Neil's early Tiger 1 (2023)

[neil graham]

Got a new toy, though haven't yet used it. I was a little shocked how many different Dremel's there were, so after a bit of research I decided on one that was well powered and had a reasonable amount of attachments included. The cordless had appeal, but I read multiple negative reviews, I have plenty of powerpoints and extension cables so this won't be a problem. There were some boxes that came with hundreds of attachements.....seemed like overkill to me.

First task with it will be to cut that notch in the jack clips.

Finally managed several coats from all angles on most of the rear armour plate parts and have started to put them on. Some of the nuts & bolts are certainly a bit fiddly!

All the bolts & nuts will need touch up paint obviously.

[David Hartwell]

Excellent choice of Dremel model. Did you get the flexible shaft that goes with it, I can highly recommend them. I find it much easier to use and get into awkward places.
Regards, Dave.

[John Fitzsimons]

Don't forget safety glasses when using dremel. Have fun.

[neil graham]

Flexible shaft on the Dremel? To be honest I don't know... but it sounds like a worthy addition!

After adding the idler bolt covers (for want of a better name) I touched up all of the bolts and also gave the 'inside' of the exhaust armour plates & the exhaust covers another coat of dunkelgelb. I will give them two coats of matt varnish before putting them on.

Started the Michelle Pfeiffer holder things....they had a centre line that I struggled to sand off. I wasn't too fussed to see them, but if I could feel them they had to go, so I pulled the files out....made short work of it .

Michelle Pfeiffer's are all scratched, degreased and etch primed now. Will fit them into the holders before I do the red oxide primer

I have to say, the toolbox surprised me a little. It is a thing of beauty!

[John Fitzsimons]

It would be nice to see the other feifel components. I have the very old white metal ones and am thinking of making new ones. Would like to see the pipes and tubes.

[neil graham]

More Feiffel parts? Sure, hopefully the focus is good enough

Loctiting the feiffel parts together was a little fiddly as it needed to be done in a very specific order.

1- do the main canisters into the holder, as shown here:

2- push the canisters all the way into the holder, then twist them so you can put the joiner all the way into the 'upper' hole that goes all the way through, there is a small ridge in the middle which will stop it going all the way through.

3- apply loctite into the half hole, align the 'upper' holes of the two parts, then push the joiner through into the loctited part. Make sure the 'lower' holes of the canister & holder line up perfectly.

4- do the other one, but make sure it is facing the other way..... I had a brief moment after just completing them that I forgot to check, but dumb luck was on my side! Sure they were not yet dry, but I need to double check things a bit more rigorously!

These are now red oxide primed as well, ready for dunkelgelbing. I am off for a week on a road trip, so that will have to wait.

Was very pleased with how my first dremel action played out. I did spend the first 10 minutes figuring out how to put the attachment on....oh well, I know how it works now! After the dremel did a little bit of filing to try straighten it all out, but super happy!

[AlastairCooke]

Hi Neil
No need to worry. If look at my thread you will see I am going well beyond an OOB build! This not for everyone. I just wanted to show how I removed the front part of the turret that I had fitted quite early but decided to 'fettle'. The fit of these parts as well as the wrap to be base is not perfect: I think my wrap has a slight twist in it. The milling operation was intended to generate some extra clearance so that I do not strip the threads when finally joining the parts together.

Keep up the good work...
Alastair

[neil graham]

Rear plate detail is finally coming together

I got the exhaust armour on, nice and snug

Giving the feifel tubes and the exhaust covers another coat before they go on.

I really had to bend these a bit to get them on. I put the 'inside' on first as there was more space on the outside to persuade the parts to line up with the bolts. My trusty mallet with some dowel worked a charm!

Feifels now on, no lock nuts on these so used the mild loctite

I was a little scared about these....I used a hammer with some trepidation, but they turned out great. They need more painting of course

I think the next step is the deck....though the instructions look quite scary! So much detail!

[neil graham]

After I finished all of the rear armour detail, I kind of stalled for a week or so, but today I got stuck back into it, starting the rear upper deck.

I saw these pieces that I am guessing are newish. I have seen a few other threads where these were not included. Maybe I was looking at old Tigers....not sure, but just in case, I thought I would take a pic.

So, sanded all the pieces and noticed that one of the hatches wasn't quite round on one side.

Files made short work of that, was reasonably happy with the end result:

Did a thorough degrease which was a little fiddly as some of the parts have all kinds of angles.

All pieces etched (on one side), will put them together before I apply the red primer

[Donald Suttie]

I Hopefully catch you before you attach the small hatch,i broke my cast piece driving in the retaining pin with a hammer,the small hatch hole was too tight and i ended up breaking the casting,hopefully you can avoid this by checking the hole is not too tight for the pin

all the best
Donald

[neil graham]

I Hopefully catch you before you attach the small hatch,i broke my cast piece driving in the retaining pin with a hammer,the small hatch hole was too tight and i ended up breaking the casting,hopefully you can avoid this by checking the hole is not too tight for the pin

all the best
Donald

Oh wow. I checked (and then filed) the gap in the cast piece so the small hatch could fit, but didn't check the pin yet. I will definitely check this before I try to hammer the pin through!

It's a shame yours broke, the cast piece is quite beautiful!

[neil graham]

Attaching all of the rear deck plate detail.

One of the first things I did was attach the hatch. No issues with the pin except it was a tiny bit loose. So I added a small amount of the green loctite to it. Was careful not to put too much on, I still want to be able to open the hatch.

However, I had an issue with the M3 x 6 Hex bolts that are supposed to bolt shut the hatch.... they simply will not go in. M2.5 bolts do however go in, but met some resistance after a full turn or so. Decided not to force anything and see what others have done. I can imagine not putting any bolts in to be honest, could be a cool place to put the power pack kill switch.

I then pinned the plate to the hinges. Both pins were a little tight, but pretty much had the desired tightness, these pins aren't falling out. It was at this point I realised I had the plate upside down. The hatch hook needs to be on the other side, d'oh! The loctite on the handles was 24 hours dry, so I decided that I would simply drill some new holes.....

This actually turned out pretty well, will use filler on the two redundant holes. It was a very strange feeling of utter stupidity mixed with triumph at overcoming it in just a few minutes!

Fiefel bits and other detail all attached.....no further holes required!

OK, so next is the grates. The instructions mentioned that they may require filing to get them into the frame, and this is definitely the case. However, I wanted to ask others if they filed the grates or the much thinner frame. Frame seems a lot easier to me.

Another question, did others fettle the grates? The inside vent holes seem quite rough. I do however kind of like how they look now.....not sure which way to go.

[Dave Goodwin]

I cut out the missing slots in the grates but that was the only fiddling I did with them. In fitting, I think I ended up filing both the grates and the holes in the deck plate.

[John Fitzsimons]

Coming along nicely. The early tigers had a lot of stuff on the deck. I hate it and like it at the same time. Seems a never ending list of pieces to fit. Your feifel tubes are same as mine. I thought they were supplying a resin part now,

[Marco Peter]

...Michelle Pfeiffer's are all scratched, degreased and etch primed now..

...It is a thing of beauty!...