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I knew you would have no problems drilling the parts, once attached to your hatch they will look very nice.
Will you make working hatch springs.

Will you make working hatch springs.

Never thought about that. Wouldn't that keep the hatch open all the time?

Vince

No they were designed to help open the hatch, when dropping the hatch they would close slowly as opposed to crashing shut

Did not know that. Did you do it with your hatches?

Vince

No I haven't done this they were just slam shut I did use 1.5mm rubber tube as a seal which stopped the hatch from clanging when shut.
If you make the spring for the front hatches you would be the first, there was also a damper used for the turret top loaders hatch which would catch the half moon bar this also as far as I can remember has never been done not as a working unit.

Mark, you've put a bee in my bonnet!

I have been thinking about using real torsion springs the whole day! The major problem that I am seeing is getting stock (off the shelf) torsion springs of the correct size and "springiness". It would most probably have to be a trial and error exercise which could be a bit costly if I get the springs from abroad. At the moment my favourite solution is to use the Armorpax white metal springs as a simulated spring.

Vince

Some more work with the brass hinges. Drilled and tapped M2.5 the hinge plate that is fixed to the underside of the hull roof. I didn't use the cast pilot holes but measured the hole pattern in the hull roof and drilled and tapped accordingly the hinge plate. I found that on one of the hinge plates the pilot holes were spot on but on the other one were slightly offset.
Did roughly the same on the hinge plate that is bolted to the hatch. I drilled M2 through holes in these. The idea being that I will use M2 studs and M2 model nuts (with an AF of 3mm) to fix these hinge plates to the hatches. Also cut the M2.5 hinge pins to size.
Vince

Last operation was to drill and tap M2 the hatches so that the brass hinge plate could be fixed to the hatch. Used the hinge plate as a template to mark the position of the holes.
Test fitting the hinge to the hatch. Used to types of nuts to see how they look. The one in the middle is an M2 model nut whilst the other two are standard M2 nuts. The model nut seems too small. Which one looks best? What do you think?
Some photos of both hatches fitted.
I had to use a thin shim under one of the hinge plates so that the hatch sits correctly in the hatch ring groove. I guess I did not correctly drill one of the holes for the hinge pins.
Well I guess that finishes the mechanical modifications to the hatches. All that remains is filling in unwanted holes, cleaning up the white metal parts and glueing them in and painting.

I am a bit relieved that I managed to reach this phase and it's looking good for now as I was not certain of the outcome.

Vince

Very nice work with the hatches! Don't hesitate to bend and adjust the hinges if necessary. Brass can handle that. Now go and get yourself a pair of Mike Stannard's periscopes with the glass lenses. Expensive, but after all the work you have put into perfecting your model, it deserves that.

Thanks Christoffer.

Vince

Good morning guys.

A quick question before I do something that I will regret. Is it correct to say that the hatch periscopes face in the direction of the arrows as shown in the photo below?
Thanks in advance

Vince

Hi Vince,

Yes you got them right.
http://tiger1.info/EN/Hull-crew-hatches.html

Kind regards
Kent

Thanks Kent. I saw that page but unfortunately it does not show how the actual periscopes were fitted.

Vince

Actually I am going to answer that question myself. I was looking again at the photo and common sense tells me that the actual periscopes have to look in the direction of the arrows, otherwise if I flip them around, the driver and the radio operator would be looking at the turret.

Vince

Very nice Vince,I so wish I had your skills and patience.I spent a whole day right next to Tiger 131 last year taking photos and measurements of the Elefant which is parked next to the tiger.I hardly noticed anything on the Tiger which would be useful to me when I started building mine.

I had the same thoughts as you when I put one of my hatches together.Commos sense should have them pointing outwards.but you never really know..I looked at lots of pictures just to make sure.
Glen