New Tiger Owner

[Allan Shannon]

Hello

I became a proud owner of a late production Tiger No42. I retired from my job in February (grand old age of 55) and my good wife said I could get what ever I wanted as a treat, So got my self a tank,which will be my project for the coming months/years. I have no engineering background and as such will not be attempting any sophisticated mods, which I have seen here (which are great by the way). I have started the 1st phase in my new man cave upstairs and will eventually be relocated to the garage. I am not sure if I have encountered a problem or not so your advice is greatly needed. I have enclosed some images for you.
As you can see the front part does not sit flush I have disassembled and reassembled and get the same result every thing else sits perfectly. Is this just one of those things that you have to live with or have I done something wrong during the build?

Look forward to your advice on this.

Many Thanks Allan

[Allan Shannon]

For some reason the images did not attach to the original post!
Sorry Allan

[Adrian Harris]

Hi Allan and welcome to the forum.

> will not be attempting any sophisticated mods

We all say that initially ...

You may find you need to open up the fastener holes slightly for parts to fit correctly.

Look for rounded corners in rebates, where square edged parts are supposed to fit. You can either square off the rebate with a scraper or round off the part. It doesn't really matter which you do if the joint will be hidden.

Adrian.

[Vince Cutajar]

Hi Allan and welcome to the world of tank building. I am also building my first tank and also the Tiger. It's good to see another Tiger build.

I agree with what Adrian suggested. You will need to deburr every part. I had the same situation in that area you are showing. What I noticed is that the clearance holes are very generous. What I mean is that a hole for a 3mm bolt, if measured , is found to be 3.5mm. So this also gives you some sideways movement and with a little leverage one can get the panels in the proper position. If you still find that that is not enough than as Adrian suggested open up the hole a bit more. Up till now I did not need to open up any holes.

Also, that area is going to be covered in zimmerit so it will hide some imperfections.

Vince

[Allan Shannon]

Adrian/Vince

Thanks for your advice, stripped her down and re-assembled her and it is not so pronounced now, many thanks. the only modding I will do will be attempting is the nuts at the front and back and replace them with countersunk ones. I will if I can get them are the bump stops and the boche headlight but I am struggling to find them.

Know doubt I will be back for more advice as the build continues. Vince have you decided what paint scheme or particular tank you are going to do?

Regards Allan

[Greg Stephens]

I had to regrind that piece to get it to fit as well. I was really nervous at first but after a while you'll be hacking and grinding away. Armortek has plenty of spares.

Most every thing fits together smoothly. If it doesn't take a break and re read the manual. 9 out of ten times it is you not Armortek. Remember CNC is not fairy magic. Aluminum can be stubborn to mill. These are by far the best 1/6 scale kits made.

East Coast Armory has some excellent videos that will make you more comfortable.

My advice would be to get a labeling machine and some good containers. Spend a weekend organizing the parts. Then decide on the level of sophistication you are attempting. I went through a lot of frustration looking at the work some of the guys here have done with their tanks.
I finally broke down and got a fancy resistance soldering machine and started scratch building.

My current challenge is replacing most of the M screws with more realistic fittings.

Have fun. Welcome to that special class of nutjobs building a Tiger tank in their garage.

[Chris Hall]

Allan -

Welcome to the gang ! You're in good company - lots of us seem to have started this hobby as a retirement project. Having an understanding wife is a useful addition, though - if yours is anything like mine, she'll soon start to use the "three people in this marriage" line ! And people are always willing to help answer questions, as you've already found out.

I always say there's 3 parts to tank building - researching, building and playing. People approach them in different ways. But, however it turns out, make sure you bring your new toy to an Armortek show sometime in the future !

All the best,

Chris

[Vince Cutajar]

Allan, I am not doing any particular tank. As far as colour scheme, most probably I will be going for what Stephen White once suggested when he said: "By June 1944, the standard in force was a tri-tonal scheme of Dunkelgelb RAL 7028, as a factory applied basecoat, with overlay of Olivgruen RAL 6003 and Rotbraun RAL 8017 applied at unit level." This way, I can apply the Dunkelgelb as basecoat as I go along and then later on decide on a camouflage scheme using the other two colours.

Vince