The Maus under construction at the Krupps Munitions Factory

The vehicle was designed so that it would fit on rail cars in order to overcome it’s short range.

Unlike most other tanks the crew could not make track repairs in the field as it required engineers with specialist equipment.

The Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus (Mouse) tank was originally called the Mammut (Mammoth) and is the largest tank ever built. The only surviving example is at the Kubinka tank Museum outside Moscow, Russia, and is really only an empty shell with chassis and turret.

The tank at Kubrinka is in fact the only two prototype tanks merged into one vehicle. The Museum’s Maus tank chassis was from prototype hull number (V1) and the turret was from tank number (V2).

The Germans placed explosive charges in both vehicles to stop them falling into the hands of the enemy. The internal explosion inside the tank chassis caused considerable damage as the collage of photos of V2 below shows.

The V1 was only ever supplied with a mock turret for weight testing purposes. The vehicle never left the Kummersdorf testing complex before it was overun by the Soviets in 1945.

Now for the model. The tank went together very well despite the number of parts for the wheel assemblies.

The kit came with both turret versions so although the model was painted as the V2 I completed the V 1 mock turret and painted it in the same camo as the V2.

The V1 version:

The version 2:

As I talked about in a previous blog when putting together the Russian T35 I was surprised about how large it was compared with the Maus.

The uncompleted model below shows you why. I could not believe the T35 was that big and rightly thought one of the models may be slightly out of scale. This turned out to be correct when I had a look at both vehicles statistics – but not by that much. The measurements vary from source to source which is surprising as the Kubinka Museum has both in their collection.

The Maus measurements are L=10.72m, H=3.63m, and W=3.71m. The T35 measurements by comparison are only slightly smaller overall with L=9.72, H=3.3, W=3.43. So the T35 is slightly smaller by about 400mm all around.

This is, however, where the comparison ends. Weight is 54 tonne compared with 188 tonne, armour 11-30mm compared with 150mm – 220mm and main armament 76.2mm compared with 128mm. The only comparison that the T35 comes out on top is the crew numbers of 11 to 6.

Anyway more on the T35 when I finish the four I have to complete. I unwittingly bought two boxes that had two in each.

I enjoyed researching this tank and putting it together despite being the “Princess” I am.

I see a “What A Tanker” scenario coming on soon.