| Detail
- Road Wheels (Packs 5, 6, 7, and 8) |
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Want an inexpensive detail upgrade that will enhance the look of the
wheels, just like the real Tiger? Replace the six M3 Hex Heads on
the outer single-tire wheels only with M3 * 16 Socket Set (Grub)
Screws and M3 Nuts. Thread the screw so the socket head is inside
the wheel, not seen from the outside. Use Loctite to secure the screws
after the correct depth is found. |
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There is always room
for improvement and the wheels are no exception. The hubs on the real
Tiger I were actually slightly recessed with the outer wheel surface.
The Armortek version has the hub sitting high. Here is a hub of a
outer single tire wheel on the Bovington Tiger I in England. |
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Nice picture of the
inner double-tire wheel. Notice the use of bolts for these wheels.
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Dave Griffiths many years ago sold a set of lock tabs for the road wheels but no longer does so. Mike Stannard offers a set of brass lock washers for the hub nuts
and bolts (part number 6S-TT34). These are just like the real Tiger and are a simple detail
to enhance the tank. The real ones can be seen on the Bovington Tiger I road wheel picture above. |
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To countersink the hub
into the wheels, like the real Tiger I, my dad's lathe (he bought
it in New Orleans-1967) was used. The inner wheel's uneven cast surface
is taken down just enough for the jig to hold the wheel square. This
will not alter the wheel spacing, but provides a surfaced area for
the tooling. |
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Custom made (thanks
Rob) tooling used to hold a road wheel in the lathe. Cupped spacer
is at the end, 1/2" socket cap bolt clamps the wheel between
the spacer and arbor. |
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The hubs are countersunk
about 2.5 mm deep. This will of course mean the spacers behind the
hub must also be cut down or replaced. Here is a double-tire wheel
mounted in my dad's lathe. Once the tooling is centered, the work
goes quickly. |
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Here is a single tire
road wheel before machining. Notice the distance from the top of the
center socket cap bolt to the outer hub mounting surface. It's hard
to see, but the cupped spacer is inside the center of the wheel. This
spacer fills the void between the wheel and bolt, securing everything
in the jig. |
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A double tire road wheel
after machining. The amount of material removed is about 2.5 mm, it
gets close to the top of the socket cap bolt. To get an idea how much
material is taken out, compare this picture to the one above. |
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A front-on picture with
the 2.5 mm recess. An extra 3mm 'step' was cut outside of the hub
recess to replicate what can be seen on the Bovington Tiger I wheels. |
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When the hubs are recessed,
the spacers must also get thinner. The custom spacer on the left replaces
end cap CE0211. It is a 2mm x 20mm disk (from Maryland Metrics) drilled
for a M4 skt csk head screw. The spacer on the right is the original
Spacer B CE0215 cut down to 7mm thick and also countersunk. Screws
used are M4 * 12mm and 16mm skt csk. |
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The result was worth
the extra work. Only detail that needs to be done is the weld bead
around outside the 'step'. |
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![[Tiger 321]](321_1.gif)
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