Suspension Question on 1:16 FOV Tiger II

[mburduck]

Guys,

I seem to recall a thread a while back in which one of our members talked about how we can remedy the gap between the tracks and the hull on this tank. Something about removing one metal track (what's the best way to do this?) and then repositioning the wheels??? I think....

I can't find that thread for the life of me!

If any of you guys can let me know how to best make this modification, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks a bunch,

Mike

[Zartan]

Mike, when the tank is first out of the crate, the suspension on the road wheels is stiff, even with the weight of the turret it still springs back up. When it was held down the track had too much excess hang. I took the tracks off, took one link out each. I then propped each road wheel suspension arm down by putting a small piece of wire in between the arm and the grooved space where it can max out on the hull with needle nose pliers.

After showing it off to friends (taking the tank off the shelf and removing the top) some of the small pieces of wire would fall out but after months of the tank sitting, the suspension was not as stiff as before and the tank holds itself down without fiddling with the suspension.

As for height mine is sitting at a hair above 4 1/2 inches from ground to top of hull, its over 5 when pulled out and placed without pushing down on it. Hope this helps. Graeme.

[GooglyDoogly]

DO NOT, I mean DO NOT remove track links off the track to make it snug!

The suspension arms and the wheels are plastic, so guess what will happen in the long run if you put constant stress to it? A broken tank, that's what. It doesn't help that this tank is so top heavy.

It happened to my friend, who has the 1st issue tank. He removed some track link to make it snug, then after a month or so displaying the tank, one day he picked it up and the idler wheel on the right side fell off. The thing pulled out by the tracks completely off the hull! Broken hull, broken idler arm, bad design.

That's the main thing I hate about this tank. FOV states that, "The masterpiece to the eye is further complimented with die cast construction of the MOST IMPORTANT elements. The real metal tracks, turret, gun barrel, shells, TANK TRAPS, and OIL DRUMS are all cast metal."

What? Tank traps and oil drums are important elements of the tank? What about a metal chassis, or even metal suspensions, something that would give this heavy model a bit of support?

[Zartan]

Googly, yeah I get your point but you have to deal with the suspension first and make sure each road/idler wheel is compressed suspension wise so when you do take a link out there is still plenty of slack. I have seen pictures of King Tigers with track slack and no slack at all so that the tracks on top aren't even touching the road wheels.

Here are some pictures of mine with one link out, the drive sprocket and rear idler are taking the stress, and not that much as the most of top track is sitting on the road wheels. The road wheels are loose when touched and have no stress on them at all. This thing has been sitting like this for around a year now and I have had no problems with the wheels.

http://members.shaw.ca/graemep/tigertracks.jpg

[GooglyDoogly]

That looks great Zartan! Very King Tigrish.

I'm glad that your mod turned out well, it's just that this thing is so heavy, that I'm leery about doing mods on the suspension, without reinforcing all those plastic parts first. My friend is thinking/planning on how to put a 1/16 Tamiya King Tiger metal chassis and metal suspension on the FOV tiger.

A little disclaimer: After whining/critisizng this tank, guess what I got for my B-day? I asked my girlfriend for a 1/16 static King tiger, I even e-mailed her a link of a cheap Ebay auction. So I was shocked when this huge box appeared on our doorstep with FOV logos on it.

She said she got me "made one" because she hates the paint fumes around house.

There's two downside:

1. I really have to get her an awesome present this Christmas. (This is a $400 tank!!!)

2. I can never modify this tank. Ever. She almost took my head off when she saw me trying to remove the mantlet off the gun (That's is a $400 toy!!!)--that's her this time.

[mburduck]

I appreciate the tips, pics, and stories, guys. I might let things lie for a while and then see how I feel.

By the way, I recently looked at my dad's outfit's "yearbook" from WWII (he served as a combat engineer under Patton) and noticed the picture of a captured Tiget II--although there's no damage to the drive train at all, I can see where's there's quite a bit of slack in the tracks. Hmmm....

Well, Googly, I hope you enjoy that Tiger II your wonderful girlfriend got you. The tank's not really all that bad, is it??

Mike

PS But it is silly for FOV to brag about the metal tank traps and fuel drums!!!

[GooglyDoogly]

Yeah, This tiger's growing on me, i'm itching to super detail the interior, and repaint the whole thing to an SS 503 Berlin tank, but my better half won't let me.

Mburdock, in your father's King Tiger photo, how does the front roadwheel look compared to the sprockets? Does it look like the sprocket is overlapping the road wheel a bit? I got some pics of King Tigers that have very saggy tracks, almost like the FOV tank.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lhamto/album?.dir=/fcd1

The first two are pics of very saggy tracks, the last two pics show how low the suspensions are. See the #4 pic, the sprockets is overlapping the first roadwheel, while on the FOV, there's a considerable gap. Zartan made his tiger's suspension look great.

What's weird is almost all the combat-ready, or on the field KT have low suspensions, while tanks that were on stand down, on maintenance, or on railway transport, they always riding high. Is it because the combat weight and the empty weight of a KT is that much?

You guys want to upgrade some of your KT's accessories? Check out these guys.

http://www.backyardarmor.com/Elite_Armo ... _Parts.htm

Or if you want some extra crews for you KT:

http://www.internethobbies.com/internet ... l-959.html

These figures are 1/15, not 1/16. But I got the Verlinden panzer commander and it's almost the EXACT size of the figures by FOV.

[Zartan]

In most of the WW2 photos I have seen of the KT the sprocket overlaps a bit, the bottom of the sprocket is lined up with of the first road wheel's bottom middle hub that sticks out. The one in picture #1 looks high and picture 4 looks very low. I guess they varied but if you think about it when fully loaded, 5000-6000 machine gun rds, x amount of tank rounds, xL's of fuel and any other additional gear. Don't know how much that would add up to but it shouldn't bring it down too much.

Googly, thanks for the compliment and like mburduck said you have a very wonderful girlfriend. No one I know would buy me one of these

I had the side skirts on mine but looking at the picture I posted, it looks way better without them. I will keep all the fenders on my second release.

[mburduck]

Thanks for the great links and the photos, Googly!

I'll need to check the photo in dad's book when I return to NYC to see my folks for the holidays. I just can't recall the position of the sprocket in relation to the road wheel (but I'm positive about the sagging tracks).

I'm liking my FOV KT more every day, too. I also thought about a repaint, but I'll leave it alone. In the future I might try lowering it a bit.

Interesting points about the possibility of a fully loaded Tiger II sitting a bit lower than a "not-fully-loaded" one!

Mike

PS When I took my Tiger II out of the box and removed the turret from the hull, I could see where a few of parts inside the turret (one hand wheel and the metal bracket that supports it) had broken off during shipping. Good thing for Super Glue!

[mburduck]

Guys,

Here's an interesting update. I finally put the whole tank together last night. After I had assembled everything, I merely pressed down on top of the tank and guess what? The suspension dropped to the "proper" height and it has stayed there (and nothing's broken, either). Sure, the tracks sag a bit, but that's cool with me. Perhaps the weight of the assembled tank helps hold the tank at its proper height??

By the way, be very careful when you disassemble the turret. Many of the interior parts were not glued well on mine and they fell off, and a few of them that were well-glued broke off. Be careful and have Super Glue handy (I repaired everything and it look just fine).

Mike

[MG-42]

Like I said on "mburducks" previous topic on this tank,...I have the 1st.,issue Tiger II, #'rd 30 of 2000 units made which I'm quite proud of and lucky to own. The suspension on mine is just fine and I won't disturb it. Another thing though, that I just have to get off my chest, is the fact that if it were'nt for my low production #'rd tank, it's not worth the $400.00 high price tag. Even though I got it at a "Free Shipping" deal too. FOV claimed a total diecast version or at least most of it, which actually is false advertisement. I could'nt believe that, at least the hull, was not metal, much less the road wheels, even parts of the interior. This is the only disappointment I have with it. But it's just a model, right ?

[MG-42]

A glitch that somehow got entered here twice,....nevermind

[mburduck]

Yeah, I, too, would have preferred much more metal.

Mike

[Zartan]

More metal, more metal, this thing is heavy as is....full metal and it would be 30+ pounds. If there was a vote, I'd vote full metal. Can't always get what you want.

Anyway, I finally managed to get my 008 out of the crate and set up. I dicked around with the suspension and the pic below is worth a thousand words. It's not as low as my first release but it will have to do for now.

On a side note, my first addition has the front drive sprocket/road wheel overlap and my second has the rear idler wheel and road wheel overlap.

http://members.shaw.ca/graemep/tiger008.jpg

[RobC70]

This tank is by far the absolute coolest model I have purchased. Price tag, yea it is high but I bet you won't loose money on it. Man it looks neat!