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Hobbyboss 1/16th scale Tiger 1


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Hello. 

 

I recently started to build the above kit and found it to be well thought-out and engineered, until I started to use the main wheel suspension arms - what a frustrating and ultra-fiddly operation that turned out to be!

 

If you're not familiar with the suspension set-up of this kit, the main-wheel suspension arms fit through holes moulded in to the lower hull of the tank. Once they're in place, you fit a metal spring-clip around where they protrude into the lower hull....and then the fun REALLY begins. There is virtually nothing to to hold the metal clips in place and they're under some tension once installed. A small metal bolt is then placed through a channel in the middle of the suspension arm and a small plastic part on the inside accepts a nut to bring everything together.  The metal clips are there to make the suspension move in a similar way to the real machine's set-up. 

 

Sounds really easy to construct, doesn't it? Please read on, my friends.....

 

After then spent 30 minutes continually struggling to get all these parts together and dropping all the parts on the carpet untold times, I finally managed to get the bolt into place on suspension-arm No.1 (much swearing and cursing of Hobbyboss' designers ensued). After 20 minutes similar effort on the second suspension arm, I finally gave up installing the things as intended and decided to simply super-glue the rest of the arms on (a total of 16 units). Was this really the best way to design this part of the kit? I can only assume that the kit designers never have to build the items they work on. 

 

Does anyone have a better/less sweary way to tackle this part of the kit...?

 

Don't let me put you off buying one.... For the money (£55 from Models For Sale at Telford the other day, but a bit more on E-Bay), these huge Tigers are Bargain-Of-The-Year territory. 

 

Cheers.

 

Chris. 

 

Edited by spruecutter96
Adding some info.
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  • 11 months later...

Hi Chris

 

I got that kit myself last month and thought I'd have a quick look at the problem you found.

 

Doesn't look like there's much one can do to reduce the 'fiddlyness' of that part of the construction. The only thing I could think of doing to reduce the frustration is to glue the nut into the inside arm recess before attempting construction, then fit the spring over its support ring making sure the spring legs straddle the extended leading edge of the protrusion above the ring. Have the outer arm, screw and inner arm readily to hand. Fit the outer arm as closely aligned to its final position as possible. Then fit the inner arm by lining it up horizontally 'ahead' of the outer arm's inner fitting (a hexagonal end), use the inner arm's upper plate to force the back leg of the spring out of the way (The instructions show it being held by the protrusion above the spring support ring, but that is never going to work as the back end is too shallow to hold the spring and adding a protrusion similar to that on the front end would stop the suspension spring working - therein lies the problem with the design). Locate the inner arm on the outer arm, ensuring that the outer arm is at the correct angle. Holding on (for dear life, for it REALLY wants to all come apart!) you then have to thread through the screw and hand tighten it enough to securely catch the thread on the inner arm's 'captive' nut. Final tightening can then be done with a small screwdriver. Stop, sigh and repeat - more times than are conducive to happy modelling.

 

I'll probably start on my build by the end of this month and will let you know how this method works when I have to repeat it multiple times.

 

Kev

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Hi, Kev. 

 

Thank you for the advice. I not sure I'm going to continue with the Tiger, to be honest. My bad experience kinda put me off continuing (although I would have thought the suspension units have to be the worst part of the whole model?). 

 

I really should give the big Tiger another go, if only to make use of some if the amazing aftermarket I've bought for it...

 

Only time will tell on that one.

 

Chris.

 

PS: I've just bought the Trumpeter 1/16th Panther at Telford. Dear God.... the Panther makes the Hobbyboss kit look like a toy by comparison.     

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But seriously, the HobbyBoss Tiger I is a toy. :)

 

Despite what Scalemates says (they say "New tool"), I'm pretty confident that this is a rebox of a R/C kit without the R/C stuff. Can't beat the price, though.

 

Spending a bunch on aftermarket would make more sense if you're using the Tamiya kit as a project base, but that one can be hard to find these days.

 

I've never quite understood why Trumpeter has avoided doing the Tiger I w/interior thus far. Perhaps something will happen now that they've finally made Tiger kits in 1/35 (sans interior)?

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6 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

Hi, Kev. 

 

Thank you for the advice. I not sure I'm going to continue with the Tiger, to be honest. My bad experience kinda put me off continuing (although I would have thought the suspension units have to be the worst part of the whole model?). 

 

I really should give the big Tiger another go, if only to make use of some if the amazing aftermarket I've bought for it...

 

Only time will tell on that one.

 

Chris.

 

PS: I've just bought the Trumpeter 1/16th Panther at Telford. Dear God.... the Panther makes the Hobbyboss kit look like a toy by comparison.     

Chris

 

I'll try and keep an up to date WIP thread (not my strong point, I have to admit!) in order to help you with inspiration. The Trumpeter 1/16th kits are quite nice (so I'm told - I've never built or owned one).

 

Have to agree with Arild about the precedents of the HB Tiger. The fact that it has a battery compartment and all the internal gearing pretty much shows it was originally designed for R/C. These models have fallen out of favour mainly because you can get a far superior R/C model with everything included for less than three times the price (or even at just over £100, if you're not to worried about accuracy and detail!).

 

Kev

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Hi, Kev. 

 

My situation is not helped by the fact that I manged to lose one one the Tiger's suspension arms (I've looked high and low for it, to no avail). I think the carpet-aliens might have abducted it for weird experiments. 

 

By the way, did they do a version with a battery compartment and gearing? My kit just has the torsion bars inside, IIRC.  

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris.   

Edited by spruecutter96
Adding some info.
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Hi Chris

 

I wonder if that was the same aliens who snaffled my 0.35mm nozzle from my old airbrush? It dropped off the bench during a strip-down cleaning and was never seen again! 🙂

 

I think it might be your memory, mate - Step 4 of the instructions (at least, in my HobbyBoss instructions) has you fit the door to the battery compartment and in Step 6 the internal gears are fitted to Drive Sprocket shafts on the inside of the hull...

 

It's been a while since you looked at this, hasn't it? 🙂

 

Cheers

 

Kev

 

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