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Some more good progress has been made today, Lower hull insides sprayed, Lower hull plates and pannier bottoms sprayed, Torsion bars fitted at 37 degrees, motors fitted.











On with the build !
Steve

Steve
Thats one fine looking Tiger.

Derek

Hi Steve,

Your Tiger I looks fantastic. I love the zim and the superb paint job

Nice one.

Ant

Well done Steve. Your Tiger 1 is getting better every time shown here.
A few more questions:
(1) Is the track pin deflector the Armortek's genuine part? How does it fasten on the rear hull side?
(2) Are all torsion bars in same diameter? Did you paint them with metal primer or something else, or not at all?

Thanks!
Lerh Chang

Thanks Chang
To answere your questions:-
1, The track pin deflector is the Armortek supplied part, It is held on with countersunk bolts with a thin film of filler over the top. Tim Bowman pointed out that as supplied the deflector requires repositioning, this was just a case of drillin 2 new holes and job done.
2, For each side, Torsion bars 1,2,7 & 8 are 5.5mm, and Torsion bars 3 to 6 are 5mm. All the bars were etch primed and coated with a top coat of dark grey.

Steve

Nice work Steve and keep the photos coming

Tim is correct about the trackpin returnplate but that is only so with Late Tiger I build from May 1944 and thereafter.

http://tiger1.info/EN/DragonLateTrackPlate.html

So in fact almost every Tiger I in Normandy had the plate horizontal.
Here is a photo of the Vimoutier Tiger:



Cheers
Kent

Thanks Kent.
It just shows you that when you think you have got some detail sorted out more information comes along to cause confusion.
I am not going to put it back to its original position as i think my Tiger is now going to be a June 44 one
Steve

Steve,

Your Tiger looks amazing! Nice job on the interior paint!

Kent Wiik wrote: So in fact almost every Tiger I in Normandy had the plate horizontal.

Except for mine(chassis # 251118) that was transported to the front in mid May of 1944 just in time to take part in the defense of France.

Regards
Tim

Tim

He he, good attempt my friend but if you are still aiming at Kurt Kleber:s #232 from s.SS-Pz.Abt. 101 in Normandy, that Tiger was made in Mars 1944.(sorry... )
Recognizable buy its T.Z.F.9b twin gun sight.



In fact every Tiger I in that unit was made before May 1944 as they got their last Tiger I in April 1944 not to receive any replacements for losses until the unit converted to Tiger II in the beginning of July that year.

You almost got me there but only almost...
(remember I am something of an expert of that unit after years of study for my own #212 )

Cheers
Kent

Yes I know, I was just trying to be funny.

The only ones produced in May that I have any info on went to SSs PzAbt102 (one of which that is now at Saumur).

I apologize for steering you wrong Steve. My track pin plate will stay where it is. Especially as I have lot's of other things planned that fall under the "artistic license" category.

Keep the great build pictures coming Steve and the excellent info Kent!

Kind regards
Tim

Tim
Dont worry about steering me wrong. This is one of those things that i would never have known if it had not been for building a Armortek Tiger and having all these knowledgeable contributions on the web site.

Steve

Great looking Tiger so far Steve. I can't wait to see how you paint it up. The zimm is looking excellent. My Tiger 1 will be Normandy time frame as well.
Keep the pix coming.

Your Panther was inspiration for me for a long time as it was one of the first completed. You tiger and Tims will be inspiration when I build mine
Bob

Some further work on my Tiger


I was not happy with the rear plate Zimmerit and so removed it and reapplied a new coating, now much better . What also made me happy was the fact that it took a lot of effort to get off and so should be good for the future.


I have put the track pin deflectors back to the original possition as i have decided to build my Tiger as 222 of SS-Pz-Abt 101 (The Tiger Wittmann used at Villers Bocage) This tank would appear to be a April production Tiger with 40mm single piece roof, monocular gunners sight, small muzzel brake, 15mm thick Tiger2 loaders hatch and no drain slits in the comanders coupola. As Kent said in a previous post the track pin deflectors were changed in May 44.


Motors fitted and speed controlers + fuse box fitted to my own mount plate between the motors (Richie Wignals idea).


Casting letters changed to DXR from DXP, Thanks to Per Sonnervik for the information.


Gear cases fitted, ready for the drive sprockets.

Steve