Sov's Tiger Build

[SovereignZuul]

Stay on topic, guys.

Yes sir.

Looking at my huge mess in the mancave thread I decided I would start the day by cleaning and sorting my workspace. This had the added benefit of finding some parts I didn't know I had, the brass rod and tube that I though I needed to buy from the hobby shop!




This is my take on a gun mount since I realized with David's help that the gun swiveled at the wrong point.

I used the brass solid rod and brass hollow tube to make a pivot joint in line with the turret pilze. The rod was a perfect fit for the tube and rotated on it just fine.

I built these inserts out of multiple layers of plasticard, cut and sanded into shape to perfectly fit into this turret space.

I lined up and drilled holes for the tube in the plasticard and the rod in the mantlet.

Stuck the whole thing together, minus glue for the moment and it fit snugly into place and operates perfectly.

Closeup:




It has the added benefit of filling a huge empty gap on both sides of the mantlet internal rotator shaft thingy, whatever you call it.



Thanks for the nice comments, as always. I never thought I would be a "go to guy" for build ideas when I started this.

[ALPHA]

HEY ...GO TO GUY....ARE WE THERE YET???????????????????????? ...................Just kidding Zuul

really coming along there... Hurry up and take your time .................


ALPHA

[HERMAN BIX]

In the words of Mr Spike Milligan "oh shut up & let em get on with iiiiitt" !!!!!
I never though youthful energy could ever overcome old age & treachery, but you Mr Zuul have shown that theory is out dated !

Be interested to see a comparison from the elevation axis on a standard HL to your altered one..............I imagine the visible difference would be noticable . See how you go with that later on if you can

[SovereignZuul]

I already went choppy choppy to the old HL rotator arms so it won't rotate that way anymore. I'd say it was akin to rocking rather than pivoting. I know I'll get more elevation and depression out of the gun with the proper pivot than I would have before.

Got some new pieces from China today.

Those exhausts are heavy! Made from really thick brass tube. I hope my plastic rear plate can hold them without flexing, else I'll have to investigate a stronger rear plate. I ordered them after feeling sad at my previous exhausts I crafted. My previous ones were slightly off in size and poorly made. These will look better when built.

Also got some rear fender frames and the rear tow hook. I wish these parts were more readily available elsewhere, it was hard to order them! Without google translate I wouldn't have been able. I recommend Aero-mate parts to whoever is interested. They were friendly over email and the part quality is very good! Prices were great too, but not shipping to the U.S.

[PainlessWolf]

Sov,
Luna!, those parts look like they go on a real Tiger not a scale one. I am really going to have to poke around their site some more.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

By God Zuul.... just think you could have went with this from Forgebear


but then you would need a stronger hull

This is definitely not the average Tiger... maybe more of a Porsche performance Tiger... all you need is Twin Turbos and you're set


Nice exhaust assemblies by the way

ALPHA

[SovereignZuul]

Too low for my ever increasing quality standards. The rest of my hull is metal reinforced except for the upper hull, which will warrant some metal reinforcing (you know I love dem fatties, give me more weight!).

I was thinking like a piece of plate aluminum, or steel, whatever I can find. This is all theory. I'm at work and don't have a way to tell about the rear plate yet... What I have may be sufficient with some extra bracing. I have a nice big strip of brass that may work fine. I can't wait to get home and play with it.

Forgebear's shipping costs more than his items for me. I've tried to buy from him in the past but the shipping quotes are always obscene, sadly.

[ALPHA]

Too low for my ever increasing quality standards. The rest of my hull is metal reinforced except for the upper hull, which will warrant some metal reinforcing (you know I love dem fatties, give me more weight!).

I was thinking like a piece of plate aluminum, or steel, whatever I can find. This is all theory. I'm at work and don't have a way to tell about the rear plate yet... What I have may be sufficient with some extra bracing. I have a nice big strip of brass that may work fine. I can't wait to get home and play with it.

Forgebear's shipping costs more than his items for me. I've tried to buy from him in the past but the shipping quotes are always obscene, sadly.

Well...I see you had a gander at that metal scratch built T34................ Sooooooooooooo

Seriously...you can do anything if you put your mind to it.... me????????????...I don't like to think that much

ALPHA

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Sov, I'm really very interested (and excited) to see how those new gun pivots work out.

The old set-up obviously makes the gun pivot too far back - so the elevation / depression is limited and the mantlet sticks out too far from the front of the turret when it's at its highest / lowest point.

However, although I had considered this mod I was worried about how it would work together with the Taigen elevation and recoil unit. I'm still worried (actually everything about the Taigen unit worries me) - but I'm sure you've got it covered!

One problem that I'm still having (and you now may not) is with the reinforcing strip behind the upper gun mantlet. Mine is currently fouling the gun elevation - which is why I haven't taken any decent pictures or posted it on my build yet...

My shot of the Vimoutiers Tiger showing the reinforcing strip behind the upper gun mantlet.jpg (47.51 KiB) Viewed 4798 times

Close up of the reinforcing strip behind the upper gun mantlet on the Vimoutiers Tiger - also showing thickness of the front of the turret wall.jpg (47.36 KiB) Viewed 4798 times

Cropped shot showing part of the reinforced strip on my Tiger.jpg (31.56 KiB) Viewed 4798 times

[SovereignZuul]

Great shots for me TFTM, thanks.

I didn't get that much time to work on the stuff today. I will revisit that mantlet soon and investigate. Big snow storm predicted here in the A.M. so I spent time prepping...

I'm thinking of losing the recoil and elevation unit and using servos with my Clark board instead. Nothing purchased yet and I've got to plan some more... I'll try and make a video of the pivot for you, never made one but I think my phone can do it...

After much testing, planning and modification I've got a decent fit for these Aero-mate exhausts.

They didn't fit well at all, at first... They are designed to go along with the full steel Aero-mate tiger and have machine screws to attach them to that model's rear plate. They are also a bit shorter than the HL/Taigen exhausts I have so the holes I had needed to be moved a bit. Hmm what else... I had to cut my nicer resin armored exhaust covers quite a bit as they were too short to fit over the exhausts as well. In all I am really pleased with the results so far. Nothing but one piece here is glued together, these are just assembled and held together for the shots.







I really like these fender mounts. Look at the one on the right compared to the one on the left. Quality difference is astounding.