Late Tiger major M.O.T.

[Paul Morris]

Hi Fellas.

Just thought I would post this many of you will have seen this Tank at the open day...well she is a little bit tired but will make a good project to bring back to life...here's a few befor pictures.
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very little rust just slight surface stuff.
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So far most of the problems seem to be that a lot of things have just come loose through wear and tare {as advertised by Mark and Gill} what I found surprising was just how well the tank still travelled even though most of the suspension was completely undone as in the above picture...just shows how good these tanks really are
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All electrics ripped out, these will of course be replaced with all original Armortek parts which I find to be the best.
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Seems due to things becoming loose the final drives had got a bit hungry...
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All this swarfe is from a new rebate that has been ground out of the hull side plates where the drive gear passes through.
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Belly plate removed
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Rust gone and acid 8 applied.
Thats all for now back to the last King Tiger at the weekend.
Cheers Paul & Vinnie

[Steve Norris]

Paul,
Good to see you have made a start, When we looked at it last weekend it looked pretty rough but i think with a bit of TLC it will end up fine.
I have started to dismantle the mid Tiger i got at the weekend ready for a ground up build, As you know it is like new and all the fasteners are only nipped up so not problems so far.
Keep the posts comming.
Steve

[Tim Bowman]

Nice one Paul! Look forward to seeing what you have planned for this one.

I like the strategic placement of the "best daddy" sign too.

Regards
Tim

[Dale jordan]

Go Paul .. Is this the late Tiger from the open day sale ? That Mark has driven real hard to test out the kit ? .. If so it's looks pretty good to me . Paul how's the wear on the alloy road wheels and idlers what about the track wear and pins can we have a photos . I'm sure what Mark put it through is much more then most of us owners would do . Thanks Dale

[Paul Morris]

Hi Tim.

Yes I have a couple of ideas of how she may end up looking, as for the sign...you know how it is, us Dads have to do these things its there in the window so that it can be seen to have been put up ha ha.
Cheers Paul

[Paul Morris]

Hi Fellas.

Well not much more progress but Dale I have taken a few photo's for you of the wear on the wheels and track links.
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The wheel in the above photo shows the very worst wear and this one had actually come loose and was rattling around trapped by the other wheels! I know its very scuffed up but the rest of the wheels show nothing like this type of damage..so thats good
I thought you would be interested in a photo of the sprocket showing the teeth?
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I have left the parts as I got them from the open day for you to see and indeed as you can see the sprocket teeth show very little wear at all and this from a tank that as Mark put it "Has had probably a lifetimes running, and the worst possible treatement" he did actually tell me that in one instance he stood on top of the tank and drove into the side of a skip and kept the tracks on full throttle just to see how the motion pack modules would stand up ...I think they passed and so did the tank .
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Looks like quite a lot of wear on the tracks ...
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Until you compare them to some spare links from my spares and I think there has been very little material worn away at all considering
Also consider that this late Tiger along with the King Tigers will suffer more wear due to the lack of tyres on the wheels, and I think we must conclude that under normal circumstances, and the fact that we are doing the opposite to what Mark has done with this model... i.e. looking after them {sorry Mark} we have nothing to worry about as far as wear is concerned...just my opinion.
Lastly a more positive photo the hull with the floor replaced and painted.
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By for now Paul

[Nick Farrugia]

Hello paul
it was good to meet you briefly on sunday open day your king tiger is superb very nice. Getting on great with the tiger 1 it is nice to put the name to the face ,good luck
best wishes
nick

[Paul Morris]

Hi Nick.

Likewise mate always good to meet new tankers, I thought your Panzer 111 was great I liked the camo, when I get around to doing mine I was thinking of a three tone camo pattern... or possibly grey with a winter white wash, not seen one of them as yet.
See you again sometime probably at another show.
Kind regards Paul.

[Antony Rowley]

Hi Paul,

You're one fast worker

Very interesting photo's of a well run Tiger. Just shows these tanks WILL last a lifetime and beyond

Keep the photo's coming.

Thanks Ant

[Steve Norris]

Hi Paul,
Its looking much better already. My cocern was that all the fasteners would be rusted solid, But you seen to have got it apart OK.
Steve

[Paul Morris]

Hi fellas.

Ant thanks mate I am just looking forward to getting started on something of my own, don't get me wrong I love doing other peoples models ... but nothing beats planning out your own paint scheme etc.

Steve.

So far getting things apart has not been a problem the worst things up to now were the taper locks to get the sprockets off they were pretty stuck.
I have been looking back at your posts regarding the lowering of the rear deck this is something I will do on this tank and I will be talking to you about the engine bay and the radiators if you don't mind? I have already been in touch with Phil from Magpies and he has kindly sent me some pics of his Tiger 1 interior, but as he pointed out he used a Mark 1 hull, so he had a bit more room to play with to fit it all in...I think I remember you saying last year at the open day it had been a bit of a struggle finding room any pics you have would be great...please ha ha
See you both soon I hope Paul