Tiger Ausf E “F01” Gruppe Fehrmann

[AlastairCooke]

Hi Simon,
Many thanks. There is plenty more to come: the engine, the turret, Zimmerit, recoil, smoke and flash, hatches, camouflage and markings plus weathering.

Alastair

[Tim Carr]

Lots and Lots of Great info in this Thread.

Later Tim

[AlastairCooke]

Hi Tim,
Many thanks.

Hi All,
Update 19 Jun 24
Items epoxied to cover top...

View from below showing use of countersunk fasteners...

I will use Milliput to fill the hollows to level surface for the bonding tape.
Inner sheet bonded in place to give the characteristic milled edge and relief for the main vent weld...

Front vent:
3D printed part with deliberately rough weld detail added...

View of underside, I included a filler piece in the large aperture to prevent any distortion during printing.

Front vent in place...

Another test fit of hatch...

Needs a little (0.5 to 1mm?) skimmed off the front.

(NOTE: all my 3D parts are created in Fusion360 and printed by Shapeways. If anyone is interested, they could be made available for sale. I cannot guarantee that they are all drop-in replacements on a standard Armortek Tiger 1 kit but that might be possible with some redesign.)

That's all for now.

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
Update 4 Jul 24
Engine cover-internal details: building up the immersion locks from printed parts and pins:

Cover catch:

This is a Sixth Scale Icon part. Needs to be etch-primed and epoxied in place before the weld detail is applied.

Engine:
After a long hiatus, I have returned to detailing the engine with the inertia starter:

and the generator:

That's all for now...

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
Not an update but some news and a request for advice.

As you may know I have relied heavily on Shapeways for my out-sourced 3D prints in nylon, brass and fine detail resin. With the recent demise of this company I have been looking around for an alternative. Midlands 3D seem to fit the bill for nylon and possibly fine detail resin. They have no minimum order; are cheaper and, being UK based, have reduced shipping costs for me .

I am thinking of applying casting numbers to the domed cover on the rear engine cover and I am uncertain which number to choose. Whilst Tiger 712 (now 112 - Fgst.NR. 250031) has 33, Tiger 131 (Fgst.NR. 250122) has what looks like 77... any ideas or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[Vince Cutajar]

Did not know that Shapeways is no more.

I sometimes go here for a commercial print:

https://craftcloud3d.com/

There are some UK based printers to be found there.

Vince

[Robert E Morey]

They filed for Bankruptcy this week. I used them a lot too!
Bob

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
Update 23 Jul 24
Rear Mudguard Stays

Stays finally installed. They have been in a bag for at least 12 months!


Rear sponson weld completed...

As with the front, I have filled the groove that I milled into the rear plate at the beginning of the build.


Engine and Rear Covers
Getting there...

Weld detail added and primed prior to fitting the locks. You can really see the difference between red oxide primer over Upol Acid 8 on the engine cover and just over raw black nylon on the rear cover. The difference will become more muted when the base coat is applied but will still be there to make the colour less monochrome.

I had some slight fit issues so decided not to fit the front immersion locks. The holes were modified by plunging with a 6mm end mill to leave something similar to that seen on Tiger 131.

Remaining locks and stops installed.

A close up of the locks...

Immersion lock

Hatch lock


Turret
I used a scissor jack to open up turret sides so that I could remove the front (CE1473).

I then milled 0.25mm (10 thou) off each interlocking face so that it could slide easily left/right in the turret wrap (CE2470). That way I would know that the fit of the wrap to the base (CE2472) was only governed by the flex in the wrap.

After priming the front, it was time to reassemble the turret...

First, the wrap was spread using my scissor jack and the front piece reinserted. I checked that it could slide within the wrap notches thereby ensuring it would not hinder the assembly. Next, the base was attached loosely using a M4 x 16mm cap screw at the rear.

Then three M4 x 20mm cap screws tightly secured the front piece. This provides a guide for the wrap as the parts are pulled together.

G-clamps were very useful in pulling the wrap against the turret base...

One side complete using two more M4 x 16mm cap screws...

Finally got it all back together...

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The screws were removed, one at a time, and reinserted with red Loctite applied.
Now I need to design a replacement roof, which will be a steel laminate like that on the hull.


Engine Block
Decided to put some paint on the engine block so that I could get the rear mount and flywheel installed.

I am using Lifecolor RAL 7016 (Anthrazitgrau) over black primer. The paint seems to wear off sharp edges quite easily which is not necessarily a bad thing. Handling will produce some subtle weathering which I can lock in with a coat of matt varnish.

That's all for now...

[Tim Carr]

Outstanding update!

Later Tim

[AlastairCooke]

Hi Tim,
Many thanks

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
Update 14 Aug 24
Gun Elevation
After much consideration and many alternative designs produced in CAD I have decided to stick with the kit supplied mechanism. I will, however, swap out the motor for one with an encoder so that I can implement position control and dispense with limit switches etc. The main reason for this decision was concerns over how much of any other mechanism would be below turret floor. I want to ensure that there is no likelihood of contact with items in the hull. Equally, as I have no need for rapid response the lead screw system should be sufficiently capable. I may install some dampers to minimise ‘barrel bounce’. The idea, for now, will be to use a slider or rotary control on the transmitter to set the elevation.
Therefore, the first change is to my turret electrics/services plate. I need to open out the slot by another 40mm or so:

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20240724_143853-doc.jpg (94.55 KiB) Viewed 1019 times

The next is to design a motor mounting plate to enable use of a Pololu 37D 12V motor with the provided elevation bracket (CE2480). The width will be finalised when I have the replacement motor.

Lift Lugs
Pictures of the turret of Tiger 131 (published in the photograph album that came with the kit) show that all three lugs were of a similar design. Consequently, I decided to reduce the diameter of the rear pin from 12mm to 10mm to match the front ones.
Before...

After...

I will probably reduce the diameter of the head on the front ones down to 14mm to match the rear.

Later I decided to reduce the length of the pin by 2mm:

Replacement Roof
I test fitted the kit supplied roof to determine if the replacement needed to be a different size to fit my turret. As you can see there is about a 1mm overlap between the two roof pieces and so I shaved the same amount off my design.

As the turret roof plate will be a laminate, I needed additional holes for some alignment pins. Images of F01 clearly show that the turret was delivered with smoke dispenser brackets and that these were later cut off before the Zimmerit was applied. I therefore arranged for a couple of the holes to be where the brackets would have been so that they can be hidden later.

Roof design, note provision for weld seams and the cupola mounting which will be completed by a ring that will be 'welded' to the roof plate. A couple of the holes for the bolts for the loader’s periscope housing are not drilled through as they are very close to the fold line. This will be done later along with holes for the Milliput weld detail. I decided to split the upper plate at the fold line to allow laser cutting of more of the hole detail.

As I am approaching the five year point I though a montage showing progress to date would be of interest...
August 2019

August 2020

August 2021

August 2022

August 2023

December 2023

August 2024

That's all for now

[Vince Cutajar]

5 years.
Time flies.

Vince

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
Update 4 Sep 24 (First of Year 6!)
I designed a replacement mounting fixture for the turret roof as I needed more support at the edges to avoid stressing the weld detail and a suitable location for some hold-down magnets. The new support is designed to use the existing fastener holes and be pinned together with some circumferential clearance to allow for measurement inaccuracies.

Test fit of roof support, will be epoxied in place once turret interior has been painted.

20240820_110556-doc.jpg (278.95 KiB) Viewed 749 times

Replacement roof plate
The new roof plate is a laminate of two 1.5mm steel sheets. The lower one was folded to an angle of 8 degrees to match the turret wrap.
Lower sheet...

20240824_145928-doc.jpg (73.04 KiB) Viewed 749 times

Note that some larger diameter holes were cut or drilled to represent the bolt/nut clearance indentions in the actual roof plate.
Upper plates (temporality bolted in place)...

Decided to add some supports at the front of the turret sides. They are made from some 1/2 inch square aluminium stock that was drilled and tapped for M4 bolts. The turret sides will be counterbored so that bolt heads ‘disappear’. Some imaginative work-holding was required! The weight of the turret helped to keep things in place whilst the pilot holes were drilled.

Extra supports in place...

Will probably design some front supports as well. As the fixing holes will have to be drilled from the front I plan to disguise them with a representation of the upper splash guard.


Engine display stand.
It has always been my ambition to display the engine outside of the tank. Consequently, I had some additional plates cut and folded at the same time as the roof. Test fit of engine stand...

The stand has been designed to accommodate the inner part of the firewall as well. This will allow me to align the throttle linkage etc.

That's all for now...

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
Update 14 Sep 24
Preparing to bond roof plates…

20240906_165201-doc.jpg (270.61 KiB) Viewed 541 times

Note use of brass (countersunk) bolts as alignment pins and small holes (2mm diameter) drilled near the edge to help ‘lock in’ the Milliput weld detail.

Rear upper sheet bonded in place with cupola base ring and loader’s hatch surround dry fitted. I will be replacing the cupola to get the join in the correct place, to allow for some internal detail and to enable removal of the weld detail with the turret roof.

Designed a replacement hatch surround as the after-market part had fixing holes in a slightly different place and I wanted to change the fixing method to better replicate the cone bolts use on the actual vehicle.

Note that the holes accommodate an M2 countersunk screw with sufficient space above for a plastic disc.

Mantlet
Decided it was time to mill out the gunner’s telescope apertures. I have a late pattern mantlet with only one hole and so a second one was required. Although the holes are actually 50mm diameter on the surface, I decided that an 8mm end mill was close enough. Using dimensions obtained from Tiger 1 Info I went ahead and cut right though. I will add a suitable insert later to give the correct ‘stepped down’ look.

Long time followers of this thread may recall that I had already performed this task. I had to replace the mantlet, as I found that the fixing holes and gun tube bushing on the 2012 late pattern version did not fit with the 2015 rotor drum. The replacement (from the 2021 kit) was sourced direct from Armortek.

The periscope holes in the rotor drum did not line up with these apertures and so the holes were filled with 6mm threaded brass rod and milled flat.

Front turret roof support and splash guard design
Final design...

The roof support has provision for six 6.0mm diameter magnets. With the design finalised, I drilled and tapped (for M3) the upper part of the front plate…

That's all for now...
With the design finalised, I drilled and tapped (for M3) the upper part of the front plate…

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
Update 9 Oct 24
Just like Vince (Cutajar), I decided to deepen the counterbore for the co-axial MG. First, I centred the mantlet using an 8mm transfer punch then fine tuned the position with a coaxial indicator…

before using a set of end mills (8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 14mm and 16mm) to bore down to a depth of 11.5mm...

The aperture actually has a countersunk rear face. This will be simulated with a 3D printed insert.

Track link hangers
The turret on F01 is from a later delivery than the chassis. Consequently, it has seven track hangers on its side requiring some modification to the wrap. First the holes were drilled on the top surface using my customary Workmate/Micro drill combo...

I will use a curved support to facilitate drilling of the sides with the same set up.

That's all for now...