Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Mark for the info and the photo. You've given me something to think about. In a perfect world my hull roof plate would need remaking but at the moment I am thinking of just adding a strip of metal just behind the hull roof plate and in front of the engine hatch. That area is not very visible with the turret in place.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Last night I couldn't sleep so went on John Grima's YouTube channel to see some of the videos. In one he did an alteration in the tow rope and barrel cleaning rod clamps which made me think. This morning I went to check about it and it was a good thing I did. The diameter of the tow rope wire is 5mm whilst the diameter of the wooden barrel cleaning rods is about 5.7mm. So I did a similar alteration using a different method to lower the three inner semi-circular grooves by 0.5mm which improved the situation.

While I was at it, I noticed that my homemade brass end pieces of the cleaning rods were tarnishing nicely but this made the light colour wood look really bland. So, I applied a wood dye which made things look better.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Started to slowly assemble all the bits and pieces to the hull roof. This is what I like best - assembling pre-prepared parts. It's slow going, but who's in a hurry?

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

No prizes for guessing the function of this part.

What is it?

Vince

[Larry Frantisak]

The conduit for running the 'wiring' from the center Bosch headlight to the top of the hull....yes?

[Vince Cutajar]

Full marks Larry.

Vince

[Larry Frantisak]

YeeHaa! Now, did you make this yourself, or did you purchase it from someone? If made by yourself, what is the material and size that you used? Your work is PERFECTO and I would like to try and make this piece for on my Tiger too.

[Vince Cutajar]

Larry, I made it myself using 2mm brass rod. Very easy to make using a vice to hold the rod and bending it by hand. You can also use copper rod and it's easier to bend. I am using Steve's headlight and junction box. Haven't looked at the kit supplied parts so do not know what size of holes they have.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Larry, I forgot to add that I won't be gluing the ends of the "conduit" to the junction box and the Bosch light just in case I need to remove the hull roof in the future.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Believe it or not I still haven't finished assembling the hull roof items but nearly there. Only a couple of weld seams to go. With the temperatures we're getting here Milliput starts curing very quickly so I had to do it in many sessions.

Today I went off on a tangent and did something different although still indirectly having to do with the roof. Ever since Mark showed me a photo of his hull roof I have been aware that I need to do something about an area between the engine deck and the hull roof.

As it is, there is a long rectangular area in front of the engine hatch which does not look right. That rectangular depression has been bugging me and today I did something about it before I finalise the hull roof in place. I added a strip of 3mm aluminium between the engine hatch and hull roof.

At least now (in my eyes) that area looks more uniform and better. Still need to paint that strip and cover the countersunk screws.

Vince

[mark lawson]

Looking better already, don't forget to add a weld seam through the centre of this plate as you have done to the front

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks for that Mark. I wasn't going to do the weld seam because I thought it would be all hidden under the turret but now that you mentioned it I went and put the turret on to see if the weld seam would be visible and found that about 1mm would be visible, so being me, I will be adding a weld seam to that strip of aluminium.

Thanks Mark.

Vince

[mark lawson]

you are doing some incredible work on this Tiger, with a vast number of your own modifications.

when the turret is turned to one side you will see more of the weald line, there are also x2 tarpaulin loops on the plate you have added, again these are mostly out of sight till you turn the turret.

[Vince Cutajar]

Some more progress on the hull roof. It is basically finished and has been repainted. Some more work required on the fillet I added which is still in red oxide. Mark reminded me about the tie-downs. I totally forgot about them. So they have been ordered from Armorpax and they are at the moment in transit on the way here. So when I glue the tie-downs on that fillet and the rest of the other places then I will say that the hull is complete.

A note about the turret turn bearing. It feels a bit rough in operation and that is why at one point I was thinking about lubricating it. When one puts the turret on the bearing it becomes silky smooth in operation. So no real need of lubrication.

I added the turret turn electric motor to see if it is still working. Still working OK.

Something I noticed (maybe it's normal) is that with the turret facing forward (like the photo above) I cannot open the driver's hatch. It hits the mantlet. The radio operator's hatch can be opened. The thing is that the remote switch for the electronics is located under the driver's hatch, so with the turret facing forward I don't have access to the remote switch. I think I will relocate the remote switch to the back under the radiator fan grille.

I will be using the countersunk screws to attach the hull roof to the hull. I have changed them to slotted countersunk screws. Something I noticed a while back is that unless one has small hands, it is extremely difficult to put a nut under the brackets of the forward left hand and right hand corner brackets. So today I devised a work around.

I used 8mm square brass bar with a 3mm threaded hole at one end.

Vince

[Larry Frantisak]

Vince, two questions on your Bosch light setup. First, are you routing the actual wiring under the light mount thru the front of the Tiger? And two, are you using the stock Armortek hole for the attaching the conduit to the hull connector, or did you move it further to the right side of the Tiger? Believe you moved it to the right, but not totally sure.
Thanks
Larry