Tiger I - January 1943 production "Tiki" 8./SS-Panzer-Regiment ”Das Reich”

[monica]

you real can see the difference with the 3 ,so do you buy after market ones, or build them


up or shelf,these type of things ,I for one will tend to look over,and just use whats in the box,

[Tommy]

I depends what the item is, some stuff I scratch build other I buy.


The gun mantle for this Tiger is a aftermarket product.

[Guest]

Looking great so far.


Scott

[bazers]

Wow.

[PhilJ]

Really liking your methods Tommy, great work so far

[Tommy]

Thank you

[Tommy]

After a lot of cutting, sanding, dry fitting and cursing the gun mantle is finally in place and fits perfectly with the Tamiya turret and the metal barrel.


The letters and number you can see on the top of the mantle is a casting number. Not all gun mantles had a casting number, they was rather sporadic occurring.


The casting number could consist of only one digit to several. On photos of late turrets there was two or three capital letters instead of numbers.


On the mantle I use here have a mix of both digits and letters. I just need to sand them down a bit, as they look now they stand out a little to much.






Although this mantle is of good quality and detail there was a small detail that was missing.


And that was the small holes for the adjustments screws on either side of the mantle.


So I drilled two small holes on both sides and I accidently drilled the holes straight trough.


The holes should look more like a couple of round depressions, but that is easily fixed with a piece of a plastic rod.

[monica]

real like the look of that,gun mantle,the detail,real makes a difference,

[Tommy]

Been quite busy lately but here is a small update.






Some very simplified smoke launchers.






Scratch built stowage bin.


A stowage bin for this early Das Reich Tiger is not available in any kit or as a after market product.


So the only option left was to scratch build a new one.


The stowage bin for this Tiger is a unit made bin and was much longer than the later factory produced versions.






The stowage bin was secured to the turret on the sides and not on the top and bottom as with the later bins.






When Tigers with the newer turrets arrived (the ones with the right side escape hatch) the stowage bin become too long.


And the boxes needed to be adjusted. A cut out was made and then welded so the escape hatch could be opened.

[monica]

dose add a lot the added detail,,just by having the nuts howing on the storage bin,


just pickup on the weld line around the top of the turret,real like it,looks great,

[Tommy]

Started with adding some details to the commanders cupola. The hatch will be closed so all the interior


details are skipped.


And the weld beads around the turret roof still need some work before they are finished.






Other than the weld beads, the turret are pretty much completed.










Glued a small plastic piece under the gun mantle to get the desired gun elevation.

[Guest]

Nice work Tommy, this really is coming along a treat, looking forward to the next update

[Tommy]

Thanks

[monica]

like all the added detail,looking real nice so far,

[tr1ckey66]

Very nice work Tommy. This big cat is certainly being given some loving attention.


Great stuff


Paul