PzAbt. 505 King Tiger Henschel Turret With Zimmerit

In January 1943 the order was given to develop a new Panzerkampfwagen with a turret large enough to mount the 8.8cm KwK43 L/71. This was not achieved by the Tiger I. The armour thickness at the front had to be 150mm, the side armour had to remain 80mm’s as with the Tiger I.
On 20 October 1943 a huge wooden mock-up was displayed. The Tiger II had two types of turret. One, produced by Porsche had a curved turret, it was chosen as gun mount for the new King Tiger. On December 6th, 1943 it was rejected due to its shot-trap. The curved turret captured the projectile and leads it between the turret and the hull.