Scratchwerk

I've only had one day to work on the Tiger since my last post! Life seems to get in the way of everything.

I opened the rear grills. I was going to drill each slot out. Ended up using an angle grinder on the under side and ground down till the slots were open. The body is quite thick here, so no weakness problems. I was only going to open the front grills. But seeing the result, I went whole hog. Love the look!

Also got the molded in air cover removed, filled in, and replaced. After studying all the problems with the ECA rear engine cover, I decided to modify the original. Not as hard as I thought.

TheBennyB

Nice stuff! You have heat in your shop, that's when the wrenching really starts happening...winter. No where to go outside and beer stays cold without the grid.

Scratchwerk

TheBennyB,.. I'm lucky, my man cave is in the basement. I thought it was a good size, till this project.

Latest.. Working on the rear. I've been working on the snorkel cover that I cut off the original. I've also made a working hinge so I can access the smoke fluid.

I've been scraping around the molded in items so they don't look that way. When, looking at the Bovington tiger, I noticed that it did not have "hold open" latches on the engine cover. Checking other early Tiger pics, I found the latches missing also. So I took them off. Kind of missed them. Then found two pics with them, although they are closer to the turret. I liked that. But the supplied grab bars are to close to the edge of the hatch to put them in. Sooo.. remove the bars and put them a little farther from the edge. Next week.

Scratchwerk

Work on the intake. I didn't want to buy one. So I made one. Didn't have any plastic tube big enough for the hose adapters, also did not want to work the angles from flat to round. Sooo... I gave it the look of a "field modification" where that part was cut off.

Scratchwerk

Bought the 6th Scale Icons grill screens. Put one together, and did not like the look. ...You know what that means-- On the left is he 6th Scale. The right is mine.

Scratchwerk

Last weekends work. finally made it to the back of the body. I cut the idler adjustment covers off. I plan on using these to cover body hold down screws. Next I removed the original mud flaps. I bought FOA rear flap kit. Everything was ok except for the hinge strip the flaps mesh with. It is made of VERY tough stainless steel. What you are supposed to do is drill holes in it and screw it to the very narrow body mounted bracket. I broke two VERY expensive drill bits, and did not even make one hole! Sooo.. had to make my own. I plan on cutting a slot in the body, right above the bracket, and slide the hinge in.

Although the body is sturdy in the mounting area, I felt the weight of metal flaps would stress it too much so I epoxied in reinforcements.

Crius

I'm wondering why that stuff was so hard to drill. You weren't running the drill backwards, eh?

I'd like to do a Rockwell test on that stuff and see just how hard it is. You could probably drill the holes with a solid carbide drill bit, but those can get really expensive. But it sounds like you've found a good solution. I've been following and I really like what you've done so far.

So what are your plans for transporting that thing? Do you already have a minivan or something else suitable?

Scratchwerk

Crius,
I work with stainless in my real job. Most of it is difficult, some a real pain. This stuff was real bad..

I have a Ford Expedition. I've bought ramps at Harbor freight. I may to modify them.

Scratchwerk

Here is my work over the last couple weeks. I did some modifications on the FOA jack. It's a working jack, but it works backwards, the top raises. I put a new top on and glued it solid. Also replaced the supplied adapter plate with one I made. Made a hand crank and hold down clamps. The clamps aren't too detailed, but this will be a "Daily Driver" and need to be cleaned often.

Scratchwerk

More pics

Markocaster

I was just wondering how this build was going , great work on the rear starter adapter plate, looks a million times better. And opening the engine grille really adds to the authenticity 👍👍

Scratchwerk

Progress the last few days. I spent a lot of time searching for photos of the jack block. Only found one. I think it may be for a smaller vehicle, but it answered some questions. I was unsure what kind of latch held it down. The most info shows it was the same type as held down the "trunk" lids. Not to hard to fake one.

.

Crius

On the hetzer they drilled the hole right in the middle of the block and bolted the block to the front fender.