Tiger 1 build

[cupoftea]

Thanks Hawkeye

That is a nice scheme. i may well use it if I can pluck up the courage to give it a try.

[cupoftea]

House alterations should be complete by the end of the week! Next week I should able to do some serious model building. In the meantime I have been experimenting with some electronics (more on this later if/when it works to my satisfaction).
In addition I have refined the gun servo elevation mechanism and added a single working headlight on the right hand side of the tank, main gun elevation is controlled by channel 6 of the TX and the lights are switched by channel 5. I have an aluminium gun barrel and a spare mantlet and am slowly making a home brew recoil mechanism which will be fitted at a later date. Main power on/off switch is hidden inside the right hand exhaust heat shield and a charge socket will be hidden under the left hand one.

[cupoftea]

Over the weekend I removed the front glasis plate (not a job for those of a nervous disposition as the Heng Long glue person had gone to town on this one!) and opened up the driver's vision port. Also opened up the machine gun port so i can fit a more realistic machine gun mount.

[HERMAN BIX]

Where are you at with this now Mr Cuppa ? I have looked at opening my drivers vision block but really thinking that mine can stay in the close combat position to avoid the potential of error. I have just bought a metal/led MG so the wayward ball mount must go, but to carve off the upper glasis plate would take sedation & restraint for me to endure !!

[cupoftea]

Hi Herman

I think the driver's vision port mod is well worthwhile and somehow makes the Tiger look more menacing. I found the trick when removing the glasis plate was to take a lot of time and gently ease it away while using some liquid poly cement to soften the glue where the Heng Long glue person had been most enthusiastic. Then it was just a case of very carefully cutting out the sliding block and gluing it back in the open position.
Cosmetically the Tiger looks about the same. In the last few days i have spent a fair amount of time refining the electronics. It now has the servo main gun recoil working more in sync with the gun sound in that the recoil starts a fraction of a second before the gun sound much as you would see in a real tank viewed from a distance. I guess that most would consider the control system a little bit of a potch in that it is part RC tanks Australia, part Heng Long and part home brew but In my eyes it has two main saving graces; 1 - it was interesting and fun developing it, 2 - It works.
The sound system now has an amplifier and i was pleased to find that the sound now has a little more bass to it and oh boy is it loud at full volume (enough to make my wife shout 'turn that blasted thing down')
At the moment i am building a receiver operated switch so I can switch the lights from a spare channel.

[cupoftea]

Here is my butchered servo turret speed controller. Sorry about the ugly wiring but it will be neatened up soon......................................

[PainlessWolf]

Cup,
Good to hear from you and see some pics of your excellent work updates. Your Tiger is looking fearsome. ;o)
regards,
Painless

[cannedheat]

I am liking this very much old chap I like the mid late tigers its the wheels I am having a bash at revamping mine hopfully I will have the late wheels on her .......wot wot ......

[cupoftea]

Thanks chaps.

Not a lot of progress today - made a machine gun ball mount from a large bead..................


Found some dukelgelb paint in the back of my cupboard - I must have bought it years ago and forgotten about it. It is Xtracrylix and has more of a brown hue than the Tamiya paint I have been using. Going to test it on some plasticard and see if I like the result...................

[cupoftea]

Having fitted a servo for gun elevation I decided I was not happy with it mainly because the motion was not smooth and was way too fast, Anyhow - i butchered another servo to make a speed controller and connected it a standard Heng Long gun elevation unit - ah that's better. Gun elevation is now smooth, slow and works both ways - push the stick up and the gun elevates, down and it depresses. That's the elevation sorted out. Now to improve the main gun recoil,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Wish I had done all this to the Tiger first time around, It is now starting to work how I want it to,