings.

Like all large Echelon decal sets, much effort went into research and creation. The Kursk '43 503 sets took an even greater effort, over a span of 2 years, as there was a huge amount of information to gather, sort, and process. The accumulation of information alone took way longer than that.

3rd Company Tigers were assigned to go into battle with 7th Panzer Division. In the backdrops of some Pz.Rgt.25 images, 3rd Company Tigers can be found.