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As I now have legs for the turret roof, I decided to paint and fully assemble it and it would be safe to put it aside without the danger of damaging the bits and pieces of the loader's hatch.

In the periods where I am either waiting for the paint to dry or the milliput to cure I have started work on the mantlet. I have already done the stepped hole for the eyepiece.
The other area to be addressed was the counterbore for the co-axial MG. I always thought it was too shallow and had already decided to make it deeper as the photos suggest but did not know how much deeper. Today I was lucky and found the answer. It's about 70mm deep on the real thing. So using a 16mm slot drill I made the counterbore 10mm deep.
I will be using the Armortek MG which was originally meant for the ball mount.
Basically that's all that I will be doing on the mantlet although I might skim off 1mm from the back.

Vince

Very cool. I love those details.

Thanks Brian

Vince

I've had the mantlet clocked in the vice since yesterday but only today plucked the courage to actually remove 1mm from the back of the mantlet. Used a flycutter and WD40 which I find excellent as a lubricant for aluminium.
Tomorrow I will deburr the holes and the edges.

I was going to make the curved edges on the front of the mantlet with a larger radius but thinking about it I don't think it would be worth the effort as it will all be covered up with Zimmerit.

Vince

Finished machining the aluminium lump which is fixed to the back of the mantlet. As I was removing more material I used an endmill but will use a flycutter to skim the surface an get it as smooth as a baby's bottom.
I removed about 3mm from this face and 1mm from the back of the mantlet. The black nylon bush is now protruding but should not be a problem. I also had to reduce the length of the bolts by 1mm. As I was at it, I also skimmed off the opposite face to make it perpendicular to the big hole.
The space between the back of the mantlet and the front of the turret is now about 2mm which looks so much better.
Vince

Is it still fouling the hatches?

What about the jack block Vince does it catch that when the cannon is in the down position and the turret is rotated?

Is it still fouling the hatches?

Yes Christoffer. The driver's hatch with the turret in the forward position.

What about the jack block Vince does it catch that when the cannon is in the down position and the turret is rotated?

Yes Phil, it still does to a lesser extent. I am trying to decide whether to live with it or maybe remove some material from the bottom of the mantlet.

Vince

Ours is the same, I have moved the block forward as much as I can but it still catches and stops the turret, I cant do anymore with it, I may have to have the block loose on the deck as if it had been recently used. Can you think of a solution Vince?

Tiger 131 (mid variant) had a notch cut at the bottom right side of the mantlet.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5945&start=165

That would be the ideal solution but I don't think that notch existed on late variants. In fact at the moment looking at photos of the Saumur and Vimoutier Tigers to see if they had that notch.

Failing that I could remove material from the bottom (full length) of the mantlet.

Vince

Umm, that notch is interesting

The Vimoutiers mantlet has no notch that I can see.


It's also very rounded.

Adrian.

Unfortunately, that notch is not present on those two Tigers although I noticed that the curved edges of the mantlet are more pronounced. I have to see if it's possible to get away with it by modifying those curved edges on the kit mantlet.

Vince

Mantlets with the notch were I believe originally intended for the Tiger P, about fifty (?) were made. Might want to check actual size of jack block, I know some (various 1/6 suppliers) are not to scale.

jack blpck