RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

With the final coat of zimmerit and a few other details almost complete the time has almost come to prime the upper hull. As you can see the wheels are already off in readiness for the painting of the lower hull.
Whilst I had the Magicsculp on the go I used it to add weld bead to the jack block brackets. These are actually attached to the block itself so I used a little Vaseline to stop them from sticking to the weld beads - which means I can remove the jack for ease of painting.
The last bit of the dreaded Voyager clamps I used for the upper hull were the front towing cable brackets. It was sad to see the back of my own scratchbuilt versions (see way, way above) but there is no denying that the Voyager versions are exquisite. They are also moveable meaning that I can install the cable itself after I have finished the painting process.
So, next up will be the engine grill screens and then on with the paint!

Awesome work!

Almost sad to hear mate, paint then weathering then, then finished.
What will we do then ??
What about us ?
Spare a thought !!

Have no fear Herman, I imagine that rather like the Forth Railway Bridge as the painters finally reach the other end it will be time to start over.
I am seriously thinking of leaving details of this build to my Great Grandchildren so that my sorry Tiger 1s can be rebuilt to a much higher standard than I have ever managed.
I have said this before, When you see a build of this high level it makes you wonder whether it is worth carrying on.
Shaun.

Finishing the engine deck

In my quest to get the upper hull ready for priming my attention turned to the engine deck for the first time in a long time.

The most obvious additions are the debris screens. These were a common feature of German tanks but, for obvious reasons, usually missing from museum survivors. Because they were spot welded into place they were often lost in the field as well. But any operational Tiger is going to have most if not all in place and, once painted, they really do look the part.

Originally I had attempted to make my own using plastic mesh and brass frames, but to be honest I was never very happy with these. At that time there were several options, all from photo-etch, including Taigen, the ones that come with the Hobby Boss 1/16 scale Tiger and the Build Your Own Tiger magazine, but the only ones that really looked right were the Aber ones. Luckily Voyager have now made a set which are just as good and a lot cheaper.

Note that because the Heng Long Tiger has its rear deck hatch latches moulded on in a rear-facing position, some of the other sets have a cut-out to accommodate the latch as well as the hinge - but this is not right. On the real tank these latches could swing forwards or backwards and simply lay on top of the mesh.

The other reason why the Voyager (and Aber) grilles look better is because they have a strip at each side which bends to follow the contour of the engine deck - they don't just sit on top...

I stuck mine in place with my trusty Deluxe Materials glue and then used a wooden paint brush handle to score along the mesh to make it sag down a little between the grilles. In real life this mesh would have seen considerable wear and tear as the crew walked all over it.

Finally, it seems that some Tigers also had a finer grade of mesh beneath the top grilles - there are photos showing this. However, I took the view that by the time my Tiger was built this would have been simplified to just the one layer.
Next I added the clamps to the end of the Feifel air cleaner trunking. When it was fitted, these were used to clamp the flexible pipes in place to crate an air-tight seal. These were actually Aber clamps which I made up a while back, supposedly for the rear of the turret stowage bin. They were just about the hardest thing I have ever had to make in model form and they looked far too fragile to go there - so I used them here instead where they should at least get some protection!

All I have to do now is reinstate the rear hatch latches themselves (from Tamiya) and the engine deck is finished.

Oh yes, and there is one thing which I haven't corrected and which, from what I have read, is not quite 'accurate' for my model of Tiger. Why not? Because even I cannot be bothered. Can anyone spot it? I bet David Byrden can!

I have not the slightest intention of nit picking your build BUT I was thinking when in two or three years time you decide to revisit this build AGAIN you will want to add a little extra NOT,
I fitted a TARR Smoker but I was not happy with having to open the Tank to top it up with smoke oil so I drilled out one of the Fuel caps on the engine deck and bought a set of AERO-MATE Brass engine deck screws from FORGEBEAR.
A 12mm thick x 1.5mm square plastic block with a refueller pipe sized hole in one end (PUSH FIT) and a brass engine deck screw sized (tapped M8-0.75) hole through the body and into the plastic block now glued to the underside of the Tank body,
Job done and now to the delight of my Grandson (and me ) I can now unscrew the fuel cap and refuel my Tigers properly.
Another learned chapter in your great build, I continue to not only learn more about building a Tiger 1 than I had dreamed possible but you inspire me to look to add to my own builds. Thank you.
This is all getting like a certain Cathedral in Spain, The build just goes on
Shaun.

Stunning, just F'n stunning...

Thanks gentlemen - but Shaun, unlike that Barcelona cathedral this is going to be finished - within my lifetime at least!

In fact words like 'finish' and 'paint' are going to start cropping up in this build a lot now...

Finishing the side skirts / track guards
As discussed already I made the decision to stick with the moulded on side track guards, although I removed a couple and partially replaced another with brass strip to make it suitably distressed. Voyager do supply them as part of the mudguard set and, if I had my time again, I might have used them - but I have real doubts that they would survive the rigour of an RC tank.

The Heng Long versions are moulded from fairly thick and very tough plastic. With a little attention they can be made to look like the real thing. Cutting through the joins carefully with a razor saw is a simple and immediate fix and if you remove any then thinning down the exposed edge by scraping with a sharp knife helps them to look, well, thinner.

The bolt detail is not bad, but since I had already lost those on my 'distressed' one anyway I decided to replace the bolts on all of them.
Originally I had started to use the Panda Hobby(?) resin bolts, but since then I acquired several different sizes (and styles) of bolts from MasterClub. These are simply excellent - crisply moulded, hard and accurately sized. The ones I used on the track guards were MC435079 'a nut on a washer.' They give you the appropriate drill size for a very precise fit which means they slide in perfectly once you have drilled the hole.

Something else I did to improve the look of the track guards came about since I had applied the zimmerit. On the real Tiger the side skirts were bolted on top of the zimmerit but on mine, despite my best attempts to make the layer of Magicsculp as thin as possible, they still looked as if the zimmerit overlapped them. To create the illusion that they sat on top of it I glued a thin strip of plastic along the top of each run of side skirts and then sanded it down to blend in with them. it wasn't until I applied a coat of paint that I was really sure it would work - but I like to think I got away with it!
So then came time to apply another coat of paint. This time I gave them an undercoat of cheap red car primer and then finished off with a coat of the expensive stuff: Mr Oxide Red Surface 1000 Primer. oh yes, and this time I did remember to coat the brass distressed side skirt with Mr Metal Primer first - and it seems to have taken the paint very well...
PS - thanks Shaun also for the suggestion for the refuelling of the smoke unit. Sounds ingenious. However, if I'm honest that's just one other mod too far at the moment. In any event, this Tiger is not going to get out that much...

Meanwhile...

Opening up the driver's visor was one of the first things I did on the Tiger - so it's good to see it finally getting a coat of paint.

Pure Joy to read and see, thanks for being Picture Heavy