Hi Guys, My next project will be this RC Armortek King Tiger. I have had the kit in storage for about a year and now that the M26 is out of the way I can finally start on this tank.

So far I have the tank's hull and turret bolted together.



Like all armortek tank kits the tank is all metal. The only polymer components that the kit contains is the rubber bump stops, electrical equipment, and a small hand full of resin detail parts from armorpax. The hull's panels are all bolt together and the hull and turret go up fairly quick.







Like all of their other models all of the tank's armored plates are to scale thickness. The one plate in particular that impressed me the most is the front glacis plate. The plate is solid aluminum and is over an inch thick.







Now that the hull is together I can add the welds and under hull detailing.





This model is going to be the heaviest model that I have ever built. The hull and turret, in it's current empty condition already weighs over 100lbs. Once the tank is up to the suspension I will have to move the tank out of the shop into another location that is easier for me to work on. If I don’t remove the model out of the shop before the suspension is added the tank will be too heavy to get it out of the shop.

Unless this tank is designed for use in the U.K., the turret plate with the loader's hatch and TC cupola is backwards. You need to horizontally rotate the plate 180°. Loader's hatch, on the right. Cupola, on the left.

Your correct about the top plate. I temporally placed the top plate on the turret just to get the feel of the tank. Once the tank progresses I'll mount it properly

These big projects are great. Looking forward to following this one

Dang John a nice kit and some big bucks there.

Looking forward to it and that ain't no bull getting that boy up on some jack stands.

Since it is becoming so heavy, I think a motorcycle building lift, like on "AmericanChoppers" might allow you some flexibility .

You have to get the 1/6 scale M88 to move these things around, or a forlift 1/1 scale. That tiger builds like the real one. who makes the engine Briggs and Stratton. Looking forward to the build up as always. I've got a 1/48 M26 on my bench.

TC

Thanks Guys, It has been a little while since I had any updates, but I have been working on the model in between processing orders and working on another non 1/6th scale project.




I don't have an M88, but I do have something else in mind that can tow this beast...But I'll have more info on that later . The tank is powered by two very large DC electric motors.

Since my last post I have been working on the tank's lower hull, and getting it ready for the suspension, and a coat of primer.



The tanks lower hull seams were all cover up with sculpted epoxie weld beads.

Before









After







Along with the welds I have been plugging up the bolt holes, and added the torch cut lines to the intersecting panels.







Along the bottom portion of the tank I added several recessed torsion bar bolt details. These bolts are found on either side of the reverse side of the torsion bars.





On the tank's lower front portion the kit has four bolts that are used to mount the final drive hub to the tank's hull. On the real vehicle there are three counter sunken cap screws, rather than four surface bolts. To correct this I drilled recessed into the tank's hull for the new cap screw detail, and I drilled the recesses for the actual final drive mounts. When the final drives are installed the four bolts will be covered up with the body work, and the three cap screws will remain as detail only.



To mount the final drive armored rings to the tank the kit wants you to use a hex bolt. The hex bolt head that remains on the surface is not found on the real vehicle. To correct this I replaced the hex bolt with a counter sunk allen bolt, A counter sunk recess was added to the tank's hull, after the armored ring is added the bolt will be covered up with putty. Welds will be added to this portion once all of the body work in this area is complete





Unlike their older early Tiger I kit the King tiger kit supplies you with the tank's bump stops. The bump stops themselves are very basic and a little bit of detail was added to them.



The bump stops are installed with cap screws, and the bump stop tops have a large cap screw protruding out of it.







The stock bump stop has the overall shape and appearance of the real bump stop, but what was needed was to rework the bump stop frame, and re detail the bump stop top. To start on the bump stops sides I milled away a recess for the new bolts. A new recess was also milled into the bottom bolt hole replacing the counter sunk screw with the correct recessed hex screw.



On the bump stop top to replace the cap screw I used a counter sunk hex bolt in it's place. to do this I had to add the counter sink divot to the bump stop top.



The reason for the bump stop top is because I machined a resin detail disc that fits over the entire bump stop top. In the resin disc I cut out the recesses for the small resin hex bolt details. a rough cast texture was also added to the bump stop frame and bump stop rein detail top.





The real tank bump stop has more detail on them, which I could have added, but because this bump is not only for detail, but is designed to function I decided to leave the detail towards the top half only where damage is less likely to occur. In addition the top half will be the only part of this component that will be seen once the running gear and suspension are added.





I also machined out of aluminum two pointed caps that I have seen on the real King tiger's hull. There is only one per side and are both found under one of the bump stops. I will be adding these parts to the product line.







On the tank's interior I have add the motor mounts. Both motor mounts needed a small amount of material removed for a better fit with the motors.



For the left hand motor mount I borrowed Dale's modification technique and milled in a recess into the motor mount so once fitted I can fit the torsion bar tension screw





The motors can now be installed.



In addition to the motor mounts I have also added the tank's final drives. The final drives themselves are nicely engineered complete with ball bearings and main drive gears. They were installed as is with no added mods.









One nice new addition was the gasket. A smear of marine grease and the mounts were added to the tank.



After I complete some body work I will be able to start on the torsion bar suspension.

I have seen one of these finished at the Bovington Tank Museum and so I am looking forward to see how they are put together.

This is great John. I loved your last project, and am really looking forward to this one.

I have made more progress on the model.



The tank's lower hull has been primed. a coat of primer was also added to the interior.











The body work was complete on the lower front portion, and on the motor mount rotors, that would have been seen behind the final drives. The six Allen cap screws will be added next.





The tank's idler mounts were added. The mounts are fully adjustable and were assembled out of the box. The idler tension is adjusted via a Allen wrench, which is concealed behind the actual idler adjustment caps that are on the rear wall of the vehicle. The armored caps will be added along with the rest of the rear wall detailing after the running gear is completed.













Along with the idler mounts the torsion bar suspension has also been added.



On the armortek tanks the torsion bar suspension uses actual steel torsion bars. No springs are used on the suspension. The torsion bars are made of several components; the rods that are mounted in the tank's front and rear are thicker than the rods that are used on the middle portion of the vehicle.



One nice addition that was added to the newer generation armotek kits was the addition of brass bushings for the swing arms, and the addition of rubber O rings that create a water tight seal on the tank.







One modification that I made to the swing arms was to lock the axels to the swing arms. I learned to do this mod after I built their tiger I and noticed that some of the axels unscrewed themselves. To lock the axels I drilled a small hole through the swing arm and the axel. A brass rod is then inserted into the hole and is then expanded and ground flush.











To keep the rods from slipping a small flat is ground into each of the steel bars on either end. The flat makes a better surface for the lock bolts to grab.



After the rods get painted, they get a smear of grease and are then installed into the tank.









The tank is now ready for the running gear. Before I start on the running gear the tank will have to be moved out of the shop because of the weight. More progress to follow.

holy cow! I was blown away by your M26 but this massive KT is going to be the cat's meow...totally awesome!
Terry

Fabulous work so far going to be a big heavy thing.

I guess this will be a fast build then.

Keep the pictures coming.

So how are going to get that thing off the table?

A bunch of buds and a lot of humping.



Cheers

Thanks Jeff, This tank shouldn't take as long as the M26. I should have it ready around thanksgiving.

I have made some progress on the tank. The base dark yellow has been applied to lower hull and the wheels. The Hull was then moved to its new location where the remainder of the tank's construction will be completed. The tank will be built on a high capacity hydraulic lift dolly.













When the base coat was applied the axels were covered with masking tape, once the paint dried the tape was removed. After a smear of grease the wheels were added.



For the wheels the kit supplied wheels are nicely done, but needed a few mods to increase their detail.



One nice addition that the kit supplies are PE bolt tension plates. These plates are bent into shape and grab the nuts.







The hub portion of the wheel is one CNCed aluminum turning. On the real hub the hub is divided in three segments. These segments were added to the kit hub.



The fasteners that are used to assemble the wheels are all slot screws, which are attached with hex nuts on the hub surface.

On the real tank the hubs have half of the fasteners reversed. This means that some of the bolts have their bolt heads on the out side of the wheel, and the other bolts are on the inside and their hex nuts are exposed on the exterior of the wheel.

On the model I first added the bolts that have thier hex nuts exposed in the positions that they are exposed on the real tank.



For the reversed hex bolt details the mod that I had to make was I first bolted the hex bolts to the hubs like the other screws. I then ground off the extra threading overhanging off of the nut. I then soldered the nut to the bolt. This makes the nut look like a hex bolt. This was done because the bolt itself is a slot screw and not a hex bolt, a0nd I had trouble locating a hex bolt of this size and length.

The overhang threading on the other rim bolts were also trimmed.





The wheels have been added to the tank. The tanks wheels hub caps will be added after a few more mods have been added. These will be next along with the addition of the sprockets and the idlers.

Just keeps getting better and better John.
Nice ideas and looks to be one heck of a monster when done.
Now if I could win that dang lottery.
Keep it up.will be looking for other updates.

Cheers

thanks Jeff, I forgot to add the pics if the wheels installed. I should have another update post y next week.

Looking very nice, I can't wait to see the finished vehicle.

It builds like a real King Tiger. I love the real torsion bars on the suspension. If I can ask how much was the kit? I would think it cost more then the Garand you had in the Pershing pictures. It must have shipped as freight not a parcel. I love following your builds. Its looks like nearly as much fun as the real ones were.

TC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yrLSt6nANs&feature=grec_index

The TIger in action built but not painted, can't wait to see yours.

TC

The video is of the first armortek King tiger production kit #001 that armortek keeps unpainted for display purposes.

The suspension is now mostly complete.



After my last post on another forum it was brought to my attention by another member that I was missing one bolt on the road wheels. This reverse bolt was added and the road wheels were then installed.



The road wheels are secured to the tank with a counter sink Allen screw and a counter sunk washer. The bolts get screwed into a threaded hole in the swing arms. All of these bolts are secured with locktite.







The hub caps were also installed. These parts need some modifications.

The stock armortek hub caps are all turned aluminum and have the correct shape and size.







On the real vehicle the stems of the hub caps are casted. The cap itself is a flange that bolts to the stem. The cap is fastened to the stem with several hex bolts around the rim that bolt into a casted steel lump that is casted into the stem. I used this image that I took from the Aberdeen Jagdtiger for reference.



On the armotek piece the cap is one with the stem and the flange seem is missing. These seems were added to all of the caps on my lathe.

Cast texture was then added to the stems. There are cast numbers on the real vehicle on these parts, but I didn't add them because of the location of the stems the road wheels could hit the stems on a bump and knock the cast numbers off.

The lumps where the bolts from the cap thread into the stem were also added. these were all sculpted into each of the stems with epoxy. This was the most time consuming part of the mod, but give the tank's road wheels a nice touch.



On the face of the hub cap there are several bolts that mount the hub cap plate to the stem. There are also securing plates to keep the bolts from getting loose like on the road wheels. The securing plates were not supplied with the kit, so I made the bolt detail with securing plates out of resin. I also used resin hex bolt heads for the center grease fitting bolt. The resin casting saved a lot of time with having to create every securing plate out of metal by hand. In addition the resin casting work well for this application because in my experience this area is not hit very often when the tank is driving.





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





To instal the parts they simply get screw into the wheel plate.





The completed hubs





Lastly the tank's Idlers were installed. These idlers are also made out of CNC turned aluminum and were mounted to the tank OOB with no mods needed.





I have added the turned suspension caps and the resin hub cap details to the product line. http://eastcoastarmory.com/germanparts.htm

I'm currently working on the tank's sprockets. More info to come.

Very impressive build, she is looking great

What an inspiring build. That thing is going to look fantastic when it is finished. The added touches of the armor welds really show a great attention to detail.
Cant wait to see more.

Bill

What a piece of kit that is to be honest im still slack jawed in awe of such a model thanks you for sharing and showing look forward to seeing the completed tank

Thanks guys, I have made progress on the tank's sprockets and drive train.



The tank's sprockets are made out of CNCed Aluminum and the bell housing is separate from the teeth rings like the real vehicle. The sprockets mount to the drive axel via a taper lock. The sprockets also come with PE fastener locks.











Overall the sprockets are nicely done, but a few mods were needed to improve on the sprockets detailing. The sprockets have several tooling marks where the bell housing curves.







These marks were easily ground off with a dremel using a sanding drum.











After the tool marks were removed cast texture was added to the entire bell housing of the sprocket. Cast numbers were also added to the bell housing. Epoxie sculpt was added to the spokes because on the real vehicle the spokes stand slightly above the center hub. This bit of detail will be more noticeable once the center hub is mounted to the sprocket.





The teeth rings were a very tight snug fit on to the sprocket, to help with the installation I sanded the inner ring down very slightly with a large sanding drum that was mounted in my drill press.



To mount on the sprocket rings the kit wants you to use the same slot screws that were used on the road wheels. The slot screw heads were positioned on the inside of the sprocket and the hex bolt would be positioned on the exterior face of the sprocket ring. On the real tank the bolts are inverted, which means the bolt face is on the exterior and the nut is on the inner portion. In stead of the slot screws I used M3 X 12 hex bolts and nuts. To do this I had to slightly enlarge the holes on the sprocket bell housing, the teeth ring, and the PE fastener retainers.







A small length of track was assembled and was used as a timing jig to make sure the sprocket teeth align perfectly with the track.





One of the sprockets is complete and has been installed to the tank. The other sprocket is still going through it's finishing touches.



To install the sprocket with the taper lock the instructions are listed in the armortek instruction booklet and they work very well on my other armotek tanks.







The same length of track that I used before as a timing jig was also used to adjust the placement of the sprocket on the axel.





In addition to the sprockets I have also mounted the tanks very large and heavy drive motors. These motors come pre assembled with the small drive gear and are simply bolted onto the motor mounts.







For a size comparison here is the motor next to a 1/35th scale DML Panther II



I have also started on assembling the track. The track links are all cast aluminum alloy. They come pre drilled and are nicely scaled and detailed. The track is held together by a single pin. The newer generation armortek tank tracks are locked to the link by the use of a miniature cotter pin and retaining ring like the actual tank. Both the track pin and the retaining ring are pre drilled.











The next bit of detail that needs to be added to the sprockets is the center hub detail. This will be complete with the next update. More to come soon.