Jagdtiger Conversion

[John Fitzsimons]

When is tankfest? Try to have a runner by then. My panzer IV is in transit and I am getting the sound system for the Tiger upgraded by Mark. I want to get a new full length floor too. Got a longer floor from Armortek but not long enough.

[Paul Morris]

Hi Fellas.


Wow Christmas 2011 was the last time anything was posted on this thread! But I have taken the dust covers off my baby and its time to start again, I have been busting to get back to it but too many other projects have prevented it . . . till now.

Battery tray in and inside the hull painted two tone.

I know its not much to look at but I just wanted to get it going again this next bit however I am very pleased with . . . Vinnies travel lock that he made up for me!

Dead chuffed with this still welds to do before its fitted.

More to follow sooner than nearly two years lol.
Cheers Paul and Vinnie

[Steve Stuart]

I have just got a copy of Peter Gudgin's Book on the Tiger and reading the bit on Jagdtiger I wondered how your conversion was going. Freaky or what, you have provided the answer within half a day!
Great to see how it progressing
Steve

[Kent Wiik]

Hi Paul,

Nice to see this one up again, the forum can't have enough of on going build threads.
That is one massive travel lock.
But everything on the JT was massive...

Looking forward to see more of your progress.

Kind regards
Kent

[John Fitzsimons]

Looking very long in that first photo.

[Bob Gould]

I been waiting fir this with much anticipation. Great barrel clamp mate. Go paulie go

[Paul Morris]

Hi fellas.

Just when you think you can see light at the end of the tunnel the job really slows down, by that I mean through a friend I got hold of the plates for the citadel and managed to get the interlocking sections and holes for the loading doors and gun cut all at the same time.

Hoping and worrying about getting this right nearly as much as cutting the hull as these plates are no joke to attack with a file even a power file goes through belts for fun. Vinnie and I tried every which way to get the plates bolted onto the bed of the mill but no chance, as the side plates themselves are too long so having marked out the slope to the top of the plates I bought some flapper disks for the grinder and away we go, grinding down to a masking tape line . . . which works really well by the time the grinder has heated the ally to the point where you can burn your fingers there is no issue with the tape coming lose .
Both side plates are bolted to the hull using a steel starter plate for timber work nice and strong with an array of screw holes already in place, this seemed like a quick simple solution and has given a strong joint.

In the next pic you can see the angle at the top of the plates now finished with a rough file and then the power file to finish off.

This picture shows the rear plate loosely fitted and top edge angle ground.

Last photo just a general view of where we are, as you can see the front plate is going to be a bit more of a challenge as it needs to be angled and also built out!

More to follow soon when the head scratching stops lol
Cheers for now Paul and Vinnie.

[John Fitzsimons]

Great work with the grinder. I have another Tiger rear plate to grind down for lowered deck. Might try that method. Destroyed three belt files last time. Burnt them out. On free replacement number 8 at present. She,s looking great.

[Martin Diessel]

Hi Paul, great Job! Hopefully Armortek will not overhaul you releasing a JT Kit. It could be pretty simple for them to modify the existing KT base. Keep going on since its one of my most favorite tanks. Martin

[Steve Norris]

Hi Paul.
Great job with the citadel, looks like you really had your work cut out producing those parts.
Regards
Steve

[Stephen White]

Paul - utterly brilliant. Yours will motor a lot more reliably than the original. It's going to be a real treat to see it with one of your great paint jobs. Congrats. So what happened to the wooden citadel you made - garden shed?

Have you seen this vid by Adam Wilder:

http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/a ... tion/4078/

He goes through painting a JT - well worth having a look.

Keep up the good work my friend.

Stephen

[simon_manning]

great project paul, something different, keep at it, a monster in the making, regards simon.

[Per Sonnervik]

Hi Paul,

Good to see some progress on your Jagdtiger project - it´s looking very good.

You´re not the only one struggling with thick alu plates. I made the front plate in scale meaning a thickness of 41,7 mm and trying to work on in it is a struggle. I used a hacksaw to remove most of the material, then used a grinder and finally a file - quite time consuming;




Looking forward to seeing more photos of your Jagdtiger.

/Per

[Stephen White]

I've been struggling with cutting large chunks of Alu to rough shape by hand and using a cut off bandsaw. Boring and not very accurate.

I recentlly bought a Proxxon Mini Bandsaw like this:

http://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/27172.php?list

I hesitated because all the reveiws on model engineering websites tended to dismiss it as only capabile of light work. How wrong, never trust the self appointed experts on the web.

I've used it very successfully now for some fairly serious heavy enginnering. For example yesterday, it cut through a piece of 25mm round stock very easily and accurately. The secret is to replace the supplied blade with a bi-metal blade and to be patient and take the cuts slowly. I'va had no problem cutting out some quite involved shapes in pieces 10mm thick.

Of cousrse it wouldn't help Paul and Per buiding the seriously big stuff but for a lot of tasks it's just the job and the hacksaw is taking a much deserved retiirement.

It's not cheap but worth saving for

Stephen.

[Paul Morris]

Hi fellas.

Thank you for your interest and taking the time to reply much appreciated .
Stephen I have a long way to go to catch up to what your doing on the Cent!
John I find the blue belts much better than the red ones?
Steve I tried to reply to your mail about batteries but it just kept bouncing back saying there was an error?
Simon thanks always like to get input from you.
Per lol and I thought I was making my life difficult? I decided to go along with the same thickness ally as the front plate on the King Tiger, I knew it was not right but as long as it looks O.K. on the finished thing I will be happy but I do admire your tenacity .
Thanks again to all of you more to follow.
Cheers Paul and Vinnie.