Build log of first series of Mid-production Tiger

[leesellars]

Pete

Yep the spacers definitely want machining down quite a bit so that it makes clearance for the tyres. Don loose the brass washers you will need them.

lee

[John Fitzsimons]

As Colin said. Lower rear deck. Seems a bit daunting but not so bad when you get stuck into it. I was a bit scared cutting my deck. Worse part is your rear armour plate needs to be cut also.

[Adrian Harris]

If you look in Roland Mann's excellent Gallery pages, you'll see what can be done with one of these older kits.

There's a drawing in:

Home » Armortek Customers » Roland Mann » RM 1 » RM1_15

which shows the rear deck lowering cuts etc.

To be honest though, the rear deck height isn't something I notice with these Tigers.

Adrian

[Pete Mallett]

Thanks guys. If the swing arms don't need to be steel then what exactly was it that was wrong with the originals?

I'm not sure I understand why the reak deck needs lowering, is this purley aesthetic or is there some fit issue there?

EDIT: Adrian thanks for the link to Roland's pics, although I'm none the wiser, LOL! So the deck height thing is purely aesthetic. I don't think I'll give it much thought until after I've built it and had it running! Maybe then I'll hit the books and compare the hull height to the actual thing!

In the first instance I just want to build this and get it running, not really that interested in super detailing it. Maybe I'll change my mind later but right now I just need to see it as something more than a pile of bits, sealed in bags, in a box, on the garage floor under my workbench!

[Pete Mallett]

Does anyone still make these deck supports for the Tiger 1?

[colin fairweather]

hi pete

no
I did intend to document my build but as I got into it that idea was left behind.

a lot of the fixes are just aesthetic most of the main issues have been hit on.

as for the swing arms they were cast aluminium and some were not threaded right i.e. the wheel axel would not screw into it and sit flush also they had the tendency to unthread themselves that's why everyone has or will pin them.

your in the great position of a new build so you can do must of the fixes right off the bat because believe me if you don't do them from the start when you finish after a while you'll look at it and think I should have done this and that and that and this

the deck supports come with the new tigers.

gill has mentioned after market parts will be available at some point which is good news for us older kit owners the pic you have looks like the ones vince abbott made 1/6th scaled version very nice

regards

colin

[Pete Mallett]

the pic you have looks like the ones vince abbott made 1/6th scaled version very nice

Yes this pic is from Vince's site. I recognise his name from all those years ago but I'm not sure I've seen him around here lately. I'm guessing he's no longer making these parts?

Are the Armortek parts exactly the same as Vince's or slightly different? I like the look of Vince's because the seem to offer what's needed there, extra support with enough clearance to fit stuff below. And I'm guessing they're scale accurate to the real thing?

Pete

[Adrian Harris]

> If the swing arms don't need to be steel then what exactly was it that was wrong with the originals?

As Colin says, the threads were not always perpendicular to the swing arm. As there is a thread at both ends, the combination could place the road wheel well out of alignment. The CNC machined ones Armortek now produce will align perfectly.

> Are the Armortek parts exactly the same as Vince's or slightly different?

No. The Armortek ones are folded, rather than machined.

Adrian.

[Pete Mallett]

Thanks for that info Adrian, good to know what to look out for.

I've now completed my inventory and have had a chance to sit down and work out the fundamentals for the mechanical side of Option Pack 1 (which is where we came in). So, as promised and in hope of helping any who follow, here are some pics of the parts.



So, the picture above shows, top to bottom, CE0131 Bulkhead for attaching to, and re-enforcing, the bottom side of thedeck plate. The 2nd item is CE0130, the battery tray; and the 3rd item is the turret clamp, which doesn't appear to have a code going by the Option 1 docos.



In this 2nd picture the items marked CE0341 are the front motor mounts and the items marked CE0342 are the rear motor mounts. These are the standard parts for mounting the main motors and which you chaps say need replacing. Interestingly, the drawing (such as it is) in Option Pack 1 docos shows little mountings on CE0341 for holding the 'curve' of the motor casing, but these are are not actually on the motor mounts. Were they additional bits or simply left off the finished item as being superfluous?

CE0704 is the turret rotation motor mount; CE0703 and CE0702 are the pre-assembled gear and bush for the turret rotation motor. The instructions say these come with a coupe of grub screws but I can't find any.

CD0706 is the elevation arm; CD0707 is the elevation nut and CE0434 is the lead screw. All for controlling the elevation of the main gun!

CEO440 is the 'Turret Stud' which attached to the floor and passes through the hole in the 'turret clamp' shown in pic 1. Whilst CE0441 is the Turret knob which then screws onto the top of the turret stud!



Finally picture shows CE0436 which is the elevation bracket that fits to the back of the mantlet. CE0433 is the bracket for the elevation motor mount and the final item, which does not appear to have a code number, is the 'Limit Switch Bracket'.

So, if I've got this right all the correct parts are there and nothing missing save for a couple of grub screws which appear, at a cursory glance, to be about M3. So, we can only go onwards and upwards from here!

[Pete Mallett]

Last evening I assembled all the suspension system and so far it all seems to have gone together rather well. I can see no issues with my swing arms, the threading seems fine and everything fits. Admittedly they will need a small drop of loctite, and maybe a cotter pin inserting through the swing arm to hold the axles in place. Was there something that should have been obvious to me when assembling these or will I only experience the problems when it's all assembled and rolling?

I'm going to assemble the wheels in a moment and fit them to the suspension system, if there are any issues maybe I'll see them then. Onwards and upwards as they say!

[Paul Morris]

Hello Pete.

Glad your cracking on, the spacers between the wheels will benefit from a reduction of the diameter to prevent binding and the roll pin is a good idea.
Have fun.
Cheers Paul.

[John Fitzsimons]

Hi Pete,

I have two 2007 late version Tigers. These came with the Armortek deck supports.





I have been replacing the Armortek parts with slightly more accurate aluminium parts. Still working on the parts but the set in the above pictures is available.

Here are some pictures of replacements.

[Pete Mallett]

Just been assembling the wheels on the left side and I'm finding that I have wobble in the single wheels, whether on the inside of the axle or the outside. Didn't have time to investigate properly before Herrgruppenfurher Wifey called me to dinner but it does appear to me that the problem might be with the bearings, initial glance would seem to indicate that they are simply too thick. I'm going to RTFM and then go and have another looksee!

[Pete Mallett]

Well, all wheels assembled and on the tank and wobble doesn't appear too bad. Having looked at it more closely I'd say the problem, slight as it seems at this juncture, was actually the spacers, the tolerances on the dims of the spacers should, I suspect, have been +/- 0mm. It might be an interesting exercise to see if that was acheived, then again I could just get on and build the thing

I've also assembled two sections of track, 74 track links each, which I've wrapped around road wheels only. Tomorrow, or Saturday, I shall get her down off the trolley and see who she does on a push/pull test! That should give me a good indication of how well it all works and I can then look at the diameters of those spacers!

[Pete Mallett]

Well, finally got a few hours this evening to play around with the Tiger and gave it a bit of a push pull across a flat surface. All worked OK and even though I can see the issue with the spacers needing the diameters reduced I can also see that a bit of judicial positioning of the swing arms could help alleviate that. A bit more play required though. True to form after a bit of pushing and pulling all the axles on the left-hand side began unscrewing themselves. They were only just hand tightened so I guess that is to be expected!

However, when adjusting the position of some things I managed to snap an M4 cap head screw inside one of the brass torsion blocks. It's been a long day and I should have left well enough alone, at least until tomorrow morning, but of course I didn't. I had to try to drill it out and attach an ez-out to unscrew it. Made a complete hash of it and now I'm into the repair business! Unless someone out there has a spare block they're willing to sell? I am most definitely old enough to know better, sigh!

I've ordered up some grub set screws to replace the cap heads holding the torsions bars to the axles as the excess on these looks likely to cause issues if they strike the floor plate! So, outside of one minor setback it all looks OK. I need to fit the idler next and then look at the Sprocket drive. All to do on the morrow, as Zebedee says it's now time for bed!