RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Since I couldn't get a hold of the Tamiya K-sprue I decided to print my own early version of the air cleaners.






Seem to look pretty ok. Not as good as they would be when using SLA or another method, but they'll do. Still need to clean them up a bit more and mount them to the original Tamiya parts.

Hi, Have you thought of marketing them?
I am sure that with the present difficulty in obtaining Tamiya Sprues there would be a ready demand and I would for the same reason think the early Tiger 1 Turret Mantlet also to be found on the same hard to obtain sprue would be in demand.
And the one thing I have never seen anywhere is the early curved rear fenders,
I had to make my own as well as the early exhaust shrouds,
Anyone wanting to build a true early Tiger 1 would kiss your wooden Dutch Clogs as well as offer real folding money if you could print some of these hard to find parts.

I did think about it, but I'm not entirely sure if I want to sell them. Maybe in the future.

The exhaust shroud isn't that hard to make from brass sheet, but the rear fenders would be harder because of the curve. Printing these parts wouldn't look that nice as brass sheet does.

The mantlet is on the list to be printed actually. Work on it will be started when I actually start construction of my Early Tamiya Tiger I. I might also plan to print some of the other Tiger I parts like the Initial stowage bins (side mounted ones) and the Turret ring guard.

Most of the parts that make up the K-sprue are part of the Tunisian Tiger set by Aber (http://www.aber.net.pl/detal,1237.html). It's a pity they don't sell parts of their kit as separate pieces.

Early pictures of the Early Mantlet. Some fine details have been left out, as I don't think you would see them either way after printing/painting.




Hopefully I will have time to test print it with my 3D printer to look if the overall model is good enough to print with one of Shapeways material offerings.
I don't know if there's a difference in mounting the mantlet between Tamiya and Torro/Taigen/Heng Long. I currently only have the Tamiya. Would people be interested in a Torro/Taigen/Heng Long version?

I also made the side stowage bin for an initial production Tiger.



This will be used as a mould when using brass sheet.

Code501 wrote:Would people be interested in a Torro/Taigen/Heng Long version?

Yep

I would be interested in the Early Feifal Air Cleaners as well as the side boxes and the Torro/Taigen/Heng Long Main Gun Mantlet.

Something that is usually forgotten when trying to make an authentic copy of a Tiger 1 Early is the need to fill the space occupied by the Turret escape hatch,
If you or somebody else could make a "Blank" that would fill the space it would certainly make life easier for people like me.
I am almost able to fit the additional pistol port myself.

Jarndice, I was pleased to discover that my Taigen Tiger turret’s escape hatch was a separate piece that was glued on and it popped off with a little help from a chisel blade. All I had to do was sand the area smooth after removing it. Lucky for me!

Guess I'll need to look for a Torro/Taigen/Heng Long mantlet assembly

The filler plate for the escape hatch should be easy to do. Maybe with the pistol port already attached....

First I'll see to printing the mantlet and stowage bin mould.