Hi Jon

It was great to meet you and it was all in all a very good day.

They are large blocks of wood you see between the tracks which I have always intended to replicate. I will be scratch building the travel lock and I have excellent drawings for that so no fear of getting a half decent replication.

My Osprey book has everything covered for the 321, and although it will not be 100% I'll get as close as I can.

Thanks for showing you superb figures Jon, I cannot wait to see those completed.

Cheers
Dave

Just managed to squeeze a bit in before spending the day in London (watching War Horse)

Going today mate, I'll let you know.

Cheers
Dave

Zim is looking good Dave, should make for a stunning kit by the time you have completed it.
Looking forward to hearing about 'War Horse', you will have to do an off topic post on it mate.

Steve

Steve & Carl I'll post up a review in the relevant thread but I can only say it's the best play, myself or my familly have ever seen!!!!!!

Back to the Tiger and I have been busy again.

First off I have made the basic fasteners that hold the rear of the tow cable down, I will finish them off with the wing bolts and sleeves once the tow cable is fixed before painting.

So I needed to tackle the wheels. When i purchased them I was told they did not fit the original Heng Long hull, and although I stated this was a static model, the answer cam back the same and they stated it would have to be seriously modified.

So with a lot of measuring, thinking and planning, I cracked on with it today and have broken the back of it.

I had to remove the old suspension arms, as they were simply in the way and would not let me have a nice flat ruler.

Once I had measured it all up, i increased the width of the holes and made my own mini axles to fit the pins of the metal wheels.

It took loads of test fitting to make sure the wheels were aligned. Once satisfied with this I test fitted the track to double check that it was in exactly the right place.

Finally i put on the upper hull to ensure the edge of the track sat just inside the front fender (marked in red)

I have now glued all the axles with epoxy, I'll await this to go off, test fit track & wheels again and then I will fix the lower and upper hull to finish the zimmerit.

I will then take off the wheels, remove the tyres and spray with a good primer.......phew!!!!

Dave, easy peasy mate, you make it seem difficult :awesome: only kidding, I have a problem changing the batteries in my camera.
I'm enjoying following this and admire your dedication to getting it right.

Cheers Ken

your seriously going to have to get a move on mate, I want to see some FIGURES!!!!!:awesome:
All these details are going to pay of in the end Dave, glad you and family enjoyed War Horse.

Steve

Ken,Carl & Steve, many thanks for your continued support.

Carl the tracks are Asatiam and are of a very high quality. I got them from Welshdragonmodels.

I have managed to test fit the wheels and tracks now the epoxy has gone off and it's a huge success.........woop!!! I'll post some pics in the morning but it's really come alive with the upper hull temporarily fixed.

I think there is another month on the Tank with some fine detail still to be scratch built.

Total hours clocked so far are 80ish. Steve, lol the figures are way off, and considering I would like (if it's good enough) to enter the larger scale at Euromilitaire in 2012 then it's a case of very much taking my time!

More pics tomorrow.

Cheers
Dave

Hi Dave, I really am amazed at the speed, and the quality, of your progress mate.
A thoroughly enjoyable lesson in dedication. Are you airbrushing this beast?

Cheers

Ron

Hi Ron

Many thanks.

Yes Airbrush all the way, it gives the best finish for armour and then it's all about weathering, paint chips and battle damage!!! (there's another month!!)

List of things left to do:-

1) add pins to both sides of the turret for spare track links
2)finish Zimmerit on turret sides and lower hull
3)Add crossbar and spare track links to the lower hull
4) Finish cupola & fix
5)Finish catches for Tow Bar
6) scratch build cable & fixings for the side of hull
7)Add rear fenders
8) re-work the Jack
9) add Zimmerit to the rear
10) add more weld lines
11) add antena holder
12 add detail to drivers vision block
13) Add front light

I have taken 1 pic showing the original Heng Long wheels which have the wrong tyre size and are lacking detail:-

Lol I can't do everything!!

Guys

Any idea's for a good primer (airbrush) for the Tiger (acrylics or enamels)

Thanks
Dave

Hi Dave, what are you going to use for final finish? Acrylics, Sealers, Powders etc. This usually dictates my choice of primer. Then again, I bet Carl says 'Halfords' grey. LoL

Cheers

Ron

I think I will go with Acrylics so fire away Ron!

Fixed the lower and upper hull together and finished the Zimmerit to the bottom. I noticed on my pics of the 321, that it hade a round tube as a cross member so also added that and placed the metal shackle set:-