Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[Vince Cutajar]

Hi David

Yes I saw the way you did it but now it's too late for me to do it exactly the same way. What I can do is to mill a 3mm groove (1mm deep) on the front and sides of the hull roof plate and use that for the weld seam. Still haven't decided if it's worth the effort as it may look like a half-baked solution. We'll see.

Any progress on yours?

Vince

[Robert E Morey]

Hi Vince
I was thinking about how to tackle the problem you mention of weld seams on the turret. What I was thinking of was screw a thin "fence" of alum or brass to the inside of the turret wall. The fence material would protrude up about 1mm above the turret side plates. My turret has quite a large gap on either side of the roof. So the fence would fill in and reduce this gap, but still allow the turret roof to come off. I was then going to put the bead of milliput along the top edges of the turret - and up against the thin fence. The fence would protect the brittle milliput bead from getting bashed or chipped off when removing the roof - at least in theory. I haven't implemented this idea yet - so remains to be proven.

I like David's method of milling a shallow groove for the milliput - but on large hull plates and around the curved turret roof rear my rotary table is just too small. May be able to do it on the CNC mill. The groove method works really well, but is time consuming to set up and mill the plates.

Your shackles look excellent. You resolved my biggest gripe with OTS shackles and that is the puny diameter of the pin looks silly in the large hole in the side plates. Making your own pin resolved that nicely.

Your Tiger is looking really good!
Best regards,
Bob

[davidwilkins]

Hi Vince,

This is what I like about armortek kits there is no right or wrong way about how anyone does there modifications it's what ever works for the builders so long as you enjoy the project. Unfortunately my tiger build has come to a standstill probably for another two or three months as I have stared landscaping our rear garden I had hoped to design it around a tank proving ground but the boss soon told me where to go with that idea.

I liked the idea that Robert has suggested about a thin strip of brass as support for weld simulations I could have tried that on my cent turret roof. One of the biggest problems I face when I get building the turret for my tiger will be the weld simulation for the turret roof I have a few ideas but they are just ideas at the moment.

Keep up the excellent work

Cheers

David

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Bob and Dave for your ideas.

Bob, unfortunately I can't use the fence idea for the hull roof as it is a snug fit and there are no gaps. I might be able to use it for the turret roof though. I could use aluminium tape (sometimes referred to as high speed tape) as the fence. I have also been looking at your modification of the escape hatch as it is time to start thinking about it.

David, I am fortunate that my boss is usually supportive with my quirky hobbies.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Good thing I went to buy the remaining three U shackles because they had only a few remaining of that size.

Can't do anything on the hull roof as still awaiting a package from Germany so did something different on the turret. Assembled the gun elevation mechanism.

It went together quite easily although I spent some time fettling the slot and leadscrew nut so that they slide together smoothly. So I decided to fit it in the turret and give it a test. After a bit of head scratching I ended up dis-assembling it and re-assembling it in the turret. I am sure there is an easier way of doing it but for the life of me I could not figure it out.

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It's OK going down but struggles a bit going up especially with the barrel in place. I am hoping that when the recoil mechanism is installed it will act as a counter-weight.

Vince

[Robert E Morey]

Hi Vince, I will only use the fence method for the turret. The fence will be easy to fit around the curved back and fill the gap. If the turret roof were flush with sides - the fence method would not work will. The late Tiger has a thicker roof, which allows a small raised edge.

The nice rectangular hull plates are best done with David's method.

David - you need to figure a way to still have your proving ground. Tell her its a seed bed or something <and then look puzzled when nothing sprouts>. LOL

The long gun barrels (Panther and Tiger) definitely need a counterweight to balance the load on the mechanism.
Bob

[Tom OBrien]

Vince et al,

I'm experimenting with the turret welds too. The side welds are from a two-part epoxy and are applied to bare metal. The weld across the top is a simply, tube auto body putty, and more fragile than the side welds.

The weld across the top is a common automotive body filler material. The weld at the top, side is Permatex Cold Weld. I wanted to a more permanent weld material against the turret roof because it is more subject to bumps and scraping than the weld across the top, or at least that's my theory.

The shackles I used I bought on line with pins that needed no modification, however I had to bore slightly the holes on the tank hull to fit the pins comfortably. I'm not certain the shackles are correct but with an expert eye, you can easily grind the raised lettering or fill them with putty to look correct.

Left rear shackle.

You're way ahead of me on your details, and they look great. I will probably go back eventually and upgrade mine with some of the after market stuff to make it more authentic.

cheers... Tom

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Tom.

It's good to see how people go about doing things.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Still can't continue work on the hull roof as the things I am waiting for still have not arrived. I suspect that they have been lost .

Finished and installed the U shackles. Started painting all the bits and pieces that go on the hull roof. I have only etch primed the white metal tools as I don't know how to paint them properly (painting is not my thing).

I also have been experimenting with the turret spare track holders.

Upper holder.

Lower holder.

I elongated and counterbored the fixing hole in the upper holder to give me some sideways adjustment as they were obstructing the fitting of the turret roof. Made a new wider pin for the lower holder.

I have seen many references in other builds to the fact that the turret spare tracks are screwed from inside the turret to keep them in place but no mention of how this is done. Are the spare tracks drilled and tapped (something I would like to avoid) or is the hole in the turret tapped so that the screw pushes the track?

Vince

[Allan Shannon]

Vince

Great work as usual. Can you tell me how you secured the tool clamps to the tank. I have the armorpax ones, which I think are the ones you used?

Regards Allan

[Vince Cutajar]

Hi Allan

I used an M2 X 10 countersunk screw for each clamp. I opened up slightly the fixing hole in the clamp to take the M2 screw. I also slightly countersunk the same hole.

If required I can take a photo.

Vince

[David Battson]

Vince,
The Armortek top link holders are very robust and grip the track link well and your improvement to the lower pin is good as it helps keep the link upright when the top clip lifts off. However I suspect that any to scale prototypical design will work it's self loose over time and rough terrain and so some other additional means of fixing is preferable. My solution was to make up new lower brackets and pins and then bolt each track link to the turret side using an m3 bolt passing through the turret wall into a suitably drilled and tapped hole in the track link , about 1/3 from the top. The end result is a link which is very robust, wont get loose or lost and importantly doesn't rely on the top fixing for strength which means you can then use something like the very nice Armorpax white metal top clamp alternative.


Regards, David

Track link clamps.JPG (98.26 KiB) Viewed 2047 times

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks David for the reply and your explanation of how you went about it.

I am trying to avoid drilling and tapping fully serviceable track links for now although I suspect that it is going to be the only solution.

Regards

Vince

[Allan Shannon]

Vince

I would really appreciate the photograph of the fixings for the tool clamps.

Many Thanks Allan

[Vince Cutajar]

No problem Allan.

I will take some photos tomorrow and post them here.

Vince