Morning all:

As you know I am trying to learn as I go and it is time to start in earnest in learning.

I have a Tiger 1 early that is in desperate need of repairs and a recently purchased PzIV Ausf F2 which will hopefully end up being a DAK IR battle tank for Danville.

My goal is to get the Tiger to a reliable condition and then start on the PzIV.

The Tiger needs a new traverse gearbox which I will order this week from Imex and also something done with the gun elevation and the firing of it.

One of the first issues I will have is installing the new wires for the traverse gearbox: I don't know how to solder. There I said it the truth is out; I am ashamed!

All of the automotive work, tractor repairs and electrical work that I do for my job use butt connectors for splices and crimp on terminals. I have not picked up a soldering iron in 30+ years.

The guys at Danville showed me how to take the wire terminal ends out of the plastic plugs (I can't remember how they did it now to be honest) and then solder the wire and reinsert it. They warned that it is easy to melt these little wires and connectors.

How do I learn; where do I start? Do I just get one of the cheap plug in irons, a fancy trigger gun (I think I have one of those somewhere but can't seem to find it).

What size are the common wires that are in the tanks? It looks like the motor ones and the battery ones are a little heavier than the rest of the ones that go to the board.

Are there crimp connectors for these wires or am I better off trying to solder them and see how it goes?

Thanks,

Skip