Armortek

Vince, a solvent based degreaser such as UPOL System 20works well and dries quickl,:

http://www.u-pol.com/us/en/product/syst ... -degreaser

There is then a whole debate about whether to paint them. I believe for both practical and aesthetic reasons it's best to etch prime, paint and weather. That way, you get tracks that look realistic and are durable. There is a Knowledge Base topic on the subject:

http://www.armortek.co.uk/Forum3b/viewt ... =34&t=5816

and then there's the debate about rust. Tracks may or may not rust depending on the metallurgy but in 30 years on tanks, I've never seen an operational set of tracks with any rust. My case rests.........

Stephen

Thanks Stephen for the reply. I don't think I will be actually painting the tracks. I sort of like the casting patina that they already have. I just want to remove that pesky black dust. I might try washing with water just one track link and see how that goes. I could also try acetone but worried that it might remove the patina also. I need to experiment a little.

Vince

Finished making a brass bracket behind the MG mount. This was done to lock the ball mount in one plane and not let it "float around".
Temporarily fitted the MG barrel to see how it all looks.
Looking at the above photo makes me wonder if the MG mount needs any modification. Not sure about it.

Vince

Thanks Christoffer for those photos. I have been comparing the photo of that M/G mantlet side by side with my photo of the kit supplied part and what I can see is that the groove around the mantlet seems wider and also the opening in the mantlet seems larger and more rectangular. Making the groove wider should not be a problem but increasing the size of the ball mount well could be a bit harder.

Vince

The more rounded appearance of the aperture is one of the more noticeable features, more so than the squareness of the inner hole.

Adrian.

Hi Adrian and thank you for the reply. Are you suggesting to leave the inner aperture (close to the ball mount) the same and only open the outer aperture and round off generously the edge of the outer aperture? Hope it makes sense. Is that what you meant?

Vince

Awesome work Vince. I refer to your photos for guidance frequently.

Hi Greg. I'm glad that you are finding the photos useful. Have you started building yours?

Vince

Vince, Here is my first effort at trying to replicate the rear mud guards. I used most of the Armortek parts. I used an excellent set of drawings I found in google sketchup as a model. You can find the front and rear mudguards there.

I used brass tubing cut into sections and welded to either the steel frame or the mudflap and used a brass rod as the hinge pin. I cut the stiffening ribs out of brass with a jewelry saw and dremel cut off wheel and then gang filed them in a vise to size. Crude but it worked OK. I used this technique for the side mud guards as well.

It would seem that there are several varieties of the rear mudguards. The big difference seems to be weather the ends were simply bent down or built up with separate pieces.I went with the bent version. I found an actual mudguard for sale for $1600 that seems to have been made of scrap in a smithy. For the right one I used your torch method but with a MAPP torch. I used the hinges from the front mud flap and trimmed them to size.
I ruined the second set of hinges with the MAPP torch. By the time I received a replacement I had a resistance soldering system. MUCH easier.

I still have to figure how to get the screw holes in accurately. I bought the complete set of nuts and bolts from 6 scale icons. I will have to order more of the screws.

These might be useful to someone. These are the mudflaps that were for sale for $1600. I have several more pics. I am tempted to replicate one of these and put it on my Tiger as an authentic looking field repair.

Hi Greg,

Nice work with your rear mud guards but the real one for $1600 is not from a Tiger 1 but more rare then so, its from a Tiger 2.

Kind regards
Kent

Good Catch! It was listed as from a Tiger I and I took it at face value. I assumed it was a field made replacement.
As to the mudflap, it was my first scratch built metal part. Now I am shopping for CNC machines and learning about casting. Very distracting.

If I did it over again I would not soldier the hinges. They are too delicate for my technique. They do look battle worn though.

I still find it surprising that one can still find these things!

I had hoped to fit the road wheels at the end of this week but this is not going to happen as I realised that I have run out of the 2.5mm stainless nuts I had bought. I am 10 nuts short which means I still have one road wheel to finish. To make things worse, any hardware smaller than 3mm is not available here. So I have ordered them and hopefully they should be here next week.

As a consolation I received some tools I had been waiting for. It is a set of 1/2" drive allen wrench bits which should make the resetting of the swing arms easier.
So I reset all the swing arms to 30 degrees (as specified in the assembly manual). This is how the swing arms look when set to the new angle.
Vince

Nice work so far Vince. I am curious though, and perhaps Armortek can answer, I’ve a 2010 mid Tiger I, and the manual there says to set the suspension at 35 degrees. What is the reason for the change in angle? I know the means for anchoring the torsion bar have changed, but it’s still the same torsion bar there after.