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Hi Vince,

Sadly have none or has not seen any good photo of a confirmed Tiger1 crow bar.
Still an Enigma so thank God there is still something new to learn about our tanks...
Yours look a bit to short in my eyes.

6th Scale inc Mike got his Tiger2, JT and Sturmtiger pry bar correct but not his Panther one, photos confirm this.
The Panther one was more like his Sturmtiger one rounded with one flat/flippad end and the other as a sharp cone.
Well that was the Panther, another story but might give a hint....

Kind regards
Kent

Thanks Kent for your input. Much appreciated.

So decided for now to keep the current pry bar. I might for fun do the other type of pry bar from round brass or steel stock.

Vince

Spent the day painting some parts of the cupola. Noticed that after painting the cupola and the hatch with etch primer and red oxide, the hatch would not fit anymore in the cupola. I suspected this was going to happen as prior to painting the hatch fit snugly in the cupola. Reduced the diameter of the hatch slightly and am now repainting the edge of the hatch again. Will test again when basecoat applied.

I have also been researching the pry bar.

I have found a reference in the book "The Modeler's Guide to the Tiger Tank" on page 96 to three types of pry bars.

1) Early long
2) Late long (also called reinforced)
3) Early short

There is a photo of these three types (admittedly of Tamiya model parts) and the Late Long type is shown with the front part square and the rest round.

Vince

Wife left for Nottingham today to visit daughter whose at uni. So taking the opportunity to start assembling the cupola in the comfort of an airconditioned kitchen.
Vince

Vince,

I haven't kept track of your progress for the past several months as much as I'd have liked, so I caught up today.

You're inspiring me to go back and do a lot of detailing on my model but since I haven't the machine shop equipped like yours, I'll have to settle for doing what I can do with what I have. That makes me a hack modeler but it gives me hope to improve where I can, right?

My biggest issue has been on the operational side, getting it to run so the tracks don't come off the drive sprockets. I'll look for another forum that might help me there.

Your question about the pry bar is interesting. I would guess they had equipped the tank with one, as it's considered a pretty handy tool to have in the field to work with the tracks, road wheels, etc. Who knows, you might have found a pry bar taken from a Sherman they had just knocked out.

cheers to all,

Hi Tom

Yes, it's been a long time.

Jump in do some detailing. Many things can be done with just a Dremel, pillar drill, needle files and emery paper. I forgot, a pinch of imagination and lots of patience. I have seen some awesome things done here with just these tools.

Vince

Still working in the comfort of the kitchen. Got till Monday.

Glued in the periscope covers and thought it would be a good idea to apply some weld seems now before fitting the MG ring.
Vince

The loader's hatch dilemma

Whilst working on the cupola, in those periods where I'm either waiting for the paint to dry or waiting for the glue to cure, I have been getting myself in a tangle with the loader's hatch.

I won't be using the kit supplied item the main reason being that I want to have the interior details of the hatch. Ok, so I can most probably make the parts myself, but why go through all that hassle when I know that Armorpax has what I need. Plus it's good to support these after-market suppliers.

So off to the Armorpax website:

https://www.armorpax.net/wwii-german-parts

As one can see there are two types of loader's hatches available. I didn't know that! Some research done.
It seems that both these hatches are coming from the King Tiger production line. The 15mm hatch was used on the King Tiger Porshe turrets whilst the 40mm hatch was used on the King Tiger Henshel turrets. The 15mm hatch is countersunk in the Tiger 1 turret roof whilst the other one is not. I don't have a lot of information about the King Tiger but it seems that the change from the Porshe turret to the other one occurred around June 1944 (not sure about this). So in this case I can use either one of the two hatches.

At first I was fancying the 40mm hatch but I couldn't find any photos of this hatch being actually used on a Tiger 1. I also noticed that all the previous builders of late Tiger 1s always used the 15mm hatch.

So basically I haven't decided what to do although now I am leaning on the 15mm hatch.

Vince

The 15mm hatch is correct for the late Tiger I their is no evidence that the 40mm hatch was ever fitted to the Tiger I even early Henschel turreted Tiger II came with the 15mm hatch.

That's good to hear Mark. Guess that's why I couldn't find any photos with the 40mm hatch. Makes my decision simpler I guess.

Vince

Glued in place the MG ring. I am using two-part epoxy. Used it also for the periscope guards.
After 24 hours removed the clamp and added the weld seams.
Now to wait for the Milliput to dry and paint the seams. Before that I packed the periscopes with kitchen cling film to protect the periscopes from the paint.
Vince

This morning went to the workshop to paint the cupola and whilst I was there decided to fit the tools before they get lost or damaged. As I was there I realised that it's been weeks since I drove it. I guess I am more into building than driving. So gave it a quick run to see if all is good.

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Suspension seems to be settling nicely. There is some track slap which could mean that I can remove a track from that side. Sorry if the video is not very steady as holding the mobile phone and R/C transmitter at the same time.

Vince

Ta-da. Cupola finally finished! Took some photos with Mark's excellent MG cradle. All it needs now is an MG34 but one from Armortek is winging it's way to me. In their latest newsletter they had some for sale.
Vince

Nice, I was worried you would hit the rear mudguards on your way down the pallet though. Tracks could be a little tighter for sure.

Yes Brian you are right.

They were OK with the weight of the hull only but then I added the batteries, electronics, engine deck, hull roof and turret. Plus I left it sitting on it's suspension on purpose so that the torsion bars will settle in.

For sure one side can afford to have a track link removed. The other side I might get away with just the track adjuster. Will do the adjustments when it's nearly finished though.

Vince