Tiger 131 In South Wales

[Steen Vøler]

Tiger 131
You can clearly see the cut off part

[Steen Vøler]

Another angle

[davidwilkins]

Vince, Steen,

Many thanks for the observation and photos, I had completely missed that cut out on the mantlet.

Today's work has been on the turret front plate cutting the ends to the right angles to match the sides of the turret. Also I was having a problem with the top edge of this plate as it did not look right when looking at photos of how the turret front plate joins the turret roof, I do remember a discussion on the forum about this joint but failed to find it again.

So after looking at as many photos as I couldI decided to remove 2mm off the top edge and add a 5mm plate and then angle it down to the turret roof I think this will look a bit more like what am seeing in the photos.

Cheers

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

It's been a while since my last update because of a unexpected trip to A and E the Tuesday before the model show at Bovington which I was planning on visiting but instead I spent the next two recovering, this getting old can be a real pain at times.

On the weekend it was time to say goodbye to my Centurion tank, it was a sad moment for me as I had a huge amount of pleasure in building this model but it was time to let her go and it was nice to know that she has gone to a good home.

Anyway back to the tiger build. I have been working on getting weld groves cut out and deciding on how to fit the turret roof one of the changes I have decided is fit new thicker smoke discharge brackets and have them permanently fitted to the turret sides rather than to the turret roof. The turret roof will now be cut around these brackets to allow the roof to be removed hopefully by the time the weld simulation is in place it will not be noticeable.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

I have been working on the mantlet and details on the gun barrel since the last update. As regards to the mantlet I have been doing a bit of chopping here and there to try and improve the the look of it as it looks a fair bit thicker than than the one on tiger 131 at the museum, that's just my opinion based on photos. I have also tried to give a cast texture to the relevant areas of the mantlet.

I have fitted the lubrication screws to the barrel sleeve and the drain hole. The screws are 1.4mm threaded slot screws with a head diameter of 2.7mm I carefully sanded these down to 2.5mm. I then used a 2.5 drill bit and drilled 0.7mm into the sleeve to counter sink the screws slightly below the surface of the sleeve and although they are slightly over sized as they should be 2.33mm I am very pleased with the results. The information on this topic was posted on forum before so many thanks for sharing the info.

Regards

David
.

[simon_manning]

Keep going, to good to stop now, regards simon manning.

[davidwilkins]

Hi Simon, Many thanks for your encouragement, I have lost my mojo over the past few months on this build so to keep going I just set myself small objectives to get done by the end each week.

I have finished all of the upgrades to the gun barrel so I have now moved onto the vision ports on the side of the turret. My first thoughts after trial fitting them that they were to flush with the side of the turret so I made some spacer rings to give more depth to them. This will allow for heavy bead of weld simulation and to add 2 milled angles to the vision port.

Regards

David

[simon_manning]

At any stage of the build the mojo can leave, i struggled at the end of my sturmtiger and doing to the level you are is exhausting, making every part better, stick with it, the forum and myself enjoy this attention to detail, it shows what can be achieved, regards simon.

[davidwilkins]

Hi Simon.

Many thanks for your kind words much appreciated. I have had a better week on the tiger than I expected so that has put my mind in a better place, hopefully in a few weeks I can strip the turret back to individual pieces and get them painted then the turret should start to take shape.

Cheers

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

Slow progress but still moving forward. Decided to dismantle the turret and get some etch primer onto the turret parts then to start getting the weld simulations done. I have also tried to do some impact damage to the pivot lifting lug on the mantlet not sure how this is going to work out yet, time will tell. I will probably have a go with the damage under the gun barrel and turret ring next.

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

Have managed to do the shell damage under the mantlet and turret ring it just needs to be painted now. I have upgraded the escape hatch locking mechanism but I have to be honest as I have copied this from other forum members builds.

The base coat of paint is now on the turret so I am now looking at the cupola and loaders hatch. After looking on David Byrdens website and the measurements that he has I am thinking about doing a big upgrade to this but I need to a bit more research as I am not sure if I can do this on the size of the rotary table that I have.

David

[Vince Cutajar]

Nice work David.

Vince

[davidwilkins]

Vince, thanks for your comment.

David

[simon_manning]

Looking like the real deal now david, regards simon.

[davidwilkins]

Thanks Simon, it does look better with the turret on.

Cheers, David