The Official Armortek Forum - World leader in one sixth scale metal kits

Hello Everyone.

First time Armortek owner here from Calgary,Alberta,Canada. I am happy to say i am awaiting a Tiger 1 Ausf E Late Production kit and i cant wait to hear it is ready for shipping.

I have been going threw the forum lately looking at all the other kits that have been built and i must say i am amazed at all the detail that has been put into these models, from both builder and Armortek.

Well I'm sure this will be first of many questions i will need to pick your brains about but i was wondering what tools i will need to get started for this build. I seen on another post a list of some tools i think i will need.


Dremel / Tap & Die set / Filing sets / drill press / Metric Bolt set and a Hydraulic lift table.

I was wondering what range of tap & die sizes i should get as well as Metric bolt driver sets. Also anything els i might have missed.

Before you think of any tools i might be missing i should say i am planning to build the model as is without painting, and keep a polished metal finish.

When i first started looking for a model tank i was looking for a ready to run tank that was completely metal, And built for being driven. Like my other RC models i only like to buy the best of the best, So after searching the web for month's i concluded if i was going to get the best 1/6 scale tank it would have to be Armortek, and i would need to build it mysalf.

So most of my modeling skills aren't up to par with most of you on this forum. The most portion of my experience sums up to rebuilding my RC model trucks.

Well thanks again for any suggestions, tips and help you can give me and i apologize in advance for all the questions i will have to ask in the future lol

Steven Raison.

Hi Steven,

Congratulations on your late Tiger kit. If you plan on building it out of the box, you shouldn't need much more then you have listed.

My late Tiger went together very nicely and I'm sure the latest release is even better. Look forward to seeing yours come together.

Welcome

kindest regards from California
Tim

Hi Steven, and welcome.

You probably won't need any dies, as it is rare for Mark to machine external threads on parts - unless they are quite large items such as gun barrels.

For taps, I would say that M2 to M8 would cover pretty much every size you are likely to encounter. Buy the absolute best quality you can afford - the difference in price between a cheap tap and an expensive one can be ten-fold or more but the difference in use is definitely worth the extra cost. In my experience, cheap taps tend to bind during cutting, even when using a cutting lubricant and I have had several break I have now thrown away all the "hobby brand" taps I had and only buy Dormer.

With the drivers, I would avoid the ball-ended ones, as I have found the smaller surface area with which they touch the bolts means they tend to bind more easily. I would get a set of metric nut spinners in sizes M3 to M6, as these allow you to place nuts better than ordinary spanners (wrenches?).

Adrian.

Hello from Montreal
I have just purchase a Tiger ! late prod and in the process of building it, like you I am new in the 1/6 scale, and still in 1/16 tamiya Tank.
Large scale are great and you will have hours of pleasure.
If you wish to contact me off line my email is ( bi.gray1948@hotmail.com )

Good luck

Hey Guys

Thanks allot for the reply's. It's nice to see this is a very active forum and cant wait to post my build when it gets here

I went out today and got myself a drill press,files,bolt drivers and a drill & tap kit.

And thanks Adrian for the info on tap/bolt sizes, I think i found a pretty good set with the small m2 sizes.


Steven.

As Adrian says get good ones. I will take his advice having broke 2 crap ones recently. Bits of tap still dtuck inside.

Hi Steven

I agree with Adrian and John, quality taps are the way to go. Another tip even with good taps in these small sizes we use when tapping in metal is to drill the tap hole slightly larger than to recommended size, always oil the tap and only turn the tap in a few turns at a time, back off and and turn in again. For blind holes always drill deeper than you require. Also have both through taps and blind end taps for tapping appropriate holes.

Mike