Putting that track together will be like assembling the real ones, except you have to use a very small sledge hammer. Coming alone quite nicely. You inspired me to over my modeling dry spell and get back to my work bench.

TC

That is right and this thing is huge indeed.

Dang I bet the tracks weigh 100 plus pounds.

Or close anyway.

Looking good and a taper lock in 1/6 scale that is wild a good system there indeed.

Any grease fittings on here?

Cheers
Jeff

One day I will get me one of these and then bring havoc on my neighbours.

One question, do you need to weld or solder to put these kits together?

Cheers

Thanks Guys, The tank is all bolt together consrtuction, so welding is not neccassary. Some other armortek customers have used a TIG welder to weld the tanks together at the seams leaving for a very realistic look.

Jeff, the only zerk fittings that are going to on this tank are for detail only . The other project that I have been working on has plenty of real zerk fittings .

It has been over a week since my last update but I have made more head way on the tank.





The other sprocket was completed and installed,







The six allen screw bolt heads were added to the lower front, this completes the lower front portion of the tank.



I'm now focusing on the tank's rear wall detailing. The kit supplies you with most of the details. Some like the idler tension cover caps and the engine starter caps were added as is, with no added detailing.









The tank's kit supplied exhausts come with very basic detailing and left an area which I saw room for improvement. The kit supplied exhausts each comprises of two CNC aluminum parts and one copper tube. The whole exhaust is then covered by an all aluminum CNC armored cover. The exhaust stacks and bases are hollow which allows a smoke unit to be installed.









To re detail the exhausts would have required too much work, instead I decided to fabricate new exhausts and to cast them in resin. These new exhausts have a more accurate appearance and do spice the exposed exhausts up a bit.









The exhausts are a solid resin casting, but I will be making my tank with a smoke generator, so the solid exhausts stacks were hollowed out. To do this I simply drilled a hole down the top of the exhaust base, and a connecting hole towards the exhausts stack rear.





For the exhausts pipes I used the stock armortek copper pipes. The pipes themselves are nicely shaped out of the box. To make them fit my resin exhausts bases I machined an adaptor tube out of a length of PVC tube.





The pipe's thickness is slightly too thick, so I thinned the walls on the end that is exposed with a dremel sanding drum. A small steel support rod was then soldered in the opening, as I have seen this on the actual vehicles. These stacks have been added to the product line in two variations, One as a complete set with my own resin solid exhausts pipes designed more for static king tigers, The other with just the exhausts bases and the copper pipe adaptor for the armortek and other RC King tigers with smoke generators.

http://eastcoastarmory.com/germanparts.htm





The hollow exhausts were then ready for installation.







before I installed the stacks a small amount of silicone was added around the center exhaust hole. This hole is to give me an air tight seal which will keep any exhaust smoke from seeping out between the gaps.









The kit supplied exhaust covers are all CNCed aluminum and also appear to have the correct basic shape and appearance.





What was added to the exhausts covers was some cast texture, and a set of my metal armored exhaust lift bolts.









These were then installed to the tank with no problems





Now that the exhausts have been added all that remains to finish the exhausts is the crank started guide. This descends off of the right hand exhaust cover, and will have to be all scratch built. Once complete I can then finish off the remaining rear wall details.

On the tank's interior I have assembled the kit supplied electronics mounting tray. This tray will hole the batteries, smoke generator and other electronics. More Info to follow

Great job on the exhaust John looks better and the center cast is spot on.

Good work there.

So I take it , the one with zerks is a 1 to1 scale object.

Wow. It's always so amazing to watch your work!!!

That is really looking nice. I know you probably have already said, but I couldn't find it, what are you using to texture the aluminum parts?

I bet I can answer for John,but looks to be Mr surfacer.

Cheers

A great build there.

Putting tongue back in mouth now, and wiping up all the drool from seeing it.

This is truly impressive. Amazing kit, great building skills, loving your tweaks and detailing and also really enjoying the way you photogragh everything and comment on what you are doing.

I thought I was tackling something absurdly large when I started my 1/16 Tamiya KT but your build makes me feel like a wuss!

I will definately have to get myself one of these Armorteks one day. They do seem to be the ultimate armour model.

Keep up the great work and the great Blog.

Noel

Sorry Jeff, but it's not mr. Surfacer. Instead I use Red Glazing/spot putty.

I have completed 96% of the rear wall detailing.



The tank's rear engine access hatch / engine started was reworked and added.



The kit supplied piece was made of CNCed turned aluminum and is the correct size and shape.







All that was needed to improve the part was I milled recessed divots into each of the locations that the mounting nuts are located, I added a resin Acorn nut to the center of the access hub, and I added two resin cold weather starter electrode nubs that was from my Tiger I cold weather starter kit.



The tank's tow hook swing mounts were added. These mounts are nicely done out of the box and the only mods that were added were the weld beads. The kit supplies you with cast bronze wing nuts that thread onto the exposed threaded shaft. The kit also supplies you with two cast brass tow hooks. These appear to need no further mods and will be added once the tank is painted.





The tank's jack mounts were added. The kit supplied mounts are made out of two laser cut and pre shaped sheet steel strips. The kit supplied mounts are made to swing open. On the real tank the mounts are welded to a longer plate and have a bulkhead welded to the lower portion of the mount for more strength. On my component I made the bulk head and the longer base plate out of a brass strip that was then soldered onto the kit supplied jack mount.







At first I was going to install the component with the kit supplied hinged gate, but after reviewing the real component I decided to rework the jack mounts further. To do this I removed the kit supplied gate and replaced it with a threaded rod that was soldered to a brass tube. The new rod swings in place where the old gate once went. The op portion of the jack mount was to be secured by a singe Allen screw and nut, this part of the mount was bent straight and a threaded shaft size notch was then cut into the now protruding steel. A resin wing nut will hold the unit together.















As for the tank's Jack, the kit comes with an Armorpax Resin and metal King tiger Jack, which is an excellent bit of kit. This too will be added later.

The tanks Rear mud flaps have also been assembled and installed.



The kit supplied mud flaps are all made out of pre shaped laser cut sheet steel, brass hinges, copper rivets, and two machined aluminum one piece hinges.





The kit supplied mud flap bulk heads were not used. New sheet steel bulk heads were fabricated and soldered to the mud flap in it's place. The original mounting holes for the kit supplied bulk heads were plugged up with solder and were sanded smooth.





All of the hinges and copper components were soldered directly onto the mud flaps. The mud flap corner hinged section had it's adjustment plate detail added. These details were all scratch built out of brass. A resin wing nut adds the last bit of detail to the section.







To complete the mud flaps, the one piece main hinge needed to be reworked.



On the real King tiger the mud flap hinge was comprised out of three separate small blocks. To make the alteration I cut the one piece hinge into three small blocks. A hole was added to the center block hinge, and all six blocks had counter sinks drilled into them. The counter sink bolts will replace the cap screws that armortek recommends in their instructions. They all were then mounted to the tank with counter the sink bolts and weld beads. All that needs to be done to finish them up is to have some small putty work done to the counter sink bolts making them flush with the hinge.







The mud flaps retain all of their functionality, and are very sturdy



The tank's new jack block mounts were added. The Kit supplied jack block is comprised of a block of wood and a singe laser cut pre bent strip that gets bolted to the tank.





I decided to fabricate new jack block mounts that were full function and were more accurately detailed than the basic kit supplied version.









In addition to the new jack block mounts I also made the jack block carrying handle.









The pivoting crank handle guide was added to the tank’s right hand armored exhaust cover. The component does have a small length of chain and will be added once the tank is painted.





both the jack block detail upgrade and the pivoting crank handle set have been added to the product line.
http://eastcoastarmory.com/germanparts.htm

All that remains left to be fabricated is the tube tail light and the lower tail light. Once those parts have been completed the rear wall is 100% finished. More progress to follow!

Oops on the Mr Surfacer John I see now what you do.

My Bad and I stand corrected.

Looking good and well how do you thin that stuff Lacquer thinner?

What are you using for weld beads?

Can't wait to see this thing running up on those Sherman's.

wow

that is all I have to say

wow

that is a proper

Thanks Guys.

Jeff- The way I apply the glazing putt and the material that I use for the welds is a trade secret, but I have seen very impressive work done by others with miliput for welds.

I have made some more progress on the model.





The tank's final rear details have been scratch built and added. These would include the rear tail light and black out light.



I made both of the rear lights function. for the lights I used two "White" LEDs. LEDs have many great advantages, but typically I don't like to use LED's for my model lights due to LEDs not having the amber glow that is found on incandescent light bulbs. But I'm using them for this application because the LEDs will be underneath colored lenses which will tint the color giving them a better richer color.



To make the LED fit inside of the tail light mounts I needed to remove a section of the LED's top. Now the red lens will fit better over the LED once installed. This was carefully done on my lathe; this is also one advantage of LEDs over a light bulb.









A similar procedure was done to the blackout light, only the LED had its rimmed removed rather than its top shortened







After finding more images of the rear mud flap details I revised the hinge lock and added a few more details. These would include riveting on the small side flap, and the flap stops.







With the rear portion completed I then turned my attention to the tank's side panels. the body work for removing the bolt holes was completed leaving the sides perfectly smooth. After the body work and a shot of spot primer the torch cut lines were added to the front and rear armored plates. Simulated weld beads were then added.





On the front portion of the armored plate I only added the cut lines on the middle portion of the center puzzle square. This was done because I saw this type of cut on the Aberdeen Jadgtiger and I liked the look of the cut. This now completes the welds on the lower Hull. The next welds will be found on the top plate and the turret. The rest of the side detail (tool posts and tow cable mounts) will be added after the electronics have been added.





The side skirt mounting plates were also installed. The side skirt mount plates come with the kit and are made out of laser cut and pre drilled steel. They mount to the tank via a counter [auto-censored] Allen screw. These were mounted to the tank as is. After the plates were mounted I did a little putty work removing the sight of the counter sunk screw, and adding weld beads to all of the plates.







I have also assembled both of the tank's tracks, These will be installed after the electronics have been added to test drive the model.



All of the electronic components that I have order have arrived so I will now be focusing on the tank's functions now. Once complete I can proceed to the rest of the detailing. Much more to come

This build is amazing! When I saw the tracks in that last picture i swore it was a real tank.haha
Have you decided on going for a zimmerit finnish or are you gonna paint it in a late war ambush scheme?

Thanks Henrik, The tank will be painted with an ambush pattern with no zimmerit.

Thanks guys, I was able to mount the tracks and take the tank on a test drive.





When the tracks were first added there were too many links and the tracks had too much slack.





After the removal of two links from each side, the track's slack was removed and the tank runs very smoothly.





I was able to make a video of the tank running for the first time. The video is now up on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr2KJD7WWpY

After test driving the tank I'm satisfied with the performance. I'm happy with the sprocket alignment so I can now finish off the detail for the sprocket hubs. More progress to follow.

Amazing! I have some good pictures of the ambush scheme. Get at me if you need them!

John,

Thanks so much for sharing your build here on Armorama with all of us out there around the world that just can't afford the luxury or have the needed skills, space or time to do what you are doing. My wife and I have been following your build log since the beginning and enjoy it whenever you post updates. Now after viewing your recent posted video . . . well we're both left speechless. We don't know how or when we're going to do it but we've got to get ourselves one of these!

-Eddy

Thanks guys, These kits are pricey, but they are a hoot to drive and are worth every penny.

I have made more progress on the tank and have completed more of the tanks functions and details.



For the tank's sprockets I added the hubs, with the bolt details. All of the tension plates were scratch built out of sheet steel.



I added the tank's smoke system. For the smoke generator I used my own system that I hooked up to a remote control for throttle control.







I built into the tank a battery powered fuel pump to refuel the smoke system. With the built in system I can refill the fluid reservoir from a long rubber tube away from the tank. With this system I remove the chance of spilling the smoke fluid onto the tank which can ruin the paint finish. I have used this system on every one of my 1/6th scale RC tanks.





The tank's bow MG ball has been added. The kit supplied MG ball is nicely scaled and can pivot freely.







To make the ball fit better onto the tank I sanded the edges slightly.





Prior to installation the ball was airbrushed in it's base coat of Dark Yellow. With the paint being airbrushed the coat is so this that it will not scratch once inside the ball housing, also I won't have any spots that I will miss on the ball once the tank is painted.







Once the ball was mounted to the tank the ball had it's rouch cast texture and weld beads added.





I decided to make the MG ball pivot via remote control. For the MG barrel I used the kit supplied CNCed steel MG 34 barrel.





The final function I was able to add was the tank's turret transverse function. This was done with the kit supplied parts and works very smoothly. The tank's interior if filling up quickly, as are the empty functions on the tank's radio. Prior to installing the tank's upper deck I will clean up the loose wires with wire ties and cable mounts.





I have added a video of the tanks functions on youtube. The video can be seen via the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEluua_YhqY

To finish up the lower hull I will now add the front fenders, headlight, and side hull tool posts. Once these are out of the way I can proceed to the top deck and top deck details. More to follow.

I had no idea there was so many things to put into one of these. I have just finished a Tamiya 1/16 version which was a lot of fun but this takes things to a new level! I cannot believe the MG will move!

I have a couple of questions...

How many channels do you need on your RC to make this work?
Have you gone for the blank-firing system?
Does the MG have an LED in it for firing and is there a sound system for it?

and I thought Sparta was madness... foolish me...
simply astonishing. keep on sharing!

To run the tank you will need a minimum of 4 channels. 2 channels for the tracks, one for the turret transverse and another for the gun elevation. If you are going to add more options or functions you will need more channels.

The MG ball function is not part of the kit and is my own design. The barrel is solid steel and I will not be putting in a LED for MG fire. There is a sound system available for the tank, but to save on costs I didn't get it. With the new Armortek RC system though If I ever wanted to upgrade in the future the system is a simple plug in installation.

Also to save on costs I have not went with the blank system. The system uses a special ammo that is not readily available in the US.

I have made some progress and I have completed the front portion of the tank.



The tank's front mud flaps were completed and installed.



For the fenders I reworked the kit supplied metal mud flaps. The kit supplied mud flaps are all made out of laser cut and pre bent sheet steel plates.



The hinges are made out CNC aluminum and come pre drilled with counter sinks.



The fenders are functional but detail wise are very basic. The fenders are missing their internal support ribs, and rivet detailing. The side portions have two holes pre cut into them to mount to the sides of the hull via two bolts.



Both of the kit supplied mud flaps were used, to rework them the two holes for the bolts were deleted and the support ribs were fabricated and installed with button toped rivets. All parts were constructed out of metal and were soldered on.












The two holes were deleted because the kit way that the mud flaps were to be retained and locked in place to the tank is incorrect. On the King Tiger the front fenders were held in place via a single retaining pin that is mounted on top of the tank's front side armor.



To attach the other side portion of the fenders I soldered the nuts into the support ribs. This way I can simply bolt the fenders together without having to worry about loosing a nut. It will also make the skirt removal a lot easier.






After a shot of primer they were installed onto the tank.













The body work was completed on the hinges fully removing the traces of the mounting bolts. The hinges were installed OOB with the welds being the only detail addition that was made.





The fender locks were fabricated entirely out of brass and are made to be functional. They along with some weld details were added to the model and actually work keeping the fenders from moving up and down.







The headlight mound was another bit of detail that was added to the model. The kit supplied you with a laser cut and pre drilled steel bracket, a length of aluminum wire to be used for the light wiring conduit and a most impressive fully functional cast bronze aftermarket Bosh head lamp. The head lamp comes pre wired with a light bulb, and has a removable blackout lid with a clear injection molded plastic light diffusing lens. The headlamp itself is perfect OOB with absolutely no upgrades to be needed.















The bracket itself is very basic and is simply designed to be bolted onto the tank. The bracket itself is missing the center support and would mount to the tank in an incorrect way.



To rework the mount the bent portion that would bolt to the tank was removed. The center hole for the electrical wire was deleted and the center support was fabricated and soldered onto the plate. Now to install the plate onto the tank a M3X35mm hex bolt was soldered onto the support. The bolt had to be long enough to get through the 1 inch thick frontal plate so a nut can secure the plate onto the other end.







The tank's frontal plate has three holes pre drilled into it. Two small mounting holes for the kit mount and a single larger hole for the headlight power cable. The headlight cable hole will now be used for the mounting bolt. The hole was widened slightly to have the hex head of the mounting bolt to lie flush with the armored plate. The headlight power cable will be redirected later once it is installed to the tank after the roof gets installed.





The new mount now sits onto the front plate as it does on the real tank.



Welds were added covering up the two head light mount installation holes and further securing the mount to the tank.





Now that the front plate detailing is complete I have started the side hull tool posts and tow cable mounts. Typically I do this step last before the tank is about to the painted, but on this tank I need to secure the posts to the tank's sides with fasteners that bolt to the tanks inside. Mounting these parts will be very difficult once the tank's roof is installed so they will be done next. Here is a sneak peek on what will be coming in the next update, More to come..

I have just finished the tank's side hull tool posts and tow cable mounts.





The kit supplies you with tools, Tow cables, basic tool posts and tow cable locks. The tank's hull is also pre drilled for all of the tool posts. To improve on the most of the tool post locations needed to be relocated. The kit's holes were filled in and will be sanded over.







tank's tow cable mounts were the first of the tool posts that were reworked. The kit supplied cable mounts are made out of CNCed Aluminum braces with laser cut steel strips. The braces are missing the groves for the gun cleaning kit and the tow cables. The braces are also missing the pivot points on the one end for the folding retaining bolt. The braces are mounted to the tank very securely via counter sink bolts with nuts anchoring them on the inside of the vehicle.





To keep the braces as strong as possible I didn't make the pivot bolt functional, instead I modified the kit supplied base to appear that the pivot works. The way I did this was the kit supplied braces had inlets machined into the one end. The brace now has the detail of the pivot, but still has it's full strength.





For the center grooves I took the center groove portion from one of my resin Tiger tow cable mounts. The resin center was installed over the flush counter sink bolts after the braces were added to the tank.









The kit also includes small tow cable mounts for retaining the tow cable ends and for retaining thee steel cable towards the rear of the vehicle. Like the other mounts these locks are produced form CNCed aluminum. The tow cable locks have a functional hinged top, but are missing the front portion of the lock with the pivot bolt.





Like the other mounts I didn't make the pivot bolt functional, instead I made a resin detail shroud that slipped over the steel bolt. This again gives me the maximum amount of strength and detail. On the hinged tops I had to transform the drilled out bolt hole into a slit that would have been used for the pivot bolt. The slit doesn't effect the strength of the mount in any way, and still locks securely.



The kit supplied track cable mounts were also very basic and needed to be reworked.



The mounts were re bent and had a M3X16mm bolt soldered to the the inner end.





This procedure was done with the other Armortek cable mounts.

Before



After



Before



After



For some of the tool posts I had to scratch build some completely. These would include the track cable end mounts, shovel mount, and tool handle locks.

The front transport cable end mount was fabricated out of a brass angle and a spent .22 cal shell casing. The angle has a slot milled into the top and a nut was soldered to the shell casing. This allows the end mount to be adjusted along the brace to adjust the tension of the cable.













For the rear cable end mount a spent .22cal shell casing and a M3X16 hex bolt was soldered to a reshaped Armortek rope support mount.







For the front shovel the kit does supply you with a shovel head mount. The mount itself is made out of CNC aluminum, however I decided to fabricate an all new one out of steel and brass. For the shovel the kit supplies you with a white metal armorpax shovel which is a nice addition and will be used on this model.

Kit supplied component







New scratch built mount.







All of the added components had epoxie welds added completeing the side hull details.







Now that the side is complete I can now install the top deck and work on the top deck details. More to come.

Dang John while Mark might be the Plastic wonder dude you are the Metal wonder dude.

Great work dang I need to win the Lottery.

So where can I get two of those lenses for the lights ?

I am sure I could use them on the M 5 for the lights.

Keep it up looking killer.

Cheers
Jeff

I'll sell my wife and children,how much for this baby!!!!!!
John that is ............. sorry mate lost for words

Thanks guys, Jeff the head light is from a UK customizer who makes bronze components, like the Jack and the Bosh lamp. I don't remember his name off the top of my head, but his contact info can be found on the armortek forum. More progress has been made on the tank.



The tank's front portion is now mostly complete.



The top deck has also been mounted permanently to the tank. The turret's one piece brass bearing ring was also mounted. All of the bolt holes have been filled and sanded. Epoxie welds have also been added



The tank's headlamp has been mounted to the head light mount



Prior to mounting the head lamp the electrical wiring was relocated to the rear portion of the light where the actual conduit would connect to the lamp.





The wiring is too large to fit into a tube that would be used for the conduit. For the head light to work I made the wiring enter the tank through the front armor plate. The hole is concealed with the dummy conduit and the conduit welds.





The front periscopes were also installed to the tank. The kit supplied periscopes are made out of CNCed aluminum periscopes and two steel brush guards.





For the pivoting drivers scope the kit wants you to permanently glue the scope to the scope mount





Instead of gluing the scope on permanently I was able to make the scope pivot. This was done by attaching a small length of PVC pipe to the scope's bottom. The scope was then hooked up to a servo and the driver’s scope now pivots remotely. Once more of the functions are hooked up I will post a youtube video showing the periscope in action.











For the front bow hatches the kit supplies you with a lot of components that are made from numerous types of materials such as steel, aluminum and brass. All of these components were used on my model with some alterations.



The kit supplied hatches are designed to open and swing like te real hatch. This is done on nicely machined brass and steel pivots.



The hatch plate and the top deck are two separate panels as per the real vehicle. To mount the hatch plate to the top deck the kit supplies you with a laser cut steel plate that bolts to the bottom of top deck and to the bottom of the hatch plate.





The kit supplied hatches don't have any interior detailing. New interior detailing had to be scratch built.





All details were scratch built out of brass and steel. Due to the design of the hatches making the hach locks functional was easier than making them static.





The hatches were pre painted and weathered.







The hatches were mounted to the hatch plate, along with scratch built lift hooks, reworked air filter and hatch locks.





The kit requires you to bolt the hatch plate to the upper hull permanently, but for this model I need the access to the functions and to the smoke generator refueling pump.


The solution was to make the plate removable. To do this I designed the plate to lock onto the top plate with two locking lugs. To remove the plate the lugs are attached to the air filter which becomes a knob that when twisted will unlock the two lugs simultaneously allowing me to remove the plate.









I have also made a youtube video showing the hatch plate removal in detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8c4SEBBliI

All that is needed to finish up the top front is the addition of the tool posts and then I will be able to focus on the grill work. More to come