Tiger 1 Hull Deck Plate ??

[DRC]

A kind family member has bought me a Dremel for by birthday and I've been looking for things to drill/cut/grind and generally B***er up! On my HL Tiger 1 deck on the front left hand quarter there is a moulded plate and crowbar. I've decided to grind these off and replace them. the crowbar is easy but what was the plate and bracket for?

What kind of thickness should I be looking at and is it detachable or just covering a big hole?

Can anyone help?

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Have fun with the dremel DRC! A very useful tool.

But be careful not to overdo it... The plate has no hole beneath it so just remove most of the plastic then use fine grade sandpaper to do the rest in a nice circular motion....

Tanks

[DRC]

Cheers. But what is the plate for?
As my father used to say - 'it's a thing of purpose'.
What is it's purpose?

[tanks_for_the_memory]

I believe it was a cover plate for the Feifel air cleaner trunking (the bit on the engine hatch) if it was removed during deep wading.

It was deleted entirely from mid-production onwards even where the trunking was still present (so that's why I removed it on mine).

As for the dremel tool I learnt the hard way about overusing it. It seems like the easiest way to remove large areas of plastic, but you have to take care not to melt the plastic in the process or gouge craters in the surface of your tank that will need filling afterwards... as you can see from this picture!

The front cable clamps from Voyager after bedding in with Magic Sculp weld beads.jpg (39.07 KiB) Viewed 605 times

[jarndice]

DRC Hi, Whenever I am working with a Dremel or a blade on an ABS surface The first thing I do is to cover the area around the workspace in DUCK/DUCT TAPE.
NOT MASKING TAPE!
That way if you make a slip the tape will protect it.
Save's an awful lot of bad language but does have disappointing sales figures for tubes of Filler
Shaun.

[DRC]

Thanks. Not knowing what it was, was driving me crazy.

[DRC]

Don't know what happened there? Must have pressed something. Some good tips on using a Dremel there, I don't know what kind of plastic the tank is made of but it's gumming up the saw teeth and seems to be melting.

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Yep, that sounds familiar.

The plastic may have changed since my tank (which is many years old) but I have always found the HL tanks pretty solid.

There has been plenty of discussion here about the best ways to remove bits or open up hatches, etc., but the lesson I have learned the hard way is that what you might think can be removed quickly and easily with a Dremel is often better accomplished more slowly with a sharp razor saw, a scalpel or gradual sanding with fine grade sandpaper.

Show us how you get on...