Early Tiger 1 from sPzAbt 503

[cahlfors]

Just like a good smoke

[cahlfors]

Since you like a good smoke ( ) and for offering your honest opinion, I made this especially for you.
When overfilled with smoke fluid, the Seuthe generators generate very much smoke for a while. Here is what it looks like with the big fan:
http://s980.photobucket.com/albums/ae29 ... i_5109.mp4

Enjoy! Cough, cough

/Chris

[pepppe75]

hi there!!!


GOD DAM DUDE!!! now we talking!!! i like that chris!!love when you push the throttle



kind regards peppe!!!

[falcon]

Nice smoke! Add just a very short delay before the smoke comes out (compared to the sound), and it is perfect! I will try to create something similar in my Stuart...

[Björn Johansson]

Now thats what I like!
A good smoke

[cahlfors]

I got the message - the more the better. I would never have guessed that you are that kind of people...

Hence, I have been busy trying to do the impossible and squeezing in the big radial fan that just won't fit and building myself a bigger smoker. Combining these two things have kept me busy for a couple weeks.

A picture of "plenty of space":

The big box in the center is the speaker box. To its right, starting at the top, is a battery, the radio box with ample room for all kinds of radio related gear (if you look carefully, you might be able to see that the lid is bulging - a manufacturing defect, of course), a charging relay (small gray box) and a zinc box for the audio power amplifier. The clear blue box is the smoker with no less than five elements (I broke one... ). The sheet metal thing to the left of the smoker is the radial fan, seen from above. This fan is designed for cooling electronics systems rack cabinets. I had to put an air deflector inside the smoker to prevent the fan from blowing the smoke oil right out the exhaust! The small plastic "bottle" to the left is the smoke oil replenishment tank, gravity feeding the smoker. I designed a needle valve and float à la carburetor to keep the level of smoke fluid constant in the smoker, but with very limited success - it doesn't open enough and doesn't close enough. Other than that it works great... At least, it will have to do for now.

Ample smoke indoors is one thing, but outside in the wind is a different story. Here is the end result:
http://s980.photobucket.com/albums/ae29 ... i_5111.mp4
I will check what stage crews are using :study: - they seem to be capable of 5-6 meters of sustained smoke plumes. But then, they might be three phase units on wheels... :scratch:

Thanks for checking out my non-mainstream eddies,
/Chris

[TBowman]

Hi Chris

Excellent! I think you've used up every possible space in the rear hull.


best regards
Tim

[cahlfors]

Thanks, Tim!

There is a space forward of the auxiliary module (and control module under it) that does not fit another battery. Possibly, it could be used for a large smoke oil tank if I manage to iron things out with the gravity feed. A better solution would be to use a micropump instead and put the tank below the smoker. Does anyone know of a small pump that could be used?

Thanks,
/Chris

[cahlfors]

I have had numerous disasters with the gravity feed smoke oil system. It uses a cork float and a needle valve to control the level of smoke oil. Strangely, every time I have filled up the tank for a run, all the oil has poured out in the chassis (and onward to the floor). The hoses just don't stay in place! I have just received a micropump that will change the situation. The hoses don't withstand the smoke oil over time. They seem to absorb the liquid and swell and fall off any fittings eventually. With the pump, the hoses can be kept dry between the runs and the smoke oil will stay in the tank.

While waiting for the pump, I have completed some of the details that came with the model:




Thanks for looking in,
/Chris

[cahlfors]

The hoses to the Feifel air precleaning gear have been a constant subject in my mind. Doing them right seems out of reach, but what is good enough? Up to now, I have used a braided cable management tube with a latex rubber hose inside. Very flexible, so that I can open the engine hatch, but the ends of the braided tube gets frayed and has been looking worse and worse.

Before:


Now, while looking for other cable management hoses, I came across this "dental" hose at Kuntzes rubber store in Stockholm. Still not perfect, but flexible enough and does not get frayed.

After:


Also, I can't withhold this wonderful picture of the dreaded Russ.. er.. I mean Strängnäs clay from the museum opening that got stuck in the tracks - very reminiscent of concrete. Can you see the cast "2"?


Thanks for taking precious time away from the sun,
/Chris

[TBowman]

Hi Chris

Tiger looks very nice. On the hoses, can you melt the cut ends to keep them from fraying? Only a thought as I don't know what the material is. If it's a synthetic, nylon type, just use a lighter and quickly 'flame' the ends.

That is some serious dried clay! I know my Panther would have big problems with something like that in the tracks.

Keep up the nice work and posts!

kind regards
Tim

[Björn Johansson]

Hi Chris
Nice too see all the deatils you added,
and what a piece off clay

[cahlfors]

Thanks guys!

Tim: Yes, I have tried melting the ends and it does slow the fraying to some extent, but the new hose material is much better in all respects. Of course, it still is not perfect. It lacks the skewed look. Wonder if that could be carved somehow?

The latest accomplishment is filling the speaker box with glass wool insulation. Don't quite know if it made any difference.

At our recent tank meet in my back yard, the guys complained about too little smoke again. They just can't get enough! The videos from the Bovington Tiger show now smoke at all when it is running, but this may be a case where realism may have to give way to the cool factor... So, now I have ordered three more elements (eight total, doubling the original... ). On top of that, I have been experimenting with the micropump. Gosh, it's so small that it could easily get lost inside the tank - pictures are coming as soon as I can find the camera. The micropump allows very precise control of the fluid level. Anyway, the objective is to raise the level of smoke fluid at the elements to the point that I get that very dense smoke as in the Falckner experiment. We'll see if that'll shut 'em up!?

The hoses are still a challenge. The pump does not leak backwards (unfortunately in this case!), so they are left with smoke fluid when the model is put to rest. Silicone hoses swell and fall off or tear apart if they are a tighter fit. PVC seems fine, but is not available in 1mm inner diameter. Next step is to test a 2mm PVC hose with a 1mm silicone hose bushing inserted at the ends of the micropump. Hopefully, the silicone bushings expand axially instead of radially, breaking the surrounding PVC hose? Also, it will be interesting to see what the heat from eight smoke elements will do to the PVC hoses. Most likely, I have not seen the end of the challenges.

I will not give up until it smokes like a volcano!

See you soon!
/Chris

[cahlfors]

So, here are some pictures to show the operation of the micropump based smoke unit. The pump is the rectangular black box to the left in the picture. The blue box to the right is the smoke box with the reservoir in the bottom. It gets its blue color from the glowing uranium... Behind the hose, you can see the smoke elements very vaguely. The white tank behind the pump is an R/C car tank containing plenty of smoke fluid - enough for an entire day, hopefully. What you can't see here is the fluid return hose, which enters the reservoir at the top and simply returns fluid above it to the tank to keep a constant level of fluid:

There is a slight buzz from the pump - not disturbing, but rather just enough to tell that it is running.

This time, I have raised the level of the smoke fluid almost to the bottom of the smoke box in the hope to get that really rich smoke. However, the silicone hose bushings played a trick on me - they swelled to the point that the flow got cut off and the reservoir was not quite filled!
Anyway, here is the result:


Restriction fixed and deck in place:


The smoke is a little thin, still, and the color of the background matters. A different angle:


Outdoors is a much greater challenge:


In a different place with less sunlight and wind, it looks better, but I assume that the wind will always be six times scale


In this last clip, the tiger crosses an antitank ditch, errrrr..... There is less smoke and it turned out that a hose managed to make its way off the pump despite all my clever efforts to make them stay firmly, leaving the smoke reservoir less than completely filled.


There is still more to do. More smoke elements are on order and I managed to find a nearby supplier of not only 1mm PVC hose, they have PTFE (Teflon is a famous brand) as well! Interestingly, they did not show up in google, but then the hoses are 1,05mm and I searched for 1mm... :scratch:
And once it's reliable, I guess I will have to tidy up the installation.

Simple solutions are for those who don't know how to complicate things.

Thanks for following!

/Chris

[Björn Johansson]

Hi Chris
Follow this with my amazed
by you´r effort to get a good smoke.

I think its looking good outdoor :thumright:

I will be using a Wigitronic smoke element
same as Tim use in he´s IV. Its a small unit
with fluid for one hour max.
Not sure how this will work outdoor if there´s
any smoke to bee seen at all.

Keep up you´r amazing work