loose tracks

[Diesel]

just about finished my camouflage job on the Tiger 1 just the weathering to go and paint the sprockets.Put on new metal tracks instead of the plastic ones and as you can see they are much to loose at first i thought the gearbox had packed up but i'm sure its the sprockets slipping on the loose tracks.
My question is how many links should i remove??? Sorry to be asking all these questions lately...


Cheers Diesel..

[cannedheat]

get a pencil old chap put your plastic and metal side by side on pencil hold it level then see how much longer your metal are, remove links as req you don't want them tight so may be wise to give them the xtra link wot wot nice paint job old chap, if i may say needs a bit of the yellow front and rear and wheels, just the way I would go seeing as the yellow is main colour but this is a big world every one as there preference wot wot

[jarndice]

Two things my friend, Have you fitted track tensioners and if not I would recommend you do, second never apologise for asking questions on this Forum it is what we are all here for, going back to the track tensioners, Steve at Welsh Dragon Models and Dave at Forgebears sell Henntecks range of them. shaun

[ALPHA]

HELLO DIESEL

I would say about two.... once you reset your road wheels.... why does your tiger sit like a T34?

the DRIVE SPROCKETS SHOULD SIT A TAD HIGHER than the road wheels



Good luck

ALPHA

[cannedheat]

yes old chap all is not correct with your wheels/sprockets ,are your axles in the slot?

[Diesel]

Thanks cannedheat did the pencil trick looks like i will be removing 1 link,well spotted ALPHA yes must have done something wrong am looking into it now thanks for pointing that out.
jarndice i will see how it goes after taking another link out and sorting out the wheel problem

Great going guys helped me a lot, cheers Diesel

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
The Tiger is coming along, Diesel. The tracks should sort out easily and the sprockets too. You have one of the most interesting looking Tigers I have seen. To add a tip of my own, soak the end of a Q-tip in paint thinner and run it along the outside edge of your road wheels to restore the black rubber appearance, leaving the excellent camo on the 'metal' portions. Blot to dry with a cotton cloth if needed. Remember to keep having fun. ;o)
regards,
Painless

[scalawag]

Hi,

It looks to me from the first picture that the suspension springs are tensioned the wrong way so that the suspension arms are being forced into the top of their slots rather than the bottom. Its an easy mistake to make, I've done it myself. just need to remove the wheels and twist the arms against the springs so that they end up facing towards the bottom of the tank. You should need hold the arm in place while you screw the wheel back on as the arm will want to push down past the bottom of the tank and the screw needs to go through the arm and into the slot. Its a bit of fiddle to do, and you have to start with the back wheel and work towards the front.

I'm not sure I have been that clear in my description, but I hope this helps.

[ALPHA]

Thanks cannedheat did the pencil trick looks like i will be removing 1 link,well spotted ALPHA yes must have done something wrong am looking into it now thanks for pointing that out.
jarndice i will see how it goes after taking another link out and sorting out the wheel problem

Great going guys helped me a lot, cheers Diesel

I would say it was lucky you provided photos... as the drive sprocket and boggies where the first thing that I took notice of ...It's pretty noticeable .. especially in the photo with it sitting on your bench

Any way ... I have an eyeball measuring thing I do for my AXIS models...First I suspend the model by putting it on a block ... allowing the tracks to hang free...a tooth to a tooth and a half tooth is the gap I like to see between the track and center boggie ... that way you get that nice Track droop...I haven't had any problems with that measurement ... Knock on wood

Have fun with it Diesel

ALPHA

[scalawag]

I tension my tigers so that the track just touches the second road wheel in from the sprocket when the tank is stationary.
Its a tip I picked up whilst watching this video on Tiger 131 at Bovington.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPuuLlc80Rs.

Its apparently how they check the track tension on the real thing. Works well for me and looks right to my eye. You might need track tensioners fitted to get to this exactly though, as adding or removing links will only give a fairly coarse adjustment.