John's Late Tiger 1

[John Fitzsimons]

Thanks Phil and Paul.
Phil nice and sunny for the photos above but wet and miserable for the two show days. Four layers of clothing and still cold. Typical June day in Ireland. I will post some photos.
Paul, that muzzle brake is away having some work done on the detail by an expert. Hopefully be back soon. The filler caps you made arrived on time to add before the military show. We had a few members of the public who had been following the build on the forum.
I have some video also but need to edit.

[Paul Morris]

Hi John.

I wondered if that was the case,it will only add to what's already a nice job .
Isn't that always the case with the weather! glorious during the planning and then comes the morning to set off accompanied by a biblical deluge ha ha, as long as you enjoyed yourself thats the main thing.
Cheers Paul.

[michael hilton]

Hello John, very neat and accurate work.....just enough detail, class workmanship.
Shame about the weather for the 'Show'. I know how that feels....we were booked in for a display over the Bank Holiday.....rained off. Sods law....regards Mick.

[Nick Farrugia]

HI John
excelent pictures realy nice job ,the detail,s are great i liked the crew pics very good all the best ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,nick

[John Fitzsimons]

first event. Duncannon Military Festival.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Looks a nice place to show your Tanks John,shame about the weather,
but at least you were able to get some pic's for us.
Your Tanks look great together.
Regards
Phil

[padge mc grath]

Hi Guys,

The military show was a very good event from the point of view of promoting 1/6 tanks. Despite the weather the show was reasonably well attended. There was lots to see including renactors from world war 2, Napoleonic and Viking eras etc as well as a fair amount of military equipment and the other usual extras.

The tanks were a big draw at the show. it was obvious that the majority of the people who attended the show had never seen anything like these 1/6 scale tanks. Anytime we brought the tanks out, the crowds gathered around us. There was genuine excitment especially when we fired the main guns and machine guns. Also we used a bridge made by my brother to demonstrate what these beasts could do. I got 2 rounds of applause for getting the tank up the ramps however this was really quite embarrassing as the applause was really for 2 struggling efforts to get the tank up a steep ramp.I had to make a number of attempts to get it right.

Both myself and John were hoarse by end of the second day due to all the questions we had to answer. Luckily I was able to divert all of the technical questions to John.
The main question was "how much do they cost". The answer left the most of them shocked. As John expained to one guy it would probaly be better if he stayed single if he wanted to invest in 1/6 tanks.

Altogether we were treated like celebrities and were envited to other shows around the country. The orgaisers said that the tanks drew the strongest crowds of the day and were a great addition to the festival. It would have been great to have some of the members of this forum to have displayed their tanks with us at the show considering the great expertise and knowledge of the members on this forum.

We are hoping that the experience will draw in other new Armortek first time purchasers in Ireland as we distributed anumber of leaflets for Armortek.

The experience was good and rewarding and I felt very proud of my KT as John has done a wonderful job on refurbishing my KT. It looked so differnet I barely recognised it.

Talk soon

Regards

Padge

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi Padge
Thanks for the description of yours and johns experience at the show,
sounds like you had a great time.
Regards
Phil

[John Fitzsimons]

I will get some video uploaded also but will put in the events forum. It was sn interesting venue. A star fort with ditch. Biilt as a defence against the spanish armada. It would be great to get some more exhibitors next time. Hopefully we will organise a few additional items next time. Easy access from uk port Fishguard to Roslare. Roslare is close to fort.

[padge mc grath]

Hi Phil

Thanks for the comments. It was a fun couple of days. I suffered a breakdown on Saturday evening. The recurring problem with the left drive shaft surfaced again and I was lucky that the engineer who fixed it the first time was on hand to carry out the repair. It worked flawlessly on sunday and didn't suffer any blown fuses.

A good test for the tank was the ramp my brother built. It had a 30 degree angle and was quite steep but the tanks took it in their stride. It was when the tanks attempted to go down the ramp that you could really see how the wheels, tracks and motor combined with the weight of the tanks really performed. They get to a point when they are balancing at the top of the ramp and the with the next movement they tip over onto the downward slope.

The enthusiasm was wonderful and it was nice to feel appreciated for putting on a bit of a show. It would be great for us to have a few more tanks next year. The public were very appreciative and I am absolutely sure that that a lot more people will be viewing this site in the future. They will be amazed at the quality of the tanks and the wonderful expertise of the members on this site. lucky for me I had john to shoulder all the hard questions for me. Technical questions were beyond me.

Regards
Padge

[John Fitzsimons]

I will just add that Padge did most of the entertainment. I just did the bridge once as it was the Tiger's first drive. Padge was also responsible for organization, transport, accomodation, food. Well done Padge. As for my technical knowledge, I have no idea what makes these things work.

[simon_manning]

nice photos john of the tigers, expert is to much to say, the muzzle is underway, the photos gave me the feeling of guilt as if something was missing, regards simon.

[John Fitzsimons]

No rush Simon. I am going on holiday next week and not back until july so better not to post until I get back.

While planning my trip i diverted the trip via a route which will pass close to Saumur so i might have to stop there and ask for directions and look really surprised at finding a tank museu.

[John Fitzsimons]

Mini Famo. Click for video.



I had fitted some blocks to the front of the wooden floor to stop roll forward. Fits in better if you reverse in. Yes boot closes. Just. OK for a short trip.

[Nick Farrugia]

Hi John
now thats what i call a neat fit i couldnt help ducking my head when it got to the top , ,nice job