First Set of Feifels fitted to an Early Tiger I

[Lucien Runge]

To all;

As many of you know, I have been working with Mike Stannard (abeit- long distance) to engineer and produce the masters for the feifel air cleaners. Mike came by the house yesterday to see how well the first set of his first production run of cast feifels fit up to my Tiger tank. There were tense moments as we slowly assembled the set over a period of four hours hoping everything would fit according to the drawings he had. It took a little longer than anticipated because he had to photo-document each step for his assembly instructions. We had lengthy discussions on the actual phasing of the assembly and Mike came up with the exact method of making sure that double steps and multiple fittings (taking them off and putting them back on again) were at a minimum.

I don't know how he reproduced the hoses so well, but man did they turned out great! The entire set with all of the photo-etched and cast fittings went together perfectly. They fit correctly along the edge of the tank; exact in their position as seen down the side of the tank from front to back of the vehicle. They hang correctly above the tool box and the lift jack. The hoses look absolutely fantastic on the back of the vehicle and the cast parts which are attached to the hoses are made to be adjustable along all axis' to insure proper fitment. The brass fittings around the hoses fit exact and were quite snug as they slid onto the ends of the piping.

Making these sets is quite a feat because (as Mike told me), the casting metal shrinks 1/8" per foot. This means that everything has to be up-sized slightly and fabricated to take into account this shrinkage. This is not easy in a detailing set of so many pieces. I think you guys are going to be quite surprised at how nice they turned out. All in all, I think they look great, go in place quite nicely and make the tank look as complex and detailed as the real vehicles.

My neighbor Bill, who lives across the street came over to see what Mike and I were doing and although he is not involved in the hobby, he was amazed at Mike's craftsmanship. He couldn't stop talking about all of the tiny detailing. I cant't rate the kit because I was part of the production so I'll leave that up to you guys, but I think it is outstanding, looks the part and the tank appears complete as every Armortek early tiger should. I myself, held off completing my early Tiger kit until the feilfels were done.

I am going to leave it to Mike to post the first photos. I'm glad to have received the first set of feifel air cleaners because this detail set catapults the early Tiger detailing to an all new level. I've seen Tigers which have semi-complete sets of feifels but now that I see it with all of the hoses fitted correctly, I think it's the only way to go for me (although you may have a different point of view for your Tiger).

Lucien

[Rocky Sembritzky]

Lucien,

Thanks for letting us know! I ordered a set from Mike before I had a Tiger and if they are like evrything else he makes, they will be outstanding.

I am looking forward to receiving them. Thanks to you and Mike's hard work and effort we will something very special!

Rocky