Armortek

I thought I would sound off . To see who is slower then me, at building armortek kits . I started my early tiger on the 24 th of OCT, 2005 . I'm 3/4 finnished to date Plus I have a Sherman 1/2 done . I know David Mc Connell , has been at his tiger longer then me . Also is there any one who has a mid or early tiger just sitting there waiting to start .... Dale.

Hi Dale,

Happy New Year. I was going to put out a post to see what others had been doing, modeling wise, over christmas. I think I must rank as one of the slowest builders as it took me 18 months to complete the Tiger and the Sherman has been on the go for 15 months but is only at basic hull level. This said it is a major conversion job with much scratch building. I was going to up-load a number of pictures over chrismas but my computer suffered from a terminal inllness so I'm going to have to buy a new one when funds permit at the end of January.

I spent christmas building a unique design smoker for the Sherman exhausts. Its based on the UKTC design with a 12v soldering iron element and a 40mm 12v fan, but the fan has a shutter system fitted under it which is turned by a servo connected to the ESC's. At idle there is a small gap in the shutter which just allows smoke to trickle out of the exhausts but as the engine revs the servo opens the shutter to allow the fan to blow out a large puff of smoke which then clears. I think this best mimicks how tank engine exhausts behave smokewise. Its been quite a project to make but enjoyable and is a smaller neater design than the system in the Tiger. At the same time I've stripped and re-built the smokers in the Tiger as I find that after about 10 hours running the wick material in the smokers becomes hardened and doesn't soak up the oil very well. The result is that the units smoke well initially then the smoke diminishes. It only took about an hour to strip them and replace the material which is fibreglass sheet used by plumbers as a thermal barrier for soldering in tight places.

I have set a target of approx, 2years to finish one Panzer IV, this is to coincide with the time my partner retires (I am already retired). It will take this long as I am working from the drawings and making all the parts myself. I would estimate that 1/4 parts are made, and theres electronics, sound effects and blank firing system, then painting and testing.
Maybe I am being optimistic!!
Now off to the garage/workshop to make some more.

Hello Chaps

Im trying to keep up with Armortek ( They have little pixies that help them churn them out faster) My bank balance is trying to keep aswell.Also trying to keep up with my customers custom builds.

lee

It’s always the bank balance that holds me up; having two hobbies doesn’t help, collecting militaria being the other. How it usually works is, I decide to get those tool kits I've been wanting for the halftrack, and then I see a shiny medal that I haven’t got, a nice Luger, a Zeltbahn or some rare photos and so on. Then I can’t buy the tool kit, so I can’t move on with my build, it’s a viscous circle . I just need to win the LOTTO, and then I might stand a chance of getting everything I want .


I notice Lee doesn’t mention his sporting hobby that he shares with me, now that’s not cheep ether, and it takes up two nights a week, I don’t know how he finds the time .

Paul .

The best part about an Armortek kit is you never stop building them, I have one of the first Tigers and have been adding bits, taking it apart, servicing the wheels ect since I had the kit. I can't remember how long that is now but must over four years . The above goes for all the other kits I have from Armortek as well.



Nigel.

Hi Dale - I purchased my Tiger I on 8/18/2004 and am only on the bottom section - redoing all the blocks to my liking and making many changes to existing parts and pieces, plus buying many after market pieces from Vince - Steve - Mike -- Lucien - Pete - Rick - Colin - etc.....
Looking to get it finished in another year - I am in no hurry!!! but building many other 1/6 scale WW2 items.

The fun is the build-change-build!
JB

My early Tiger has been worked hard for a couple of years now and when the Sherman is finished I'm tempted to make more modifications to the Tiger's road wheels. I would like to fit a single bearing block down each side like the latest Tiger as I find the individual bearing blocks work loose occasionally. I modified them by fitting coutersunk screws in place of the cap head screws but these are not holding the bearings as solid as I'd like. Vince did a mod of drilling and tapping the blocks to fit screws through the side plates as well, but I think this is more work than making a complete new block. The ball bearings in the road wheels have also started to corrode and jam and now run on the shafts which is not good, so I would like to make new bushes with PTFE bearings. Finally the torsion bars have settled, especially at the rear of the tank so I would like to replace these with flat torsion bars, possibly with some form of easy adjustment.

SLOW? I have the 20th Pz4, it runs, as of last nov, but still needs paint and a handfull of small parts.

I have one of the first batch of Tigers - ordered in 2002 I think. The hull, turret, track and suspension/wheels have been together once but had to come apart again because the wheels were touching due to poor arm accuracy.

So since late 2003 the beast has been in pieces again and my assembly line has been buried under gardening related paraphenalia.

I retire in August so perhaps by 2009 I may have a functioning model.

Steve Ford

Hang in there Steven . It will happen!!!. I don't feel so bad now that I' m not the slowest. Dale.

Hi Steve,

Long time no speak, If memory serves me right you had great hopes of getting it running when I came to see you in 2004, you were waiting for the weather to warm up so you could get back in your work shop, wow I thought you would have finished it .

You should ask Gill if she can help you out with some new swinging arms, then you can start building again. You must be doing alright right if you can afford to retire at 50 .

Paul .

Ah Paul! I assure you its all down to Revlon abuse - vile habit. Perhaps you've read or heard of The Portrait of Dorian Grey? Its my life story.

Actually - seriously - I'm really a multi-centenarian Time Lord - can't get the old Tardis working either.

Just this morning I've handed in my official written notice that I'll be 'spending more time with my family' from the age of 55.

But all the same I'm flattered that you took five years off my age - bet you say that to all the girls...

Steve Ford