King Tiger

[Jerry Carducci]

I've done what I set out to do for the rear hatch. I made a latch for the cover but decided not to use it as it was too difficult to
mount it and utilize it. I don't think I'll miss it. A few things to finish on the loader's hatch then on to the engine deck.

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Liam's idler shafts arrived today! Very pretty parts- almost a shame to bury them in the model! The wrench set is pretty spiff as well!

Left shaft pictured.

To be fitted soon.

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

I find that I've been stuck on turret details longer than I expected. Also I was was distracted by a new addition to the 'farm' some while back.

I'd painted the inside of the hatches but didn't like the look so I experimented making sort of an off-white/beige or 'ivory' color for this.
I came up with something that should pass. I understand the the Germans switched from off white interiors to primer red then back again to off white about the time they suspended applying zimmerit. So I went along that path.

I made the armored covers for the rear hatch torsion bars. My solution for attaching these was to braze two 2-56 (SAE types) screws, sans head, to the lower edge of these and make two corresponding holes in the turret face to mount these with. This seems to work; they're pretty tight and I'm
going to try mounting them in this way without any adhesive so they could be removed if needed. I hate building myself into a 'corner'!


Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Couldn't resit adding a vision block... somebody stop me!

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

I'm taking a bit of a break for a few days from direct work on this model.

As I mentioned in Chang's thread on Liam's idler cranks I also have these but haven't fit them yet. At the moment my tracks are far too loose
and do not perform well. The swings arms are set at 32° however I may change this.

I've been working on a more involved model profile definition on ETHOS to limit the top speed on my KT to perhaps no more than 40%; Wanting
full stick throw over the entire throttle forward and reverse I have implemented a mix with a gentler acceleration curve and a forward-reverse
controlled by a 3 position switch. I've become wary of having a dependency on the throttle stick being centered for idle- in keeping with other models idle (off) is all the way at the lowest stick setting. Having had the model respond unexpectedly to an overly sensitive throttle more than once was enough for me.

I'd show the mix and curves used here however ETHOS as good as it is doesn't really have a good way of showing a model profile in a form
easy to convey. If anyone is interested I can share the .bin file once I have it fully fleshed out...

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Did a few odds and ends to the model. Worked with the rear engine deck where I made a few lift hooks. Wanted to make the rough aiming rod
for the turret roof, need to add corresponding bars to the cupola scope cover. Fun little things like this. Applied primer and initial top coat to upper and rear engine decks. Need to address upper deck fasteners as the forward three do not align with the holes on the lower hull (glacis); have been ignoring this.

I did implement a new model profile for this model where I flattened out the acceleration curve and put a limit of 32% maximum on the top speed. Also applied a 4 second delay for acceleration in speed and a .3sec delay for deceleration. The model is much more enjoyable to run like this with a far less touchy throttle. I may make a further change to allow full top speed if a logic switch condition is met- but also not to allow any movement at startup
if full speed option is inadvertently selected.

I have telemetry data for battery monitoring; both real time current draw and current battery voltage. I'm going to add audible call outs for when the battery drops below a certain threshold or the current draw exceeds another threshold.

I need to make the torsion bar settings permanent; I've not yet made any index indents on the anchor points yet; wanted to wait until I have Liam's
new idler shafts mounted and the appropriate number of links fixed.

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Finally took the time to install those excellent upgraded idler shafts from Liam. Went in pretty smoothly. made one or two minor modifications
to model parts. As these shafts were prepared with an M6 thread for the wheel retainer I switched to a socket head cap screw, stainless. To
accommodate this I machined a small relief in the idler cap. Also to facilitate alignment of the adjustment arm with the shaft's lock screw I milled off
about .5mm/.020".

I was able to remove 1 link pair from each track and the performance is excellent. This coupled with reducing the output level to 30% and implementing a much flatter throttle curve makes the model much easier and more pleasant to control. I'm attaching a brief test run video I performed in the limited space of my garage. I had been leery of running into my other Audi which lives right in the middle(!) of my shop...it wouldn't do to have a collision.



I'm very pleased with the performance. The voice you might hear is a verbal real-time call-out of current (Amps) usage telemetry as the model is running.

Such fun!

Onward with more fun details...

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Sometimes, just sometimes I think I'm afraid to finish a project so I find things to do to extend the fun....

I kept looking at the drivers periscope thinking..,. "that should really be animated"; under radio control.

So a bit of milling here, an added bit or two of scrap steel there; I milled out a notch in the top of the glacis where this position is,
made a retainer and arm to keep the movable piece in place while giving me a control arm ... and throw in a small old analog servo and a few linkage bits
and veeola...



I need to adjust the linkage to provide a bit more deflection but it works.

I originally wanted to put my FPV camera under this position but so far I've not found the right size optical grade prisms to make it a reality.
Being able to have the driver's real perspective as seen through a functional periscope will have to wait....

Still trying to decide if I want to use one of my few Geiβwerk beauteous headlights or I use the kit lamp that I've worked over.
Both have their strengths.

While I ponder this I think it's on to making the bow MG move about... I mean I have all those physical controls on the X20HD just waiting for
something to control! I recall Armortek made one of these interfaces but I've not seen it or if it's adaptable to this vintage model....

Jerry

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Wonderful!
I want to do the same.

[Tim Carr]

Very Nice

Later Tim

[Jerry Carducci]

Wonderful!
I want to do the same.

There isn’t many moving parts…I moved the connection point on the visor port closer to the center of the unit to get the better deflection I wanted. I had milled out the kit piece to have a more realistic periscope.

I began making some modifications to the bow MG. I decided I’m only going to make it move in just one axis- from side to side. Sheer laziness is the reason.

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Had a go at implementing movement for the bow MG. Not quite overwhelming but still better than having it just sit there.
Controlling just 1 axis is limiting as knew it would but I don't have a huge time investment with this. For the moment it will
suffice.

I implemented a 2.5 second delay when moving the MG so as to avoid an annoying jerkiness...



Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Finally gave the King Tiger its hat back.

I'd almost forgotten what a struggle it is to put the turret back where it belongs. Such a heavy piece of kit..

How do the rest of you guys mount the turret back on by yourselves? Aligning all those engagement bolts while not crushing any cables, plugs or
your hands? I'm think I need to make some sort of small hoist to help position the thing. Taking it off is easy; the un-taking it off is hard.

I'm going to roll it outside to touch up bare spots and cover things that weren't well covered before. After that I'm going to consider bit I didn't yet make for the engine deck and elsewhere. Going to take stock of the detail bits to see which need attention. Haven't yet settled on the headlight, column light( but it will be the late 'tubular' type - I've made these in 1/10 before and worked well. All manner of bits to consider but I'm going to do my best to leave the big heavy bits where they are for a while.

I'm also thinking a bit ahead to final painting and camo- my least favorite part; I'm not a good painter sadly.... As much as I'd love to commission someone to do a Hollywood paint job I need to do what I can maintain, selbst.

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

Moving along on bits for the rear engine deck. Made the odd piece or two and working on the latch or access hatch hold-open catch.

Eyeing the fuel tank vent tubes that run along the rear most section of the deck; somewhere I've read there are 4 of these however I've only ever seen two.

For many of the pieces I make I have a heavy flat bar of steel I slice pieces from like a salami- the benefit to this is it's inexpensive, relatively easy to work on the mill, drill press or simple files plus I can slice off whatever thickness I need- tailor made for whatever bit I want to make. I have about a foot and a half of this bar left and I'll probably buy another length as I use it up. Even as relatively inexpensive as it is compared to aluminium or brass I do try to conserve it...

Jerry

[Jerry Carducci]

I took some while off to rebuild the starter switch of the motor used on my smaller lathe. It's a very old but well made affair likely made in the
1920s. The centrifugal (starter) was so work the there were areas that had holes eroded through them. Fortunately I found an example very similar that had a very good condition switch and swapped the parts; I did ultimately rebuild the worn parts by brazing new sections in place so Now I basically have a replacement motor as well if need be.

I added the wiring conduit for the King Tiger's lamp. I initially had the silly idea of actually running wire through it but stopped myself, mainlty because I did have any wire thin enough to fit into the ID of a 5/32 tube... After trying stainless steel capillary tubing and brass tubing I settled of aluminu m tubing as being the easiest to bend. I could have used sold wire but none came to hand of the desired diameter.

The plan is to make the lamp functional.

With the weather warming it will be time to unlimber the spray equipment, first order of business is to prime all the new bits.

Jerry