Dave's Tiger I (Early) Kit Build Thread

[Donald Suttie]

Hi Dave
funny enough i have had to revisit the rear deck on my Late build,a couple of things that may save a bit of frustration down the line are to check the large grills clear the front deck plate when fitted to the tank
i had to remove all the rear deck components and start again moving everything up about 1mm for each item,which involved a bit more filing,and jigging to get both plates to fit correctly,trust me it was a real pain to have to strip everything just to ensure clearance

the second thing was the smaller grates tended to bind when the hinge pins were fitted,i think Vince shows this on his build,and i had the same issue on the late build also,i think he fitted a few small washers to solve this issue

link to Vince's build viewtopic.php?t=6937&start=465

hope it helps

Donald

[Vince Cutajar]

Hi Dave and Happy New Year.

Regarding your question about the engine hatch hook. Can you try holding the hatch vertical, unbolting the hook mounting and see if the mounting needs to be moved backward to keep the hatch open vertically?

Regarding the two pivoting arms on the engine hatch, it is still a mystery also for me how they work but I tend to agree with Dale regarding the intended use.

I am using as a reference "The Modeler's Guide to the Tiger Tank" and also "Germany's Tiger Tanks". Looking at the Armortek's CAD drawing of the 2023 release, specifically, the fact that the Feifel filter is the two cannister design; the shape of the mantlet; and also the fact that there are no S-Mine launchers confirms the fact that it is an early Tiger.

I believe that this model pre-dates a December 1942 Tiger 1. In that case those two pivoting arms can be removed as they started being used in February 1943 (located under the U-shaped handles). In March 1943 they started to be fitted behind the U-shaped handles.

Vince

[Dave Goodwin]

I saw this mentioned on someone’s build thread and liked the idea. It’s also quick and easy to do. I’m hand-filing the protruding shaft threads to a more rounded profile. In conjunction with the shorter grub screws, I think it makes the arms look a bit nicer.

[Adrian Harris]

It's probably not recommended for the kit but there's quite a big hole in the back of the swing arms on Tiger 131

Surprising how small the contact area is between the swing arms and the axles.

Adrian.

[Dave Goodwin]

I'd be interested to know if anyone else who has one of the current batch of Early Tigers has a turret deck that looks like this.
From the top side, the holes all look fine:

On the underside, nearly all of the holes are washed out. It looks like there may have been some tool wobble or something. These are not supposed to be countersunk holes. Most of them use button head screws.

Is this expected?

[neil graham]

As requested, here is mine. Took me a minute to find the same four holes.

Some of the holes look pretty rough I agree.... I don't even know what this holds down yet.

Mechanical deburring settings a mm or two off?

[Dave Goodwin]

Thanks Neil! Most of these are the holes for tool clamps, etc. It's very strange as none of the other parts in the kit exhibit that kind of roughness. I have to admit I'm not really happy with it, but it seems to work OK, albeit with the fasteners digging in a little more than they probably should. If it had to bear any kind of load, I'd be more concerned but it certainly doesn't seem to be up to the quality standard of the rest of the parts.

Been plugging away on my engine deck the last couple days. I have a few more screws to put in, and a few to change over to the nylon locknuts I bought, but this bit is just about done for now. I'll get a good final primer coat on it, then put it aside for color until Spring rolls around.

I decided to superglue the vertical studs on the tow rope clamps. They are free to just spin if assembled as per the build guide, and I didn't see how you'd ever tighten the wingnuts. I'm testing one at the moment and will do the rest if it works out well. I also didn't like how tight the fit was on the clamp top plate where it had to close over the screw. The provided hole is a really tight fit over the stud. Looking at the real Tiger, it appeared that those clamp tops were slotted, so I did that on mine. Might end up being a mistake but I'll just buy new ones if it turns out to be a problem.

I'm going to try 3D printing a longer hatch support arm for the center hatch, as the one provided just seems to be way too short. I also decided to cut down the excessively long square headed screws where they stuck out too far. Makes things look better, I think.

[Dave Goodwin]

Another little milestone reached - 16 Suspension Arms have been assembled and painted. Currently plowing ahead on getting hubs and wheels painted and tires mounted. So far, 4 road wheel stacks are done and another is in progress. I also have to rig up a jig of some sort to set the arms at 30 degrees and get the torsion bars masked and primed.

Before starting in earnest on the hull final assembly, however, I need to resolve the debate with myself about what to do with the interior. Do I just leave it in gray primer, or paint it in cream white? Decisions, decisions....

[Tim Carr]

Degree setting jig

Check out just about 1/2 way down on this Great Tiger build.

viewtopic.php?t=7796&start=90

Later Tim

[neil graham]

Well done on finishing the arms....filing away the bolt sticking out can't have been an easy or quick task.
I find it very interesting the slightly different paths we are taking through the instructions.

As for my internals, I like the red oxide primer so much that I got some acrylic paint the exact same colour.... just waiting to get the rest of the lower hull on before I give it a few coats.

[Dave Goodwin]

I suspect some of the different approach is due to weather. It's difficult for me at the moment to do any large-piece painting, so I'm focused on the small stuff and detail part assembly. With luck, I will have that all done by the time Spring rolls around and I can paint outdoors again. I don't have the space for a large indoor spray booth.

Filing the axles off a bit actually took very little time or effort. Less than 1-2 minutes per piece I'd estimate.

At the moment, I am focused on finishing the road wheel stacks.

You're really motoring onward

[Dave Goodwin]

Little to report this time around. I'm pressing on as weather and time permits. 7 of the 8 long axle wheel stacks are now done and I'm working on number 8. All of the long axle hubs are painted so I'm starting on the short axle hubs and caps now.

Along with the ongoing small-part painting, I'll be removing the rear hull plate from my mocked-up hull and will start on the detail bits back there. Front panel details are already done, so once the back is complete, I will do a final fit and assembly on the hull and decks in preparation for a final prime and color coats in the Spring. I also need to look into doing the weld beads, as that will be a new thing to me. I've taken some advice on the forum here and am ordering a cake frosting syringe to squeeze out the bead putty in strings.

Currently waiting on a paint shipment to come in. I've ordered some cream white for the interior to evaluate and picked up some anthracite gray which I will use to dust the tracks. I'll then try some weathering ideas on the spare track links and see if I like the results before doing the running tracks.

[Dave Goodwin]

Work is puttering along slowly as it's still winter here, though beginning to show some signs of turning. Snow in April is absolutely not out of the question though.

I'm still working on the short-axle wheel stacks and have added most of the detail parts that can be added at this stage onto the rear hull plate. The Fielfel cans on the right, the outer exhaust covers and left-side armor cover are currently in priming and will be temporarily added once they are dry. The mufflers are assembled and primed but not installed as they'll need a different color coat than the other parts.

I'm now working on the rear fenders and wanted to get some feedback on these brackets:

Would you consider these brackets to be mis-drilled? From the rear, the holes are centered in the flange but from the top, they clearly cut into the sides of the brackets. Is this normally how they would be made? Neil, if you're reading this I'd be interested to know if yours are this way too.

Once the rest of these details are mounted, I'll give the rear panel a primer coat to tie it all together and remount it onto the hull. In the meantime, back to painting wheels and hubs and mounting tires!

[neil graham]

Nice work on the rear, i haven't even started on that detail yet. I probably wont until after I get the drive system going.


My brackets are identical to yours Dave.

They seem to match the instructions, so that indicates a deliberate decision and therefore not mis-drilled parts.

[Dave Goodwin]

Thanks Neil! I guess since the holes had to be tapped, there isn't any way around the scarring on the surface. I'll have to fill it in and sand it smooth, I guess.

Looks like the new drive system for mine isn't going to ship until the end of March, so no movement on that front yet, though I'm a long way from that in any event. It's probably at least another month or so before it has the remotest chance of being warm enough to set up an outdoor paint booth, so I'll just plug away on the detail work for now.