Early Tiger ---- bits an bobs

[riggy15]

Evening all,
Being slowly collecting bits and bobs for a new early Tiger build, most of the bits have being purchased of E-Bay, and some have being presents .

Starting with the Taigen lower hull with there version of the torsion bar suspension.

Pics


Rear end view with the back plate removed,



Rear end with all the gubbins removed

[riggy15]

The top deck and turret are from a Heng Long Tiger1, one of the early ones, already started on the top deck by modifying the turret ring position by cutting out the square, turning it round and gluing it all back.



underneath view, with support added.



Standard turret mod also done,



Bit more work also being done on the turret, but no photos done yet, hope to get some more done this weekend.

cheers for now
Martyn.

[jarndice]

I think the reference to Tiger early is to distinguish it from a Tiger Mid or Late.
The body that is being used is a later mould because it has the holes where the tools pop in unlike the early mould where the tools were part of the mould and had to be Dremmeled off,
The Taigen still has it's tools moulded on and of course they all still have an Aerial stowage tube on both flanks instead of just one on the left flank (when looking from the front),
A pity that the turret still needs moving to be correct when the new mould could have incorporated all the changes to rectify the well known mistakes in the old mould.
shaun

[riggy15]

Good question, who did put the c##t in scunny ?, if things carry on at the steel plant as its being reported there wont be anybody left !, so it could be a moot point ,
and yes, I could be one of them, were supposed to find out on Tuesday who's getting the chop ------------------ happy days ------- not.
Anyhooooooo, more progress,
I read on this forum that the gun is central to the mantel, when in fact it should be slightly to the right of centre when looking down from the top and the gun pointing forward (if that makes sense). One way to correct this is to get replacement parts from the Hobby Boss kit or the Tamiya kit, but I decided to have a go at modifying the Heng Long mantel. First of I carefully sawed of the the piece that I wanted to move.



Then glued it back in the new position, and filled in the missing bits with filler and bits of scrap plastic



so far, so good, just waiting for the filler to set hard before sanding and cutting back, whilst that's drying, cut of the track guards so that I can make them a bit more realistic later on in the build.



and also cut of the unwanted antenna tube on the left hand side of the hull



More later,
Cheers
Martyn.

[riggy15]

bugger, double posted, hope this gets rid of it

[riggy15]

Evening,
More work done on the turret outside's and inside. I didn't like the way the gun was pivoted inside the turret, its original pivot point is moved back for some reason or other (in my opinion), so basically I drilled new pivot points and used a wooden dowel for the new pivot point. Hopefully the pic will show what I have tried to explain.



Next, there a dirty great big step at the underside of the turret ring, that shouldn't be there.



Glued plastic strips in position, left to dry, sanded down, step now gone.

[riggy15]

Mantel nearly finished





top view



And one with gun just test fitted



More later,
cheers,
Martyn

[jarndice]

Martyn Hi, This promises to be worth watching, How early a Tiger 1 are you planning? One of the first of the Tunisian Tigers or an early Barbarossa example? There is Lots of unique detail available to distinguish them from the later Tiger 1.
If you are planning a specific Tiger 1 then I recommend
http://www.alanhamby.com
After you have made yourself giddy looking through the pages I would suggest you go to the "Changes" section of the website you will find a calendar of all the changes made to the Tiger 1 in its production run with dates.
shaun

[HERMAN BIX]

Its sure shaping up to be an epic..................I'm with Mr Jarndice, whats your time period picked out ?
Early-early,-late-early, early-mid, mid-late mid, early-late, late-late
The variations are many but finite, so you can almost carbon date your Tiger by the way its configured

Or, just build it the way you like it & tell the world its "just -because"

Loads of great work here, I will watch on for sure.
Please remember to prioritise your bucket into the build process !! again "just-because"

[riggy15]

Cheers fellas, thanks for the encouragement and advice, scooted across to the web site, and I see what you mean about going 'giddy' with the information available.
Anyhooo, decided to loosely base this build on one of the Tunisan Tigers of sPzAbt 501, piccy below, Number 243



I have being concentrating on getting the running gear and tracks fitted and painted, so I can then concentrate on getting the mods done on the upper deck. The wheels are metal replacement ones from Tiagen, and the metal track is from E Bay (I ain't going to try and weather the track, I am hoping that when I start running her around they will naturally weather themselves). Sprayed the wheels and bottom hull in red primer and I could'nt resist slapping them together to see what she looks like.



Rear end showing the adjusters (they work a treat)



one more



Connected the motors up and give the motors a quick spin, and every thing works as it should, my only concern is that the output shafts from the gearboxes are a bit slack, shall we say, which means I either have to buy and fit some support brackets, get some new upgraded boxes, or just run her around and see how it goes.
Tracks and wheels removed, and first coat of paint applied.



Cheers for now,
More later
Martyn.

PS:, Looking for a bucket