The best interior "Tiger I" in 1:35 scale that I saw.

Hello,

Thanks for all the kind comments guys, the 53,000 views and Happy Christmas!

Chris, there is at least six months of this build left, I wanted to finish off the hull over Christmas but I realise this is now hopelessly unrealistic. It will probably take me the best part of 2 years to build my Tiger and at least a 1000 hours

I have been working on the Drivers ammunition bay, his vision port and the radio operators chair.



The Verlinden ammo bay was awful and oversized, the academy part was very poor and too small, so I had to make one.



The drivers vision port is almost completed. The verlinden kit was too basic



The basis ammo bay, I have added a false back for strength



Installed with five of the six 88mm rounds it would have carried.







The backrest for the radio operator was not easy to make and took me about three days. It can be moved just like the real one.

The next big challenge is the ammo bay doors for the Drivers and the hull storage areas. This is a substantial job and I will need to order some hinges from Aber. I will then complete the transmission, add the hull false floors, add the engine and finalise the engine bays

Thanks for looking

Steven

I can only imagine; I wish I could stick to something for that long. Luckily you're able to, and we can all spend the next few months happily following your progress.

This build just does not cease to amaze me. The skill and patience needed to do what you are doing is phenomenal. Cheers sir!

Amazing attention to detail. I wish I could skip to the end and see how it turns out (I'm sure you feel the same sometimes?).

Exquisite build!

Of all the aftermarket and interior detail stuff you've got, is anything standing out at this point as invaluable, or is there anything you think you wont use at all?

Don't know how I managed to miss this Christmas update but suffice it to say it's bloody brilliant.
The backrest is over-the-top good brother! I didn't know there were rounds stowed next to the driver either.
Where did you source the adjusting wheel for the vision block?
J
J

Amazing work Steven ... My hat goes off to you sir..

Rick

At the risk of Bogarting this thread, I have to ask (since this level of expertise is too valuable to pass up): I've been meaning to do an early Tiger with interior for sometime now, not near this level of expertise of course. I cant spend a fortune though so was about to order the Academy, fully aware of its many issues (some of which I can tackle, others being beyond my aptitude). Seeing your build through I wonder if I would be substantially ahead if I sourced a Tamiya or CyberHobby early Tiger with the Verlinden set (bad as it may be) or if for the money the Academy will be as good a foundation.

Thoughts?

Hey Steven,

Im at a loss for words.

Ridiculously Stunning comes to mind!

Gary

seriously in awe of this build.... quick question tho, how would one go about gettig good internal drawings of say, perhaps a PZIII or IV? i know i could throw cash at a kit but say i wanted to have a couple of ports open and wanted to add something basic to fill the space....

Hi Steven. Its a joy to watch this progressing. The interior looks awesome. Very inspiring.

The Academy interiors are accurate only for early Tiger models, and then only reasonably so at best. The mid-kit contains an early interior too, so it needs a lot more work. It will look quite good enough with minimal improvements through the hatch, but the kit needs work to go beyond that. It also includes an inaccurate symmetrical turret, whereas Tiger kits from about 2005 onwards include the accurate asymmetrical design.

I built a mid-production model as a destroyed Tiger, and it is more than adequate for that with a little bit of scratch work. Here are a few links that I really found helpful.
http://tiger1.info/models/products/AC1348
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/jptiger/jptiger.htm
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/mmtiger/mmtiger.htm
http://www.track-link.com/articles/50

Thanks, Steven!

I always enjoy spending time with your latest up-date. I'll be anxiously waiting for the next one.

Have a Happy Modeling New Year!

Nice progress, Steven,
will be keep following

How r id you make the floor struts. And where you get the brass wires.

Dear all,

Firstly I am sorry for the erratic posting of progress updates and have had a lot going on and having the baby (21 Months) around really limits my progress. Normally I get an hour a night and that’s really not enough.

Also I am quite ill and trying my best to stay out of Hospital, but that’s another story – I have an overactive immune system which is causing me to get ill, ironic ah. It’s been limiting the amount of time I can do anything as I am getting worse. Starting new treatment on Wednesday though which should make me better.

Anyway I am really taken aback by the kind comments and the level of support that this build has generated. So thank you.

I am planning to spend more time on the project, I have been working on sections of the model that I really hate and that are hugely time consuming so that’s killed all momentum.
Thanks Chris, Colin, Richard, Frank, Mike, Batsaikhan I want to make the best model I can, I will not add up what this tank is costing me in materials. Howard I wish I could skip to the end too. Some days I feel like I will never be able to finish it.

Sunsanvil, I will use anything that means I can shave a little time off the build process as long as it’s accurate. Unfortunately it’s mostly scratch building and its very frustrating spending the weekend making something and they having to throw it away due to not fitting. If you are going to build a tiger 1 interior buy the academy kit and slot it into a dragon interior. Stay away from Verlinden. Far too much work. I am sorry that this advice is late

Jerry thanks! The adjusting wheel is from a Edward Tiger 1 set and hello Gary

Robert, you might have to start with a crappy Verlinden kit and improve some of the problems that you are bound to face. There are probably reference books on the Panzer 3 and 4 which could help. I have never researched this

Matthew I made the floor struts and the brass wire is from Griffon model. They do a good range

Right on with the update:

I have been working on the Drivers chair and ammo storage locker. I made the drivers chair support last year but it was a little rubbish. So I had another go and added the chair which I will improve later.

The ammo storage bay was improved with imprivised brass sheeting and some Aber "workable hinges" (35A25). Workable - absolute rubbish, they are made from ultra thin brass which dont even fit together out of the box and require lots of modification. Usually Aber produce quality stuff, these were clearly made on friday afternoon by the work experience temp.





These are the ones from the hull stowage bays along with the bay shutters. Each hinge tahes an hour to cut and make. This kills project momentium and makes you want to play Dayz Standalone instead and that game is so buggy that if you shake the box spiders fall out. (I know it alpha!)



This is the compass mount in the front of the hull. This took 30 minutes to make and looks ok.



Next update will follow soon.....I promise

S

Nice progress, Steven. Please, keep up the good work

Steven,
All the best with your health situation, your progress looks great! It does not matter who makes the hinges they are a pain to assemble.

Cheers Rob.

@SDavies – Steven,

Extreme modeling madness to the bone! Unbelievable amazing craftsmanship . . .

Wishing you a healthy recovery and enjoy the baby, you’ve got 20 months more experience than I do in that department, hihi

~ Eddy

Thanks everyone.

Eddy say good bye to sleeping, babies are cute little monsters, especially when they want to 'help' you model

This is a sweet build Steven. Absolutely sweet!!!!

I have plans to do a diorama consisting of Tigers being assembled in the plant someday after I finish my first project. I will have to save all these images so i can replicate your amazing interior detail.

I have seen this kind of detail on larger scale stuff, but never in 35th scale../. Really stellar stuff good sir, stellar as in out of this world.

Dave

Hello everyone, and thanks for the kind comments. this thread has now had over 66,000 views !

I have decided to give the ammunition shutters a rest for a while. I am 50% of the way through building them and I was really not enjoying the build process. I have to buy more hinges and I will wait until everything on the hull is ready for paint before I build them. They are awful.

I have been working on the engine firewall and have made a few new additions. The Auxillary hand primer pump is gone, the Verlinden kit version is better. I had to cut it down though because the part is oversized. I wired it up using some brass wire from melted head phone cabling.

I added the engine fire extingusher and lots of attachment racks for MG34 ammunition belt bags for the hull and turret machine guns.

This is an image of a Tiger under going maintenance and is what the firewall is supposed to look like, please note that this is the later war second type of firewall because it has the single large vent and two smaller vents. This is a very nice image !



and here is mine





You can see here the firewall in a screen grab from a video on Youtube of the Tiger at Saumur,its rather battered but you get the idea. This is the third aand final firewall type. The video has since been taken down but I have copied the images !



I have installed the completed shutters.



and the otherside





Lots more to be done...

Thanks for looking

Steven

Actually, that's a converted firewall in the photo. The tank originally had a HL210 and it was upgraded. The procedure is to join up two of the 4 air holes and weld a panel with a door behind them. It therefore looks larger than the hole on the Saumur firewall.

Hate to say this, but you've put two more items on which are for the submersion feature and would not be in a Late Tiger; namely, the two long horizontal levers.

David

Oh thanks David, its an easy fix. !