BUILDING A TIGER TANK

Part 25 by Vince Cutajar

I became convinced that the elevation motor with a 18:1 gearbox was too fast. Unlike the turret turn, the elevation channel does not have proportional control. So it's either On or Off and the speed cannot be controlled.

The first thought was to fit an extra Viper module (ESC) like the turret turn. Next option was to use one of those cheap PWM speed controllers one finds on eBay. Sounds like a good idea and doable. Then I remembered I had the original recoil motor which is unused. It is a similar motor but having a gearbox with a higher ratio (60:1). Quick swap of motors and test.

I finalized the position of the Arduino recoil box and also the turret wiring sub-loom. Even put the LEDs in the barrel. Managed to find the turret wing nuts and bolted them on and fitted the roof.

Decided next to tackle two issues which I had been putting off. The first one was the track tension. The left hand one was nearly good as is but the right hand one was a bit loose. So first I tried to remove a track link but it was obvious that the track would become tight. So next I resorted to adjusting the track tension mechanism but wasn't sure which way I need to turn to increase tension. So decided to open the engine hatch to see which way I need to turn the Allen screw to increase the tension.

This is where I found that I couldn't open the engine hatch as it was hitting the zimmeritt of the turret. I also noticed that the two tie-downs I had fitted in front of the engine hatch had broken off. Must have broken them off during the turret turn trials.

Had to reduce the thickness of the zimmeritt to be able to open the engine hatch. After adjusting the tracks, I left a pencil mark to show me in the future which way I need to turn the screw.
Finished the muzzle brake and installed it.
I decided on the camo scheme also for my Tiger 231. Luckily I found out that it is the Munster Tiger and found a lot of photos on the internet from which I can base my camo scheme.

I got myself an airbrush kit, hooked it up to my workshop compressor and, after practice, I decided to test the three colours together to see if I need to change them. Luckily I kept the steel plate I had used to practice applying zim and had sprayed it with the basecoat. So all I needed to do was apply the other two colours as a test.



PART 24 HERE   PART 26 HERE

 
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