heng long/taigen tiger build

[MichaelC]

does anybody else have trouble getting the heng long upper hull to fit the taigen one? the weight of the turret and hinge plate/catch on the front seem to warp were the top hull front meets and the taigen lower hull seems to sag in the sides and not meet the upper hull, you can see the gap in some of my photos!

sponge, it looks like you are missing the cross brace that comes with the Taigen lower which would help bring the bottom sides up to meet the upper. Also I noticed in the picture that your front glacis plate is not fitting into the lower. Mine does that all the time and you have to wiggle it to make sure it sits properly and that will help the side fitting as well. They just don't line up properly.

MichaelC.

[spongehoobtank82]

Hey Shawn, yeah I was going to move the ventilator but had already painted the turret twice so thought I'd leave it as is.

Michael your right I don't have the front cross member was going to fabricate one, as for the front glacis its warped now due to the metal bracket and the metal turrets weight, may try bracing the glacis blate to flatten it out, any other suggestions? Cheers dudes

[MichaelC]

sponge, the front is tricky because you can't screw anything support onto it without it showing on the top side. Maybe just epoxy a piece straight across just so that it is not warped ? For the cross brace I noticed that you lower hull doesn't even have the pre-drill holes there (Pre-cross brace version I guess). After drilling the holes for the brace you will need to pull the sides up in order to measure the holes on the brace. On the factory one there is almost 2-3 mm of pulling up the side to get the bolts into the cross brace.

Good luck...... Looking good though. I always like the rubber zim look ! Just ordered a set for my Sturm Tiger.......

MichaelC.

[spongehoobtank82]

Cheers Michael, will give it ago and see what works, the rubber zim is good but always fitment issues, to be fair on my next build (panther g) am going to milliput all the zim!

[spongehoobtank82]

Success! Well kind of! I've realized that one of the things causing top deck fitment issues (glasis not meeting hull and sides nit meeting up) was the turret/ lighting/ machine gun connector on the underside of the top hull hitting the motor, I've moved it out of the way and it has sorted the glasis plate fits almost perfect now. The hull sides are better but am still going to brace the hull to get them perfect!

[scalawag]

Success! Well kind of! I've realized that one of the things causing top deck fitment issues (glasis not meeting hull and sides nit meeting up) was the turret/ lighting/ machine gun connector on the underside of the top hull hitting the motor, I've moved it out of the way and it has sorted the glasis plate fits almost perfect now. The hull sides are better but am still going to brace the hull to get them perfect!

Hi sponge,

The Taigen upper hulls which come with the metal lower hull have the upper hull wiring socket positioned to the rear of the turret by the turret rotation motor. Its a good idea to still brace out the hull as this should improve the fit further and reduce flex further.

[Markocaster]

Hi sponge ! So just how hard was it to bring down the metal turret cupola? I am debating the same thing on mine, however I may just cheat and buy the plastic turret

[spongehoobtank82]

Despite the fact I like the feel and weight of the metal turret I would suggest the plastic one, the ring of metal your left with after is a pain to get off, its difficult to get a rotary tool in and around it (I had to do it from both sides) plastics ALOT quicker to grind/ cut off, once you've removed it though its plain sailing, you just have to cut a chunk out of the side of the hole you've made for the spring mechanism for the hatch as its not flush with the bottom of the hatch, let me know how it goes dude, hopefully quicker than mine and less broken grinding discs, I broke about 8!

[spongehoobtank82]

That's where I went wrong scalawag! Bought most of the build separately off ebay! Unforseen problem solved though, just got to brace it now and hopefully that will sort out the side hull sag! Although I may brace the middle as well as the front, will let you all know how it turns out

[ALPHA]

Hi sponge,

The Taigen upper hulls which come with the metal lower hull have the upper hull wiring socket positioned to the rear of the turret by the turret rotation motor. Its a good idea to still brace out the hull as this should improve the fit further and reduce flex further.

That's where I went wrong scalawag! Bought most of the build separately off ebay! Unforseen problem solved though, just got to brace it now and hopefully that will sort out the side hull sag! Although I may brace the middle as well as the front, will let you all know how it turns out

This is actually a very good note to take in.... I've looked at the metal turrets available... never got one luckily ... but I never thought what the extra weight on the plastic hull might do..especially if you relocate the turret center........something everyone should consider I think

ALPHA