CROUCHING TIGER, FINISHED AND IN RFI.

[Badder]

THE MAYBACH HL-210 ENGINE

USED BY INITIAL AND EARLY TIGERS ONLY.

 

SCRATCH-BUILD USING HAND-TOOLS ONLY.

AND DEAD RECKONING! (OKAY, BY HOLDING THE MODEL UP TO A PHOTOGRAPH AND WHITTLING AWAY TO 'FIT')

 

Some may be aware of my pre-emptive attempt to scratch-build an engine for this Tiger, prior to commencement of this GB, and that I 'gave up' on moral grounds.

Well, I also gave up because what I did was pretty rubbish. After a few days messing around I finally decided to construct the engine from FTINFBISS (Foamboard That Is Not Foamboard But Is Something Similar)

 

FTINFBISS is a foam-like plastic material, but is denser than 'normal' foamboard. It has a nice smooth face and can be cut/filed/sanded to a good finish. It does accept and retain imprints as well. I use it extensively to make the walls of buildings. However, it's main use is as a material for large signs and temporary displays in supermarkets and, being lightweight, is often hung from suspended ceilings or 'velcroed' to walls.

 

Here's a bit of offcut I had in my FTINFBISS stash.

 

 

 

This stuff is easy to cut with a scalpel, but also breaks cleanly with the old 'score and bend back' method.

I first decided to make the crank case - referring to videos and photos for comparative size and dimensions. I sliced off a long strip of FTINFBISS that was as wide as the crank case is high. (roughly) cut this into 3 equal lengths and glue those back to back to form a rectangular block.

I then made and added the oil sump, the cylinder blocks, rocker arm covers, and the round thing that goes round and round and round and from which the thingy sticks out and connects to the long shaft that connects to the transmission. I used a couple of pieces of sprue to make the parts for the (oil pump?) and water cooling system.

The stuff below half-way down won't be seen so I've not been mental about their accuracy. They just gave me a sense of proportion and a bit of a reference point for where the other components should be, and their relative sizes. But, as I said, I've mostly been holding the engine up to photos/paused videos and have judged dimensions by 'eye'. It's actually a fairly accurate method, IF one can't be bothered to use rulers, dividers, set squares, and line drawings etc.

 

Anyway, here's the 'roughed out' engine:

 

And here's a test fit:

 

Obviously, what's here is just a 'seed', from which will grow a beautiful engine, with many, many, wondrous and fiddly parts.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Badder

[Hewy]

Looks a fine start to me badder

[Ozzy]

Fantastic scratch building Badder, the engine looks the business.

[Robert Stuart]

Interesting B, the engine does lok like a good start, even if you are not happy with it,

 

Tried googling FTINFBISS, but all I came up with was Gatorfoam board (which sounds interesting in it's own right).  Anyway, your mentioning of this might help me with another proposed project, so thanks.

[Badder]

4 hours ago, Hewy said:

Looks a fine start to me badder

 

3 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Fantastic scratch building Badder, the engine looks the business.

2 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

Interesting B, the engine does lok like a good start, even if you are not happy with it,

 

Tried googling FTINFBISS, but all I came up with was Gatorfoam board (which sounds interesting in it's own right).  Anyway, your mentioning of this might help me with another proposed project, so thanks.

Thanks chaps.

@Robert Stuart, I'm surprised FTINFBISS didn't come up on google. I seem to remember it came up on a search when I first invented the acronym. Maybe it's vanished due to under-use. Interestingly, another word I invented, Kampfspringstab (Battle pogo stick) still comes up @Hewy 🙂

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Robert Stuart]

1 hour ago, Badder said:

I first invented the acronym

No wonder I can't find the product

[Badder]

Here's what I'm using as reference material

 

It's a useful source of information, naming each component, describing what each does, and explaining the differences between it and the later HL-230 engine used in mid and late Tigers, Panthers and King Tigers.

 

The engine is a tight fit in its bay so nothing below the exhaust manifolds will be seen and I need not worry about the accuracy of such parts. The exhaust manifolds are those long tubes running along each side of the engine (inside the tubular heat shields)

 

In truth, I need not worry about many of the details on each end of the engine either, as the rear of the engine will be hidden beneath the rearmost part of the deck, and the front of the engine will be pressed up pretty tight against the transverse fire wall. The parts I will have to make fairly accurately are the black upright tubes at the rear of the engine, the magneto (silver contraption close by) the rocker arm covers (with the red and silver screw caps dotted along them) the air intake on top of the engine (which looks a bit like a long flattened cow bell) and the 3 air filters which sit on top of that.

 

Today, I've roughed out the heat shields for the exhaust manifolds/outlets. I could have found some suitable 'tubes' such as large drinking straws, but in the end I plumped for half-tubes made from CA'd paper. As I said, there's no need to worry about modelling anything beneath the tubes, so half-tubes are fine.

 

I confess that I made a bit of a boo-boo, but blame the German engine designers for that. As can be seen in the shot above, the manifolds are at different heights on each side of the engine, and I got mine the wrong way around. I also blame the video which shows the engine slowly turning on a table, and I mixed up front and rear views of the engine. Oh well. The mistake won't be that obvious when looking directly down on the model.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

[PlaStix]

Hi Badder. Hope you are well. Your scratch-built engine looks to be coming together nicely.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Badder]

2 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Badder. Hope you are well. Your scratch-built engine looks to be coming together nicely.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

Hi Stix,

Right this second my feet feel as if they are being flayed, but otherwise I'm okay. I would put a laughing emoji there, but they take 2mins to load, so just imagine there's one there! And here!

As for the scratch engine, it's coming along steadily thanks.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

What I've built so far is not accurate by any stretch of the imagination, but to the untrained eye what will be seen will look right. What WILL have to be more accurate are the engine air intake (topmost part of the engine seen directly below) and the 3 air filters that will fit on top of that. I've found some more photos which show lots of tubes/ducts/wiring looms etc that will hide even more of the engine than I had thought, so that's good!

 

 

It's all looking a bit scrappy and rough at the moment, but I will be covering a lot of it with scratched, pre-detailed plasticard veneers and thick paint and varnish will help with the rest.

 

BTW, The problem with exhaust manifolds has been solved by rotating the engine through 180 degrees.

 

 

 

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

 

[Hewy]

 You could Maybe cast those in resin for future tiger builds, you doing a fine job of that motor badder

[Badder]

4 hours ago, Hewy said:

 You could Maybe cast those in resin for future tiger builds, you doing a fine job of that motor badder

Hi Glynn,

Scratching an engine is not something I've done before. It's going to be okay I think, but I don't think it's accurate enough. If I were to build another engine I'd print scaled-down photos and use them as blueprints. Then, I would definitely make a latex mould.

Having said that, I could make a plaster copy of what I have done. It would be easier to carve, sand and alter. I shall have a think about it.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Robert Stuart]

That does look good B, even if it is only done by eye.

 

Carving plaster?  That might be a thought, wonder how well it takes glue?

[Badder]

14 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

That does look good B, even if it is only done by eye.

 

Carving plaster?  That might be a thought, wonder how well it takes glue?

Thanks Robert,

I am an expert in making things with plaster, having built two large buildings from the stuff.  It's easier to carve/file/sand than is plasticard or FTINFBISS. It glues nicely with CA or PVA.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

The 3 air filters were always going to be the most obvious and easily seen parts of the engine, so they have to be the most accurate. I didn't fancy cutting and carving circles out of FTINFBISS, or plasticard, so searched high and low for some plastic rod or tubing that would require only straight cuts to make the cylinders. Taking measurements from the photographs, I eventually found something suitable.... a biro from Holiday Inns Express. GOOD GRIEF... TALK ABOUT AN UNECONOMICAL USE OF PLASTIC! YOU COULD USE ONE OF THESE BIROS AS AN ARMOUR PIERCING ROUND! The walls are 2mm thick!

 

Here are the 3 air filters, balanced roughly in place. The air intake 'cow bell' that they sit is only a stand-in. I've had several attempts to carve out one of the correct shape, but haven't succeeded yet.

 

 

I've also re-worked the fly-wheel end of the engine (beneath the cover top-centre in the photo below) I did this to allow room for the coolant pipes which connect this end of the engine  to the cooling fans in the compartments to the left and right.

 

 

I shall continue work on the 3 air filters and the 'cow bell' air intake they sit on. Once I have them sorted and fixed correctly, I will continue with the detailing of the engine.

 

TFL

Badder

[Badder]

Progress on the engine - I've got the 'cow bell' air intake and the air filters fitted on top. As it turns out, the thickness of the plastic biro tube has worked in my favour. The actual air filter canisters have a concave dimple in the top. I'd find it difficult to make these, but the thick plastic means that the hole through the biro is quite narrow- so I've filled my canisters with putty, and I can use a round-nosed grinding stone to hollow out those dimples. I haven't got that far yet though. First, I thought I'd paint the engine with black acrylic ink. This will help me to see subsequent work - the white showing through wherever I carve/drill/sand etc.

 

 

I've also taken advantage of one of the many advantages of using FTINFBISS and have pressed details into the rocker arm covers where the bolts are countersunk.

 

 

 

 

Dry-fit testing revealed that the air filters were JUST preventing the engine cover from closing properly. This meant that I had to sink the engine deeper into the hull.  But the hull's rear plate is angled inboard towards the bottom of the hull and obviously there is less space down there for the engine. I therefore had to shave off part of the circular form at the bottom of the engine. No probs though, because that area can't be seen, except for in the photo below....

 

Fiddly work continues.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited June 21, 2019 by Badder

[Badder]

I've added some small details to the engine - specifically the rocker arm covers.

 

First, I added the 3 aluminium oil? twist-off caps that fit along the top of each cover. I made them using a large snowflake paper punch which has a very small 'star' at its centre.

Unfortunately, they are a bit over-scale. On the real engine they are VERY tight to the 'cow bell' air intake, whilst in my version they are necessarily tucked slightly underneath it. As it turns out I ended up sanding the details from 2 on each side, but hey ho.

 

I had more luck when adding the 2 oil? caps further down. These are painted red and I assume a different grade of oil is poured in here. First, I pressed vertical holes into the FTINFBISS using a needle file, then inserted tiny bits of sprue down into them. Sanding them off, I formed the short 'tubes' down which the oil is poured.  I also added the 2 'lugs' which sit between the red oil caps on each side.  There, I pressed slots into the FTIFBISS using the back edge of a scalpel, and this time inserted thin strips of plasticard, fixed with CA and filed and sanded to shape.

 

And after a bit of tidying-up and a reapplication of black acrylic ink:

 

Again, it all looks a bit messy, especially in macro, but I will be tidying this up once I've finished the 3 air filters and have added some details to the heat shields on the exhaust manifolds.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

[PlaStix]

Hi Badder. Sorry to hear about the feet - hope they have been better since. Great progress on the engine. I know how small it actually is so you have done a great job with the detailing.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Badder]

12 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Badder. Sorry to hear about the feet - hope they have been better since. Great progress on the engine. I know how small it actually is so you have done a great job with the detailing.

Kind regards,

Stix

Hi Stix,

My feet hurt pretty much every day, on and off, left and right, but some days are worse than others. Today they've mostly been behaving themselves.

As for the engine, I've got the main bulk of the thing done, barring a tiny bit of filling and those dimples on the tops of the 3 air filters. I still have 2 'towers' to add to the rocker arms where the magnetos fit, and also the air intakes and cooling pipes. The air intakes and cooling pipes will be difficult as I have to make sure they fit to the engine and the underside of the rear covering-plate and side firewalls, but  I think I can handle it.

 

I knew that even a rough approximation of the real engine was going to be difficult - but it was/is the best I can hope for without spending months on it! I have to say that as I progress I'm liking it more and more. If I didn't know what the real thing looked like, I'd believe mine was right! And yes, it is quite small so it looks better in real life - unlike the real one which looked too small and WAS too small for such a heavy tank.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by Badder

[Hewy]

Just had a look at your engine badder, impressive, taking in its actual size it's coming on a treat

[Badder]

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

Just had a look at your engine badder, impressive, taking in its actual size it's coming on a treat

Thanks Glynn,

If things go well it should be finished by the end of the day. Then its the simple case of making those cooling fans! Ha!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

I've replaced those spoiled oil filler caps along the top of the rocker arms (silver in real life, bare white plastic here for now) I thought I'd add some colour. Just to see what it looks like. It will most likely be taken off when the engine undergoes its final cleaning-up.

 

TFL

Badder

[Robert Stuart]

B, I'm not sure is you picked up on the Tigerfibel - Tiger crew instruction manual is available online - here: http://www.alanhamby.com/tigerfibel.shtml

 

Pages 17 (or 18) , 22(23) and 28 (29) might be interest for your engine ...

 

This page may be a bit dull compared with others in the manual.

 

 

[Badder]

 

 

3 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

B, I'm not sure is you picked up on the Tigerfibel - Tiger crew instruction manual is available online - here: http://www.alanhamby.com/tigerfibel.shtml

 

Pages 17 (or 18) , 22(23) and 28 (29) might be interest for your engine ...

 

This page may be a bit dull compared with others in the manual.

 

 

Hi Robert

My German is not as good as it was 40 odd years ago, but I still find some of it amusing. the phrase 'Fahrt Luftfilter' being a prime example starting the second paragraph on the page above. I've had a quick look through the rest of the pamphlet and it's interesting - especially the enemy tank identification and information pages. I'm guessing the numbers at the tops of the pages are shorthand for how much of a threat they are, their comparative speeds, armour strength and their effective killing ranges etc. A bit like Top Trump cards.

 

I also assume you've provided the above page to show my inaccuracies with the air filters (fart/air filters) and you are quite right to point them out. One thing I will say is that the design of the air filter above is slightly different from the ones in the video, But still. I have actually spent a fair while today trying to make more accurate, but I'm finding it difficult with just the basic hand tools I have. To cut out discs I am having to resort to using a pair of dividers and scoring circles into plasticard - a laborious and inaccurate method. I almost succeeded in creating the dimples on the tops of the filters, but getting those dimples to match on all three has so far proven impossible. I am on my 3rd or 4th attempt now, and it may be that I will have to settle for a compromise.

 

Thanks again and feel free to point out any other 'errors/inaccuracies' etc and offer advice or technical drawings to help me on my way. I really do appreciate it.

 

Rearguards

Badder

 

 

[Robert Stuart]

1 hour ago, Badder said:

my inaccuracies with the air filters

No, it was simply a recognisable part - I was tempted by the page with a lady taking a shower the leaking engine (page 17 (18) ).

 

[Badder]

Progress report. Correction:  Regress report.

 

I wasn't happy with the 3 air filters on top of the engine, but decided to leave them and crack on, making all of the all of the auxiliary part for the engine, connecting pipes/wiring etc. Of course, I couldn't do much without fixing the engine in place first (even if only temporarily)

 

There's a fair bit of gubbins hidden under the rear-most plate of the engine deck:  So, that's everything to the right of the 3 air filters in the (whole) photos 1 and 2 top row. Ignore (whole) photo 3 in bottom row.

 

It was whilst studying these photos of the whole engine bay that I realised I'd made my engine bay too short - by 4 or 5mm. My transverse firewall was positioned incorrectly. In my defence, I did use the markings inside the hull which Tamiya seemed to have included in anticipation of supplying interior details. There are markings which seemed to me to indicate the position of the transverse firewall between the crew compartment and the engine bay, and these also seem to correspond to the lines of bolts on the engine deck. So that's where I fixed my firewall.

 

Most important is the fact that the forward-most air filter is tucked slightly underneath the engine deck. According to these photos then, ,my engine was positioned too far aft, and needed to be moved forwards. And that meant having to move the firewall forwards as well.  But I'd fixed the firewall pretty bloomin' securely, so I was going to have to grind/cut the central section out. That was something I dreaded, so instead I decided to remake those pesky air-filters. I've had some more 'messing around' sessions, and once again, have NEARLY succeeded in making better ones. That messing around will continue tomorrow. In the meantime, I have attacked the central section of the firewall with a grindstone.

 

So, the engine is missing the 'cow bell' air intake, topped by the 3 filters,  and the firewall now has a great big gap in the middle.

Still, my engine fits much better now, and there's plenty of room to model the most visible of those 'hidden' parts at the extreme rear of the engine bay.

 

TFL

Badder