Tamiya Early Tiger 1 conversion to late Tiger 1

[Dogberry]

I have a long list of Projects I would like to do and this conversion was one of them.

About a year ago I stumbled upon a large amount of 1/16 Tiger 1 Etch brass kits, at the same time somebody on eBay was selling 1/16 late Tiger 1 bits including turret roof, engine decks and other parts, so the seed of an idea was planted.

First things first, get out the copy of Gentz and Doyle D W to Tiger 1, do my research and make a list of what needs altering. This led to me asking some quite obscure questions about Tigers on this forum and other places. I decided to build one of the last Tiger 1’s produced. So all the pieces were slowly acquired.

I was of course missing the donor tank, I found one really cheap on Ebay my first huge mistake with this project. When I got the tiger it was a compete and utter mess. It had been assembled incorrectly. The bow plate had not been interlocked and to try and correct the fitting mistake somebody had used huge quantities of different sorts of glues. I found CA, Plastic Weld, Poly Cement, Rubber solution glue and a brown Paper Glue infants would use at school. In some case so much solvent was used it had denatured the plastic and warped the body. Some of the paint used had also made matters worse.

I totally disassembled the tank and set about with plasticard, brass and filler and eventually got it back into shape. I then set about the mechanics and electronics and very surprisingly found them to be little used and in perfect working order, so some news there.

[Dogberry]

So biggest things first, I acquired Torro Tracks and late wheels. I would have preferred Tracks from Manhunter and Schumo late wheels as I have used them on a Sturmtiger conversion but neither are available so Torro it was. I was surprised how easy this part of the conversion was.
Hold the wheels in your hand axle up, give the axle a sharp tap with a hammer and the wheel set come apart easily. Two minutes on the the lathe, drill them out to take a 4mm axle. Use a slightly modified 4mm stainless clevis pin trimmed to length as a new axle, then squeeze them back together using 2 sockets and a vice. Then drill out the Tamiya swing arms to 4mm taking care not the mess up the thread for the grub screws. I did consider using bearings but with stainless polished axles the wheels span really freely. I suspect I may regret that decision, however we shall see . New small idler getting rid of the terrible hub and fitting a more prototypical hub. One afternoon saw the tiger back on her new wheels. I must say I don’t like black tracks I was going to buy some gun de-blueing solution next time I am in the States, but the blacking seems to be wearing off very quickly just by being handled so I think I won’t bother.

[Dogberry]

I have always thought that that the large speakers used by Tamiya was a waste of space, so I decided to ditch the speaker and build some of the engine bay and cooling fan detail and put the electronics under that. The engine was a 3D print done by son. I then cut it and compressed it sightly to get the same detail in a shorted top half. I cut 8mm out the middle of the air filters and cut the magnetos round the fan gearbox. You can see the scratch fans in amongst all the brass.
There is a potential of a large amount of detail with the fans and you can buy 1/16 3d prints, but I discovered that all that detail is covered up by a simple unpainted sheet metal cover to help with airflow. On late tigers the sloped petrol tanks are covered planks of wood that absorb metal shrapnel and stop the armoured petrol tanks deflecting the particles into the radiators. So waste of time making the Petrol tanks. Just put in some wood painted plasticard.

I intend to make a new speaker box and put it in the middle of the tank. Perhaps even make a dual purpose speaker mount/box and battery mount. I really need to do more research on the speaker side of things.

[Dogberry]

Next job BRASS, I love etch brass I don’t know why, but I love brassing up tanks, perhaps there is a help group, so long days making all the tiny bits and pieces.

[Dogberry]

I then turned my attention to the turret this was just a case of putting it back together. The new turret roof fitted with just a little filling As you can see I had to do a bit of work to correct the storage bin, but otherwise just fit new parts as required. The Atak escape hatch fitted well with a scratch locking mech and cut hinge to allow for the Turmfugenschutz. The turret Zimmerit fitted well with a very slight gap under the storage bin

[Dogberry]

Missing photos

[Ecam]

Tremendous build! Love the Maybach engine. Great work.

[tankme]

Looks great. Brass work is cool...for others to do. I just personally hate building it and painting it...

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Dogberry, I, too, am impressed by the Maybach and the cooling fans--and all the cool photo-etched brass. Where I have trouble is with any of the simplest scratch-building with brass. I wish I could cut it accurately. Photo-etched saves all that trouble. Keep up the great work and photos.

[MrChef]

I absolutely love this build and your attention to detail. But like others I lack the patience, skill and time to do this kind of work. As well Your tank is becoming such an impressive piece of hard work that I would have a heart attack after my panic attack preceded by an anxiety attack all while just contemplating running this tank out in the wild the way I like to. I Soo appreciate your work especially because it's so impractical for me on my tanks.

Keep it up! I cant wait to see how it turns out.