tomhugill

Hey folks,

taking a couple of days out from my tiger before applying the final mud and weathering the track. So I thought I'd make a start on this.

First job has been to get it running properly. The fella i bought it off seems to have bits the wrong way round, not used the right screws etc. A strip and rebuild was called for, there was some trial and error as this is the first time I've done one of these.

I was struggling with the suspension as I'd forgotten to flip the caps at the ends of the bogies so it sits at a sensible height. I had to remove the spring that sit in the hull on the front two bogies as they made the suspension too stiff. The rear ones where left as when turning on grass the force of the tracks caused the suspension to squat at the back making it more likely to throw a track. Fiddled with the tracks and took three (!!!!!) links out each side, sorted out the tension. She's running sweetly now and doesn't seem to throw tracks on grass.

The other issue I had was the motor on the right side gearboxes is too tight against the first gear causing it to really scream. Unfortunately due to the gearbox design I couldn't adjust this. So I had to resort to toothpaste and running it in. Has improved things and the tank now runs quite smoothly, even if it's quite noisy!











I'm quite please with the quality after hearing some horror stories, the details decent, all the hatches open. There's traverse on the main gun. Some bits need tidying but should build into a nice model. Now there's loads of room some I'll be using an ibu2 pro with the external amp and twin speakers!


UPDATE:

So the Elefant was temporarily sidelined after the final drive gears failed after running in the snow. After two months of trying to contact asiatam for replacement parts they came good and sent me a pair of the updated gearboxes, yes the pesky final drives are no more! This necessitated drilling new mounting holes for the gearboxes.









Quick video of her running:
https://youtu.be/h7R_p840AfI

Panther F

Nice Tom! Better than the last plastic attempt at a kit... like HOOBEN?

Might put this on my short list and convert my HOOBEN kit to a Tiger (p).




Jeff

MAUS45

Wow, all metal. How much does it weigh?

tomhugill

11kgs! Heavy beast and she's no where near fully loaded, there's speakers and batteries etc to go yet!

Funny you should say that Jeff, I have a hooben Elefant with Chris Ludwig metal chassis and asiatam running gear I'm thinking would make a nice tiger (p).

regarding the quality, the running gear is far superior, especially the newer ones. The detail is probably about the same level but the overall fit and finish of the detail isn't quite as good (metal vs plastic I guess) l. Overall it's easier to make a nicely detailed asiatam Elefant than a good running

MAUS45

Wow, 11 kilo's dry weight!!! Yes I was thinking about using Chris Ludwig's metal lower on my Hooben Elefant and adding the metal running gear, wheels and tracks, to make a better runner.

Rudy

tomhugill

Mines (Tub and running gear) been up for sale Rudy, if you go down that route give me a shout

Onondaga

I wonder where the best place to get one is. Tankzone sells them as well as the Asiatam site. I'd like that newer gearbox if I buy one.

tomhugill

The best place would be asiatam direct as I think they would have the newest stock

Panther F

Just over 24 pounds huh?

So, without another conversion... how much in US dollars and a projected shipping cost for that weight? Do we assemble ALL of it?




Jeff

Airbrushler

Hello Tom Great looking Elefant

i'm actually working on one for someone and was wondering if you could show a pic of how the barrel is attached inside

tomhugill

Certainly can! Now I believe the mount has changed, the early ones didn't have traverse, slightly later ones have traverse but no mounts for anything, finally the latest ones have traverse and servo mounts! I had to order the latest but for asiatam.





The recoil was a challenge, the barrel slots in a semi circular bit that recoils however there's no way of fixing it on so I had to expoxy mine. The other issue is the barrel wouldn't properly fit through the sleeve so had to be ground down. Finally after all that the alignment wasn't perfect with the end of the barrel and the semi circular slot so those both needed grinding till the alignment was correct!

Jeff if I was posting it I think it would be £50-60 maybe a little more with insurance. However if buying from Germany that could be a fair bit more as German shipping is always more expensive! (But I'd ask the vendors to se what they can do before discounting anything).

borealis

I see they also (finally) corrected the wrong positioning of the two rear small angle hatches of the superstructure. In the previous versions they were (wrongly) turned 90° (i.e. hinges pointing outwards).
Good changes, even if they took a lot of time to be born.

karel47

nice elefant tom , we had seen on facebook already

Bnz4367

I have one of the early ones with no traverse or elevation mechanism and old style gear boxes, that like Tom's failed horribly. I am curious to know if the current offering from Asiatam has improved the quality of the casting metal. Mine has had numerous parts crack that should not have. I am pleased with their Sturmtiger and if the quality of the casting is the same, I may be tempted to just start over with a new one, and literally just take this old one to the range.

Darkearth74

Any progress on this albatross?

tomhugill

I made a video of it working:

https://youtu.be/bTvnHPQ9grI

Onondaga

Sounds Great Tom! Could you help a novice out with how you got it sounding so good? Thank you.

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

I think this is the first "real" tank I have seen in this scale. Just the fact you are dealing with real metal on every part of the project, it is ungainly, and it requires indelicate handling make me think "heavy metal!"

Darkearth74

Awesome,I want one.

tomhugill

its an ibu2 pro, with tiger sounds and a HUGE speaker box! I think the speaker box makes all the difference.

tomhugill

Ed, it does actually make the floor rumble as it drives past (least on my floor boards), I do really need to make an effort to get it finished properly!

2SSHoffner

Nice

Tanque

I'll be working on my Asiatam Elefant shortly also with an IBU so your thread is of interest. My is a very early kit so I suspect it will
have quite a few issues to work out.

Jerry

Bnz4367

Does anyone know whether the Atak 1/16 Zimmerit kit for the Hooben Elefant would work on the Asiatam elefant?

TheBennyB

Don't see why not. Dimensions shouldn't be that off. Usually you still have to make some adjustments with a hobby knife. Just make sure to rough up the metal a bit and use an adhesive that'll stick to metal but not destroy the resin sheet.