Neil's early Tiger 1 (2023)

[neil graham]

Welcome to my diary/blog of my first Amortek build, the super iconic early Tiger 1.

Boxes 2 & 3 of 4 have arrived and I have already cracked them open to have a look. Can't wait to get started!

[Donald Suttie]

Good Luck and Best Wishes with your Build

Donald

[Vince Cutajar]

Looking forward to follow your build Neil.

Vince

[Andrew Gaze]

Hi Neil and congratulations on your choice for your first Armortek build.
I have also ordered the Tiger one for my first kit and will be following your build with a keen interest on how it all goes together.

Cheers,
Andrew.

[Dave Goodwin]

Will be following with interest as I'm in the same boat. Kit is slated to arrive, currently at least, tomorrow and Wednesday per UPS.

Dave

[John Fitzsimons]

Have fun, Great kit.

John

[neil graham]

Boxes 1 and 4 arrived, I now know my kit is #46.

Wife is super pumped about having these boxes in the living room (they are going to the shed, I promise )

[John Fitzsimons]

Looking forward to seeing some of the latest components. They keep getting better.

[neil graham]

Having received my Tiger, I very quickly realised my workshop (aka, the dumping ground shed) simply was not in a state fit for purpose....and I was missing some vital tools (well, nearly all of them)

So, I hired a skip (which I believe Amercians call them Roll-off Dumpsters) and proceeded to fill it! Believe it or not the images below contain only what remains in the shed, and yes I obviously need to organise it a bit more, but I have more pressing things to do.... namely, a Tiger

I also voraciously read the knowledge base which is simply amazing for getting someone like me (a 1:35 and occasional 1:16 plastic modeller) up to speed with the reality of a 100kg metal monster. Thus the lift table, motorcycle jack, ramps, array of loctites, various hand tools were ordered.

Here is my collection of boxes:

Lift table is now assembled. I chose to buy a 350kg rated scissor! But it once, buy it right. The standard tables all had such a low maximum height and being rather tall I wanted something that could both assure me of a comfortable working height but also mean I can also use it to get things up/down from even my highest racking shelves.

Motorcycle Jack is assembled & biggest lazy-susan that would fit has been bolted to it. My new foldable motorcycle ramps also arrived today and can be just seen lower left corner next to the ladder which I put in shot for some unknown reason.

MDF & rubber mat for the top of the jack is here, just waiting on the neighbour to return home as he has a circular saw.

I feel that by the time I take out my first pieces and am ready to start Dave will be driving his Tiger around

[Dale jordan]

Well done Neil . I'm in Port Macquarie where are you ?

[Vince Cutajar]

Enjoy the build and keep us updated please.

Vince

[neil graham]

Well done Neil . I'm in Port Macquarie where are you ?

In Canberra.... land of no humidity or rust

[Dave Goodwin]

And you call that disorganized? You ought to see my workspace! On second thought, no you shouldn't

[neil graham]

Its official, I have actually started!

I include the obligatory Tiger 1 first photos of the torsion bar support rails. I gave these a sanding before degreasing just because I was nervous and wanted to start right, I doubt they really needed it. What they definitely needed though was cleanup of the extra metal present inside all of the smaller holes. I did this before genral sanding & degreasing. I believe these holes are for the suspension bars that we fit much later, but cleaning it out once the support rails are attached would be a major pain. EDIT: 26th December....yes, it was a major pain....I wish I had dne a better job on it the first time!

Here are before/after photos of two different holes (sorry about the focus)

Before

After

Obligatory ceremonial first step in building a tiger.... PAGE 1 of the instructions: Insert brass bushings into support rails. Two of the bushes would not fit so I gave these the lightest of sandings possible...which did the trick. Only after I had test fit them all did I start the loctiting.

I had absolutely no idea how much loctite to use, being a total noob at this, but as I had to cleanup a small amount on the surface of the rail after nearly every bush I concluded I was using enough, which is probably better than not enough.

Obligatory BEFORE brass bushings inserted

Obligatory AFTER brass bushings inserted

I feel so much better for actually starting..... though it rained a lot today and water seeped into the shed through cracks in the concrete, which I am not about to try and fix. So I need to get rid of the carpet and get what few things are on the concrete up into some new rack space I will buy this week. If nothing else this Tiger has forced me to do things in my shed that I have been putting off for 10 years!

[neil graham]

I watched a Tiger 1 building video with horror today as they advised to make sure the brass bushes move very smoothly with the axles in them....before you loctite them to the torsion bar! Oh well, they seem to be ok but will likely give the inside of the brass bushes a light sanding before I put the sides on.

I am on to page 2 of the manual after bolting the torsion bars to the base plate...not tight or loctited for now of course. I saw some pretty noticeable imperfections in the CK0127 plugs, see photo

Machining leftovers

So I got the mini file and sandpaper out again...... it was thoroughly enjoyable! I surprised myself at how much filing & sanding down the top of a plug satisfied me, I wonder how long I can keep this level up. The after photos don't do it justice....it looks messier than the untouched one, but it feels so much smoother.

All filed & sanded smooth :)

The plugs are loctited in now, will finish the brass bushes sanding before attaching the sides.

Side project: New 1000kg rack shelving purchased today, I have an extra eight 1.2m x 0.6m shelves to get everything off the floor so I can then get rid of the crappy carpet

EDIT: .....and I am still waiting for someone to say "Oh no, you didn't do that did you!!!!"