Armortek

Hi Sam. It's not cheating. Just lucky.

Vince

Whilst the swing arms are on hold, I am experimenting in changing the 2.5mm hardware in Wheel Sub Assembly Y. I am also prepping the Upper Front Plate and Glacis plate for priming.

I have a question for the Tiger experts here. Whilst researching this area that I intend to prime, I noticed from photos that the upper front plate (see photo) is not always covered in zimm.
So am I correct in saying that I have a choice of what to do in this area?

Also, the photo shows the upper front plate boss (lower arrow) for the special sprocket crane. I cannot determine if the hole in this boss should be a through hole or a blind hole. There is a photo here (http://tiger1.info/EN/Jib-sockets.html). Is that a through hole?

What do you think?

Vince

It looks like the spigot on the end of the crane is 120mm long.

As far as I'm aware, that plate on the Tiger is 60mm thick, so it would appear you need a through hole.

It certainly goes all the way through on Tiger 131.

Adrian.

Hi Vince,

Yes, the upper front plate always had zimmerit and yes the hole gone through just as seen in the drawing at the Tiger1.info link.

Kind regards
Kent

Thanks for that Adrian and Kent.

The Munster Tiger does not have zimm it that area. Maybe a museum restoration hiccup.

Vince

Hi Vince,

Yes and that is an annoying error as that Frankenstein Tiger otherwise quite decently put together.
Another error on that one is the toolbox placed at the rear as it was not on Late Tiger1.
So remember never 100% trust a museum vehicle, look for periodic photos instead.

Kind regards
Kent

Received the shorter grub screws for the swing arms and all swing arms now have the grub screws. They screw in flush with the swing arm body and not remain protruding. So now I can continue with the fitting of the swing arms.
In the meantime I also managed to etch prime and red prime the upper front part of the hull. So that is also out of the way.
I have been experimenting in fabricating some 2.5 x 30 mm hex head screws to replace the kit supplied pozi pan screws. I am happy with the result and proceed in making all 121 of them!
To simplify making them I got some 2.5 x 35 mm link rods. I think these are used in radio control models as linkages.

Vince

I have another question for the people in the know.

Below is a photo of a nearly assembled road wheel showing the inner face which should be facing the side of the hull when fitted.
Should the bolt heads be on this side facing the hull or should I flip it around to have the nuts facing the hull. I have a drawing which shows the bolt heads but the photos that I have seen are not very clear on this detail.

Again, thanks in advance.

Vince

Maybe I did not express myself properly yesterday.
Should the bolt heads be facing the side of the hull like the photo above?

In the meantime finished fitting the all swing arms and torsion bars to the hull.
After a couple of days I will re-check the bolts for tightness.

Vince

Assembled and fitted the idler assemblies. Started off by gluing in the brass bush. Left it protruding a little to remove the 1mm end float in the idler shaft and also to leave space for the O ring.
Next inserted the rubber O ring.
Lubricated the O ring and the idler shaft to help in easing in the shaft. Fitted the rest of the parts and also rounded off the head of the long adjuster bolt.
Adjusted everything so that the idler shaft sits at the lowest position.
What I found strange is that to keep the idler shaft in this position, the angles of the adjustment mechanism is different between the two as seen below.
I am hoping that this is by design unless I have done something wrong.

Vince

Amazing work Vince! I wish you were selling a bump stop kit. I initially started soldering complicated parts with a small hobbyist propane soldering torch when I got frustrated with soldiering irons. I then worked up to a large MAPP torch, which worked "a proper treat" but was touch and go.

After reading some of Stephens posts I bit the bullet and bought an American beauty soldering iron.
I highly recommend it. Get the one draws that draws the most amps. I have to plug mine in to the washer /dryer circuit. After some practice you can make astonishing solder joints. Cleanliness is critical.

What type of milling machines do you use? You are inspiring me to make the leap.

Hi Greg

As a mill I am using a Sieg X3 clone. It's just a hobby mill.

Vince

As there were no answers to my query regarding the road wheels, I am going to use this diagram as my reference.
Vince

Cleaned and etch primed all the road wheel hubcaps.
I also prepared the Y road wheel small spacer for priming by first cleaning them up. Then glued in one of the bearings. Put it on one of the swing arm axles and gluing in the other bearing.
Doing it this way I am making sure that the bearings line up properly. I then masked the bearings and hopefully this evening I will prime the spacers.
Vince

Fitted the bearings to the long spacers of the X road wheel assemblies using a similar method as above and started painting the spacers. Tried a trial fit of one of the spacers with bearings on one of the axles with the end cap (CP0142) and countersunk screw. Noticed that before tightening the screw, the spacer turned freely, but once the screw was tightened, it did not turn freely. It did not lock up, just did not turn as freely as before. Removed the paint from the axle shoulder (see below) and it seemed to improve the situation.
I need to investigate this further.

Also test fitted the driver's visor armour components. Noticed that the visor top armour (CE0126) is a bit loose and as such does not stay in the up (open position). I wonder what previous Tiger 1 builders did to work around this situation? I could use a small wedge but it is not an elegant solution. I have another idea but still need to think about it.

Vince