Building a Mid-Production Normandy Tiger 1

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Correcting the mantlet (continued)

Having shifted the gun to its correct location within the mantlet - i.e. towards the loader's side - I now had to face adapting the Taigen recoil unit. I figured there were three options:

a) Either shift the recoil unit and its metal mounting base together and make new fixing points for the metal base on the underside of the turret roof;

b) Move the recoil unit and its metal mounting base while drilling new holes in the metal mounting base to mate with the plastic fixing points on the underside of the turret;

c) Leave the metal base and plastic fixing points on the turret roof alone but move the actual recoil unit (drilling new holes in the metal base to accommodate the new position).

I went for the middle option, but I guess others might choose differently.

Taigen recoil unit removed from its metal mounting plate - or as made to fit the Panzer III turret.jpg (74.55 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

After removing the metal plate from the Taigen recoil unit I then drilled fresh holes around 3mms from the original ones.jpg (57.16 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

The recoil unit and metal base plate reunited.jpg (60.99 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

Recoil unit reinstalled with mounting plate repositioned - note the elevation bar has also been shifted to the right (since the turret is upside down).jpg (69.18 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

Close-up view of the relocated screw position.jpg (53.79 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

Although I had carefully measured the difference between the old and new gun positions and figured that a simple 3mm shift to the starboard side was all that was needed I still struggled to make the gun sit straight - until I shifted the plastic elevation bar which links the mantlet to the elavation gear. If you compare this piece (white plastic) to the photos above in this diary you will notice that where it used to sit inside the guides on the inside of the HL mantlet it now sits outside.

Having accomplished all of that I now turned to the zimmerit. This was done, as before, with my trusty screw driver and Milliput method.

Here one half has already been textured while the other has not.jpg (79.67 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

The trick is to spread the putty thin enough to look true to scale - but deep enough to allow indentation with the screwdriver (or whichever tool you prefer).jpg (64.72 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

It's also important not to hide too much of the contours of the tank beneath.jpg (59.07 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

The finished Tamiya mantlet after the Milliput had been left to dry over night.jpg (94.76 KiB) Viewed 6988 times

I feel that my zimmerit application skills have grown somewhat since I started this build - and seeing how much better the mantlet looks with a correctly applied coat makes me wish (once again) that I had done it like this over the whole tank!

Incidentally I chose not to replicate the battle damage which I had inflicted on the previous HL mantlet - an AP hit just below the co-axial machine gun - because this would almost certainly have resulted in the tank going back to the workshop for mantlet change. Although I want my Tiger to look battle-weary I still want it to be operational!

[PainlessWolf]

Good Evening,
Thank you, Sir, for the continuance of this Build. I really enjoyed seeing you defeat the offset gun issue by employing the Tamiya parts. In order to get things done, every resource must be employed.
Happy Holidays to you and yours,
Painless

[lister fiend]

hey tftm,
any updates on this build?
c'mon, you know you want too

[Gillaspy2005]

Awesome build. Been following this for a while and took inspiration from a lot of this. Done the manual Zimm myself, hard work but worth it. Keep the updates coming!

[tanks_for_the_memory]

All systems go - the Tiger ready for the final battle....jpg (36.75 KiB) Viewed 6810 times

Back On The Road Again...

Well, It's been a while. How many times have I said that?

I suppose I could blame the job. I can definitely blame the family (sorry guys). Lacking a 'manshed' (they're called a 'shoffice' round here) I have to compete for room with what else goes on in this kitchen. [Update - we now have a shed!]

Not just cakes, I hasten to add (although there have been plenty of those for recent birthdays and school 'cake days') - but also some serious model making. Since my two boys discovered the sweet taste of medals at Euromilitaire and IPMS last year (a gold and two bronzes between them) I have started to feel like the diorama equivalent of a Hollywood film producer (without the schmoozing at Cannes I hasten to add). I bring on the Polyfilla, the paints, the airbrush, the old Verlinden ruined buildings and Tamiya kits still unbuilt from my childhood (which I sell them at the prices still on the box) - and they let loose with their wild imaginations.

It's great, believe me, except who has to clean the airbrush, find the right shade of dunkelgelb - not to mention that piece of plastic which has just bounced away along the floor provoking tears of rage from my 9 year old son...

Look, I'm not complaining, right?!

Actually, I'm also conveniently avoiding a far more mundane truth. And maybe I am complaining just a little. Not about my long-suffering wife, or the boys - but about you lot. Didn't anyone notice my cry for help? Actually lister fiend did - thanks buddy. It was headed Taigen Recoil SOS.

It was an embarrassing problem, I have to admit. But men of my age (46) have to face up to these things from time to time. How should I put this? Er... my recoil wasn't working. OK it worked sometimes. But not when it needed to work, OK? I had this problem for some time. I tried to sort it out but nothing seemed to make it right. So what did I do?

Well, I figured the problem had to be either my recoil unit - or my tank. I had a spare (new) Taigen unit so I tried that - no difference. So I took apart my son's HL Panther and rigged up the recoil to that. And it worked! As did the old one. Hmm...

So it had to be the tank. I looked and looked at my HL Tiger's upper hull and bottom and what did I find? I loose bloody wire, that's what!

The pesky loose wire which had meant my recoil unit worked intermittently for the last few months....jpg (32.78 KiB) Viewed 6810 times

My Tiger is ancient. An old RX15 model no less. And although I have replaced just about all of it, the upper hull has the original wiring. As those who have read this thread will know, I have tested this part to its limits: rewiring the headlight(s), the MG and the link to the turret. I had even moved back the eight-point socket which connects (almost) everything to the lower hull. In all of this I had never actually checked the wiring to the socket itself.

And therein lies a lesson. As I said way, way above, I am a virtual dunce when it comes to electronics, but I had always believed that one should 'follow that wire'. I didn't and the result was that I downed tools because I couldn't face doing even more detail on this Tiger knowing that I would have to keep turning it inside out trying to fix a problem I simply couldn't understand.

So, I fixed the problem by rewiring the 8-point socket and the recoil hasn't failed since. It’s great!

So what’s new?

Well for a start the Tiger is back on the kitchen table. My eldest son, who was 8 when I started on ‘his’ tank, is excited again when the gun flashes and springs back before gliding elegantly back to its starting position (his kits don’t move) – and so am I. Now I can get back to what I love – what that wily old fox Belgian Francois Verlinden (remember him?) called ‘super-detailing’.

Barrel sleeve grub nuts

Great title, eh?

On the barrel sleeve (the bit attached to the mantlet) there were pairs of recessed grub nuts in the ten and two o’clock position (and possibly more beneath the barrel, but these can’t be seen). They are small, you can’t see them in most contemporary photos and they won’t keep you awake at night if you miss them – but they are there all the same.

I decided to wrap some Tamiya masking tape round the barrel sleeve (this is great, low-tack tape) so I could use a pen to draw the locations without the glare from the plastic. Having done this (by eye) I drilled the holes right through.

Tamiya masking tape around the barrel made it easier to mark the location of the screws.jpg (32.15 KiB) Viewed 6810 times

The screw holes were then made with a fine drill.jpg (32.6 KiB) Viewed 6810 times

Lastly the screws themselves were inserted using short lengths of plastic rod - slightly recessed like the originals.jpg (25.81 KiB) Viewed 6810 times

Short pieces of plastic rod were then inserted into the holes with liquid glue and slightly recessed to give the appropriate look. David Parker (of AFV Modeller fame - mentioned above) actually slotted the screw heads before he did this, but for me this is going too far!

Close up of the grub nut holes on the Vimoutiers Tiger.jpg (43.89 KiB) Viewed 6380 times

The grub nuts on the barrel of the Saumur Tiger and other interesting details.jpg (31.02 KiB) Viewed 6380 times

[lister fiend]

excellent!
i'm really glad you got your mojo back tftm
we've all been there, where you just can't wrap your head round a problem & have to put it down for a while.
lest you end up having to kick it across the room!
i still get a twitch when ever i think of my clark board nightmares (all sorted in the end, thanks dragon245!)
i've even started my own mid tiger inspired by you! ( but with much less attention to detail)
please keep it going, i love this build.
cheers
lister

[SovereignZuul]

Glad to see you started back up. I know the time between improvements can be long, I haven't been able to get to mine in awhile either! I just moved into a new home this Monday and I have my very own work place for modeling now! All I need to do is unpack my hobby stuff in the coming future and back to my project as well!

Enjoy going back at it, this is one tank I cannot wait to watch the progress on.

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Track cable hangers, etc

The rear Tamiya loop temporarily in position ready to accept the cable.jpg (33.6 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

...and the front loop.jpg (35.42 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

The track cable was used to haul the heavy track into position using the sprocket as a capstan. This was obviously a frequent occurrence for the crew of a Tiger, since the track had to be replaced with a narrower one for transport by rail and then swapped back again at the destination.

Although it was stored on the port side of the hull of all Tiger 1s, the arrangement of hooks and brackets changed. These variations were subtle and the HL (and Tamiya) arrangement is fine for any Tiger up to about August 1943 - supposedly even after the cupola change in July that year. However, as noted above and elsewhere, these changes were not set in stone and there must have been some overlap.

The major difference between the old and new arrangement was that the latter looped the cable so that one end finished at the front and the other at the back. The reason for this seems to be that a tensioning device was introduced at the rear to keep the cable in place.

The adjustable rear cable bracket in position.jpg (34.83 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

Adjustable track cable bracket on one of the Bovington King Tigers - the same as the Tiger 1.jpg (23.55 KiB) Viewed 6360 times

So... although I had to replace the plastic moulded one-piece track cable anyway I would do so even for an earlier tank - nothing looks quite like cable than... well cable.

For mine (at least for now) I have used some fine nylon(?) chord, although I may replace this with metal wire in the end.

The top brackets (four evenly spaced) were simply made from bent brass strip.

The 'pegs' holding the cable loops at either end were made from brass rod and the tensioning bracket at the rear from two sides of square section plastic rod with a slot of appropriate length.

The adjustable rear cable bracket with brass peg inserted.jpg (23.98 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

The view from the otherside....jpg (21.81 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

Making the front cable peg from brass staple and rod.jpg (31.72 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

The cable loops / eyes themselves were cut off the one-piece plastic cable taken from one of my Tamiya sprues (it's identical to the HL version). These were then drilled out to fit over the pegs whilst the other end was hollowed to accept the cable (which I have temporarily held in place with white tack).

Both Tamiya track cable loops drilled out to accept brass rod.jpg (29.7 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

Both ends have been hollowed out to accept the track cable.jpg (29.77 KiB) Viewed 6730 times

This was a bit lazy I have to admit - and if I did this all from scratch I would use the Voyager set and make my own cable loops.

I also have yet to decide whether it is better to glue the cable and everything in place before painting - or leave it to attach later...

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Mid / late production sprocket caps

Schumo sprocket cap in place on the Taigen wheel.jpg (35.6 KiB) Viewed 6694 times

I just don't know how I keep these snappy headlines coming...

As I said above, things are going to zigzag all over the place with this build from now on.

The first change in the running gear of the Tiger 1 - long before the smaller idler wheel and late-production all-metal road wheels - was an alteration to the sprocket hub caps. This came about before the cupola change too, but probably coincided (roughly) with the later pattern tracks (with cast-in ice chevrons).

The HL, Tamiya and WSN/Hobby Boss Tigers all come with the early domed cap, but the second version was a simplified flat type.

Schumo mid to late resin sprocket caps.jpg (36.54 KiB) Viewed 6694 times

Happily here Schumo come to the rescue with a resin replacement - and for a decent price. They are cast in thick resin attached by a thin edge to the spigot left from pouring the mould. This needs to be removed carefully in order to keep everything nice and round. What may at first appear to be flash around the hex-head bolts is actually a faithful reproduction of the original: thin metal set under the bolts and then bent back on itself to prevent the bolts from working loose (a little like modern truck wheels).

The only other issue is that these are actually made for the Tamiya sprocket wheels. Once you have prized off the old HL caps they are a bit of a tight fit. With a bit of pressure I managed to force them into place on to the Taigen metal sprockets - BUT BE WARNED: HERE I LEARNT A PAINFUL LESSON. They fitted so well that when I tried to get them off to remove the sprockets they shattered...

Resin may be soft, but it's also brittle.

After finding a replacement set I sanded down the circumference on the reverse a little to help them fit. This worked, but now they were a little loose and prone to coming adrift on the march. So I decided to try something which I had read elsewhere on this forum - adding magnets to keep them in place against the head of the sprocket screw (which luckily is the right type of metal to attract a magnet - or is that the other way around?)

The inside of the Schumo hub cap was filled with Milliput and two magnets inserted before the sprocket screw was attached.jpg (34.94 KiB) Viewed 6694 times

The position of the screw once inserted into the sprocket dictated how deeply the magnets needed to be set into the Milliput.jpg (35.21 KiB) Viewed 6694 times

To test fit the magnets I used blutac to hold them in place inside the sprocket cap (a depth of two magnets on each worked) and then pushed the caps onto the wheel with the screw in place. I then removed the sprocket cap and replaced the blutac with a lump of Milliput before repeating the exercise. Then this was left to set before the caps could be removed. I am happy to say that it worked perfectly. Now the sprocket caps are held firmly in position by the internal magnets - but can be detached easily whenever I want to remove the sprockets, tracks etc...

Sprocket caps in place on the Taigen wheels.jpg (42.42 KiB) Viewed 6694 times

So that was easy enough.

Unfortunately I have just decided to make life a whole lot harder for myself. Remember how I was never happy with the stick-on zimmerit? See if you can spot any differences in the picture below...

Another point of no return... the stick-on zimmerit is no more!.jpg (40.82 KiB) Viewed 6694 times

It's not just the zimmerit that has disappeared - I have also started removing the weld beads from the fighting compartment roof....jpg (32.5 KiB) Viewed 6624 times

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Replacing the weld beads on the fighting compartment roof

The weld-bead texture in close-up.jpg (26.83 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

Well I have to admit that once I started this I soon began to wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew...

Even on a brand new HL Tiger the weld beads moulded onto the roof of the fighting compartment are lacking in definition - and mine especially, given the amount of abuse my Tiger has already suffered. In order to replace them the old beads needed to be removed - not a job for the faint-hearted. The trick is to sand away the old detail and deepen the grooves so that new beads made from putty can then be pushed into place - the bead should not sit 'proud' of the roof.

Interestingly, if you look at the photos above in the section dealing with the track cable mounts you will see the welding on the early Tiger at Bovington and the later one at Vimoutiers. Note that the beading on the former is much neater than the latter - not to mention the cutting of the armour plates. This may be because the Bovington tank has had a much better life since the war (it's been kept indoors), but I suspect it has more to do with the declining quality of German welding as the war progressed - sadly because of the use of slave labour.

Note that on the real tank the weld seams run from in front of the engine deck along the edges of the upper hull roof and then across behind the glacis and down each side. Because I will be re-adding zimmerit I didn't bother with the side welds. Note also that if you are making a Tiger without zimmerit there is another prominent weld line where the front of the lower hull meets the nose plate (and others elsewhere - e.g. on the rear plate). As always while zimmerit may giveth (you a lot more work) - it also taketh away...

Well, this is how I did it...

The weld bead was removed using my rotary tool and a round-tipped metal burr.jpg (32.66 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

At first the result looked a little ragged - before cleaning it up with a square edged file.jpg (32.37 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

Running a file along the groove helps to keep it looking straight.jpg (31.35 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

The old weld bead has now been completely removed.jpg (34.83 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

This needs a steady hand (with one hand supported by the other), a good eye - and a bit of courage, using the round burr to move back and forth along the weld seam to carve out a shallow trench without wandering into the armoured plates on either side. To help with access to the weld seam running along the front of the upper hull I prised the glacis plate away once again (having already done this to open up the driver's armoured visor). Needless to say this would have been easier still if I had done all this before replacing the mounts for the track cables and the spare antenna tube...

However, after I had finished this stage I seriously thought I had botched the job completely - the grooves may have been deep enough, but they were also ragged and not at all straight in some places. Luckily dragging a square-tipped needle file along the grooves helped to bring back a little order. And anyway, Magic Sculp was about to come to the rescue!

My first experience using Magic Sculp two part putty.jpg (32.61 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

So far in this build I have used Milliput for adding weld beads, filling gaps and making extra zimmerit - a putty I have been familiar with for over 30 years. However, having read of others using Magic Sculp (e.g. David Parker of AFV Modeller magazine) I thought I would give it a go. It's easily found on the internet and quite reasonably priced. Unlike Milliput it comes in handy tubs and it's very easy to work together. I chose the grey variety, although it still looks fairly white when it has set.

The Magic Sculp was rolled into thin sausages before being pushed in place.jpg (22.26 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

The excess Magic Sculp was scraped off using a fine chisel.jpg (26.36 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

Using talcum powder to stop the putty sticking to the mat and my fingers I rolled it out into thin sausages which were carefully pressed into the grooves I had made in the hull roof. It was then smoothed using my fingers dampened with a little water. At this point it still looked rather messy, but after a few minutes setting time I used a chisel-shaped sculpting tool (one of a set I bought for only £1.50 from my local market) to scrape the excess putty away.

At last came the fun bit - adding the weld-bead texture using another sculpting tool - this one with a V-shaped blade - to stamp a series of fine chevron-shaped marks into the Magic Sculp.

The weld-bead texture was added using one of a set of sculpting tools.jpg (25.43 KiB) Viewed 6655 times

Here the weld bead texture has been added - except in the foreground.jpg (29.66 KiB) Viewed 6586 times

Well, I have to say that in the end I am pretty pleased with the way it all looks. Mind you, I'm not looking forward to doing the same job on the turret roof...