Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[mark lawson]

This particular Tiger suffered an engine breakdown and was then destroyed by the crew using the standard demolition charges, the turret was not blown off this Tiger, before this Tiger was rescued to be used as a monument it was in the process of being cut up for salvage.

the main deck was made from x2 halves welded together through the centre, this is a simple process using a Proxxon to cut a channel through the centre of the plate then using Milliput to achieve a weald look.

HEAT rounds were used by the Germans mainly in 75mm on tanks such as Stug, PzIV, Panther and the Tiger series as for the Allies apart from No68 AT rifle grenade, Bazooka and to a lesser extent PIAT tank fired AT rounds were solid shot my understanding is that tank fired HEAT rounds was a post war development, 17pdr may be an exception.

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks again Adrian.

Tom, I am also learning a lot of things as I move along the build.

Thanks Mark. I have to remember that weld seam.

Vince

[Tom OBrien]

Thank you Mark for the details about that tank. It would make sense they were cutting it up for scrap metal.

[Vince Cutajar]

New front ventilator finished. It was good to be back on the lathe.

Vince

[Glen Clark]

A quick thank you Vince. By reading one of your posts I've managed to get my sound working.I've done the +100-0 and -100 on the flap switch(D) I haven't calibrated anything or set the trim but everything works except the recoil which I haven't tried.

I shall pull all the big bits off and place what's left in a padded box until it comes time to install them.For a complete electronics cabbage I've sorted it all out in 2 sittings.

Now I can start cleaning up the wheels ready for etch primer.



Regards Glen.

[Glen Clark]

I made a special journey last year when I was in Normandy to have a look at the Vimouteis Tiger.The poor thing is in a sorry state,nothing external is still attached,no exhausts or ropes or anything.

IMG_20190226_2494.jpg (105.45 KiB) Viewed 1630 times

I don't have a picture to show the central weld seam but Oddball makes a reference to it in one of his build threads.




Glen

[Adrian Harris]

Interesting to see there is a fence around it now. I was there in 2014 and it was just sitting next to the car park.

Adrian.

[Glen Clark]

I heard a rumour that at the end of 2018 they were going to move it from that spot and restore it.Not sure to what level,although I wouldn't have thought it would be running condition.You probably noticed but all the weld seams a split where the crew set off the explosive charges.




Glen.

[Vince Cutajar]

Glen

I'm glad to hear that my notes on the R/C setup were useful.

Some day I will make the pilgrimage to go and see one of the remaining Tiger 1s in the flesh. After all, I don't know why, it has always been my favourite since childhood.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Last week I started taking out of the boxes some turret components for deburring, cleaning and checking for fit. I immediately encountered a minor problem were the tongues of the turret front (CE1473) do not fit in the slots of the turret wrap (CE3470). The width of the slots and the thickness of the tongues measure 16.3mm which is the reason why they don't fit. This means that I have to remove some material from either the tongues or the slots. I haven't decided from were to skim off the metal although the way the tongues of turret front were machined is hinting that the tongues could be the culprit.

For the moment I have put the hull roof aside as I'm waiting for some things to arrive and have continued with the preparation process of more turret components. Some hand fitting was required but nothing major. This also helps me in getting a better mental picture of how things go together.

For sure the black barrel recoil bush will not need gluing as it's going to be a push fit. What I noticed is that the barrel wiggles in the recoil bush but I am hoping that when the barrel is attached to the recoil mechanism it will reduce this wiggling tendency which brings me to something else.

How is the barrel attached to the recoil mechanism? Is it with item CE2485 shown in diagram 6 of the recoil manual? Although it's in the diagram it is not listed in the Parts List of the Recoil Manual and I seem to not have it.

Vince

p.s. Does the size of the muzzle brake look good for a late Tiger?

[Vince Cutajar]

During the last couple of days I have been working on the test assembly of the turret. Lots of hand fitting required plus a good dose of patience. I have to admit it was frustrating at times. I align it on one side and lose alignment somewhere else . During those times I would drop everything and come back after a couple of hours which seemed to help.

Finally, after some compromises, I managed to assemble it to my satisfaction.

Removing material from the tongues. Removed 0.3mm on one side and 0.4mm on the other side.

Gently opening the turret wrap to fit the turret front.

Compressing the turret wrap

After I inserted the turret base I found that compressing the turret wrap was the best solution so that the screws would align with the holes.

Some of the holes in the turret roof do not align with the tapped holes. I am not really worried at this stage because I was thinking of using magnets to hold the turret roof in place.

I think I will put the turret aside for a couple of days before disassembling it again.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Wired in the Bosch light and the convoy light. Also positioned the tank remote switch under the driver's hatch and fixed it with Velcro. Put the MG in place and continued tidying up the wiring. Tested the lights and flashing MG and still working.

Convoy light

Bosch light

With hull roof

With turret

Then drove (played) around the workshop. Really starting to take shape.

Vince

[Tom OBrien]

Vince,

Regarding the roof and securing it, instead of using magnates, I opted to use the two side screws, which aligned OK with their block mounts at the hull, and a third screw at the front above the main gun.

I filled in the two outer holes provided in the roof front. Then, I drilled and tapped for a 3mm flat head fastener into the thicker front mantle (the part where the roof front rests). The weight of the roof keeps it in place, so there really isn't much worry about fastening it with more than one machine screw in the center.

Drilled and tapped for 3mm machine screw in front roof center.

The reason I didn't use magnets, I was afraid that magnets might not keep the roof secure over very rough terrain. I supposed strong magnets might be OK. I found that I don't have to remove the roof so frequently that the three 3mm machine screws are much of a bother, and they positively keep the roof from any movement over rough terrain.

Love your lights. I might go back and re-wire for lights.

[Vince Cutajar]

The thought of using magnets to hold the turret roof is to avoid using the screws as they will be very visible on the roof. I wonder if it has been done before. I will need to experiment a little with this idea.

If, at the end, I end up using screws, I will use your idea pf a single screw at the front. Also, I will use slotted countersunk screws which might be more correct for that era.

Vince

[Adrian Harris]

Dale Jordan came up with an interesting system with no visible fixings:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2871&p=23442

Adrian.