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I have been waiting a long time and my patience has finally paid off.
I discovered Armortek about three years back, just in time to miss out on the Tiger.

I did have a chance to buy a Panther, which I highly regard, but I wanted a Tiger. I came very close to buying a Tiger II but as usual I waited too long.

Now I am making plans for the Mid Tiger's arrival.

This is where I need your help and advice. I need to know what tools and specialty equipment I need. Obviously, I need a lift for this monster! Any advice, recommendations, tips and especially links will be greatly appreciated.

I should probably note that I have been building models of all types, scales and I am very detailed oriented. I have a mill, lathe, five airbrushes and too much more to list. I will be building this Tiger with all the bells and whistles as I intend to USE it not look at it! My original intent was to get an early Tiger for a North African variant with Mike Stannard's fiefel units. I even preordered them expecting to get an early Tiger, but alas I failed. In any event event, I am extremely happy to get any Tiger.

Sorry for the long winded post and once again, any and all advice, tips and help will be greatly appreciated.

Rocky

Hi Rocky

Congratulations on the Tiger I and welcome to the party. Your shop sounds like you are all set.

Best regards
Tim

Tim Bowman wrote:Hi Rocky

Congratulations on the Tiger I and welcome to the party. Your shop sounds like you are all set.

Best regards
Tim

Tim,

Thanks for the quick reply! Do you have any suggestions for a lift?
I have found a few thanks to Google, but I would prefer a "veterans" opinion.

Rocky

Hi Rocky, and welcome to the forum.

For moving the tank around, a hydraulic lifting table is a must have:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=94822

(I know nothing about this particular one, I'm just using it as an example as it is from a US supplier ).

One thing to watch out for is the width of the Tiger - you will probably have to add a sheet of wood to the top of the table to make a safe platform.

I use car ramps to drive the tank up onto the table:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165727

(I did try and find a US stockist but failed, so I'm not sure if you use these types of ramps over there. )

With regard to the Mid vs Early Tiger, Armortek won't be doing another Early Tiger production run, as the first one was specifically sold as a "Limited Edition". Having said that, if you already have Mike's Feifel's, then you pretty much only need a drum cupola (see Mike again ) to have the basis of an Early Tiger. There will be a lot of detail differences in tools etc but the hull, turret and running gear are the same.

Vince Abbot's excellent Early Tiger started out life as one of the first run of Mid Tiger kits. Doing the same conversion to yours certainly sounds like it's up your street

Adrian.

Adrian,

Thanks for the information. The ramps and the lifts are easy to find and I am pretty confident that I have about 90% of the tools I will need.

I am very excited about the kit and I am sure this will bring new meaning to "building a kit."

Now I have to do a lot of research!

Rocky

Glad to help

> Now I have to do a lot of research!

Careful with that .

Once you start buying Tiger books, you soon realise you need a whole other room just for them

Adrian.

Adrian,

I have no trouble collecting books or models.



I will be converting a new room just for Armortek.

Rocky

Welcome Rocky ....Good choice of model with the Mid Tiger .. I'm one of the 50 lucky owners of this Batch ... Good to see you can post photos on the forum . Are you going to put up your build on the forum for us to check out ??? I won't be starting my machine for a year or so , as I have to finish my KT and then PZIII.... Dale

Thanks Dale!

Yes, I will post from start to finish and probably more than I should.

I am an avid model builder and I post on a few forums on a regular basis.

Needless to say, I am very excited about the Tiger.

Rocky

Hi Rocky,

Congrats on the Tiger I

I'm working on a Tiger II (my first), but also have a mid-Tiger ordered. Are you going to convert yours to an early version? I've also ordered Mike Stannard's Fiefel filters and early cupola and plan to convert mine to an early version.

Your modeling experience will really help. My last model was decades ago, but following the other Forum builds have really improved my building skills.

We may have to form our own Texas Schwere Panzer Abteilung with all the Tiger I's and II's coming to our state

Mark,

Glad to see that you are close by and that I won't be alone on the field.

Yes, I am planning an early Tiger and I am in the process of researching the mods required.

Rocky

Backdating! Great - that makes three of us! I'm planning on spring '43.

Let's share ideas on mods when the day comes!

From the top of my head:
1 Cupola
2 Feifels - two possible versions an early and a late
3 Sprocket hubs - the mid version was machined
4 Rear right engine grille - be sure to pick a date that doesn't require a mirrored part...
5 Turret roof - here I'm a bit worried. The newer turret had a thicker roof, which may require replacement - depending on the fidelity of the Armortek part.
6 Turret bin may require replacement (or even removal) depending on how early you want your version.

The rest is a matter of adding (and sometimes removing) detail parts, such as early pistol port, mine launchers, smokers, fording equipment, headlights, tool box, etc and I believe the rear mud flaps had an early version.

Be sure to check here: http://www.alanhamby.com/changes.shtml

Edit: The gun mantlet will be a serious mod, if you want something more than just the binocular gunsight...

Can't wait!
/Chris

Chris,

Thanks for jumping in and your input.

I will be building a Tiger from January-May variant.

I am excited too!

Rocky

Hi Rocky,
Welcome to the Armortek owners crazy house. Once you have one A-tek tank you'll want another. As for the lifts as Adrian already pointed out, Harbor Freight is best bet in the US, esp if you can pick it up at a store. It will save $75-100 or so shipping it. HF also has some nice alum motorcycle ramps which I use to load to tank into my truck and off the lift cart. The ramps were about $140.

Look forward to seeing your build photos once you have your tank.
Enjoy the forum,
Bob

Hi Rocky,
Here is what I did for raising and lifting my tanks.
I like many of you have always wanted the ultimate “Tankâ€