Tiger 1 Steel Tracks

[vincent hung shu yue]

Hello all
After the panther steel track. Now I am planning to make the tiger 1 steel track.
Now I am going to get the original drawing of the track links. Then I will scan the armortek track link and make a 3D drawing. And alternation will amend refer to the original but some measurement must fit Armortek Driving Spocket.
Then a sample of 3D printing will be made to see if fit armortek spocket. finally will come to caster for casting, and test then production...It is going to be months.
The cost of the casting is raised up to more than 20%, and if there is more than 30 sets to be produced, the estimated cost is around USD$1100 per set. Interested party can email me for reservation ,giving advise or even participate during the whole production process .
My email address : hung.s.y.vincent@gmail.com
cheers
Vincent

[Kent Wiik]

Hello Vincent,

Bring em on my friend, this will be a nice topic to follow.
Just a clarification, it is the late type of Tiger 1 links you aim at yes? The ones with chevrons?




I hope it is as this is something I have wanted,asked and hoped for for a long time.
And I know I'm not alone. A Late Tiger 1 with early non chevron links simply don't look ok.
If you make decent accurate ones and they work with the Armortek parts count me in for a set please.
If I can be of any help like with the Panther link as I own a real Late Tiger 1 link just feel free to ask, my pleasure.

Kind regards
Kent

[vincent hung shu yue]

Hello Kent
Probably that will be the same one as I desire. And if you get a real one , it will perfect if you can give me some measurements. So I can base on your real one and the original drawing to cast . Hope you can help.
Regards
Vincent

[vincent hung shu yue]

Hello all
Too busy to carry out this project , and still can't get the original drawing. hope if anyone can supply the drawings to me. Or that will take a long time...
And if there is any progress, I will let you know at the first time.
Cheers
Vincent

[vincent hung shu yue]

Hi all
Still can't get the original drawings. But I decided to modify the Armortek original one . With the help of Kent Wilk, he made lots of details base on his real one. And here thanks for Kent's helping. He will sent back the sample to me , and willl start casting. Here is the pics of Armortek track link after modified.
Vincent

[Kent Wiik]

Hi all,

Yes Im carving and adding more accuracy on one of my Late Tiger1 kit track links so Vincent then will use to cast in steel the for us Mid/Late Tiger1 long waiting for chevron equipped tracks.

Please note this is a work in progress so the link in the pix still miss a lot of features like chevrons, letters etc.
It will not be 100% accurate with the real thing as that is impossible to archive using a kit link to modify so it will fit the sprocket but it will be a decent 1:6 "Mini Me" of my original 1:1 Late Tiger1 link.

We keep you posted how things develops.

Kind regards
Kent

[Phil Woollard]

Hi Vincent,nice looking master links, will you be offering smaller amounts of the track pieces for hanging on our Tigers, say packs of ten?
Regards Phil

[vincent hung shu yue]

Hello Phil
Absolutely no problem. That is the main objective to share with all the builders.
Cheers
Vincent

[Gerhard Michel]

Hello Vincent,

please keep in mind that high chevrons increase the traction, so that turns in rough grounds will become a problem for the whole drive train (like the Panther / Jagdpanther track links). This results in the turns also in a tenfold higher power consumption compared with straightforward driving, with all its side effects like increased wearing of the reduction gears.

Here the original AT Panther track links (background) and your steel track links (foreground) with approx. twice the height of the chevrons.

[Kent Wiik]

Dear Gerhard

The chevrons was 15mm height on the real 1:1 tracks, that is 2,5mm in 1:6 so we made them that to looked as accurate as possible.
They will worn down (like the real thing) when used specially on hard ground.
So that is one way to solve your problem before driving on rough ground or simply worn them down yourself with mr Dremel....

If Armortek wouldn't have made their Panther chevron up side down and had a chevron equipped Tiger1 link as option for their Mid/Late Tiger1 kit I would never have bother spending time helping someone out there bring them on for us Panther and Tiger1 kit owners.
Constructive critics is always welcome but sometimes I wonder why I do this instead of spend my spare time on other things in life.
It is obvius one can't please everyone in our hobby.

The Tiger1 links will get the accurate 2,5mm chevrons as well.

Kent

[Kent Wiik]

Hi all,

Just a short update for those interested.

The trackpin will be much the same as we did the Panther one as they was made almost identical.
They had the same diam 24mm (4mm in 1:6) and luckily Armortek nailed that in the kit so no need for me to chance that on the master
The same collar + pin as on the Panther was also used on the Mid/Late Tiger1 tracks with chevrons.

Kind regards
Kent

[Gerhard Michel]

Hello Kent,

an accurate look is the one thing, the smooth driving on all grounds is the other thing, I mean. The latter is much more important for me because it makes the difference between a successful mission and perpetual repairing dropped track links, lying on the ground behind the tank

At the first mission of my Jagdpanther I could drive for ten minutes and had to repair for more than one hour! This was the first time in seven years that a 1/6 scale model with steel track links caused so much trouble.

Indeed I think about milling down the chevrons. This will be the last resort when the driving conditions of the track links will not become satisfying.

[Kent Wiik]

Hi all,

As I use one of the Armortek Tiger1 kit track links as a base to create the master for Vincent to cast the steel links
I compared all the critical measure with my real 1:1 link and they all came out with flying colors.
Well done Armortek!
Length, wide, space between guide horns and c/c track pins all are nailed.
All but the 100mm height so I had to add 1mm, no big deal.



So this x-tra 1mm + the chevron 2,5mm will secure a firm grip on the turf.
Joy for us who are into accuracy and despair for others....

Going over my real 1:1 link one discover a number of nice details, beside the 3+2 holes in the bar and guide horns, I simply have to add.
First the 2 extended walls next to the track pins.



And then the factory identity cast letters. In my case "crp" and with help at the Missing Lynx forum I was told my link
was made at the August Engels GmbH Eisengiesserei Werk Velbert.
A plant still in work today in Velbert:
http://www.gestaguss.com/die-geschichte ... n-velbert/

I have only seen Late Tiger1 track links with cast letters "crp" and "CKC".
"CKC" stands for Deutche Eisenwerke AG Muehlheim, Ruhr.
The master will have "crp"

Another thing to add is the semi circular reinforcement at the outer end of the link.



And finally this odd looking extension high up on the bar, what is that good for?



Well it is wear indicator.
The Tiger1 track links did wear un even, the inner side was worn out faster then the outer hence the indicator position.
Look here at the Vimoutier Tiger1 with very, very worn out links how the indicator is gone, completely worn out.



Those links should have been replaced long time ago but no time for that during the constant fighting and desperate
dash for avoiding getting caught in the Falaise pocket.

Here are some links with the indicator almost gone, still very worn out links.



All those things above will be on the master and with an hour here and there I will have it sent to Vincent in a week or two for further development in this.
I will drop some pix of the final result here before it goes to Hong Kong.

Thanks for looking
Kind regards
Kent

[Phil Woollard]

Nice work and nice research to, the inner worn section on the T1 is fascinating, if we discovered that on one of our models we would think that something was badly out of line. In reality in turns out that this kind of wear is normal, obviously the loading is greatest on the inner portion of the track, and not so on the outer as the running gear must flex upwards considerably

[vincent hung shu yue]

Hello Kent
Very nice work .I think it will be very excited to get your sample in hand. Thank for everything.
Hope I can cast the same as your sample.
Cheers
Vincent