Tiger 131 project

[wibblywobbly]

Well this is as far as I can go at the moment. I have decals on the way, but still need to source HL plastic tow ropes, sprocket hub caps, and a plastic smoke launcher. There is nothing inside the Tiger except the gearboxes.

I did try an old Tiger SLU in there, but the sound kept cutting out. A magnifying glass revealed a few dodgy solder joints on the pcb (it looks like it was repaired at some point in its life as some joints are shiny, others are dull), which is probably what is causing the problem, but I can't be bothered to pursue a solution to that.

The two tone camo was very difficult to match. The real thing is green/sand and grey/green but the shading looks different depending on whether it is indoors or outdoors, and any pics taken of it also get affected by light so no two pics ever look the same colour. At the end of the day, I am taking the view that prior to capture it could well have looked like this.

I'll add a few stone chips and scratches when I do the decals.

[PainlessWolf]

WibblyWobbly,
Good morning,
I have some HL plastic as well as a boatload of Tamiya plastic left over from Mike's Tiger. If it will work for you, yours for the postage. Mike has given the spares to me ( I believe ) to help out other folks with.
regards,
Painless

[wibblywobbly]

Thanks for the offer bud, I am currently doodling in Openscad to see if I can make the hubcaps. If I can find some styrene tube the right size I may be able to make the smoke launchers as well. That will leave the tow ropes. I could make those, I have done it before, but the HL ones are of course a perfect fit and can be painted to look like steel.

If I can complete the resurrection of this basket case tank into 131 without spending any money I will be awarding myself a gold star!

[jarndice]

If you are any good with a pair of scissors or cutters you could cut a strip of DUCK/DUCT Tape into discs,
Press firmly into position over the hub centre so that the pattern comes through and paint.
We all have the tape, so no cost, and when you need access to the axle, no problem.
Shaun

[wibblywobbly]

Ok, still not sorted the missing parts, but they can wait.

I decided that it was too yellow, and the stripes were too green, so I rubbed it all over with Vallejo German WW2 Beige using a foam stick. This dulled it all down nicely and got it much nearer to what I wanted.

The decals arrived today so they went on as well.

[Aussie]

Looks great , well done.

[wibblywobbly]

It's sat on the bench, I look at it all the time, and I think...what else could I do?

So, I cut down down some broken tow ropes, to leave just the rods, and have stuck those on. I did try making my own tow ropes, using bare cable and heatshrink, but they weren't good enough. The end result, is no tow ropes, but I did add detailed metal tow rope clamps that I found in my parts bin. I made a machine gun from styrene tube with some slots cut in it. It should also have a hand rail on the front of the upper hull, it seems that the German crew added it, though Bovington later added a footstep loop below the spare track on the front as well.

Then it was all looking a bit too much like it was parked in a museum rather than on a battlefield, so I gave it the weathering treatment, still a bit to do, but it's almost done.

I have an HL T90 on the way, these have an RX18 inside that has dual sounds a Tiger 1 and a Leopard? These are not the usual HL pebbles in a can sounds, they are copied from the Tamiya MFU, so what I can now do is transplant the new RX18 into this Tiger and have some decent sounds on it, along with what should be a nicer tx/rx control on the 2.4ghz RX18. It will need a better speaker to make the most of it but I should have one here somewhere, the Taigen ones aren't bad.

What it won't have is an IR battling system or a recoil, though if I get bored I may try and make a recoil that will work with an RX18...there has to be a way using a motor and microswitches and gears.....

[silversurfer1947]

The phrase "Making a silk purse from a sow's ear" comes to mind

[Spartan tracks]

Stunning far better than mine turned out last year, Regards Andy

[Markocaster]

The paint job is good
Nice work