Tiger 1 2021 no. 13

[Gary Richardson]

Good evening

The heater access port arrived today which was printed in high definition resin, very sharp detail and with the holes for the cone head bolts already made (thanks Vince, superb job on the stl file) so it just needed a couple of M3 holes drilled and tapped in the rear plate and a couple of coats of paint.
This has allowed me to start installing the exhaust system and connect the smoke unit using copper plumb fittings, very few are needed and it looks tidy. There is quite a lot of wiring involved for the smoke unit and I will try and tidy it up so it doesn't interfere with the track tensioner.
Another little job I have been progressing is the turret bin, I have squared off the rounded corners, filled the old hinge holes and drilled 1.3mm holes to take the 12BA screws for the hinges. I managed to break a drill doing one of the hinge holes which meant drilling a much larger hole to remove the broken drill bit, some car filler sorted it out but I am now putting a tiny bit of WD40 on the tip of the drill and it makes drilling the small holes much easier, only 200 1/32 holes left to do for the rivets.... . Thanks Steve for the tip about oiling the drill.

Regards
Gary

M3 holes tapped

Heater access port and cone head bolts

Rear hull plate progressing well

Glad I got the swiss files

Hinges lined up and hinge holes completed

[Robert E Morey]

Lovely details on your tiger 1 Gary. I'm watching with keen interest for the day I return to my tiger 1. I like the roughness of your zimmerit. Looks very authentic.
Best regards,
Bob

[Gary Richardson]

Lovely details on your tiger 1 Gary. I'm watching with keen interest for the day I return to my tiger 1. I like the roughness of your zimmerit. Looks very authentic.
Best regards,
Bob

Thanks Bob, I appreciate you kind comments.

Regards
Gary

[mark j. radick]

Looking great ! Gary ...Looking forward to more updates !

[Gary Richardson]

Hi all

Today has all been about the positions of the modules and wiring. I have installed the smoker and made sure the element could not slip out using a small cable tie. I added some trunking to keep the wires tidy but have now found a smaller 12 x 8mm self adhesive micro trunking so I will change to that to make it less obtrusive. The front section of trunking had to be moved up and to the side due to the turret turn motor position but I think the smaller trunking may work better.
To try and avoid the speakers resonating I have mounted them with rubber grommets between the metal shell and the ally beams and put grommets under the wing nuts which also ensures they don't come loose. There are some wires and connections that can be shortened but I will not do that until I am sure it all works correctly. I have run wiring from the convoy light and the bosch headlight in heat shrink tubing to protect them and they will connect to the switching circuit on the right near the module B. I have used the Armortek light as an interior light which will be visible through the drivers vision blocks and will add a suitable head and shoulders for effect. The front and back lights are on the same receiver channel as the interior light using a y lead but will get their power from the switching circuit which will have a 12v supply once I have made a 24v to 12v step down circuit fed from the spare 24v supply on the power module.
I did do a bit more to the turret bin but will save that for later.

Regards
Gary

[Gary Richardson]

Good morning all

I have spent the last couple of days working on the turret bin, namely drill the 200 odd holes for the rivets. This has been quite frustrating as I have been making do with a pillar drill and my trusty DeWalt cordless drill. I managed to break a few drills so decided to take a break and to drive to Torquay to visit Tracy Tools who were extremely helpful and showed me various chucks suitable for holding very small drill bits, they sorted out some 0.8mm drills which are only 200ths difference to 1/32" and did me a very good deal. To make the day worthwhile I went home via the Cobbaton Combat site and had a good chat to the owner about Churchill tanks.
Now for the twist, having obtained a chuck and both M1 and M2 arbours I found my pillar drill had a taper fit chuck , should have double checked and you get what you pay for comes to mind, not only that but I couldn't remove it and I suspect the damp air over the last few winters has rusted it in place. So plan B takes effect, using a pin vice drill holder in both the pillar and hand drill plus some creative use of wood blocks and clamps to get the height and angles correct.
So far about 150 holes have been completed, seven drill have broken off in the aluminium bin top and have had to be drilled out, the holes filled and re drilled. I oil the drills every time at the start of the hole and again half way through and I keep the drill speed low which definitely helps. Once again hats off to Steve Winston, you must have the patience of a saint to keep doing the bins
The electronics have been installed in the Tiger all except the 24v to 12v converter circuit board for the lights which is in the post. I have changed the trunking for the smaller size and painted it with red oxide and have made some battery terminal protectors held in place with Velcro.
The turret modules and wiring have also been tidied up and Velcroed in place, As others have commented on, the Actuator takes a bit of getting use to, I tried altering the transmitter settings but in order for it to stop at the correct end points the actuator slows down way too much. I have set it back to
standard end points and will just have to watch the mantle as I use the elevation.
If I can get the bin completed today I will do some paint work such as shading and modulation on the hull sides then put the wheels and drive sprockets
on ready for the tracks and my first test drive , I am hoping to have it ready for the Armortek open day.

Regards
Gary

Only 150 holes to go...

A lot of jiggery pokery involved

Modules finally sorted

[Gerhard Michel]

Well, for Olafs steel track links I had to drill about 200 holes with 1.2 mm diameter crosswise into the hard bronze track pins. This was a little tricky because the drill liked to slide off the round pin and to break. Therefore I bought hard metal drills for printed circuit boards which have a thick shank (?) and are unable to bend. With a fixed pin it now was easy to drill the hole, but 200 times exactly fixing and loosening the pins was not a real game. Therefore I used a fixed track link as a clamping tool for the pin. A screw driver helped to temporarily fix the pin in the track link, and now the work went fine.

[Vince Cutajar]

Wiring looking neat.

Although I have never used them, I see a lot of good comments on the engineering forums regarding Tracy Tools. They are well stocked and extremely helpful.

When using that size of drill it always best to use the highest drill speed and always "peck drill". It's quite normal to break drill bits that size if hand holding the drill. There are some wedges (can't remeber their name) which are used to remove stubborn chucks.

Suggestions for next time you do a Tiger 1 turret bin.

The elevation system in my Tiger is totally different than yours but I noticed (with the help of Adrian) that in the wiring loom, just before my elevation motor, a thermistor was introduced so that when I reached the mechanical stop it would heat up and bascally cut the power to the motor. After a few seconds it would reset. Since I started using a geared motor having a slower RPM I never actually hit the mechanical stops.

Vince

[Gary Richardson]

Hi all

The turret bin is now complete with the exception of the topcoat of paint, I decided I wanted welds showing on the top brackets, so I used countersunk screws and a small amount of Araldite to fix them in place, then ground the excess head from the screw and used car filler to get the bracket smooth.
The welds where the brackets attach to the turret were done with clingfilm under the brackets and once hardened should stay in place but allow me to remove the bin if required.
I have also made some shelves to hold the switches for the smoker, power and lights plus the charge points. Two smaller brackets were made to keep the receiver antenna correctly orientated, old plane habits coming to bare, keep the antenna at 90 degrees to each other for maximum signal efficiency, not sure it applies in a tank, but it looks neat.

Regards
Gary

Bin etch primed

Top brackets and welds

Receiver set up

[Vince Cutajar]

That turret bin came out really really well Gary.
Can I be a bit of a rivet counter and suggest something. You worked so much on the bin that it is a pity not to do it.

Have a look at the fourth diagram down the page here:
https://tiger1.info/EN/Standard-turret-bin.html

All it needs is two thin pieces of metal or even plasticard glued in place to simulate it.

Vince

[Gary Richardson]

That turret bin came out really really well Gary.
Can I be a bit of a rivet counter and suggest something. You worked so much on the bin that it is a pity not to do it.

Have a look at the fourth diagram down the page here:
https://tiger1.info/EN/Standard-turret-bin.html

All it needs is two thin pieces of metal or even plasticard glued in place to simulate it.

Vince

Hi Vince
Thanks for pointing it out and I will look into it.
I take it you are referring to boxing in the channel so only the section directly below the lug is open. I had looked at that diagram but couldn't find any photos or other info to confirm it. The recess is only 39mm deep at 1/6th scale, I have some thin ally sheet that I can fix in place with super steel epoxy. At least I haven't put the topcoat on yet
Glad you have that eagle eye to keep me on the right track.

Regards
Gary

[Vince Cutajar]

This is how I did it:

viewtopic.php?p=67122#p67122

Vince

[Robert E Morey]

Gary,
Really enjoying your tiger build.

That's an interesting set up for the receiver antenna. I've never seen that, any concern the metal tubes would block signal to antenna? There is some exposed antenna so perhaps not?

I do try to shield my receiver antenna from high EMI noise devices like motors. I have had models run away out of control when the receiver antenna came into contact with a main drive motor.

Excellent details.
Bob

[Gary Richardson]

Gary,
Really enjoying your tiger build.

That's an interesting set up for the receiver antenna. I've never seen that, any concern the metal tubes would block signal to antenna? There is some exposed antenna so perhaps not?

I do try to shield my receiver antenna from high EMI noise devices like motors. I have had models run away out of control when the receiver antenna came into contact with a main drive motor.

Excellent details.
Bob

Hi Robert
The tubes holding the antenna are plastic (drinking straws work well) and the method comes from my experience flying model aircraft. By setting the antenna at 90 degrees you maximize the signal reception whatever the transmitter ariel orientation. As this is my first attempt at armour I will find out if it works when the test drives start in a few days' time.

Regards
Gary

[Gary Richardson]

Good morning all,

I have made some progress on the Tiger following a few setbacks.
The lighting circuit proved to be a bit of a pain, I bought a 24v to 12v step down cct on Ebay and as soon as I switched it on it exploded sending bits of components flying across the garage. One complaint and a refund later and I ordered a BEC from Mr RC Universe which promptly arrived and worked first time. Moral of the story is avoid cheap Chinese circuitry. I have the Armortek light as an internal light to highlight the drivers head I am going to install and the 12v Mosfet switch will work off the same receiver channel via a y lead. The power for the switch comes via the 12v BEC which has a separate switch and blade fuse as protection. I might have gone over the top with the cct but wanted a steady 12v supply that I may use for other add ons.
I completed the turret bin after taking Vinces's advice and modifying the recess below the lifting lug and boxing it in to give the correct depth. I am pleased with the welds on the brackets and only use a couple of button heads to attach it at the top.
i have started experimenting with adding shadow and shading after spending ages mixing different combinations of paint to try. I finally settled on a mix using Tamiya paints, XF 60 4 parts, XF49 4 parts and XF59 1 part. this seems to work well with my base colour which was XF60 4 parts to XF59 1 part.
I have shadowed the area beneath the sponsons and around the drive casing and idler casing then had a go at the MG area and vision blocks to see if it would work. I think once some dust and washes are added it will be ok. I have also put some shading on the wheels and will start adding detail, oil, dirt etc over the next couple of days.
This afternoon is adding the camouflage and the colours will be Tamiya mixes that I saw on the forum a while back.

Regards
Gary

Switches and charge sockets

Lighting circuits

Ready for camo

Bin completed

Modified recess to correct depth

Wheel shading

First attempt at adding shading

And a bit more