Right then - here is the plan for Ebbey,s wheels – and what I am aiming for ......
but before I lurch into my account here is a bit of history from somebody who was responsible for the whole later wheel issue.
Robert A Pertuss. Dipl.ING.HSK 1903 – 1986.
“ I may introduce myself as, Builder of Tiger and Konigstiger.
I would like to mention the use of the steel rings instead of the rubber wheels of the Panzer .
The military and we found that the solid tyres made of rubber which rolled against the tracks of the Panzer wore out quickly when the vehicle turned on the spot, also in winter weather , and when sand ,debris,rocks or compressed snow made the tracks too tight. The result was increased wear and tear. It was therefore advisable, or although in the field not always possible, to make gradual turns instead of turns on the spot to avoid causing debris to be scooped up onto the bottom sections of the tracks.
One day Herr Kromer , the official expert at the Munitions Ministry, reported happily that the Russians were now at the end of their material supply , they don’t have any more rubber , their T- 34’s now have wheels that run steel on steel, while we still have rubber! He told us that such a T-34 was captured completely intact and could be inspected . This booty tank could also be test driven , because it was in operating condition. I accepted his offer and found this was true, steel was running on steel.
But why? I had one wheel removed and what did we find? The steel band had a T –shaped cross section , the vertical part had grooves on both sides in which rubber rings were pressed , whose outer sides were machined to match the grooves of the two wheel -cups which formed the body of the wheel itself. But why ? So we began test drive . after about one week we found the tracks now lasted twice as long as the ones with rubber on steel . Idid not understand why, but a repeat test gave us the same results . Of course we did not know how much the T-34 had already been driven on the Eastern Front.
It appeared advantageous to just copy this design. Our Purchasing Department was able to procure within 2-3 weeks the same type of T-rings. Now one of the most wicked teething problems of the Tiger was eliminated. We were really not worried that this would cause the Panzer to be more Noisy. The engine and tracks made so much noise already that it didn’t matter if a little more noise was added.”
So there we are, back into todays world and back to Ebbey. I wanted to build her with later wheels – just because I thought the late series Tigers looked a lot more sinister than their earlier sisters.
I bought a sprue of King Tiger wheels to see if there was a way of converting them. At that point I did not take into consideration the difference in wheel hubs between the two tanks .
Delving into Internet land I discovered this link on the Southeast Armour Division website
Link here
http://www.sead.us/technology5.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Great - I thought and bought all the bits I needed + a couple of tools.
However – after studying the planned conversion I just felt there were too many cuts and potential weaknesss to this version , after all I wanted Ebbey to be a heavy tank and while charging around flattening small boys and Shermans I did not want the battle to be spoiled by wheel / suspension failure – A view held no doubt by every real Tiger crewman as the actual tank was prone to sudden surprises – most of the having unpleasant ends for most parties. And it avoided drilling out the suspension arms to accommodate the thicker King Tiger shafts as well.
So I was stuck with either a conversion that I was not to sure about – or a adaptation of the Asiatam late wheel s set – As fitted to Robs (FV432,s) Tiger or Pauls (Septon) superb Tiger 222 with its special metal wheels for the Tamiya – a great set of rollers – but a pricy for me considering that I had other bits to buy as well – basically everything - and I had a full Tamiya King Tiger wheel set with nothing to put them onto – apart from a shelf.
So by chance I found another conversion – this time at the Front Range Armour Group
Link here
http://www.fragarmor.org/Advanced%20Hints%204.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Now then this seemed to make more sense to me – it used most of the orginal model wheel assembly- great I thought . The plans were for modding an existing wheel assembly – take note!!
So some more wheels and bits later – I could begin.
Still with me? Don’t forget to take a screenbreak as you trudge through this one !!
Andy
It always gets darkest before it goes completley black......
! 
Keep the pics coming.
..."well, dont look to close at mine!"
