Tiger Ebbey .....

[majordisastor]

Next morning I took off all the copper pipes and went out and bought some washers instead.

Using a metal hole enlarger thingy on a drill I increased the hole diameter just enough for a subltle engineering mod……. Fit carefully crafted enlarged washer over carefully crafted ali shaft…hammer washer down shaft to the point where the outer wheel disc is just past the top of the shaft.

This gave me a nice solid mount for the outer wheel face. More Araldite to fix the shaft and wheel parts together.







Now – remember I had missed out the fitting of MU2 shaft into the wheels before hand. Fitting the bearing onto the MU2 shaft meant that there was no axle stub protruding out of the bottom to attach to the swing arm ( Insert your favourite swear word here.)

So more engineering subtlety - I drilled down the plastic wheel shaft to allow the MU2 axle to fit snugly inside at the correct depth. The thinned down Tamiya plastic core was still supported very strongly by its outer aluminium shaft .




That was that.




Add some tracks and the idler wheels and .....







I will be looking at the shaft end caps later on - at least the wheels - although not accurate - are strong enough for a bit of Sherman stomping !!

Rear idlers reveiw and some more progress in the next post.....

Andy

[sparks]

Great stuff Andy

[majordisastor]

Now then to add to the fun Herr Robert A Pertuss team changed the rear 700mm idler for a smaller 600mm one in Feb 1944 – Tamiya only provides the earlier larger version - Rats !!

That left me with a choice to either ignore this altogether or stump up £12.00 plus for a later Hl upgrade from Tankworkshop - again thanks to Paul ( Septon ) for his advice on this part.



So here we are – The bigger dull idler is the Tamiya original part –with its associated components.
It’s a solid bit of kit – with the same shaft and bearing design of the road wheels. It can be taken apart again later if needed and spins freely.

The late idler is already assembled – it weighs the same as the Tamiya’s if that is any consideration at all- and is as free spinning as the original idler. It cannot be easily taken apart and it lacks the flat shaft edge of the Tamiya axle that allows a non slip fit for the grubscrew.



The aftermarket idler’s sit further out from the tank body due to the moulding as well.

Both idlers require the cover from the Tiger kit itself –its not supplied with the later style replacement.

Here are two pictures of them both mounted in position at Ebbeys rear. At £12.00+ it’s your call –performance wise there will be no difference that I can see.



Above is the early style idler,

And below is the later style of idler ....



Put all this lot together and you now have this effect….. shaft end caps will be the next thing to add later on.



Moving away from the wheels now – here are the motors in place with their gear reductions fitted.




Moving back along the floor pan



The extra pieces of aluminium strip provide support for the inner floor tray. The tray is held in with industrial Velcro – firm enough and an easy job with quick access if needed.



So there we have it so far – Apologies to those skilled engineers out there – at least its not your tank !!

Its going so well I am even looking foreward to putting some more electric bits in her ……at least adding Tiger Ebbey’s wheels have now stopped her looking like a desk letter intray ….



Andy

[tankman]

Bloody good job so far Andy. Keep those pictures coming as I need all the inspiration I can get to restart my stalled Tiger build. Yours is a credit to you and I look forward to the next instalment. All the best for now
Alan

[blimp]

Hi Andy , i've only just noticed this thread , ( i'm slumming it over in the H/L section ) - just too late for your idler change . I have been messing around at the weekend on a fix for the Asiatam idlers - with some silicon moulding rubber and resin -

• 

Ah well . still , if anyone else needs some . . . anyway , what a great build . I'll be watching with baited breath , loverly stuff . Blimp .

[majordisastor]

Hi Blimp,
Thanks for the offer anyway !!
Now - you would not be thinking about the caps for the rest of the wheels ..........he said hopefully ??

And by the way - you cannot slum it anywhere with a Tiger - its battlefield royalty !!

Andy

[blimp]

- Mmm , i could give it a go , i'll need exact measurements for your hubs though - unless you're willing to fiddle with what i've got .

• 

[tankman]

Hi Andy I might be able to help here as I've got a set of metal inserts designed to convert the Tamiya Tiger 1 road wheels to the late type. These have metal hubs to fit into the Tamiya wheels. You are welcome to use these to cast what you need for Tiger Ebby. Give us a ring or drop me a PM and we can go from there

[majordisastor]

Great !! will be in touch soon !!

Andy

[[ICE]monkey]

very nice indeed , love the wheel mods
ice