Brown's King Tiger

[Brown Hawkins]

Here goes... I have lurked long enough and now have a kit to actually work on and not just plan how I'll finish it. Here is the obligatory picture of all of the boxes.



Once I get posting pics figured out I'll get down to business with the build log.

Brown

[Brown Hawkins]

The final tank color and layout scheme will be from one of the 2 below:

#1
#2

I'm now tending toward #2 since no one has used it so far and it's just plain scary looking! Check out all of those extra links on the turret. First I have to get the hull to fit together correctly!

Do the later runs of KTs have the rear plate bevelled correctly? It sure looks close to me:




Good thing if true as my tiny lathe can't handle something as large as the rear plate.

Brown

[simon_manning]

good to see a new build unfolding,plenty of photos please brown any info can be found on here,regards simon manning.

[Dale jordan]

What a great sight to see all those box's again .. Brown the black and yellow tape on the big box was that customs having a look see ??? .. Dale

[Brown Hawkins]

Dale,

Customs held up the boxes for a bit because they contained "tank parts". I had to tell the UPS agent to tell customs "it's a remote controlled toy tank", albeit a large one.

The boxes cleared shortly after our conversation.


I already have a question:

Did anyone else have the front deck plate rise up a bit compared to the seating groove in panniers? It seems I need to grind down 2-3 cm of the front deck plate 1-2 mm to get it to seat properly. If that's confusing the pics are clearer:



Photos of this area on finished KTs would help a bunch.

Cheers,

Brown

[Dale jordan]

Hi Brown .. Check the back edge of the deck shelf on the front plate . My one had a berr where it was damage a little in transport or from machining . I file it down level with the rest of the deck shelf If you need to lift up the side panniers to bring it level with the front plate you can file some off the side top edge of the pannier tung ...Dale

[Mark Bennett]

Hi Brown,

Great to see you posting on the forum

At the rate you're going, you will be ahead of me in just a few weeks. Enjoy your project and keep the pics coming.

Regards,

Mark

[Brown Hawkins]

What are the 6 holes in the bottom steel plate for? Should I keep the front aluminum bottom plate removable for access to the drive motors later?

Almost finished adding the grease zirks to the suspension bars and assembling the hull for good. Turret assembly next. Primed and then primed again all of the steel pieces to to avoid rust in the future and any galvanic effects.

Brown

[Tim Bowman]

Hi Brown

Good to see one coming together in the U.S. I'm jealous of everyone who owns one of these. Look forward to more photos of your project as it progresses.

Kindest regards
Tim

[Brown Hawkins]

Here are the pics of my "milling" operation. It took me 4 evenings to take ~2mm of material off the glacis plate so the front deck plate would seat correctly. I had a chance to visit Mark Bennet in Houston and look over his KT. My glacis plate is correct now. I have bounced around on the build as I have lots of parts on order. Assembled the axles and wheel hubs but must wait on the special wheel bolts from Steve W. before the wheels can be assembled. Also have the 7BA small-head bolts on order for the rear deck plate construction. Thank goodness all of you guys have figured out the assembly details for us tank building virgins!

Next week I'll get to have a 4 day buildfest and hopefully get started on the initial hull welds. Even though I'm going to zimmerit the hull, the seams will be locked up with some type of epoxy putty or bondo for added strength.

Pilot holes for the grease fittings

Milling the glacis plate










I made an axle layout diagram so I wouldn't mess up (don't tell me if I did). Also got a variety of angled grease zirks for use under the drive motors.

My lathe is a 1950s vintage "Unimat" from Austria. This was my dad's and made many a scientific apparatus. As stated in another thread on this forum I'm not much beyond drilling and milling with a hand drill, but it works.

The model will be the Schw Pz Abt 509 1945 tank shown above with all of the extra track links on the turret. It's something different.

Brown

[Brown Hawkins]

What is the "tooling rod/bar" for on the KT? Is it equivalent to a pry bar?

In case some folks don't know, the 6 holes in the base plate are for the motion pack. Thanks Gill. I won't fill them in...

Brown

[simon_manning]

coming together nicely brown,the tool bar i'm sure is the pry bar. regards simon.

[Brown Hawkins]

I planned on pinning the axles and found something to make it easier - premade pins! I was going to cut nails to the proper length. For those KT builders in the US, I suggest checking with you local ACE Hardware store for all sorts of building supplies; grease fittings, metric bolts, and steel pins. The pins in the picture are 3/32" dia 3/4" long. These fit just perfectly without any need to file down.




Those of us late to the KT building scene get to choose from all of the great, tested ideas here on the forum. Thanks to all of the early builders.

Brown

[Brown Hawkins]

Lots of nuts and bolts in the mail for the road wheels, decks, and side skirts. I had to see how the Goode engine looked in the hull. Just stuck the turret on to see how it looked.

[Robert E Morey]

Brown,
The engine looks great in the hull. It kinda gets swallowed up when the massive turret is on. Looking great so far. Where are you going to put the batteries once the Maybach is installed?

Keep us posted on your progress.
Bob