Early or mid ? Tiger 1 build by Phil Woollard

[Stephen White]

4 Tp, A Sqn, 48 RTR did the damage with their Churchill MkIII/IVs. The three rounds which hit were APCBC (armour piercing, capped, ballistic capped) from the 6 pdrs.

[Phil Woollard]

As promised the now discontinued blank firing device advice, simply get it sleeved down to accept either 8mm CCP cartridges or better still Bertram/ rimmed blanks, which ever is available in your part of the world.
Either should now be available containing nitro powder rather than the very dirty black powder which gums up everything, the card cap can also be a problem.

[yves mouton]

Hello Phil,

I use a cover bag ( fire blancket ) over the blankfire, so it keeps the dirt from the black powder
in the bag and not in the hull of the tank.

I will try the 8 or 9 mm blanks in the future.
Best regards Yves

[Phil Woollard]

Hi Yves, that's a good idea with the bag. You will find that the smaller blanks are really not loud enough for outdoors and the smoke signature is way down but sure would please show organisers in regards to any risk assessment.
Saying that they are a whole lot safer!

[Chang]

Hi Phil,

Love to see the steel tracks on the Tiger 1. I have bought them from Liam recently. I like it very much.

Only I have troubles to assemble them with the little spring clip at both end of the track pin. After asking and answered by Liam, so far I have only done 4.

It looks easy for you. I wonder what tools and/or skills that you have applied?

Wishing you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

from Lerh Chang

[Phil Woollard]

Hi Chang, it's tricky to get the spring clip seated, I made a tool which was basically a piece of say 8mm bar with a hole drilled in one end about 5mm deep, the hole needs to be a sliding fit over the track pin. Counter sink the hole just a little so it locates over the tapered end of the pin. Create a taper on the outer part of the special tool so that will fit into the track recess hole.
Knock the tool with a small hammer with intent! The clip will pop on if you have aligned it correctly, a dab of oil may help. It takes some practice!

[Chang]

Hi Phil,

I eventually have done myself 25 steel track links. With Liam's help, two tracks of 93 track links are completed. Thanks Liam.

Now I need to sort out how many track links are enough per track? The manual said 93 or 94 per track. Due to the steel track's heavy weight, very hard to connect them with 93 only. It looks 2 or even 3 more are needed. I wonder how many links in your track?

With regards,

Lerh Chang

[Phil Woollard]

Every track is different Chang, if a 93 link track is new then it's shorter thank a older used track of 93 links, if the suspension is set high you need more links, if low then less links are required, if the idlers are not fully seated "home" more links are needed, steel tracks are heavy and will lay on the top of the road wheels more like the real track does and may need extra links as the track has further to go.
Put all these factors together and what do you get?

[Chang]

Totally agree with that Phil. Just wish to know it as a reference of my assembly.

[Phil Woollard]

I will count the links on my tiger for you Chang as I can't remember, one tip leave the clips off the last two links and push those two unclipped pins in from the outside, you will no doubt need to remove one when it's run in, and you don't really need to be sealing up a new track as you are maybe still building, painting of may need to remove a track for maintenance at some point.

[Phil Woollard]

94 chang!

[Chang]

Thanks for the counting and tips , Phil !

[Chang]

Sorry to use your thread to show my photos, Phil.

After adjusting the idle wheels position to as forward as possible, 95 steel track links are the minimum number I can reach so far. I reckon after test running (both bench and road one under full load), the number will be changed.

Left idle wheel almost in its most forward position.

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Right idle wheel already in its forward position.

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Right track is tight enough.

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Left track is tight enough too.

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Left track side view (front part).

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Left track side view (rear part).

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Right track side view (front part).

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Right track side view (rear part).

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[Phil Woollard]

That looks perfect Chang, is the tank taking its own weight, ie is it jacked up or is it sat nicely on the suspension?
The tank will settle under its own weight and so slackening the tracks, I suggest you run the tracks with the hull jacked up to "bed" the tracks in, run forwards and run backwards until you are happy.

[Chang]

... is the tank taking its own weight, ie is it jacked up or is it sat nicely on the suspension? ...

Sorry to reply you late.

So far it's only an empty hull with all suspension systems and driving motors installed. No upper deck (steel), no turret yet. As a 2007 Tiger 1, the base plate and two upper deck supports are steels too. So it is already quite HEAVY. I have put two motorcycle jacks underneath to support it and let the tracks just touch the table.

I reckon after fully load everything, plus two 12V SLA batteries, it will be MUCH HEAVIER, and adjusting of the swing arm's angle and track tension are necessary.

So far 95 track links per track, and the idle wheels are already in their most forward positions. Not sure should I add one more track link, and move the idle wheel backward now, or wait until the extra weight to do the work later?

Regards,
Lerh Chang