Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[Brian Ostlind]

That looks really good. I haven’t ever noticed that part of the tank before since it’s not on most models or kits. Nice work.

[Stephen White]

Nice work Vince. They're called "Haubenhalter" in German and are a standard fitting on panzers, including the Pz III, for anyone building one of the new edition kits.

Bovington Pz III Ausf N;

and on the model:

Stephen

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Brian. Missing your updates. It seems that those parts frequently got lost and I did not find any photos of them and hence the reason I had to rely on a simple drawing in the modeler's guide.

Thanks Stephen for the info. On the Tiger 1 there were two methods (or hardware) to fix the "Haubenhalter" to the hull. As mine is the late variant I chose the drawing of the later method.

Vince

[Greg Stephens]

Great work Vince. Maybe I'll get that ambitious.

[Brian Ostlind]

Thanks Brian. Missing your updates.

Vince

It’s good to be missed. I’ll get back at it soon. I really want to drive my tank. I ended up getting a 1/10th R/C rock crawler for some backyard fun in the mean time.

[Vince Cutajar]

Received the 2mm flynuts so now I can finish off the mudguards and the track rope holders. Cute little things. Spent the time today drilling and tapping the flynuts. As they are so small and also not easy to work hold this involved several operations. I also had an oops moment. Cutting the first one from the sprue, it flew across the workshop to be lost in oblivion. Good thing I have extra, but what really p....ed me off was that this happened to me before and I still have not learned the lesson.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Finished the slidebars. Now to disassemble the mudguards, remove rust, clean them up and paint them.

Front mudguards slidebars

Vince

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

...I still have not learned the lesson.

Oh, yes you have - you got spares!

[Vince Cutajar]

That's a good one Christoffer.

Vince

[Greg Stephens]

Vince could you post a photo comparing those wingnuts to armorteks? I keep hearing that armorteks are way too big.
Thanks.

[Vince Cutajar]

Greg, the kit does not have any 2mm wingnuts.

Vince

[Greg Stephens]

My bad, I didn't even measure the ones I have. Where did you get those?
Your slide bars turned out much better than the ones I did. I am probably going to try again with steel this time. What gauge did you use?

[Vince Cutajar]

I got the flynuts from here:

https://knupfer.info/shop/index.php/deu ... o-126.html

The slide bar was machined from brass. I don't have one but if you want I can make a drawing for you.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Very slow progress but as somebody would say that it is better than nothing. I lived here all my life but this year Summer feels bad. Can't do more than 30-40 minutes in the workshop before I retreat to an airconditioned environment. Could be the fact that during the previous three Summers I was working in the UK for a British company and so my body got used to mild Summers.

I have etch primed and re-assembled the front mudguards and was thinking of doing some small weld seams at some joints but before doing that I have put them aside and continued work on the track rope. I have transferred it from the plywood template to the model and finally used the kit supplied track rope.

That's the best I could do to make it resemble the configuration of a late variant Tiger 1. At least it looks better than before. As the track rope is a bit stiff, I haven't used any 'J' hooks so that I can keep the track rope stowed neatly in place.

Quick question for the experts here. Was the track rope (and also the tow ropes) painted in real life?

Vince

[Brian Ostlind]

Hey Vince, that’s good stuff with the rope. Must be satisfying to get something done. The heat really saps your energy. I haven’t felt motivated at all. Sometimes it’s better to crawl than walk as long as you are moving forward!