Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[Vince Cutajar]

Starting to loose interest in the build. It happens to me every time a project takes a lot of time to finish so I am accustomed to it. What I do is do very short spells (30 - 45 mins) in the workshop.

Next thing I need to do is the turret roof weld seams. Did an experiment. Placed some kitchen cling film between the turret roof and turret wrap so that the milliput will not adhere to the turret roof.

Milliput applied with cling film in place

Let the milliput set for about an hour and then removed the turret roof and then the cling film.

Cling film removed

Seems that the experiment worked. Will slowly do the rest.

Vince

[simon_manning]

Hi Vince, loosing interest is normal on a project of this size, i have built seven Armortek tanks for myself to some detail, just nibbling away at the build will get it completed, plus you need dark winter evenings and constant updates on Brexit to drive you to the workshop for sanity, regards simon manning.

[davidwilkins]

Hi Vince,

Great build you have there and have enjoyed following your updates. Seeing your progress has helped to inspire me to get on with my own tiger build.

Look forward to your next instalment.

Regards

David

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Simon and David for your thoughts. Appreciate it.

Vince

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

...constant updates on Brexit to drive you to the workshop for sanity

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Vince,
Yours is a reference build that inspires a lot of us. Documenting a build is a lot of work per se and doing the work with the attention to detail that you have, well, is still more work. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your effort to enrich the knowledge of all of us and a special thanks for documenting the cling film method. Never seen it in pictures before. I am sure going to try that!

[Vince Cutajar]

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your effort to enrich the knowledge of all of us

Thanks Christoffer but I would like to thank you also and all the other people who were kind enough to share their knowledge and experiences with me and are very forthcoming with constructive comments and tips.

Even before I was a member here I used to trawl this forum and I can safely say that I must have read all the posts here (not just pertaining to the Tiger 1) picking up tips, tricks and other details that otherwise I would have missed. As a form of a thank you and to give something back to the forum, I decided to do a detailed build log. I have to admit that some of the things that I did on my Tiger 1 needed some special tools to do which I know that some members here do not have access to, so I hope that I did not discourage anybody.

Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost.

Vince

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost.

Indeed! The great violin builders in Cremona took their secrets with them in the grave. 200+ years later, we still have not figured it out.

[Vince Cutajar]

Finished making the turret roof weld seam. The cling film method worked well. How long will the weld seam survive before it gets broken? That's another story.

Now to finish painting the turret with the basecoat.

Vince

[Phil Woollard]

That looks very nice indeed Vince.

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Phil.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Applied weld seams to the upper track link holders and after some unconventional masking started painting the turret with the basecoat.

I think it will get three coats of paint as the tile adhesive tends to absorb the paint.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Turret wrap finished and turret roof weld seam still in one piece until now. Last thing to check is if the turret roof still fits …..

Still fits. Again thanks to David for giving me the idea of a slip-in turret roof.

Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (it's not an oncoming train). All that remains of the basic build is the mantlet components. I have received the miniature countersunk screws. Just waiting for the mini countersunk tool which hopefully I should get tomorrow.

After that, all that remains is the barrel and muzzle brake for which I have a couple of questions to ask in another post.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

As I said earlier, I am planning what to do on the muzzle brake and barrel and have a couple of questions which hopefully somebody can help me out with. I have been looking at a lot of photos of the Vimoutiers and Saumur Tiger 1s but still not certain about some things so here goes.

As can be seen from the above photo, half way down the barrel there is what looks like a round locking nut with a cut-out (yellow arrow). I always thought there were three cut-outs for this round lock nut but looking at all the photos I am thinking there are just two of these cut-outs diametrically opposite each other. Can somebody please confirm this.

Now for some muzzle brake queries. I know there where two types of muzzle brakes used on the Tiger 1, early and late. The late model was smaller and used on the Tiger 1 late variant and King Tiger. In the above photo, the front of the Vimoutiers muzzle brake has two notches whilst the Saumur Tiger does not have them. I am suspecting that one of these Tigers has an early muzzle brake whilst the other one has the late version. So, should a late muzzle brake have those two notches?

Also, in the above photo, the muzzle brake lock mechanism (yellow circle) is shown at the bottom. Shouldn't this be at the top?

One final question. I'm pretty certain about this one but no harm in getting a confirmation. At the rear of the muzzle brake, there is a round lock nut with some cut-outs (yellow arrows) for a C-spanner. Just to confirm that there are four cut-outs in this lock nut.

Many thanks in advance.

Vince

[simon_manning]

If Kent see's this post he might answer your queries, regards simon.