Tiger Ebbey .....

[majordisastor]

TURRET WORK

Well folks its time I started work on Ebbeys turret ....



I was fully intending to finnish off all the turret internals - but a mis moulded barrel mount stopped all that work in its tracks ....more to follow in a later posting...

So the first thing I needed was a set of turret track link holders, first up was a Heng Long set ....



Well - the obvious thing to do was to combine both sets to form this one ..



I avoided the expensive aber set ...Ebbey is built as a battlefield tank not as a shelf queen - If I intended to place her by my bedside and fall asleep next to her in my Panzer print pyjamas then maybe .....

Great tracks but the holders lacked detail and were cast in the down - (empty) position ..



Next was a aber -like set .....



Better detail - they move as well - but no track links ......



Here are both sets for a quick comparision test...




I avoided the expensive aber set as Ebbey is built up as a battlefield tank .. If I a wanted to place her by my bedside and drift off to sleep in my Panzer print pyjamas ...well I might have considered it ....

So decision made - and following the track link model template from the aber -like set, swiftish progress was made ...





Add a bit bit of field repair plate for good measure .....



And now for some turret Zimmerit to finnish off....





I added Paul ( septons) cast coupla - I added a strip of alloy on the commanders hatch by bending the strip around a bleach bottle top to get the correct shape..



The turret extraction fan housing was bottom part Tiger partworks, fan top from Paul - and staples from a cardboard box - heated up and pushed into the lower vent base.





Partworks loaders hatch



with Tamiya detail added ...



A reworked turret bin is next on the list ...



Added a bit more 'charcacter' to Ebbey as well ...





Andy

[sparks]

Very impressive work

[[ICE]monkey]

looking great , love the detail going on it
ice

[majordisastor]

Right then - where was I ??

Sorry for the huge delay, work, real life and fitting a bathroom sort of got in the way of things.

Anyway - on with the show......Last posting I had stuffed- sorry crafted - the IR battle sensor into the end of the barrel, that left the flash unit without a clear line of sight from the muzzle end, after a bit of thought, club discussions and watching the battles at the MVT show I decided to do a more traditional approach and moved the IR sensor into the Mg position in the turret mantlet.



All that remains at the muzzle end is alloy shim that snugly held the IR bulb, inside I used an ETO sensor mount to er ...well mount the IR bulb...



There is also the ETO barrel mount - a nice screw together job that enables the removal of the whole barrel assenbly if needed. I bought this part as my orginal Tamiya part was so badly moulded it was unuasable.

Staying inside the turret for the moment, I modded the recoil to snap back faster,



And added a metal elevation arm - this was very kindly sent to me by Stewart [BREL]- while Ebbey was still scattered around the place in various bags and boxes ..



Stepping outside now - I repalced my turret escape hatch with the Tiger part works one - it has the correct unbevelled profile for Ebbeys build peroid ...



Its a direct repalcement - but I left the inner handles off to avoid confusing the crew - I had stuck it down to stop it flapping open during any Sherman stomping -



Andy

[majordisastor]

Adding the detail......

One thing I was not happy with was the rather weedy aerial tube at the back of the tank ...sort of looked like Ebey was off on a fishing trip ....So I beefed it up with a thicker alloy tube and heavier mounts ....



Next up was a change of turret bin, I decided to ditch the standard Tammy bin and fit the Partworks one instead - it needed its top angled - its flat in the magizine version,



Some paper clip and scrap card latches were added followed by a few rivets and a padlock to give a little detail to an otherwise dull part of the tank ...



Whilst the turret was off - I shimmed up the inner rotation to take up the slop in the turet mountings..



A further raid on the 'Knit your own Tiger' partworks gave me a nice correct MG 34 and mount for the commanders coupla ... and a big saving as well.



The small brass strip is a sort of rough guide to where the gun is pointing ....

Track link boo boo....

Now then there are archive photos all over the net showing a factory fresh 1943 Tiger, proudly displaying its newly fitted three track links - right hand side ( turet escape hatch side ) laid out like this ....



Looks great - more spares and extra turret armour untill...............



You try to open the rear engine hatch ....as you can see above - there is no room to do this - the lower track holders foul the lid.


Imagine the choice words of of an irate Panzer master mechanic when they found this out in the field !!

The only solution is to remove the last holder completly .....



Allowing full access to the engine bay - considering how many times you needed to get to the engine in a working tiger this was a very critical boo boo by the designers ..



Like this .......good job nobody noticed .........ahem.....

On with the detail - I added more of the standard tarp hooks along the back of the engine and the rear deck ..





Tided up the front lamp a bit - it will remain broken




So now its tool time !!




The late Tiger 1's had a tool shuffle that basicaly means moving every tool on the upper deck with the exception of the fire extinguisher - even the tow cables move down a touch.

This is the correct axe from the king Tiger in its new place ...



You can just see the KT longer spade under the mantlet as well ...





New cable position to account for the turret protection ring mounting. I opted for the standard tools as I didn't fancy an 'find the aber peice somwhere on the battlefield game'


Well hopefully Ebbey now looks like serious battlefield threat - and no longer somthing that looked more at home in the bergepanzer tow away zone ...



I shall be back !!




Andy

[majordisastor]

Paint


Okay here we are stumbling along towards the twilight stages of Tiger Ebbeys build .....

Moving from this stage .....







To this stage ....









Please note this is not the rare short barrelled bunker buster Tiger 1 - but a peice of paper to stop any paint from building up inside the inner barrel and causing sticky recoil problems later ....



Wheels are now wearing their first coat of Tamiya Dunkgleb - dark yellow paint ...

If I was using Ebbey in my backgarden then I would keep her in primer as she blends in a treat with my fence panels!!

First Check on the electrics provided a healthy Tiger growl from the DMD s as well..

Andy

[stevie_hendo]

i love this build ! i intend on taking my tiger to the extremes aswell, as soon as ive resolved the problem of the tracks running off the idlers !

was it hard to make the rear engine hatch open ? what did you use to hinge it ?

[caddyshack]

was it hard to make the rear engine hatch open

The tamyia's engine hatch hinges as standed. Its not like the Hl deck were all is one part.

[stevie_hendo]

ahhh i see, would it be hard to make a tamiya top fit a heng long hull if i could get one on the cheap?

[majordisastor]

Easiest route would be to cut out the entire Heng Long upper hull plate from its sides then fit the Tamiya top in its place.
That would give you opening front hatches , opening rear engine deck and correct turret placement.

Another alternative is to get hold of the hatchette partworks Tiger upper deck and rear deck parts.....this would give you a stronger assembly and the late Tiger turret protection ring moulding.

I say stronger as the Tamiya upper deck is a bit flimsy - but can always be beefed up ....

Andy