Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[Brian Ostlind]

Smart decision to adjust tracks at the end of the build. I would do the same thing now.

[Vince Cutajar]

Been doing some things on the turret roof. Made the simulated flat headed bolts and a shallow groove for the weld seam.

For the bolt pattern, as no particular accuracy was required, I just drew the pattern in CAD and taped it to the turret roof.

Then using a pointed tool marked up the locations on the roof. Removed the paper and used a slot drill to make a very shallow flat-bottomed hole. Did the same for the gun travel lock. If there is an interest, I could upload the two drawings here in .pdf format.

Yesterday received the turret ventilator from East Coast Armory but I will be keeping it in reserve as I am attempting to scratch-build my own (fingers crossed) from the drawings I did earlier on.

Vince

[andymusgrove]

Hi Vince

Loving your blog and work you’re doing is amazing

I would be very ingested in a copy of your drawing please.

Kind regards

Andy

[Robert E Morey]

Vince I too am loving your progress. Those first "drives" are awesome - when she first moves like a tank!

Great details!
Bob

[Vince Cutajar]

Those first "drives" are awesome - when she first moves like a tank!

Yes Bob, I have to agree.

Andy

I tried to upload the two drawings but it seems the forum does not accept PDFs. So if you want, send me a PM with your email address and I will send them to you that way.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Still slowly carving up a piece of aluminium to make my turret ventilator. It's slow going and I managed to do a minor mistake but should not be visible. If I don't like it at the end I have enough material to do another one which should be quicker as I don't need to think about setups and machining steps.

Lower part of ventilator

Still a lot work to do but at least the hardest part has been done..

Vince

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Aaaah, scratchbuilding! The noblest art of them all! This is going to be a very fine ventilator!

[simon_manning]

This is where the Rabbit hole takes you vince, one thing leads to another, hey presto out comes a lovely model, well done, regards simon manning.

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Christoffer and Simon.

This is where the Rabbit hole takes you vince, one thing leads to another

So true, and this rabbit hole is like a bottomless pit (still going down).

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Ventilator is basically finished. As I did not have any actual dimensions of the real thing I just eyeballed the dimensions from two close-up photos of the turret ventilator. Infact I did not follow all the dimensions I had from my drawings but some of them were changed on the fly. I guess I need to update my drawings.

Using broken 1mm drills to locate the top cover

It is made from two parts

A little cleanup required and blocking of unwanted holes in the top cover and then glueing both parts together.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

The turret ventilator is finally finished. That took quite a while. It's true what they say that it takes 30% of the time to make the part and then 70% of the time to finish it.

I made it to be able to bolt it from below instead of glueing it. That's one off the list. Next on the list is the loader's hatch.

Vince

[davidwilkins]

Vince,

Stunning work, the weld detail just finishes it off. Well done.

David

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks David.

I redrew the ventilator in 3D and if you want I can send them to you but I suspect that your Tiger 1 uses the earlier ventilator.

Vince

[davidwilkins]

Hi Vince,

I have had a quick look at some of the turret details last night and I think the turret ventilator on the late tigers is different to the early tigers. However I will keep your offer in mind when I get closer to this part of the build.

Cheers

David

[Vince Cutajar]

I have been measuring and scratching my head for a while now but finally started "actual" work on the loader's hatch. I will be using the Armorpax kit as in my mind it gives the best depiction of the hatch for a late Tiger 1.

The only thing I will be changing is the white metal hinge. I want to bolt the hinges from the bottom and I think tapped holes won't last too long so I am re-making them from brass offcuts I have lying around.

Still lots of work required on the new brass hinges but at least for now it looks to be working.

Vince