Tiger 1 range target refurbish ......again.

[Mark Heaps]

I concur with what Adrian Harris posted. Bergung is german for recovery. What Phil has called the "Bergepanzer" does not have a winch so would not have been capable of recovering another Tiger if it bogged in.
The crane/jib assembly also looks a bit week to lift a Tiger engine so looks more like a specialist support vehicle, possibly a one off using a tank when they could not get a replacement barrel for it at the time, but would have gone back to being a gun tank as soon as a replacement barrel arrived.

During my 22 years in REME, a lot spent in first-line support, the primary repair vehicle, first FV434 and then Warrior 512 had a good crane but no winch. The recovery vehichle ChARV ( Chieftain Armoured Recovery Vehicle) had winch but no crane. Later we got ChARRV ( Chieftain Armoured Repair & Recovery Vehicle ) & later still CrARRV, the Challenger version, both of which had a crane but it was secondary to our purpose.

The extra lifting capability was good to have as an extra asset to the fitter section but could be lost at extremely short notice. Recovery vehicles could be tasked anywhere & anytime causing them to abandon whatever repair jobs they were doing at the time. Generally the ARRVs were crewed by the Recovery Mechanic as driver & winch op, VM corporal as commander & the young junior tradesmen. The gunfitter, Inst Tech ( if we had one ), the more experienced Vehicle Mechanics & ECE´s were normally all on 24A ( FV432 ) or 24B the repair vehicle.

[Phil Woollard]

Interesting thanks Adrian, and thanks to Mark.

[Phil Woollard]

Work continues on the arse end, I will soon have the long list of parts from Monique so I best crack on with this as and when I can.



and a quick video of the bespoke motion pack trial, when I say bespoke it's a mix of Armortek and my own, the work table turn around is a bit sketchy.

[Phil Woollard]

A little more progress with the old range target, do you know that this old Tiger1 has been with me for more than 12 years, maybe even 15 years!
Once upon a time Mark and Gill Watkins gave us a large box of spare Tiger 1 parts to put together and abuse, and the rest is history, many videos later mostly of the old girl being shot, blown up, submerged, recovered, rebuilt and towed around all over the place, I wonder how many new customers were drawn in with the old girls adventures? Anyway she now lives, and rather than being a static for once she moves under her own steam and will now drag the new old range target about, these things are indestructible!

[Phil Woollard]

Spent a few hours on the ol girl yesterday, to dam cold and windy today. A few little easy tips for any new builders.
Thought of the day....."mountaineering movies are so boring! "

[Robert E Morey]

Phil,
I've been around long enough to remember you shooting this thing and blowing er up! All good fun in those days. Great to see it get some proper "love" these days. Will make a nice model once again. Hopefully not to be blown up again.
B

[Phil Woollard]

Remember this one Bob?

[Phil Woollard]

And this old video prior to the demolition.

[Robert E Morey]

Oh yes! Hard to believe that target is still rolling in one piece!
Best regards,
B

[yves mouton]

Hello Phil,

Awesome video's
How mutch did you blow up this tiger 1

Best regards Yves

[Phil Woollard]

A busy day fabricating the fenders, why fabricate them? I'm to tight to buy them. Sorry for all the posts.

[Simon Peck]

Impressive how such a range wreck can be brought back to life. Not dissimilar to some full size tanks. Phil, what material/thickness did you use for the skirts, and how did you fold them?

[Phil Woollard]

Hi Simon, it is amazing what can be done, although a little expensive for the new old stock parts but I'm not complaining as I for one really need the parts service as do so many others, it's so important!
The kit side skirts are around 1mm thick, I'm using .6mm as it's easier to work and I want every knock and ding as the vehicle gets used to really show, and it will!
The bends need to be made on a bending machine, it is possible to make a wooden former and bend by hand but that takes some skill.
I'm using a very beefy bender that I found new for sale on ebay, warco and others are very good.
I will post a better pic of the bender later.

[Phil Woollard]

I'm plodding on with the Bergetiger

[Phil Woollard]

I've made a start on the front towing point. I ought to really wait for the mill to arrive as it's should be here before Christmas but I just can't hang around, so by hand for now it is.
The video of the hv hits