Building a Mid-Production Normandy Tiger 1

[SovereignZuul]

An update! It's a Christmas Miracle! (just kidding)

Same story with mine. I had the machine gun barrel as a spare so that's what I ended up using. That barrel was originally intended for my AA gun but you guys taught me the error of that choice, so it ended up as a spare.

Nifty way of mounting yours too! I never saw mine function, hope it works out well.

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Another shot of the working co-axial MG installed in the turret.jpg (36.17 KiB) Viewed 4207 times

Yep, it works! As I had hoped it's just a matter of patching the turret MG into the same hull circuit as the bow MG.

Somehow, between cooking a full-on Christmas turkey for the family plus my delightful mother-in-law (no really) I found the time to put everything back together - and it worked (well, almost - my elevation is sticking, but this was happening before the MG fix).

I'm looking forward to getting the turret back on for good, then I don't have to worry about knocking off all my lovely cupola detail every time I take it apart. I still need to get the smoker working, but at least that's a lower hull problem.

Next stop, rear hull zimmerit (I have already removed the jack, etc), then the upper front hull (with clamps for the shovel). I don't want to jinx myself, but 2015 really does feel like the year when this Tiger is finally going to get the paint job she deserves. OK, so I guess I am getting my New Years' resolutions in early...

To follow on from the comments of my fellow travellers, especially Sov (see link above), this seems like a good moment to celebrate RCTankWarfare and this hobby. I joined this site almost 4 years ago and started this build over 3 years ago. At 46 I have a demanding job and a busy home life - but this site has been a source of great pleasure, frequent help and constant inspiration. It certainly keeps me sane. Above all I have learnt that perseverance always pays off in the end!

Merry Christmas from Tanks For The Memory

[SovereignZuul]

Yes indeed my friend. This community has been absolutely amazing! Inspiration, education, and certainly some great warm feelings shared.

Without you guys I wouldn't have made it nearly as far as I have. It's great to admire others work and have our own efforts admired in return.

[wibblywobbly]

Over 14,000 views on this build, can I have your autograph?

RobG

[SovereignZuul]

13,000 of those are probably mine.

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Thanks guys - but I'm not going to give up the day job just yet...

Now, over Christmas and New Year I have been doing what I hope is the last major structural work on my turret... (he wishes)

This one's a bit convoluted, but it all started with a problem I was having with my turret elevation.

Some of this will only be of use for those with the Taigen recoil unit installed in the Heng Long Tiger 1, but most will also work on a standard BB tank.

Correcting the front of the turret roof

The correction to the front lip of the turret roof with new edging strip and bolts.jpg (31.87 KiB) Viewed 3957 times

I have already covered the basic problem with the front of the Heng Long turret above. Basically, the turret is a little too long-nosed - presumably to accommodate the bulky BB mechanism and the elevation motor at the rear of the turret. I elected some time ago not to try to change this, rest assured, I HAVE NOT CHANGED MY MIND.

However, I was also having some problems with the elevation of my Taigen recoil unit, which kept on sticking at maximum elevation.

When I looked hard at it I realised that there was something else odd about it - the maximum elevation was very high (the mantlet went right to the top of the turret roof) while the lowest elevation (or maximum depression) barely reached horizontal.

Whilst (ahem) a nicely erect gun is fine for a vehicle on the march (when the breach was secured inside the tank by a lock to prevent damage by vibration), it does not look good for a tank in the field - let alone in action. After all, any tank's ideal firing position is hull-down aiming at targets slightly below the horizontal.

Now I have no idea whether this is a problem which others have experienced with the Taigen recoil unit, although I have read elsewhere (and I agree) that the degrees of elevation / depression are rather limited compared with the BB firing model.

So I tried to think of a way of fixing it. The solution I came up with simply involved adapting the resin elevation bar which comes with the Taigen unit. This has a slot which fits over a crooked gear shaft in the unit, meaning that when the shaft (and hence the slot) is at it's lowest the gun is at its highest and visa versa. Bear in mind that in most photos (including mine) the turret is upside down whenever this is shown.

So, in order the reduce the elevation and increase the depression I needed to I needed to change the position of the slot so that it sat higher and thus the gun lower. And all this is upside down! Got it? I did - eventually...

So here's my 'simple' fix:

The resin elevation arm from the Taigen recoil unit was cut with a razor saw to a depth of about 2mm.jpg (27.62 KiB) Viewed 3957 times

Here the piece has been removed.jpg (26.7 KiB) Viewed 3957 times

The same piece was then glued to the opposite side using epoxy glue.jpg (23.87 KiB) Viewed 3957 times

Another view of the modified elevation arm - the arrow indicates up when the turret is fitted.jpg (22.34 KiB) Viewed 3957 times

In my next post I will explain why all this was also necessary to correct the front of the turret roof (I also changed the front of the turret sides). In a nutshell it is this: if the gun elevates less you can better replicate the true appearance of the area behind the mantlet. What you want to change is this:

On the HL Tiger there's also an unsightly gap above the mantlet even when the gun sits level.jpg (25.95 KiB) Viewed 3957 times

[wibblywobbly]

Good to see someone tackling a problem , solving it and posting excellent pics of how it was done. This will be of benefit to many who are wondering whether to take the plunge.

It never ceases to amaze me how modellers can solve accuracy issues with a little thought, but that the manufacturers couldn't do the same thing when they built the tank in the first place, after all it takes just as long to make something badly as it does to design it perfectly?

[DavidByrden]

it takes just as long to make something badly as it does to design it perfectly?

OH, no. Trust me on this. It takes a lot longer to do it correctly.

David

[SovereignZuul]

Nice fix TFTM and I like the edging strip which you spoke of not long ago. I haven't tackled that yet but your version looks perfect!

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Thanks Sov (and you other guys)!

I'm actually feeling pretty chuffed because - after 3 years - I have finally put a serious coat of paint on my Tiger. OK so it's only a little bit... I was frustrated at how this part of the mod was failing to show up in the photos (and even to my naked eye) so I figured it was time for a little local primer to assess my work. Plus this area is going to be hard to reach when I do the base coat.

This is how it looks now:

A touch of primer really shows up the detail - good or bad - but the Tiger is finally starting to live and breath!.jpg (31.89 KiB) Viewed 3917 times

First a shot of the real thing - the Vimoutiers Tiger as I photographed it a year and a half ago:

On this view of the Vimoutiers Tiger you can clearly see the thickness of the turret sides and the armoured plate which runs along the front of the turret roof.jpg (47.48 KiB) Viewed 3917 times

Another close up shows the strip which runs along the bottom of the piece of armour behind the mantlet.jpg (41.96 KiB) Viewed 3917 times

If you look at the picture of the stock HL Tiger at the end of my last post you can see that, behind the mantlet, the armoured top bar joining the sides of the turret is there all right - but in front of it is another thinner strip which is completely bogus. I can only assume this was either an attempt to compensate for the lengthened turret - or a poor attempt to replicate the strip which actually runs behind the mantlet - but lower down. Also quite obvious are the turret sides - these are not only much too thin, they should also stick out forwards proud of the turret roof.

So there are three stages to this process: filing away the front of the turret roof to get rid of the incorrect 'strip' (thus automatically making the sides stick forward in the correct manner), putting the lower strip (and bolts) in place - and thickening the turret sides.

I should make one or two more observations first:

It is not possible to correct the turret roof if you don't correct the elevation issue first.

This would appear to be true whether you are using a Taigen recoil unit or the stock HL BB gun, because the gun elevates too high in either case and the turret fix will foul the mantlet.

Having said that, the best option would appear to be to move the pivot of the gun forward because this is the cause of half (or perhaps all) of these difficulties. The Tamiya gun pivots in the correct place (between the lifting lugs which stick out either side of the turret) and, as you will see from Sov's build, it is also possible to move the pivot on the HL Tiger. However, it remains to be seen how this will impact on the Taigen recoil or the BB gun and, besides, that's just one fix to far for me if I want to get this build finished by the time I hit Year 4!

So in my next post: on with the show!