RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

How did you retain the MG ball mate ?...........I was going to use a couple of straps over each side of the ball to retain it but still allow movement. Mine will not be servo controled.

Hi Herman

The mg ball mount will be fixed so probably i will glue it in place,

Ahh, Im going to try retaining my ball so the MG can be moved, but if it proves to be extra focus for little gain, glue it will be as well.

At the moment i am trying to decide if i should stick with the plastic heng Long tow cables or fit some metal ones. The heng long offerings, i think, look too neat. I find it hard to imagine a tiger in service ever having the cables stowed that neatly or, given the nature of stranded steel cable that the cables would sit that closely to the hull for their entire length.
This may be a heresy but I never look for complete authenticity - just to make the model look more tank-like and less toyish. Given heng long's dimensions not being exactly true to scale i look for a model that represents a tank rather than authentically reproducing it.

Many years ago (well - about 50 or so) when i were a lad i had a chat with a guy at a model aircraft competition who had what he called a 'stand-off scale' control line Hawker Tempest which he was flying for fun rather than entering it as a scale model. The dimensions were not true to scale and he had by no means replicated the full size panel for panel but that model looked so real and actually had some how captured the spirit and feel of the full size far better than most of the just about rivet perfect models. The image of that model has stayed in my mind all these years and it is still my yardstick for what an excellent model should be.

To me they just look to thin mate. Im having a thought that with the lack of access to PE mounting gear and the delay & likely lack of patience to fold them up, I might cut the mount mouldings off the kit cables and use them to mount accessory ones.
One thing I know about steel cables is that the longer they stay in one position the harder they become to manipulate, and they deteriorate fast if not very well lubricated against the elements., and that would be both difficult and futile when the time and need came to use them in a combat scenario.
I would say the track towing cables would have got a lot of use, (transport track changes, maintenance etc)but the main towing cables being designed & rated for recovering a stuck tank may not have been in use anywhere near as much. The German operations manual expressly forbade towing another tank with yours(but we know this was done) and depending on the military situation and the wars time frame the use and therefore condition of the cables could vary greatly.
I know that the German manufacturer of the cables we use at work, which are a similar size to those that appear to be OEM on a Tiger, were producing cables during this period, and the construction & visual 'lay' of the material differs from the kit example.
As it is your example of your expression of what your Tiger will be, use your interpretation & go for broke mate.

cupoftea wrote:Here is my butchered servo turret speed controller. Sorry about the ugly wiring but it will be neatened up soon......................................

Interesting build, can I ask a question?

How did you convert the servo into a speedo?

..please

Hi Phil

Converting a servo to a speed controller is actually very easy. just take the gears and motor out of the servo and solder the wires of whatever small motor you are going to control to the servo's motor wires and then hook the servo up to your receiver - most likely the motor will spin with the transmitter's stick in the neutral position so adjust the servo's potentiometer until the motor stops spinning and that is basically it.

Hi Herman

The cable decision has been made. I have shortened the taigen copper cables by about 1/2 inch and am using them. Looks better than the plastic cables.

Cup,
I understand completely what you are saying about 'stand off scale'. This is what Mato aimed for with their Sherman and depending upon who you speak to, they succeeded. It has many toy-ish features and is out of scale both large and small but when it is together and looked at running, it does say 'Sherman tank' I hope to keep that quality with the ongoing work I am doing upon mine. I am really enjoying your Tiger build. It has a lot to teach us.
regards,
Painless

Thanks Painless

Here is a towing cable temporarily fitted - to my eye it looks a tad more authentic than the plastic heng long offering simply because it is not sitting perfectly on the hull. Herman - thanks for the idea of cutting the clamps and barrel cleaning rods off the plastic cables - it worked a treat.