Mato Metal Tiger

[doc watson]

Just pulled the turret...no gun elevation, loads of work here.....

[jarndice]

Doc I hope you don't mind a word of WARNING,
The "SPARE TRACK HOLDER" It is without a doubt the most fragile piece of metal ever made, I have got through "3" of the BLO*DY things so far.
DO NOT TRY TO BEND IT TO FIT!!!
If another fails I shall make my own! shaun

[doc watson]

More work means no tank time, but plans are hatching.....no progress on the drive train as I am waiting for bolts to attach the drive sprockets so... I have a plan to correct the turret 13mm problem which I will try at a later date, and was wondering about the PE side fenders and removing the cast ones.

There are square 'nuts' welded to the side of the tank which were originally not straight but were changed. Mine will be straight and i will also be correcting the slight misalignment at the back of the tank as seen in the plastic HL tiger.

The side fender PE set includes a small (about 2mm square) box you are supposed to fold together, fill with solder, drill and attached to a plastic kit. I will not be using this part and wanted originally to make the 2mm square nuts and drill and tap an M1 thread so that M1 bolts can attach the side fenders.

Problem, soldering brass to aluminium, can be very difficult and with the size of the nut would be almost impossible. What to do?

The solution is to mill away the original side fenders but leave the metal where the nuts are, this does require a mill though.... I might have an issue with holding the upper hull to machine it but will try this week to do it.

Wish me luck.... photos of the carnage will be hopefully ready for next Fridays tiger tank night.

[doc watson]

I had set up the mill a few months ago, its a china clone cheap thing but upgraded to solid vertical slide, belt drive and larger x and y axis table/movement. Some people go full CNC and I would like to put digital read outs on the 3 axis sometime in the future.

The initial problem was holding the upper hull as my intention was to saw away the side fenders and then mill them away leaving the square attachment points for drilling and tapping M1 bolts to hold the new PE side fenders.

I dont think the mill has sufficent vertical travel to machine the side fenders so it will be filed away by hand.....yay.

After playing around I managed to hold the upper hull to allow machining off the cast rods on each side of the upper rear. I have just located my 2mm end mill bit and will tidy up the weld gaps there today.

I also managed to mill away the cast barrel rod. Light sanding and its gone.

Happy so far with the results.

[HERMAN BIX]

You do indeed seem to be making this look most "Elementary" Mr Watson
'Tigris Metallica' .................
It makes an interesting comparison between modifying the plastic V's the metal base models.
Keep it up mate

[PainlessWolf]

Doc,
Good morning. She's a Beauty and your hard work is just adding the shine!
regards,
Painless

P.S. still chuckling about the "Hell Hole" ;o)

[doc watson]

Finally got my 1mm, 2mm and 3mm end mills and sorted the weld lines along the upper hull...

[PainlessWolf]

Good afternoon, Doc,
That looks like the mount for the early Tiger 1s' anti personnel launchers, the 'S' Mines. http://ww2-weapons.com/tiger-tank/#jp-carousel-3283 It's good to see more pics of your progress. You've got the tools to turn a cast metal Tiger 1 into something really special. So this version has the same 13mm offset on the turret? Haven't they fixed that yet after all this time?
regards,
Painless

[doc watson]

Yes the 13mm offset is there... but I have a plan....

Also finally got the correct length M4 socket head screws for the drive wheels. Next up is the motor mounting.