Ken's Tiger

[Ken Molchanow]

Well, I started the assembly of my Tiger so I figured I add a build log to the forum.

The only real problem that I found in test fitting the hull was the main right side plate. I guess from being shipped, the plate ended up with a bow in it from end to end. I chose a real unscientific method to straighten the plate. I placed it between two boards on the floor and jumped on it a few times. Crude, but it worked.

Cleaning the parts down to the hull so they could be primed for reassembly had a little humor added to it. “Questionâ€

[Tim Bowman]

"I was just about done scrubbing all the parts when the wife waked in. Talk about a Kodak Moment, but I have a very good understanding wife. She just shook her head and walked out of the room. "

Classic! just had to respond after reading that.

Ken, the holes you are asking about are for the battery plate mounting screws and the center post for the turret hold-down thing. These parts come with the motion pack.

Looking forward to another Tiger build. Good luck and I'm happy to help.
Kind regards
Tim

[Ken Molchanow]

I had the time this weekend to finish the disassembly of the hull and prepared it for the primer coat. The primer that I’m using is a little darker than I would like, but I love the finish of the paint when it dried.

Used a trick that I learned to fill in the holes to the second round hatch cover that is being replaced. I used a countersink to chamfer both sides of the holes then placed Scotch Tape on one side. Fill the holes with JB Weld, pushing it in the hole to fill the chamfer on the other side, add a little extra on the top to sand down. JB Weld will not stick to the tape and it leaves a nice smooth finish when the tape is removed.

Countersunk all the mounting holes for the bottom plate and primed it. I was able to reassemble the hull last night. Next are the extra details for the pannier and the welds.

[Rocky Sembritzky]

Ken,

Very nice work and I am glad to see that I am not alone when it comes to the smooth bottom.

Rocky

[Ken Molchanow]

Have not had as much time as I would have liked to work on the build, but I was able to finish the mod to pannier gussets and install them using Tim’s drawing. Metal is not a medium I normally work in so the pannier gussets took awhile to make.

I did spend the entire weekend taken a welding class. Model Welding 101, with a box of Milliput, some brass tubing and a few pots of coffee. I was able to, well, sort of master the art of making a model weld. I know I’ll improve as time goes on, since the bottom has the most welds I’ll get lots of practice. I made one brass tube tonight that I was pleased with, that elongated the look of the weld. I’m going to redo the balance of the tools that I made to match this one. The second photo shows what I mean by elongated, it looks more like the puddle that is made when you weld, at least the welds that I make.

[Rocky Sembritzky]

Ken,

Excellent progress!

Rocky

[Tim Bowman]

Hi Ken

Looks great! Nice work and please keep the photos coming.

Best regards
Tim

[simon_manning]

nice attention to detail ken, simon manning

[Ken Molchanow]

The first side is complete, except for the finish to the metal surface. I have some Mr. Surfacer on order that I have not yet received. The second side should go a lot smoother since I did all my homework on the first side, plus all the extra detail parts were made at the same time.

I changed the detail to the Front and Rear Extensions to an earlier version and I modified the Casing Fillets to have a more rounded look. I mounting the Fillets with studs that I made. I thought of mounting them with longer screws from the drive, but had second thoughts in case I need to pull the drive apart in the future. I don’t want to take the entire front apart to make a repair. The two Shock Mounts were added and the Range Indicators were added to the Idler Mounts. Finished up the balance of the welds, man that was a lot of weld. Now I can start the second side.

I would like to take the time and thank everyone who has contributed to this forum in the past. Without your postings I would not be able to do what I’m doing to this build. There is a ton of information in this forum to help someone like me build the best that your abilities will allow.

[Rocky Sembritzky]

Ken,

Excellent welds and detail. The forum and the members are outstanding and a tremendous help.

Rocky

[Ken Molchanow]

I was able to finished up the detail to the second side over the weekend and tonight I painted the primer sealer coat to the entire bottom of the hull. Now I will be able to turn the hull over and start on the running gear.

[Dale jordan]

Hi Ken.. This is real nice work . I can see you have picked up some good ideas off the forum well done ... Dale

[Steven Day]

Very, very nice work. I can't wait to start work on my tank, which is my winter project.

Steve

[Ken Molchanow]

Made some progress from the last post. Since I completed the detail work that I wanted to do on the bottom of the hull I was able to turn the beast over and complete the installation of the suspension arms. I chose not to install grease fittings for the suspension arm bearings because of the lube that I intend to use. I have had real good luck with this lube as far as bearing wear to the equipment that is serviced in my place of employment. I did look into an upgrade for the bearing, either a DU or DX style, but I could not find a stock bearing in that size. Could have had them made, but it was not worth the cost, since I know the stock bearings will work fine.

Using some of the ideas that I seen posted, I was able to build a simple jig to cut the flats on the torsion bar ends. With my small drill press and a sanding disk that I had, cutting the flats on the torsion bars was fairly easy. The jig really made the difference in getting it right.







I’m going to put the tank on the back burner for a while. As the saying goes “Good things come for those who waitâ€

[Ken Molchanow]

Since I’m now finished with the rebuild of the mill that I purchased and with the help of a real good set of videos that I found on a M.I.T. web site, which gave me a crash course in Machine Shop 101. I’m now able to operate my mill without destroying a part that I want to modify. I was able to go back and do a few things that I was saving on my Mill To-Do list.



I added the detail of the bolts to the Armor Visor, cut back the Upper Front plate the ¼â€