Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[Vince Cutajar]

Finished the headlamp assembly.

For the bracket mounting bolts, I took two M3 cap head screws and shaved off their heads to a thickness 0f 0.25mm.

Bracket mounting bolts

In the lamp bracket I made a 0.3mm deep counterbore to accommodate the head of the above bolts. The lamp hole configuration was changed to accommodate Steve's Bosch light and a stiffener at the bottom of the bracket was also added.

Bracket

Bracket

Bracket fixed to hull

Made some minor modifications to the Bosch light as suggested by Kent then it was fixed to the bracket using four M2 model bolts and nuts.

Bosch light

Bosch light

Bosch light

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Continued work on the front mudguards.

The 90 degree bend on the side flap was milled off. I wanted to add an extra middle hole in the hinges. All the mudguard metal sheets were bolted together using the existing holes for the hinges and the extra holes drilled.

The middle hole in the hinges were drilled using the above assembly as a template for the middle hole.

Trial fit of the mudguard.

Still waiting for some bits and pieces I ordered from Germany to arrive before I can continue work on the mudguards.

Vince

[Robert E Morey]

Vince
Great work all around. I like your mod for the lamp bracket and will do something similar.

I'm thinking I will use the kit mud guards as well - so I'm interested in seeing how much detail/improvement you add.

I'm working on the turret cupola at the moment. Took a break from the hull. I got stalled at the lowering of the rear top deck plates.
Best regards,
Bob

[Vince Cutajar]

Hi Bob and thanks for having a look and your comments.

If everything goes to plan (famous last words and keeping my fingers crossed) the only two things which won't resemble the original will be the hinges. The hinges between the mudguard and the hull I am going to keep the same (similar to the Sixth Scale Icons). The other hinges between the main mudguard and the side flap are a little short.

I haven't really checked but hopefully I don't need to lower the rear top deck plates in the latest incarnation of the Tiger.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

As I can't continue work on the front mudguards for now, I started playing around with the side skirts (hopefully it's the correct terminology).

Three different size bolt heads.

Right - M3 bolt head.
Middle - M2.5 bolt head.
Left - M2 bolt head.

At the moment I am favouring using the smaller bolt which seems to look the best of the three.

Next two photos are showing the rear and front blanking plates of the side skirts.

Rear blanking plate.

Front blanking plate.

There is a bit of a gap between the blanking plate and the side skirt but I will not be worrying about it for now as it might decrease with the zimm. If not, Milliput to the rescue. I am also considering making three braces for each side skirt like the real one.

Vince

[Simon Peck]

Hi Vince,

Out of interest, are the side skirts all equal length, or are the two forward ones slightly shorter?

Cheers,

Simon

[Vince Cutajar]

Hi Simon

Yes, the two front ones are shorter than the other two.

Vince

[Adrian Harris]

Knupfer do an M3 bolt with a 4mm head, which is the same as your M2 bolt.

https://knupfer.info/shop/index.php/deu ... masse.html

Adrian.

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Adrian for the tip. Actually I was using the last one I had as the rest were used in the idler hubcaps.

Having said that I might not use M3 screws in the square stand-offs as I am seeing some interference problems in the fixing of the side skirts. If I use M2.5 or even better M2 screws and use the square stand-offs just as spacers I will solve the interference problems. More to think about.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Started doing the cut-outs at the top of the side skirts. Using a really convoluted setup in the milling vice to hold the side skirt but it seems to be working for now.

Cut-outs.

Made a mock-up of the braces (webs) I will try to add to the bottom of the side skirts. The plan is to cut them from 0.5 or 0.8mm brass sheet and soft solder them to the original skirts.

Mock-up of braces.

The problem is that here (http://tiger1.info/EN/Side-skirts.html) it is showing the big braces at the edge of the side skirt and a smaller one in the middle and somewhere else it is saying that after January 1943 the large braces were used only for front and rear skirts and the rest of the skirts had the smaller braces. Can anybody shed some light on this?

Vince

[Simon Peck]

Hi Vince,

I’ll try! I think of the eight total side skirts there are three different types. Front left and rear right are a matching pair. Front right and rear left are a matching pair. The four central are all the same. The large fillet appears only at extreme front and rear on each side. This means (and I believe Doyle Jentz drawings are wrong) that all eight side skirt panels are the same length on all Tigers after the earliest production units.

Hope that helps?

Simon

[Kent Wiik]

The problem is that here (http://tiger1.info/EN/Side-skirts.html) it is showing the big braces at the edge of the side skirt and a smaller one in the middle and somewhere else it is saying that after January 1943 the large braces were used only for front and rear skirts and the rest of the skirts had the smaller braces. Can anybody shed some light on this?

Hi Vince,

Judge by relics from the Kurland pocket and from the Normandy barn near the field Wittmann had his last stand the end bracers was the smaller ones. The free front and end ones was the larger type as can be seen in periodic photos.
The Kurland dug up are from a Late Tiger1 but the Normandy side skirt can come from a Mid- or Late Tiger1.

Kind regards
Kent

[Vince Cutajar]

Simon

So if I understand you correctly, all the fillets (braces) are of the smaller size except the two at the front and the two at the back.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Kent for that.

Vince

[Simon Peck]

Vince, yes, I believe that’s correct.