Yesterday I started the day playing around with the Tiger going through all the R/C functions to make sure everything still worked. Had a fright at one point where the elevation and recoil did not work but soon got that sorted. The big multi-pin plug of the turret sub-loom was not pushed in fully in the mating socket.
I then decided to tackle two issues which I had been putting off. The first one was the track tension. The left hand one was nearly good as is but the right hand one was a bit loose. So first I tried to remove a track link but it was obvious that the track would become tight. So next I resorted to adjusting the track tension mechanism but wasn't sure which way I need to turn to increase tension. So decided to open the engine hatch to see which way I need to turn the allen screw to increase the tension.
This is where I found that I couldn't open the engine hatch as it was hitting the zimmeritt of the turret. I also noticed that the two tie-downs I had fitted in front of the engine hatch had broken off. Must have broken them off during the turret turn trials.
- Broken tie-downs and scratched zimmeritt
Had to reduce the thickness of the zimmeritt to be able to open the engine hatch. After adjusting the tracks, I left a pencil mark to show me in the future which way I need to turn the screw. I copied this from Phil's Tiger 1 build.
- Track tension adjuster markings
My second issue was to do something about the bolts that hold the track tension covers. Originally I had used standard M3 bolts but these were a pain to use because of the counterbore I did. So I changed them to M3 bolts with one size smaller heads.
- Cover with smaller head bolts
Finally, fixed the two broken tie-downs by gluing a piece of 1mm rod. This would give them a low profile so that they won't be broken again by the turret.
- Low profile fix
As soon as the glue sets will need to touch up the paint.
Vince
