Hi

After 3 months, way too much cash and a lot of reading...my first RCtank is finally complete. Iam therefore posting some pictures and some info as it seems to be a tradition.

Some caveats.....

1. pictures taken by mobile phone under less than ideal lighting conditions. Iwill try and get some good daylight shots later.

2. Aim of the project was to end up with an RCtank that resembled a tank that perhaps would have been in action in the suburbs of Leningrad in the autumn. Therefore, dust, muck, crap, no winter camo. No attempt was made at rigid historical accuracy such as headlight slits, etc. The aim was not to produce a copy of a Mig Jiminez type tank but one that might be seen on the streets. Cupola etc were fixed.

3. Source material was all the pictures of tigers around that time I could find.

The base model was a HLTiger 1 with smoke and sound. 3:1 metal gears from rctank.de, metal asiatma hull from RCCommand and a lot of bits and pieces from assorted suppliers. Metal tools and vision block from RCTank.

Smoke unit was removed. metal barrel of right length fitted (tankzone). BBgun ceased working for some reason (metal barrel?).

An extra 9 v circuit was added using a battery between the motors - this drives a fan under the engine deck and the fan in the motor room bulkhead. The fan on the rx18 runs off the main circuit. The switches are under one of the logs and the DPDTswitch on the main circuit can be flipped to either tank on - tank off- or charging. As far as I could see, 12 v fans on 7.2 volts just dont shift any air worth talking about. The fan on the rx is a 9 v fan and just about does the job on 7 volts.

5 amp glass fuses were mounted on each of the motors. The motors were all run in for for an hour or until th ebatteries diead and the mgearboxes were run in using rubbing compound for 6 hours.

The new speaker is a Visatron 8 Ohm 6.5 cm speaker (very loud....).

Originally Ihinged one of the rear engine access grills to use a switch bay until Ifound out that the air fliter hoses blocked it so it was then sealed up again.

The logs went on as Isaw two pictures of tanks with them although the "Logs"on mine are a bit factory formed.

The gun elevation is iffy as Ineed a new return spring or to weight the BBunit to compensate for the metal barrel.

The bracing round the upper hull are bits from the original plastic hull and Im really pleased they way they stiffen up the hull flex.

The antennae was moved in-side although Iwould like one of the smaller coiled internals. Maybe later. I will take it out to test later in the week but at the minute it looks like i can get 10 m range at least.

Although it was frustrating and expensive, a lot of the things bought can be used on other tanks so it wasnt a complete waste of money. All in all, I'm pleased as it doesn't look like a toy any more although Icannot assert it is of high quality. But at the same time, Icannot find any contemporary pictures showing grease spots around individual bolt heads, nor can Ifind any with boot prints visible on the decks, or obvious scratch patterns around hatch handles etc so Idon't really care.

Painting was done using Tamiya cans, oils, some enamles, MIGpigments/fixer and arange of other MIGproducts. Ibought an air brush but couldnt get to grips with it....

Have to say thanks for all the help from the various members round here!

Only question now...... whether to get a PanTIger, KV-1 or Pz-III next. Ilike the KV-1 a lot though.....

p