Zenrat's Flying Circus

[zenrat]

Hmm, interesting.  Thanks.

One of these?


I've made 260, 289 & 302 badges for my Tiger.  I haven't decided which ones to go with.
The kit has the stock 260 ones moulded on the body but the body scripts are really finely engraved and would have been hard to foil with even a thin thickness of paint so I sanded them off and made up some decals.

[PR19_Kit]

Yes, almost exactly like that one, except 'The Barge' was dark blue. Fond memories. 

The 289 engined Mk II Tigers didn't have the chrome stripe along the sides and had egg-crate grilles, so there was an external visual difference between the two Marks.



Tiger Mk I




Tiger Mk II (Non-standard wheels)

While the Mk IIs had more grunt I found the Mk I was much better balanced, and wasn't so likely to sling you into the hedge backwards, not that I ever did that, mind you. 

When Chrysler bought out the Rootes Group in '67 they were pretty incensed to find one of cars in the range had a FORD engine! So they tried to fit the Chrysler 273 V8 from the Barracuda into the Tiger instead, but the 273 had much wider cylinder heads and needed the front wheel arch pressings modified so much that the turning circle was larger than that of the QEII! 

So that killed off the Tiger sadly.

[PR19_Kit]

Just found a pic of this Tiger Mk I on the Net.

It's either a Harrington Alpine Mk IV/V converted into a Tiger, or a Harrington-ised Tiger! Definitely not a standard car but  it looks superb, especially in that scheme.

I wonder if I could do that to my AMT Tiger kit?



[Later] Looking deeper into this car it seems it WAS a proper Harrington Tiger. 

Indeed it's unique, as it's the ONLY official Harrington Tiger. It's currently over on the west side of the Atlantic somewhere, having won its class at a Pebble Beach event a few years ago. Respect! 

[zenrat]

Thanks Kit.
My build is a Mk 1 1/2 then as i've sanded off the chrome trim and wasn't going to replace it with BMF as I know it'd come off through handling.  I'll use 289 badges.
The AMT 289 Shelby Cobra kit (the sixties one - a very nicely engineered kit) has a fastback roof with it which you might be able to modify to fit the Tiger.

I tried to fit a 426 Hemi into the AMT kit.  No chance without serious surgery.
When you build your Tiger ignore the instructions and attach the interior tub to the body rather than the chassis - that way you'll be able to fettle the fit (mines got gaps).
Also, make sure the front wheels mount as far as possible onto their pins or the tyres will protrude from the wheel arches.  The wheel back should be right up against the kingpin.
And finally, the windscreen looks like its made from bullet proof glass.  Fitting some sun visors from another kit (or scratch building some) will go a way to hiding this.  I haven't done this yet (run out of time) but I will.
It's finished bar the decals which I will apply tomorrow and then take it to the monthly Model Car Club meeting.  The theme is convertibles this month as it is summer.  Coincidence?  I think not as I suggested the theme...
Pictures in a few days when I will also photograph the Turbocat (just needs its aerial painted and a wire) and the Tax Boat (all finished with Captain jasmine and her crew in place).

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks Kit.
My build is a Mk 1 1/2 then as i've sanded off the chrome trim and wasn't going to replace it with BMF as I know it'd come off through handling.  I'll use 289 badges.
The AMT 289 Shelby Cobra kit (the sixties one - a very nicely engineered kit) has a fastback roof with it which you might be able to modify to fit the Tiger.

I tried to fit a 426 Hemi into the AMT kit.  No chance without serious surgery.
When you build your Tiger ignore the instructions and attach the interior tub to the body rather than the chassis - that way you'll be able to fettle the fit (mines got gaps).
Also, make sure the front wheels mount as far as possible onto their pins or the tyres will protrude from the wheel arches.  The wheel back should be right up against the kingpin.

Ah yes, the Mk 1.5 Tiger. 

I'm sure they had a few of those at the Whitley R&D site when they were developing the Mk 2.

I've got that AMT Cobra kit, or a FROG-alike of it anyway, and I remember the hard top.

Trying to squeeze a Hemi into a Tiger borders on the TRULY optimistic. It must have the widest heads of any US V8, bar maybe a Ford SOHC engine.

I've made a note of your build tips, thanks.

[zenrat]

One other tip.  Remove the large rectangular front bumper mounting tab from the nose (do it before you paint the body - don't ask me how I know this).
If you don't then the grille will not fit in its hole.
And it looks crap.

Here's the finished  build.
I don't think its really whiffy enough so i'm not giving it its own thread.

AMT 1/25 Sunbeam Tiger.  Built OOB with the addition of a resin 4 barrel carburettor and plug wires,

[Old Wombat]

Oops! Just remembered it was a Singer, not a Sunbeam!

[NARSES2]

Lovely build.

New a girl back in the early 70's who had one, white if memory is correct  Mind you the real memory is of a girlfriend in the early 80's who had a Daimler Dart 

[TheChronicOne]

Damn thats awesome!! Shrink ray stuff.   Dig the carb on there.   

[PR19_Kit]

That brings back some great memories Fred, specially in red, as most of our test cars were red. 

It looks really good too, and with the bonnet (hood....) closed you'd not know it was a Tiger apart from the side exhausts. Stock production Tigers had two exhausts, one under each side of the rear bumper.

Isn't there a panel missing from under the bumper though? The real Tigers, and Alpines, had a smoothly curved panel with a narrow radiator slot right under the bumper, and you can just about see it in the pic of the black Tiger II I posted above.

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

Unfortunately thats how AMT made it.  The front ride height it too high but lowering it would bring the lower suspension components too close to the ground unless I re-engineered them somewhat.
The front valance is accurate but too high.  Lowering the front of the car would help some.
The custom version avoids this by having a huge air dam which is IMO a real eyesore.

[PR19_Kit]

I'll have to dig my Tiger box out of The Loft and see if 'things can be done' to sort it out.

You've got me quite keen on doing mine now, as CFC276D I expect, the one we did most of the test work on.

[zenrat]

There are lumps moulded on the top of the inner guards.  Not sure what they are meant to be but they prevent the body sitting lower at the front.  It might just be a case of removing them although then there could be an issue with the firewall and the front of the interior tub.
Nothing a modeller of your repute can't solve.
The other option is to add to the bottom of the bodywork in front of the wheel arches thus mounting the valance lower.
This might appeal to you more as it could be considered to be lengthening the (front) wings...

I'll get me coat.

[PR19_Kit]

Nothing a modeller of your repute can't solve.

That's me scuppered then. 

I found the kit last night, it's one of AMT's Blueprinter line kits in the plain white box, but the plastic is still the same as I recall. I'll 'open the box' later today and find those lumps on the inner wings etc.

[PR19_Kit]

I found those 'lumps' you mentioned Fred. I think they're meant to be the spring caps for the front suspension, but the real things were a lot lower, so hacking them down would be making it more accurate.

The custom bits AMT supply are anything but subtle! That front airdam is appalling!   

I can see my biggest problem will making a RHD drive dash panel, it'll have to be scratchbuilt I guess, and then grafted in underneath the crash pad once I've Dremel'd out the LHD panel.

Looking at the interior reminded me about changing the plugs on a Tiger. The engine was mounted so far back under the firewall that you had to peel back the carpet over the gearbox tunnel and remove two blanking panels before you could get to the #4 and #8 plugs! 

I reckon scratchbuilding a proper hardtop wouldn't be too difficult, they were pretty angular on the Mk 4 & 5 body shells and we did most of our test work with the hardtops in place.

Unless it was a REALLY nice day and the test route happened to go down near the seaside of course.