E-25 Tank Destroyer Build Thread

[Dietrich]

That is a great kit...I will certainly be watching this with interest...
Great link on soldering aluminium Alwyn, thanks very much..
Would another option be to "glue" the aluminium?..with the range of glues that are used by say Lotus who glued the extruded sections together for the frame of the Elise..they might be a bit pricy though.

[edpanzer]

Looking good merlin looking forward to this one, it's a good job I'm broke or I would be tempted.

[AlwynTurner]

I must be honest although I posted the link about soldering I would be very loath to attempt it on this beautiful model. I notice that chris has in his design provided locator tabs and overlap on most of the joins. I would be very tempted to investigate specialist glues or epoxies, and maybe rivet the two internal brackets as well as glueing, The worst that can happen with glue is that it doesn't bond properly in which case it can be scraped/filed/sanded off and another method attempted. As lposter rightly points out aluminium has a low melting point and the risk of damaging the panels unless soldering was expertly done would I think be high. Anybody have any experience of assembling aluminium panels and can provide merlin with advice? Alwyn

[jackalope]

Chris said he builds them so they can be glued. I plan to use metal epoxy to build my Jagdtiger when I get it.

[Merlin707]

I was going to epoxy resin the aluminium panels together then heat treat it to fully strengthen the bond, however some part of me doesn't trust glue.

I decided therefore to properly weld these panels, it also means I will have perfectly clean edges with no gaps in.

Will have pictures later this weekend.

[jackalope]

Weld?! Good grief you have the stuff to weld aluminum in at your house? Man I'm REALLY out classed in this hobby!

As for using epoxy to build it I figure if epoxy is good enough to hold a Lotus together it should be able to handle a 20 pound toy tank.

But I can't wait to see your welding! Nothing beats melting 2 metal panels together to make 1 piece! Sounds awesome.

[Merlin707]

Hi Jackalope, I only have a small ARC welder at home, my friend is doing the welding for me as I have zero experience in welding aluminium together.

I have no doubt the glue would be strong enough but you would be left with edges that then needed cleaning and or filling, whereas at least with welds the edges are clean and you have in effect one piece of metal instead of 8.

[jackalope]

Oh no argument there! I just think it's cool you're welding it together! I never did learn to weld aluminum only steel and then it was pieces that were almost a 1/2 inch thick to build 18 wheeler trailers.

Can't wait to see the weld job!

[jackalope]

Upon further research I think I'm going to use aluminium brazing rods to put mine together when I get it. I can do that at home and it looks to be almost as good as welding and the joint lines can be made finer and smoother then just welding it. You may want to watch a few videos and see what you think.

[jackalope]

It's hard to tell the thickness of the aluminum you were working with, was that thin stuff like the hulls are made out of? I ask cause I wonder if that would make a difference? The videos I've seen all claim brazing to be almost as strong as welding if done properly. However since you have actually done it I thought I'd get your perspective before I get my Jagdtiger. I know lots of people but none that weld aluminum so I'm limited as to what I can do at my house. Do you think epoxy would work better then brazing?