my HL late Tiger 1 build

[tiger205]

hi guys,
           i will atempt to write a build report here for you all, it started nearly 2yrs ago when by chance i see a Tiger on ebay for £20, it was a non S&S version, so i bought it, to start with it was only for abit of fun , still you know what its like, you get your 1st rc tank, then the bug bites you in the bum, well thats what happened to me, the first thing i done was to lengthen the barrel and correct the mantlet, then i got on the net and found mato toys, by this time i knew i wanted to do a late Tiger one, so i bought mato's late wheels and metal tracks, with idlers and drive sprockets, and metal suspension arms, i installed all this, but wasnt very happy with the wheels, i had to use the inner plastic wheels, bummer, the added weight helped to blow the main board, so, i thought a good excuse for a S&S upgrade, so i bought one from pugwash on ebay(a top bloke) at the same time i bought a rubber zimmerit kit from ebay, at this point i decided to do a replica of wittmans Tiger 205, the one which was assigned to him at villiers bocage, when the parts got here i put it all on her, then i painted the camo' scheme, i hand painted the whole lot, partly because i didnt think they sprayed them in the field, and i wanted a little bit of authenticity, and i dont have an airbrush, i use humbrol paints, mainly because i used them since i was a boy.
i made my own decals for her because i cant find any for "205", they aint great, but will do untill i can find some good ones, after this i weathered her a bit, and had some fun driving her about chasing the dogs and shooting them , but the main boards kept blowing every few weeks or so, each time this happened i did abit more detailing on her, i first opened the engine cover, then opening front hatches, a late cuppola, and turret roof detail parts, and a AA mg for the cuppola, i also filled in one of the gun sight holes on the mantlet and added spare track links to the side of the turret and added a single front headlight, i drove her around like this for a month or so, untill the main board went again >:(, so i put one more in and i notched the front tow shackle holders out, as per the late Tiger, i had decided at this point to put Elmod in her if the main board went again, i had gone through 5 at this point. for a month or two i didnt drive her much, had otherthings i needed to do, but most of my spare time was spent on the net researching the tiger, it soon became apparent i still needed to do alot more detailing to get a accurate late model Tiger so i put a to do list together, well i wont bore you with it, but it was as long as a kleenex bogroll, i had decided to go all the way and pull out all the stops and give her the best of everything.
well a fortnight later the mainboard went again , so she come off the road, untill i could afford my parts list.  Have alook at the pics i posted, and i will put abit more on another post
                                                         Tony

[tiger205]

part two
             it took me a couple of months to get the money together for all the parts i wanted, we decided to trade the car in and get a different one, out of the profit i bought a complete set of Elmod modules, and a futaba 6ex 2.4ghz TX and RX, also bought opening tow cable holders and opening track link holders, and a complete new metal suspension upgrade from asiatam, better late wheels late tracks, etc,  i had by this time met nigel, another tanker here in southampton, and abit of an electronics whizz, he pointed out several details that needed to be done, and he sold me a pair of new jamara 480 hs bb motors, over a few weeks i put all this together on the Tiger, then i made my own adjustable idler set up , which was ok, but not perfect.
i also binned the airsoft gun(to unreliable) and installed a tamiya recoil unit, and muzzle flash, that was a real headache, i used the remains of the airsoft gun to mount the recoil on, after a few teething troubles it works well now, while the turret was open i lowered the cuppola, and added a better mg and mount, and added little windows to the vision holes on the cuppola, and an opening side loaders hatch, i used two little magnets from a pebl mobile phone to keep it shut.
me and nigel decided to make our own 3-1 boxes, standard metal boxes just wasnt man enough, i will write a post soon on how we did it.
with those installed,with the jamara motors, i then installed suspension strenghening plates, and all the Elmod electronics, i'm not to much up on electronics, so that was a bit of a headache for me,, but it eventually got done. after this i put her back on the road,the Elmod electrics are something else, what a difference they make, it makes you want to get in an drive it . i drove her around for awhile, like this but there was still a few more details to add, but i thought bugger it i want to have some fun with it, she had been off the road more than on it, typical tiger i suppose.
i will post some more pics and last bit of writeup next
                                                                   Tony

[tiger205]

the final leg !
                  all that was left to do was mainly exterior detailing, but the biggest  job was to correct the suspension so the arms pointed in the right direction, like the real thing. http://www.rctankwarfare.com/Forums/ind ... 321.0.html, this link should take you to the post i wrote on here, so i wont bore you with how i done it on this post.
i started by adding the right aerial and aerial base, to the correct position on the upper hull, i then made my own front hatch interior detail, not perfect, but better than none at all, the next thing was to make a rear convoy light, i made that with a couple of white led's a bit of plasticard and abit of clear plastic, from a donut box, that really works well, i then made my own engine grill covers out of plasticard and some plastic mesh i had lying around, not the best but better than nowt, and cheaper than buying some, i also made a kuglblende for the bow mg, and made the vision slit on the bow plate, opening, the last thing i done(i think) was to make and fit a heater cooling port to the rear panel, just under the left side exhaust.
thats about it for now, i think, i aint the best at keeping a record of what ive done, i get into something, and mostly forget the camera, plus this has been over a 2yr period, and i'm getting on now , there is still one or two more things i got planned for the future, will keep you posted, i will post some pic's of the finnished Tank in a mo'.
                                           Tony

[tiger205]

here is some pics of the finnished(nearly)Tiger, i hope you all like it, any comments are welcome

                              Tony

[Wight]

Amazing Tiger 1.
Some realy nice fine detail work.
I like the way it has evolved over the last 2 years.
Just goes to show what can be done with a basic heng long tiger.

[[ICE]monkey]

great build , its a credit to you ,
all the best, ice

[adin]

Thats an absolute beauty. Really interseting seeing it over 2 years, thanks for sharing it

[fv432]

Nice work on the tiger tony is that the tamiya re-coil mech you've grafted onto the H/Long barrel

[tiger205]

thanks guys
                  its comments like yours which help you get things done on a project, when things get tough, my daughter katie(9) and me have  a T34(HERS) and the Tiger(mine) we have a sherman and p3 coming for x-mas, she wants the tiger but she got more chance of catching rocking horse poo.
i've done so much to the Tiger, i'm sure ive missed out a few things, but i cant help it, i'm going senile , or so the wife would have you believe

                                                                            thanks again
                                                                                                Tony

[tiger205]

hi fv432
          yes its a tamiya recoil, but i forgot to say the barrel is a aluminium one not a hl one. i used the carcass of the hl airsoft gun to mount the recoil unit too. thanks for the comments
                                      Tony