Armortek

Dale, Tim,
I agree...something about putting the tracks on that really does it. Won't be any time and your driving it Tim - thats the next stage of the disease! That is really a super looking chassis. I like how high it rides without the turret. As always super details - thanks for inspiring me for my Tiger build.
Bob

I have not had time to work on the Tiger recently but wanted to share who will be commanding it when it is completed. I will attempt to represent Tiger #223 commanded by Oberscharfürher Jürgen Brandt of s.SS-Pz.Abt. 101, June-July of 1944. He was also in a Tiger II with the same number during the bulge so maybe that beautiful kit is in my future?? However, Brandt was killed by allied artillery shells on Christmas day 1944 as he and his crew abandoned their tank after protecting the escape route for the rest of the unit.


Brandt and his Tiger 1 in Normandy

A fellow hobbyist was kind enough to create a figure in Brandt's likeness for me to use in the Tiger when it is completed. Thank you Eduardo.

While Brandt waits for the Tiger, he has been keeping himself busy trying out other temporary modes of transportation..









My business is hurting at the moment so it's all hands on deck at the moment. Hopefully I will be able to get back to the Tiger's rear palte detailing soon.

Happy tanking!
Tim

Good looking figure Tim . I like the leathers and face detail .. If I won Lotto !! I would have to have that Stug III G . mmmmmmmmm...Dale

That is one stunning looking figure, outstanding work from your friend Eduardo.
Has seen other work from him and they are all world class.

Herr Brandt will serve in a Tiger built well in level with Eduardo’s skill.

/Kent

Thanks Kent!

Hi everyone

I have been focused on getting my aluminum panzer ammo completed lately. That, and my "real job", has kept me quite busy. I can't wait to post the ammo!

This project below was something I thought about awhile back and Sven has already touched on the subject as well. I figured I'd post this anyways. It's a wheel for the late Tiger 1 and I designed it similar to my Panther idler. It's three separate parts that would allow for the undercut that appears on the real wheel on the outer edge of the stamped center part. Also, includes the softer contours.

I'll probably make one to see how it goes just for fun and if it looks good enough may make a set. The center bolt pattern is the later, evenly spaced version as I haven't decided yet which to do. I also included the recesses, front and rear, necessary to assemble the wheels the way Steve and I did on our kits. This is still preliminary work in progress.





I am quite happy with the wheels supplied with the kit and this is a "maybe I'll do it" sort of project.

Happy tanking!
Tim

Tim,
Incredible design work as usual! Fantastic detail.

Small question: what is the undercut at the top of the wheel profile? Your text says "undercut where rubber tires are"? Maybe Kent can elaborate too - I thought the steel wheels were rubber free? I'm confused!
Thx for the inspiration.
Bob

Hi Bob

I always thought they were "rubber free" too.

They had a rubber tire that the two stamped pieces captured which in turn sandwiched the rim and that the outer rim actual used as some shock absorption. (I guess)

Best cross section I have seen is this one (link below). Also a great photo of a real wheel. Kent had mentioned. quite correctly, that there are two types maybe from various factories or time frames. One type has a flat similar to the kit supplied ones, others look much softer. I guess I need some good photos of Tiger 223 to see which it really had. Just seemed like a fun part to make. Should have a completed one to show in a week or two.

http://tiger1.info/EN/SteelWheelClamps.html

Tim

Hi Bob and Tim,

during the war rubber became very short in supply and therefor a solution was brought up for a "rubber saving" wheel copared to the early Tiger wheels using much more amount of rubber. The "gummisparende Laufwerk" ( rubber saving ) solution is very simple and I wonder why no one (up to now) is making a copy of the real construction of those wheels. There is the outer Ring, two halfes of same shape, two O-rings of same size and the center.

The different shape of the two halfes can be made as a variation while the basic set up remains the same. How about this Tim ?

Roland

Hi Roland

Thank you for the explanation on the late-style wheels. Here's a quick interpretation of it's assembly(not including the three center clamps)

This would be neat in 1:6th but also extremely costly. Making the two different style center halves is a great idea and would be simple to do but the kit supplied wheels are a very nice representations of this version already. IMHO

I just figured if I was going to make the softer looking ones, I may as well add that gap at the outer rim while I was at it.





Tim

Hi Tim,

Nice work but also in my IMHO unnecessary work except the gap and perhaps the curve on the rim of the dish. I had the same idea on my 1/8th Tiger II back in the 80´s but gave that up because of the time needed to do all the parts (it wouldn´t show in the end) and I also wasn´t sure they would work in that scale.

I haven´t found anything that implies early or late style of the dish profile, I just think it´s different manufacturers but perhaps Kent can elaborate.

As Roland said, one thing was to save rubber but another was the increasing load on each wheel, going from three wheels on the early Tiger I to two on the late. Going from rubber to steel made that possible and the load increased even further on the Tiger II. I´ve seen drawings of rubber wheels for the Tiger II (modified Tiger I rubber wheels) but I think they would´ve been shortlived on the tank because of the load on each wheel.

Here´s photos of some of the steel wheel parts;

- the steel center part (with center dish parts underneath):





- the rubber ring looks like this:



- the dish with the center wedges:




/Per

Tim

These are 2 pictures i took at Bovington of the King Tiger Wheels...





Regards

Sven

Roland, Tim, Per,
Thanks all for the excellent photos, CAD models, and explaination. I totally get it now. Now the name "rubber cushioned steel road wheel" makes since! I never got the "rubber cushioned" part until now. I always thought the wheel was one large stamped piece. Very ingenious design I must say.

I tend to agree with Per though, I don't know that you'd see much of the cushion effect at 1/6 size, or even if it would work at all. But way up there as far as cool factor goes! Great job on the design Tim.

Thanks all - very interesting and informative discussion.
Kind regards,
Bob

Per and Sven

Thank you very much for the very clear photos. Thanks for taking the time to share them and shed light on this subject. I appreciate it very much. If I decide to do these, they will be more like my first, simpler images.

If someone has a clear photo of Tiger 223 showing it's wheels that would be great! I only have a few grainy photos and none are a side view.

Also, after seeing the excellent paint job on Simon's King Tiger's wheels, with the pre shading and weathering, it makes this whole exercise seem pointless. They look GREAT. Just have to get Simon over here to paint mine

Material shows up this week for the bump stops so I can start experimenting with casting of the stops brackets and rubber pads. as a plan B, I am going to have them quoted as CNC parts as well, just incase.

Thanks again everyone.
Tim

Hi Guys
This thread is like a history lesson
Its great learning and understanding why things are done in
the way the are.

Great work on the CAD Tim

Derek

Some minor progress.

I was going to start on the rear plate detailing and since I need the side fenders mounted to position the rear fender mounting holes, I figured I'd add the notches in the top of the side fenders while I had them out.

The stand offs and fenders are temporarily in position at the moment. Also using a reduced size, more scale looking, bolt to fasten the fenders to the hull.



Regards
Tim